Victoria Thompson - Texas Blonde

Felicity started at the discreet knock. "Who could that be?" she asked, unable to hide her alarm at having anyone- anyone male-see her in bed.

"Probably just Cookie with your supper." Candace moved confidently to the door but stood in the breach so that whoever was outside would not be able to catch so much as a glimpse of her guest. When she turned back, she held a tray of food and wore a satisfied smile. "Just like I said."

Candace stood over Felicity, watching every bite the girl took. Cookie had prepared cornmeal mush laced with molasses, a dish of stewed apples, and tea, the soft, easily digested food that Candace had specified.

After a short time, Felicity lay down her spoon in defeat. "I'm sorry. I just can't eat any more. I was so hungry, but now…"

"Don't you worry none," Candace comforted her, whisking the tray away. "That happens when a body ain't had enough food for a while. Tomorrow you'll eat like a field hand, most likely. Right now you need rest more than anything."

Felicity did not object. In fact, before Candace even left the room, she was asleep.

In the warmth of the kitchen, Josh and Grady and Cody were bathing away the effects of the storm. Josh, now dressed in dry clothes, toweled his hair while he toasted his backside in front of the fire. Grady was still dressing, and Cody sat soaking in the tub.

"What did she say her name was?" Cody asked.

"Felicity," Josh told him. "It's a mouthful, isn't it?"

The boy smiled his agreement and tried it out. "Felicity. What else did she tell you? Do you know where she came from?"

Josh told the other men what little he knew about her background.

"It's a damn shame," Grady said when he heard about how her father had died. "What's going to become of her now?"

Josh shrugged, wishing he knew and knowing that it mattered very much to him, in spite of the fact that a few short hours ago he had firmly believed the girl to be a figment of Cody Wells's imagination. He would not soon forget the vision of her rain-soaked body straining to pull his horse over the crest of the hill. A tiny Amazon.

Josh combed out his hair, and then pulled a chair over close to the fire and rolled himself a smoke. After taking a long, satisfying drag, he tried out her name again. "Felicity." It really was a mouthful. "Her name, it means something, doesn't it?" he asked the others.

Cody looked blank, but Grady strained to remember. "I think it means something about happiness," he offered.

"Happiness," Josh echoed. He liked that.

"Wonder what her last name is," Cody said.

In the yellow bedroom, Felicity Storm slept peacefully.

In a town several hundred miles distance from the Rocking L Ranch, a nondescript little man strolled negligently down the street and into the telegraph office. The operator glanced up but, seeing no one of importance, finished transcribing an incoming message before asking the stranger his business.

"Would you send this out for me right away?" the man asked, although nothing in his voice or manner betrayed that the message might be urgent.

The operator rose slowly and walked to the counter where the customer waited. He glanced over the scribbled message with a practiced eye. It was addressed to a Mr. Asa Gordon at an address in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It read: "Found Storm and girl. Lost them. Still looking. Will report."

Ten words. He told the man the price and took his payment. The man waited as he clicked out the letters. The operator had the uneasy feeling that the man was checking to make certain he did so correctly. When the operator was finished, he glanced up to see if the stranger approved.

He did. He nodded once and then turned to go, but he paused at the door. "Say, do you know of a place where I could get my picture made?" he asked.

The operator considered. "Can't say that I do. Hasn't been a photographer around here in more than a year."

The man shrugged resignedly. "Thanks," he said, and then he left, closing the door softly behind him.

Dawn had barely broken as Josh made his way across the muddy ranch yard. The rain had stopped sometime during the night, and the day promised to be fine. Josh should have been in a good mood this morning, having noted that the storm had done little damage to the ranch buildings and that the rich prairie grasses were already beginning to green up. Spring would be here soon, the time of the year when he felt most alive, most in tune with the land. Yes, he would have taken great pleasure in this sparkling, rain-washed morning except that Candace had run him out of the house the night before, forcing him to sleep in the bunkhouse with the other men. He'd gotten another lecture on propriety which he did not need, and this morning he had awakened to discover he had forgotten to bring clean socks with him.

In a foul humor, he stomped up the ranch house steps. Candace met him at the door, a disapproving scowl marring her majestic features.

"I forgot my socks," Josh said, annoyed that he now must make excuses to enter his own home.

"Wait here. I'll get them for you," Candace said, swiftly disappearing into his bedroom, the room next to the one where the girl slept.

"How's she doing?" he asked when Candace returned and handed him the neatly rolled socks.

"Haven't heard a peep out of her since yesterday afternoon," Candace reported.

Josh frowned. "Shouldn't somebody check on her?"

Candace raised her eyebrows in shocked surprise. "Ain't nobody going into that girl's bedroom 'long as I'm walking around on two feet," she informed him.

Josh considered explaining that he hadn't planned on doing so himself, but decided that arguing with Candace when she was in this mood was a definite waste of time. Still, somebody ought to check in case the girl was sick or something.

Candace interrupted his thoughts. "Get along now. Breakfast'll be ready soon, but don't come till Cookie calls. And tell the men to use the back door and to be mighty quiet when they come in the house."

Grunting his agreement, Josh headed back down the stairs, but he paused as he reached the last step. Damn it, somebody ought to check on the girl. For all anyone knew, she could be dead. Turning with renewed purpose, he climbed the stairs again, prepared to assert his authority over his recalcitrant mammy. But she had disappeared. Josh opened his mouth to call her back, then quickly closed it again. If he yelled, he might disturb the girl. Besides, why get into a flap with Candace? He'd just peek in on the girl himself, satisfy his concerns, and be on his way.

Quietly, so he would not wake the girl, he stole over to the bedroom door. Turning the knob with infinite care, he pushed the door open just a crack, just until he could see her where she lay on the bed.

Her back was to him and she had the covers pulled up to her chin so only that mop of golden hair was visible. From here he couldn't even tell if she was breathing. Tiptoeing, he entered the room, stopping a respectable distance from the bed, and peered over the hump of her shoulder. She looked even more like a child this morning, he thought, with her face flushed from sleep and one delicate hand curled against her cheek. When those blue eyes were closed, he could almost forget how attractive he'd found her as a woman.

Almost.

After a moment, he could see the rhythm of her breathing as the bedclothes rose and fell almost inperceptibly. Well, at least she was alive. She looked a lot less exhausted, too, and the purple smudges under her eyes had disappeared. Now all she needed was a little fattening up, and she'd be as good as new.

Suddenly, Josh knew an overwhelming urge to stroke the top of her head, where the hair lay burnished against her skin, or stroke her cheek to see if it was really as soft as it looked. Caught unawares, he almost gave in to that urge before his common sense warned him away. Sure as hellfire, if he touched her, she would wake up, and Lord only knew what she would think. And if Candace found out, she'd raise the roof, and rightly so.