She lifted her chin, proudly covering her humiliation. "That won't be necessary. As you say, that's a long time for you to be away from the ranch. You can… you can come later," she proposed, a small lie to protect herself from having to hear him admit he was not ever going to come.
Josh nodded, stung by her rejection but knowing he could expect nothing else. "When do you think the baby will arrive?" he asked, his voice husky from the emotions churning within him.
"Around Christmas," she said. Calculating the date was relatively simple since she knew the exact day she had conceived.
Christmas. It seemed awfully far away from this sweltering August night, Josh thought. "I'll be there long before Christmas," he promised, but she would not meet his eye.
"How soon do you want me to leave?" she asked, deciding not to comment on his lie.
Josh frowned at her choice of words. He did not want her to leave at all, but he had no other alternative. "I don't know. I guess you shouldn't wait much longer. It'll be dangerous to travel if you're too far along."
"I'd like to wait until the weather breaks. A few more weeks, at least," Felicity said, trying to be practical although her heart was breaking even as she made her plans.
"Fine," Josh agreed, thankful that he would have her for even this small amount of time. "That will give you time to contact your grandfather. I think you should ask him to send his car for you again, so you can travel in comfort."
"Yes," Felicity said, no longer caring. She had to get away from him while she could still maintain her composure. She rose. "I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed now."
Josh watched her move toward the bedroom door and disappear behind it. He wanted to follow, wanted to take her in his arms and tell her how sorry he was, but he did not. She wouldn't want his comfort. Remembering only too well how she had reacted the last time he had tried to make her understand, he went instead to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a shot of whiskey.
Almost a month later, Josh rode wearily home to his ranch. Several days earlier he had put Felicity on a train to Philadelphia, Just as he had predicted, Henry Maxwell was thrilled at the prospect of having her come for a visit, although Josh strongly suspected she had neglected to tell him the real reason she was coming. Maxwell would know the moment he set eyes on her, however, Josh thought grimly. And so would Winthrop. They would both know that she carried Josh's child.
Josh consoled himself with the knowledge that in spite of the way he had hurt her, she was still his wife, and their child forever bound them together. That child would bring them back together, too. If it was born alive, Josh periodically reminded himself. And if Felicity survived. Like one probing a sore tooth, he tortured himself with such reminders as punishment for what he had done to the woman he loved.
But he also remembered her last kiss, the desperate way she had clung to him at the station, and the tears that had sparkled in her eyes when she asked one last time, "You'll be there before the baby is born, won't you?"
And he had promised yet again that nothing could keep him away. Oddly, he had gotten the impression that she did not quite believe him. So engrossed was he with this puzzle that at first he didn't notice the commotion in the ranch yard.
"Boss! Thank God you're home!" Grady called, catching sight of him.
What appeared to be all of Josh's men were milling about in the yard, saddling horses and loading gear onto pack animals. Josh spurred his horse, racing the final distance to the ranch.
"What's going on?" Josh demanded, reining up in the midst of the men.
"It's Ortega," Grady explained. "He's back. He and some men came to the ranch this afternoon and… and they got Candace."
"What do you mean, they 'got' Candace?" Josh asked in alarm, swiftly dismounting.
"They took her, kidnapped her. They left a note, but it's kind of hard to read. Something about five thousand, but we can't tell if he wants dollars or pesos. Part of it's in Spanish, and the English isn't very good."
"Where is it?" Josh asked, fighting the terror that gripped his heart. A hundred visions of Candace, the woman who had been more than a mother to him, flashed through his mind. What would Ortega do with her?
"In the house," Grady replied, leading the way. "Cookie and Candace were the only ones here when they came. Cookie got beat up pretty bad, but I think he'll be all right. They ransacked the house," he warned as Josh entered to see the mess. "We figured they were looking for money or something."
"Thank God Felicity wasn't here," Josh murmured, wondering how he could have stood the double horror. If they had taken her, too…
He glanced over the note. "Looks like Ortega's gotten mighty greedy," Josh remarked when he had managed to decipher most of it.
"You're not going to pay him, are you?" Grady demanded.
"No, I'm going to hang him," Josh replied with cold fury, crumpling the note. "Can Cookie talk? I want to ask him some questions."
Unfortunately, Cookie did not have much to add to the meager information in the note except to be able to point out in which direction the bandits had made their escape. Since the tracks clearly showed in the dusty ground, such information was worthless. The only thing left to do was to follow them and hope the tracks remained as easy to read.
Josh asked Grady to scare him up something to eat and have a fresh horse saddled for him while he changed his clothes. He was still chewing his hasty meal as he made his way down the front steps to join the rest of the men.
"Look, Mr. Logan," Cody said as soon as Josh appeared. The boy pointed off toward the north, where Josh saw a lone man carrying a saddle and approaching the ranch on foot. The sight of a man on foot in this country was alarming, signifying as it did that some trouble had befallen him. The sight of this man was doubly so.
"It's that Jeremiah fellow," Grady said in outrage. He reached for the rifle hanging from his saddle, but Josh stopped him.
"No shooting," he ordered, swinging up into his own saddle and spurring his horse toward where Jeremiah Logan labored toward them.
Seeing Josh approaching, Jeremiah wearily dropped the saddle and waited, his hands hanging limply by his sides. Josh could easily see that his half-brother had been walking for quite a distance, but before Josh could greet him, Jeremiah said, "I'm too late, aren't I? Ortega's already been here."
Josh nodded grimly. "This afternoon."
Jeremiah swore viciously. "He got her, I guess."
Josh nodded again. "We were just going after them."
"I don't suppose you'd like some help?" Jeremiah asked.
"Sure," Josh replied, realizing that Jeremiah had more right on this mission than even he himself did. Josh kicked free of his left stirrup. "Climb up. Leave the saddle here. I'll send someone back for it."
When Jeremiah was seated on the horse behind him, Josh turned his mount and headed back for the ranch.
"The tracks are pretty clear. We shouldn't have too much trouble following," Josh remarked.
"You won't need to track them," Jeremiah replied. "I know where they went."
Josh glanced over his shoulder in surprise.
"I stayed with Ortega after the fire," Jeremiah explained. "I wanted to be sure he'd given up, but as soon as we got away, he started talking about coming back. When he told me he was going to take your wife-"
"My wife!" Josh echoed, suddenly realizing what he had overlooked before. Why would Ortega have kidnapped a Negro servant? His intention had been to take Mrs. Joshua Logan. What perfect revenge that would have been. Josh shuddered in horror at what might have happened if the bandit had come a scant week earlier. But then a new horror struck him: Ortega would have had a reason to keep Felicity alive. He had no such reason where Candace was concerned. "My wife wasn't here," he told Jeremiah. "I just got back from putting her on a train to Philadelphia. Ortega kidnapped your mother."