Free A Heart for the Taking by Shirlee Busbee Page B

frontier living, but it would be like nothing she and Ellen had ever experienced in their lives.
    They soon left Richmond behind, and as the miles gradually passed, signs of settlement became fewer and fewer. By the time they stopped that first evening by a cheerful stream, Fancy had seen no sign of habitation for more than five or six hours.
    Glad to escape the confines of the carriage, she and Ellen wandered about the camp, watching interestedly as tents were set up and fires were lit. The swarming, buzzing insects eventually drove them to take shelter in one of the newly erected tents. Sam had warned them not to wander far from camp and to watch where they stepped—copperheads and rattlesnakes were not uncommon. From the safety of their tent, the sisters stared at the green gloom of the forest that seem to close in on them as darkness fell and decided that they would have no trouble at all obeying Sam’s words.
    By the time they had been on the road for five days, Fancy’s enchantment with camping out under the stars hadfaded somewhat, but she and Ellen were of good spirits. The journey and its attendant discomforts, as well as its simple pleasures, were a thrilling adventure for a pair of gently reared Englishwomen, and they were reveling in every moment of it.
    Fancy had been enjoyably surprised by Constance as they had continued on their journey. Away from town, she had dropped her affected airs and become much more likable. During the long hours in the carriage, she gaily regaled them with tales of life at Walker Ridge. When those were exhausted, well then, it was time for Ellen and Fancy to talk of London. Constance was hungry for news of the latest fashions, the theater, and any bit of delicious scandal the Merrivales might have been privy to. She took such simple delight in the few scraps Fancy could give her that Fancy had to smile. Perhaps Jonathan’s mother wasn’t quite the social-climbing harridan she had first appeared.
    To Fancy’s quiet pleasure, she noticed that both Jonathan and his mother doted on Ellen. In the evenings, Jonathan took Ellen for walks along the creek banks. When they returned, Fancy noticed that frequently there was a starry-eyed expression on her sister’s pretty face. The knot of uncertainty that had been in her chest lessened gradually, and Fancy decided that she really must have been just overwrought from the long sea journey to have thought that there was anything amiss in Jonathan’s actions toward her sister. Just an odd humor, she conceded wryly as she prepared for bed that evening, only half listening to Ellen’s happy prattle about Jonathan. But just before she drifted off to sleep, the unpleasant thought occurred to Fancy that the change of manner by Jonathan and Constance might only be because there was no one else around for them to impress. . . . She made a face. What a wicked creature she was!
    The next day dawned bright and clear. The heat, even when they broke camp at seven o’clock in the morning, was already oppressive, the air muggy and cloying. After helping Fancy into the carriage, Sam cast his eyes skyward and said,“Not a sign of a cloud, but I would not be surprised to find ourselves in a thunderstorm before evening.”
    Constance gave a heavy sigh. “Oh, dear. If it rains very much, the trail will turn into a quagmire. I only hope that you are mistaken, Sam, or that the storm holds off until we have made camp for the evening—even if we have to stop early.”
    Sam’s prediction proved true. By four o’clock that afternoon the rain had been falling steadily for forty-five minutes, the sky lit by brilliant flashes of lightning, thunder booming frighteningly close, and the narrow trail they were following was turning into a morass of mud.
    Water dripping from his hat, Jonathan finally pulled his horse alongside the carriage and, leaning down to the window, said, “Green Springs and good grazing for the animals is just a mile or two ahead. Rather than