Josh grew more ready in the coming days as Richard made good his promise and introduced them to Philadelphia society on a grand scale, a scale obviously calculated to turn the head of a poor little country girl.
"But we can't leave yet!" Felicity protested, glaring at Joshua from across the parlor. "We only just got here! Grandfather will be so disappointed and-"
"I know, but there's no help for it," Josh insisted. "I have a ranch to run, you know. There's branding and-"
"Grady and the men can do that without your help," Felicity said, growing more desperate by the minute. She knew he did not like the city. Even she could feel the smothering closeness in this place, where she had to strain her neck just to see the sky and where the stars were faint from the glow of gaslight. Loving his land as he did, Joshua must feel the constrictions even more fiercely. He did not seem to get along well with Richard or her grandfather, either, but surely staying just a little longer wouldn't hurt him. Their men could certainly handle the routine task of branding. "Please, Joshua," she pleaded, moving closer to him and slipping her arms around his waist. "Grandfather's dying! I may never get another chance to visit him. Just a few more weeks?"
Josh looked down into her eyes, overwhelmed as always by her beauty. She looked as if she might cry, but he could not let that sway his resolve. "How many weeks?" he asked, wondering if he might be able to placate her with a small compromise. A week or two longer wouldn't hurt.
Felicity's hopes soared. He was going to be reasonable. "I don't know," she began, making some quick calculations in her head. "Another month or two?"
Josh scowled in quick fury. Obviously, his small compromise was out of the question. "Only two months?" he inquired sarcastically. "How about three or four? Or why don't we just hang around until the old man's string runs out? If you're lucky, he'll leave you the house, and then you'll be able to stay here forever!"
Stung, Felicity jerked away from him. "Is that what you think? That I want to stay here forever?" she asked. Apprehension shivered over her as she recognized his worst fear come to life. Was that why he was so anxious to get her away from here? Did he trust her so little?
"It doesn't matter what you want," he declared coldly. "You're going home with me-now, and not two months from now." He turned away, knowing he was being, unreasonable and even cruel, but unable to stop himself.
Just as he had suspected, Richard had woven his spell around her. After only two weeks she was already reluctant to leave. Josh did not dare to let her stay any longer.
Felicity could only stare at his rigid back. What was wrong with him? He had never treated her like this, like a piece of property with no feelings. Even when he had been cold to her during her pregnancy, he had been considerate of her needs and wants. Now it seemed that her needs and wants no longer even mattered to him. Was this the way a man desperate to keep the woman he loved would act? She had no way of knowing, and before she could consider it further, a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Pardon me, Mr. Logan. I have a… Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am," Bellwood hastily apologized from the doorway. "I thought Mr. Logan was alone."
Felicity drew a ragged breath. "He will be, in just a second," she said, whirling in a rustle of skirts and sweeping past the butler out of the room. She needed some time alone, away from this unfamiliar Joshua, to get control of herself and to figure out how to deal with this new situation.
"I hope I didn't interrupt anything, sir," Bellwood said, his usually inscrutable face betraying a hint of unease at Felicity's precipitous departure.
Josh sighed wearily. He was grateful for the interruption. He hated hurting Felicity, even when he knew it was in her best interests. "What is it, Bellwood?"
"There is a letter for you, sir, from Texas."
"A letter?" Josh repeated, forgetting everything else for the moment. He picked up the envelope Bellwood offered to him on a small silver tray and began tearing it open. "Call my wife, will you? She'll want to read it, too."
But instead of responding to Josh's command, Bellwood cleared his throat. "Excuse me, sir, but perhaps you should read it first." At Josh's quizzical look, he explained. "I would not have brought it had I known Mrs. Logan was in the room. You see, the letter is addressed only to you and… ahem, in a woman's hand."
Josh examined the front of the letter more closely. Sure enough, Bellwood was right. The only woman in Texas he could imagine needing to write him a letter was Candace, and she had never learned to write. Alarmed now, Josh finished opening the letter. He quickly scanned the closely written sheet, and when he was finished, he swore quietly and crumpled the paper viciously into a tiny ball.
"Bad news, sir?" Bellwood inquired solicitously.
Josh started, having forgotten the butler's presence. "I'm afraid so, Bellwood," he said purposefully walking over to the grate and tossing the crumpled paper and the envelope into the flames. "Please don't mention anything about this letter to Mrs. Logan, will you?"
"Oh no, sir," Bellwood promised.
Blanche hurried up the steps, heedless of her long skirt. Candace waited at the door of the ranch house for her. "I came as soon as I could," Blanche said as she crossed the porch. "How bad is he?"
"Just some bumps and bruises, but his arm's broke for sure," Candace replied, stepping back to allow Blanche to enter the house. "I put him in Mr. Josh's room."
But Blanche needed no directions. She could hear her old friend Bill Grady swearing the moment she got through the front door. "That language could singe the hair off a cat, Billy-boy," Blanche protested cheerfully as she entered the bedroom. "It might offend a lady, too," she added with a wink.
Grady grunted. "If there was any around," he replied sourly.
Blanche shot him an offended look. "There's no call to be mean just because you're feeling poorly," she admonished him. "One more remark like that and I might just accidentally poke you in the arm."
Blanche laughed when she saw the comic way he cringed from such a suggestion. "Beg your pardon, ma'am," he muttered with mock humility, making her laugh again.
"Now that we've improved your manners, what's all this I hear about you falling off your horse?" Blanche inquired.
"Hellfire!" Grady howled. "Is that what Cody told you?"
"No," Blanche said innocently. "He had some fairy tale about how you were ambushed," she teased, but her grin faded when she saw Grady's bleak expression. "You mean you really were ambushed?"
Grady nodded solemnly. "Shot my horse right out from under me. I busted my arm when I fell. Lucky thing some of the boys were nearby. They heard the shots and came on the run, but whoever was doing the shooting got away."
"God Almighty," Blanche breathed. "Have you sent word to Josh yet?"
Grady squirmed uncomfortably. "Not yet," he admitted reluctantly. "See, that's why I asked you to come over. I need someone to write a letter for me." He made a gesture toward his splinted right arm.
"Letter! Why don't you just send a telegram!" Blanche exclaimed.
Grady gave her an exasperated look. "Because he'd think somebody died, that's why," the foreman explained. "Besides, you can't explain much in ten words. He needs to know everything that happened. He may not even want to come home just for this. Mrs. Logan's relatives are pretty important people, and he might think visiting them is more important than this."
Blanche considered that highly unlikely, but she had to agree that Josh needed to know all the details. "All right," she said, and then called, "Candace, can you scare me up some paper and a pen?" Candace did so, and when Blanche was comfortably seated by the bed, Grady began to tell her exactly what had been happening around the ranch the past few days, strange events that had culminated in Grady's ambush.