And maybe he really would come, she found herself thinking. Maybe all her fears and suspicions were ridiculous notions caused by her delicate condition. Hadn't she once thought that Joshua and Blanche were having an affair and wanted her to die so they could be together? Pregnant women were not always completely rational, as she knew from experience. And he had promised, several times during the past month and again at the station just before she left.

But then she recalled the way he had treated her all during that month. He had been polite and solicitous of her, but aloof and cold, too, never touching her if he could help it. Only in the dark of night had they come together at all, and although her body had responded to his touch, her heart had recoiled at the cautious way he held himself back, as if unwilling to give too much.

The memory brought tears to her eyes, and she was wiping them away when Simon announced, "We're here, Mrs. Logan. I believe that's Mr. Winthrop coming for you."

"Oh, perfect," Felicity muttered, rising from her seat just as Richard burst into the car parlor.

"Felicity!" Richard exclaimed. He looked just as elegant as she remembered, every raven lock combed to perfection, his suit uncreased and exquisitely tailored, his face flawlessly handsome. He spread his arms wide as if to embrace her, and Felicity noticed he was carrying a bouquet of flowers.

The way his welcoming smile gradually changed into a look of stunned surprise was almost comical. The flowers slipped unheeded from his hand and tumbled to the floor. His arms dropped to his sides.

"Felicity," he whispered, aghast. "What has he done to you?"

Felicity experienced a quick flash of fury at his reaction, but before she could give Richard the edge of her tongue, her grandfather spoke from behind them.

"That's fairly obvious, isn't it?" Maxwell asked, stepping around his nephew into the car.

"Grandfather!" Felicity cried in delight, rushing to kiss him. "I didn't expect you to come to the station."

"And why not?" he asked, feigning offense. Indeed, when he stepped away again and she got a good look at him, she realized he was now completely recovered from the malaise he had previously suffered. Before her stood the same Henry Maxwell who had built a legendary financial empire.

"You look wonderful," she said with a smile.

"And you look… different," he said with a significant glance at her protruding stomach. Almost overnight, several weeks ago, her figure had changed. Suddenly she looked pregnant, and her long-kept secret was now public knowledge.

"Yes, I-" she began, placing one hand defensively on her belly, but her grandfather didn't wait for her to explain.

"When do you expect it?" he asked, his canny eyes narrowing speculatively.

"Around Christmas."

"Well," he said, growing cheerful again, "at least one good thing happened to you when you were here last spring."

Ignoring the strangled noise that Richard made behind him, Maxwell led Felicity back to the settee where she had been sitting. "But why has Joshua sent you back here?" he asked as they sat down. "Should you be traveling in your condition?"

Felicity felt herself blanch at her grandfather's unintentional choice of words, but she recovered quickly. "You remember I told you that our first child died?" she began, looking down at where her hands were clenched in her lap so he would not see her eyes as she told this half-truth. "We want this child to have every chance. Joshua thought… we both thought that the doctors here would be better."

"Yes, of course, I understand completely," Maxwell said, patting her hands reassuringly. "But why didn't young Joshua come with you? I thought it odd when you said he wasn't coming, and now that I know the reason for your visit, it seems doubly so."

Felicity managed a smile and forced herself to meet her grandfather's eyes. "He couldn't be away from the ranch that long, but hell be here before the baby is born," she said, reciting her carefully prepared speech. For one horrible second she thought her grandfather was going to challenge her statement, but then he, too, smiled.

"Of course," he said, so blandly that Felicity could not tell whether he believed her or not. Then he turned to where Richard still stood. "Are you going to stand there gaping all day, boy?" he inquired. "You act as if you had never seen a lady who was enceinte before."

Richard visibly shook himself, flushing at the rebuke. "I'm sorry," he said tightly. "I didn't mean to be rude. It was just such a… a shock." He made a great show of picking up the flowers he had dropped and rearranging them. By the time he had them orderly again, he had recovered his poise. "Welcome home, Cousin Felicity," he said quite formally, presenting her with the bouquet.

"Thank you," Felicity replied through stiff lips. Although she managed to maintain her own poise, inside she was seething over Richard's reaction to her condition. He had no right to be angry. He was acting as if she had somehow betrayed him. Their mutual fury seemed to amuse her grandfather, who coughed to cover a chuckle.

"The carriage is waiting if you're ready," Maxwell said after a long moment of silence during which Richard and Felicity glared at each other.

To Felicity's annoyance, Richard lingered at her grandfather's house long after their arrival, and she soon discerned that he was waiting for a chance to speak with her alone. When she recalled their last meeting and the strained goodby after he had escorted her to the Maxwell family railroad car for her departure two short days after he had proposed marriage to her, she dreaded having another private conversation with him again. Unfortunately, she could not avoid it.

After some less than subtle maneuvering by her grandfather, Felicity found herself closeted with Richard in the front parlor.

"How have you been, Richard?" she asked perfunctorily.

To his credit, Richard had apparently come to terms with her pregnancy, and he seemed determined to put their relationship on some kind of normal footing. "Considering that I fell in love with the wrong woman, I've been doing very well," he said with a self-mocking grin.

"Richard, please," Felicity begged him.

But Richard shook his head. "There's no use pretending that I'm not in love with you. That's something we're both going to have to live with, but I promise not to make a nuisance of myself."

"I never wanted to hurt you," Felicity said, instantly contrite. She had forgotten that Richard had been hurt by all of this, too. "You knew I was married the moment you met me, and I never gave you any reason to believe-"

"Ah, but I loved you even before we met, my dear cousin," Richard confessed with a wan smile. "Haven't you figured it out yet? I wanted the Maxwell millions. Uncle Henry is planning to leave you everything he owns."

"Not everything, surely!" she protested. "There's Isabel and you're his nephew…"

"A pittance." Richard dismissed the thought with a wave of his hand. "I wanted everything. I was determined to win my cousin Felicity's hand, even if she turned out to be a homely drab. And when she turned out to be the loveliest of creatures…" He shrugged eloquently. But when she would have protested again, he held up his slender hand to stop her. "I promised not to be a nuisance, and I won't be. You will never hear another confession of undying devotion from these lips," he vowed dramatically. Then his expression changed to one of infinite sadness. "I would, however, like to be your friend. If you can find it in your heart…"

She studied his face for any trace of chicanery, but she found none. Her heart was touched by his sincerity and his pain. How much it must have cost him to make such a confession, she thought as she saw him reach out a hand toward her beseechingly. How could she refuse to forgive him? And she really would need a friend in the days ahead. "Of course," she said, placing her hand in his.

His beautiful face contorted for a moment in mingled joy and relief. Then he lifted her hand to his lips and placed a chastely worshipful kiss on it. But before she could be offended, he released it, grinning boyishly.

"We'll have such fun," he said. "Friendly fun. The first thing we'll do is go to the Exposition so you can finally see your photographs, and there's a new play in town…"

Felicity could not help but smile at his enthusiasm. She really had no desire to see her photographs, not when she knew the painful memories they would stir, but how could she offend Richard when he had humbled himself so to win her friendship? Then she recalled a legitimate excuse.

"But I can't go out like this," she reminded him, indicating the mound of her stomach. No lady would parade her delicate condition before an unsuspecting populace.

Richard waved away her objection. "We'll call in the dressmaker first thing tomorrow. When she's finished, no one will even suspect."

With the last of her excuses overruled, Felicity had no choice but to agree.


* * *

"It's a lucky thing for you that Miz Blanche is a respectable married lady now, so she can stay here, Mr. Josh. I'd never be able to take care of you myself," Candace said with forced cheerfulness as she changed the bandage covering the bullet wound on his chest.

Josh looked up from his bed and gave her a weak smile. "What makes you think I want either one of you taking care of me?" he rasped.

Blanche accepted the pile of soiled bandages from Candace and gave Josh a disapproving look. "I'm sure you don't want either one of us here, not when you've got a perfectly good wife who would love to have the job if only she knew about it."