Still quivering from her unfulfilled desire, she did not at first realize what he was doing as he kicked free of the constraint of the underwear tangled around his legs. And then his hands were on her again, struggling with the nightdress that was bunched around her shoulders.
"Take this off," he commanded. His voice was almost grim, his hands rough.
"Why?" she asked stupidly.
And then she sensed a change in him. At her question, his touch gentled, and she could hear a teasing smile in his voice when he said, "You didn't think it was over, did you? You haven't finished… and neither have I."
With hands that fumbled, she helped him strip the nightdress from her body. This time they came together with no restraints, either physical or emotional.
Felicity strained against him feverishly as his desperation fed hers. Giving became receiving, and pleasure blossomed into a tangible force that pushed her over the brink into the deep, dark pool of ecstasy.
Josh cradled her through the aftershocks, holding himself back because they still weren't finished. Now that it was already too late, now that he had nothing more to fear from loving her, he was going to give her a memory to hold her through the lonely weeks and months ahead. A memory to seal her heart against the threat of any other man.
"Joshua, what are you…" she asked faintly when she felt his hands teasing her again.
"Shhhh," he whispered into her hair. "Don't ask stupid questions."
"But I don't think I can," she protested weakly.
But she could. And she did.
"Logan's gone," Henry Maxwell reported with satisfaction.
"Gone?" Richard repeated incredulously as he approached his uncle's bed. "What do you mean, gone?"
"I mean, he went back to Texas, just like that. He left this morning. He's probably in Baltimore by now," Henry explained.
"But why? Why would he simply leave without Felicity?" Richard asked. "He did leave without her, didn't he?" he added in sudden alarm.
Henry nodded triumphantly. "I'm not exactly sure why, though. He came to see me this morning before he left. He said there was some trouble at his ranch. He didn't say what it was, and I don't know why he told me unless he wanted me to know he wouldn't leave Felicity except for something very important, but in any case, he doesn't want her to know anything about it," Henry explained, frowning over the memory of Josh's adamance on the matter. "That suits my purpose, though."
Richard gave his uncle a considering look. "And what, exactly, is your purpose?"
Henry chuckled conspiratorially. "The same as yours, boy," he said. "I want Felicity to stay here… with us." He chuckled again at Richard's flabbergasted expression.
"I've told you before, I'm not senile yet, boy," Henry said, crossing his arms over his thin chest. "I've seen the way you look at her. I'd have to be pretty stupid not to figure out what's on your mind. And you can rest assured that I plan to leave her everything… after I've provided for Isabel, of course. The man she's married to will be quite wealthy."
"The man she's married to is Logan," Richard reminded him crossly.
"That could change, if you play your cards right," Henry said, his eyes narrowing shrewdly. "Logan has already brought her here and left her. That might easily be seen as desertion in a court of law. A good lawyer would point out that as soon as she lost his child, he sent her away."
"Something like that could be very ugly," Richard warned, but he was only testing his uncle to see just how far the old man was willing to go to keep his granddaughter.
"Not if we grease the right palms, boy. We could keep it quiet. Of course, she'd need a good reason to get a divorce. She'd have to be in love with someone else," Henry added meaningfully.
Richard smiled slowly. "She will be."
Felicity was sitting in the front parlor staring out the window at the park that was Rittenhouse Square when Richard found her. He winced slightly when he saw that she had been crying, but he forced himself to smile. "I'm sorry I missed saying goodby to Joshua," he lied.
"I'm sure he was sorry he didn't get to see you before he left, too," Felicity lied back, listlessly returning her gaze to the park, where the nannies were sunning their tiny charges in elaborate baby buggies. She usually avoided this view because of the heartache the sight of the happy, living infants caused her. But today she felt some masochistic urge to plumb the depths of her pain, as if to test her capacity for suffering. With Joshua gone, how could she possibly feel any worse?
"You are still planning to go to the concert with me tonight, aren't you?" Richard inquired cheerfully.
"What concert?" Felicity asked with little interest, still watching the prams with their precious burdens.
"You remember," he prodded. "The Women's Centennial Committee is putting on one of their concerts at the Edwin Forrest mansion. I believe it's to be a choral concert tonight. You enjoy those so much," he reminded her.
"I don't know…" she said vaguely.
"But you can't just sit here by the window moping," Richard protested. "He's not coming back."
Stung, Felicity whirled to face Richard. She searched his beautiful face for some hint of a deeper meaning to his words, but she found none. He was simply warning her that Joshua was on his way to Texas and would not be returning before the concert tonight. And he was right. She was foolish to stand here by the window as if she expected to see her husband coming down the street at any moment.
"There will be lots of people at the concert whom you know. Some of the ladies are involved with the plans for the Exposition. I told you there's going to be a Women's Pavilion, didn't I? I'm sure they could use your help on a committee," Richard assured her.
"They could?" Felicity asked, unconvinced.
"Certainly," Richard said enthusiastically. "Of course, you don't have to get involved if you don't want to, but just think, you'd be a part of history. You don't want to pass up an opportunity to help with such an important international event, do you?"
"Well, I…" Felicity began, not entirely certain whether she would or not, but Richard interrupted her.
"At least say you'll go to the concert tonight. I can't stand the thought of you sitting here all alone."
"All right," she agreed, realizing how little the idea of being alone appealed to her.
She enjoyed the concert every bit as much as Richard had predicted,.and afterward Richard introduced her to the conductor, Theodore Thomas. She also saw many people to whom she had been introduced previously and who made a point of seeking her out. Also as Richard had predicted, she received several invitations to help with the Exposition, to which she gave vague replies. She was struggling with the uneasy impression that all these people expected her to remain in Philadelphia indefinitely. Not one of them inquired about Joshua's whereabouts.
After the concert, Richard escorted her home. As was his custom, he came inside with her. He was behaving just the way he always did when he had taken her and Joshua out somewhere, except that Joshua was no longer with them. Suddenly she felt uneasy as Bellwood conducted them to the front parlor and closed the door behind them, creating an air of intimacy that disturbed her. Something was wrong, something more than just the fact that Joshua was no longer here.
"Would you like some sherry?" Richard asked. Was his smile more friendly than usual, or was it just her imagination?
"Yes, please," she said, hoping that by following what had become a familiar ritual, she could overcome her unease.
Felicity moved self-consciously over to the fire and held out her hands to warm them while Richard searched in an ornate cabinet until he located the bottle of sherry and poured two glasses.
She accepted the one he offered, but when she would have taken a sip, he said, "First, a toast: To my beautiful cousin." As he clinked his delicate cordial glass to hers, she reflected that this was a toast she, too, could have given to her cousin. Richard's elegant face seemed almost to glow with a warmth that had nothing to do with the fire, and his dark eyes glittered down into hers with some secret message she was afraid to decode.