Texas Blonde

by Victoria Thompson

  "Lissy," she whispered.

  "Lissy? What's that short for?" he insisted, shaking her slightly when her eyelids began to droop again.

  "Mr. Grady? Will you come in here a minute?" Cody called from inside the wagon. Josh noted vaguely that Grady left, but he did not dare take his eyes off the girl.

  "Felicity," Felicity told him, forming the word with difficulty. She was so very tired. She just wanted to sleep. It had been a long time since she had slept, really slept; a long time since she had felt safe enough to sleep. Mr. Logan made her feel safe. He was strong and he smelled good, too, the way her father had smelled. She forgot that she had been afraid of him. She just wanted to curl up on his shoulder and go to sleep.

  He wouldn't let her, though. He shook her again. "Now tell me what happened to your family, Felicity," he ordered. Felicity responded instinctively to the authority in his tone, even though she did not want to answer his question.

  "Papa died," she said, her eyes welling up. She blinked furiously, unwilling to surrender to the urge to cry, not now.

  "When did he die, and how?" Josh insisted. Felicity swallowed loudly. She didn't want to talk about it, but she understood on some unconscious level that Mr. Logan needed to know what had happened and that he would not leave her alone until he did. "A few weeks ago, in his sleep, I woke up one morning and he was dead, just like that," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "I think it was his heart. Sometimes he'd hold his chest, you know, when he thought I wasn't looking." Mr. Logan nodded encouragement. "I buried him, but I didn't know where we were. I tried to find a town, but I was lost." A crystal tear slipped down her cheek, and Josh brushed it away with uncharacteristic tenderness.

  "That's all right. You don't have to tell me any more." Josh didn't want to hear it. He could picture only too clearly how difficult it would have been for this frail child to dig a grave in the unforgiving ground and then to place her father's body into it. And he didn't need to hear the rest of her story. Obviously she had been riding around for days, probably in a circle, looking for help, until the other night when she had lost her horses.

  "Boss?" Josh looked up to find Grady and Cody standing nearby. They both looked grim. "There isn't a speck of food in this whole camp. When you said she hadn't eaten in a week, you might've been right," Grady informed him.

  Josh swore again and, taking a more secure grip on the girl, awkwardly rose from the chair. "Let's get out of here," he said, carrying her toward the horses.

  "Where are we taking her?" Grady asked.

  "To Blanche's," Josh said, deciding in an instant that Blanche Delano's ranch would be the most proper place for a young girl to stay.

  "Uh, Mr. Logan, we can't take her to Mrs. Delano's," Cody said. "I ran into one of her men yesterday, and he said she'll be in Dallas for at least another week."

  Josh swore again, but before he could think of an alternative, Grady said. "We'd better get somewhere quick. Did you get a look at that sky?"

  Josh looked. Only moments ago the day had been perfect, sunny and clear, but now black clouds loomed on the horizon. The haze beneath them signified rain, and rain in the distant mountains meant untoward dangers to those on the plains. They had to get the girl and themselves to shelter.

  "We'll take her back to the ranch, then," Josh compromised, and headed for the horses. "Candace can look after her for the time being."

  Felicity lay against Mr. Logan's chest and listened to this exchange very carefully. She had to be careful or else her eyes would slide shut and she would miss a word or two and lose track of the conversation. They were taking her to Mr. Logan's ranch, and Candace would take care of her. Felicity liked the name Candace. Candace was the queen of Ethiopia, or at least she had been, back in Bible times. Felicity knew she would like Mr. Logan's wife.

  "I'll take her, boss," Cody offered eagerly, heading for his own mount. "Just hand her up to me."

  "No," Josh said, for some reason unwilling to trust the girl to anyone's care but his own. "I'll take her. You hold her a minute while I mount up." Reluctantly, he passed the limp little body over to Cody, noting with some satisfaction the startled way she looked at the boy before her big blue eyes searched his own out again.

  With equal reluctance, Cody passed the girl up to Josh, who settled her across his lap for the long ride back to the ranch. "Are you comfortable?" he asked her.

  "Mmmmm," she replied, snuggling down into his arms and inhaling deeply of his man-smell. In her semiconscious state, she almost imagined that her father was holding her, making everything better. She was hungry, of course, but she'd been hungry for so long she hardly noticed it anymore, so that didn't count. What did count was that she could close her eyes and not have to worry about something bad happening to her while she slept. This man would take care of her.

  "Felicity?" he said, coaxing her from the beckoning oblivion.

  Her eyes flew open, and for an instant he was so startled by how very blue they were that he forgot what he was going to ask her. "How long has it been since you've eaten?" he finally remembered.

  Her sweet face puckered with the strain of concentration. "I caught a rabbit two days ago," she remembered, "and I gathered some wild things."

  Josh frowned. A rabbit wasn't much nourishment to last for two days, even for a girl as small as this. She needed a good square meal and fast. He nudged his horse into a trot. The other men followed closely behind.

  The rocking of the horse lulled Felicity, and she closed her eyes again, settling herself against Mr. Logan's shoulder. Inhaling, she smelled the mingled scents of his cowhide vest and tobacco and his own musky fragrance. She felt like a little girl again, curled up in her father's lap, long before all the bad things had happened, long before her mother had died and she and her father had taken to the road, and long, long before she had found her father's cold, lifeless body. She slept.

  Josh squinted into the distance, studying the progress of the storm. He could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance and knew the rain would reach them before they reached the ranch. Instinctively, he urged his horse faster, but not because he was afraid of getting wet. They had to get to higher ground before the tons of water washing down the far mountains swept onto the prairie in a giant wall and devoured them.

  Still, he felt no fear but only a curious sense of excitement, even though he understood perfectly the danger they were in. Savage and merciless though it was, this was his land, as much a part of him as his own flesh and bones. He owned the ground they rode upon, legally and outright, but he also knew that whatever the government papers might say, in reality the land owned him. The Indians had accepted that fact, never comprehending the white man's idea of property, and Josh accepted it, also.

  As the endless canopy of sky turned slowly gray above him and thunder echoed from afar, Josh recalled what his father had told him time and again. "Never put your trust in other people," he had warned. "They come and they go, but the land is always here. You can love the land, son. It will never betray you."

  Josh and his father knew well the pain of betrayal, the pain that loving a person could cause. They never spoke of it, but it was always there, hovering and haunting, coloring every aspect of their lives. And when Josh had buried his father, bequeathing him finally to the earth he loved, Josh had found himself completely alone except for his land. But that had been enough, then.

  Lightning streaked across the horizon, and Josh tightened his grip on the girl in anticipation of the noise that would awaken her. He knew a sudden pity for this little Felicity, this rootless wanderer whose only remaining bond with the earth was a wagon which might not even survive the fury of the coming storm. She was as alone as he. For the first time he felt the burden of that loneliness as he cradled her protectively.

  The crash of thunder jarred her awake, and for one horrible moment Felicity thought she was once again alone on the plains with that horrible storm breaking over her. But only for a moment. Strong arms tightened around her in silen
t comfort, and she became fully aware of her surroundings. A storm was breaking, all right, but Mr. Logan would protect her.

  Shifting a little from her half-reclining position in his arms, she looked around. The clear blue sky was now gray and overcast, and a chill wind cut through the worn fabric of her dress. She had seen many of these storms in her life and knew the havoc they could wreak. She turned her gaze to the face of the man who held her. His grim expression chilled her more thoroughly than the cool breeze.

  "How far are we from your ranch?" she asked.

  "Too far," he replied, telling her that they would not make shelter before the storm hit. What he did not say, and hoped she would not notice, was that they were crossing a large gully. The ground beneath them was bone dry, but at any moment a flash flood could turn the gully into a raging river capable of carrying them and their horses to oblivion. But they had no other choice than to cross the gully, since to avoid it meant adding several hours to the trip. If only they could make it before… "Hold on!" Josh yelled, leaning forward to provide her body greater protection as he spurred his huge Appaloosa into a gallop.

  Felicity clung for dear life. At first she only feared falling from the running animal, but then she heard the distant roar and understood with terrifying clarity the reason for the mad run. Flash flood!

  Jarring, bouncing, clutching, and praying, Felicity caught a glimpse of the water, the enormous gray mass a hundred feet high, churning and foaming and charging relentlessly toward them. Closing her eyes against the horrible sight, she realized the Appaloosa was straining. They were running uphill. Uphill, away from the water-to safety! Her prayers changed, thanks mingling with entreaties for the other two men whom she could no longer see.

  Josh was cursing his own stupidity. Why had he not allowed Cody to take the girl? The two of them together would not weigh much more than Josh alone, and Cody's mount could have easily carried them both at a dead run. He had stubbornly insisted on taking her himself, and now his horse was laboring under the double load. Would they make it? Would his stubbornness cost the girl's life as well as his own?

  Expecting to see Cody and Grady race by him at any moment, Josh guided his mount up the ever-steepening incline to the plateau above that beckoned mockingly. The Appaloosa was straining but he wasn't winded. Thank God he had thought to ride the big animal this afternoon. A smaller pony would have faltered long since. A few more feet, only a few more. Josh risked one last glance at the water. Still plenty of time if they didn't slip. And then they were free.

  The Appaloosa reared when Josh jerked him to a halt and turned him around to check the progress of his two friends. Just as the horse's front hooves hit the ground again, an agonized animal scream pierced the now constant thunder of the approaching flood.

  The scream came again and again, and Felicity stared in horror at the horse that lay thrashing halfway up the hill, its foreleg snapped and shredded into a gory mass. The boy, the boy who had found her, had struggled free and was scrambling up the hill, but he would never make it ahead of the water. Even she could see that. He would disappear beneath the liquid avalanche as if he had never even existed.

  Josh took in the scene in an instant. From the corner of his eye, he saw Grady's horse clawing its way over the top. Grady had not yet seen, and by the time Josh could call to him and get him to turn…

  "Stay here!" he commanded, thrusting the girl to the ground. Without even making a conscious decision to do so, he spurred his horse back down the hill.

  Somehow Felicity found her feet, barely conscious of the huge raindrops that had suddenly started to assault her. Some distant part of her brain registered the fact that the third man had reached the safety of the plateau and was calling something to the others, but she could not make out his words. She could only watch the tableau before her, the wall of water roaring toward them, the magnificent gray horse with his equally magnificent rider racing back down the hill to certain destruction, the boy lifting his arm with a shout, the man grasping it and pulling him up to the saddle even as he turned the gelding and began again the long climb to safety.

  But this time rain was sluicing down the hill, turning it into a quagmire. The Appaloosa faltered once, and then again. "No!" she screamed, but the wind tore the sound from her, and even she could not hear it above the deafening rush of the water. Closer, ever closer, the flood roared onward, and again the horse slipped.

  Felicity raced to the edge of the plateau as if she might somehow draw them up by force of will. Seconds, they only had seconds left before the water crushed them. Someone grabbed her arm. "Stay back!" he yelled, shoving her away from the edge. The other man was reaching, grabbing the horse's halter as it came, pulling for all he was worth.

  She ran, her wet skirts dragging at her legs, and she grabbed, too, catching a handful of leather and throwing her whole body backward toward safety. For one awful second, the animal would not budge as his hooves gouged into the mire, and a blast of spray pelted them, the harbinger of disaster. "Oh, please!" she cried, tears mingling with raindrops.

  And then the flood came, smashing, surging, swirling, its dark tentacles reaching out for victims. At the very last instant, the Appaloosa caught his footing and charged over the crest of the hill. Flung aside like a rag doll, Felicity slammed to the ground as the horse frantically raced by.

  After what seemed only seconds, Felicity was surrounded. Three men knelt beside her. Gentle hands lifted her. Concerned faces looked into hers. "Are you all right?" Mr. Logan asked her.

  Felicity felt a hysterical urge to laugh. He, who had just moments ago almost been swept away by a maelstrom, was asking if she was all right. Blinking away the water that was now running in rivulets down her face, she managed a small smile. She would be black and blue tomorrow, but what did that matter? "I'm a little wet," she admitted.

  The three men stared at her in stunned silence for several seconds, the rain pouring unheeded over them. They were not quite able to believe their ears. Death had sent its hoary hounds snapping at their heels, they had escaped by a hair's breadth, and she was making jokes.

  "I'll be damned," Josh murmured, sinking back on his heels.

  "Me, too," Grady agreed, plopping down onto the muddy grass.

  The two men exchanged a glance, and Josh felt his lips twitching. Grady gave him back a puzzled grin, and the next thing either of them knew, they were laughing uproariously as they experienced the almost overwhelming sense of relief that they had survived the disaster.

  Felicity watched them, smiling in response to her own sense of relief, but when she turned to the boy Cody, she saw that he had not joined in the merriment.

  Cody was just staring off into space. And then she noticed something else. "You're bleeding!"

  Cody raised an unsteady hand to his forehead, where the girl was pointing, and touched the small cut. "It's nothing," he said, but his voice sounded unnaturally calm, and Felicity suspected that the shock was settling in on him.

  "You'd better lie down flat," she advised, gently easing him back onto the oozing ground. None of them could have been any wetter or muddier, so it did not matter that she had no blanket to put under him.

  Josh watched her minister to Cody with fascination, and for the first time he took a good, hard look at her. The golden hair was now plastered to her head, but that only served to accentuate the fine structure of her face-a face already smoothed into maturity-and the depth of her huge blue eyes. The rain had turned her dress into a sodden rag that could no longer conceal the woman's body underneath. Josh shook his head and looked again. No, he wasn't dreaming. How could he have made such a mistake?

  "You'll be fine," she was crooning to Cody. "Just rest a minute." Then she turned back to Josh. "Do you have a handkerchief or something I can use on this cut?"

  Josh didn't even hear her question. "How old are you?" he asked, his voice gruffer than he would have liked.

  Felicity stared at him in surprise. What did that have to do with anything? "
I'm eighteen." He stared right back as if he did not believe her, and this rankled. She should have been used to having people doubt her true age since it happened often enough, but for some reason, she didn't like the idea of Mr. Logan's thinking she was a child. "I'm almost nineteen," she added defensively. When he still did not respond, she sighed in defeat and returned to her original question. "Do you have a handkerchief?"

  He fumbled in his vest pocket for a bandana, which he handed to her. She took it without so much as brushing his fingers with her own.

  Dear Lord, she wasn't a young girl. She was a woman. Josh Logan was taking a woman to his ranch. Just wait until folks got wind of that. He'd never hear the end of it. And just wait until Candace saw what he was bringing her. At least Blanche was out of town. Maybe he could get rid of the girl before the Widow Delano got home. Yes, he'd have to get rid of her as soon as possible, for everyone's sake.

  "We'd better get going," he said, rising to his feet. He was eager to get started. The sooner he got the girl to his ranch, the sooner he could get her off it.

  The others stared at him in surprise for a moment but quickly recognized the wisdom of getting on with their journey. The open prairie provided no shelter, and the storm showed no signs of abating anytime soon.

  Josh and Grady helped Cody to his feet. "I sure do thank you, Mr. Logan," Cody was saying. "I never would have made it____________________"

  "I couldn't let one of my best hands get away, now could I?" Josh said with a smile that quickly stopped the flood of gratitude that threatened. "You'll have to ride with Grady. We'll take it slow. Come on, now." He led Cody over to Grady's horse and began to untie the slicker from behind the saddle.

  "I'll do that," Grady offered. "You'd better see to your own passenger."

  Josh gave Grady a wary glance, just enough to make certain that Grady had also noticed the curves the wet dress had revealed.