Girl of the Prairie, A

When green-eyed Josie Rogers became engaged to blond Robert Kenyon, assistant buyer for an important New York dress firm, she looked forward to a glamorous, cosmopolitan married life. They planned to buy a small dress shop so that Robert could go into business for himself, with bronze-haired Josie as his model.

There was only one snag in their ambitious plans. Phillip Hunter, the son by a former marriage of Josie’s uncle’s wife, would have to agree to buy Josie’s half of the Kansas farm of which they were co-owners. This would provide Josie and Robert with the capital necessary to finance the shop. Phillip, ten years Josie’s senior and her guardian, was agreeable to the transaction—on one condition. Josie was to come home to Kansas for a few weeks before Christmas to assure herself—and Phillip—that she truly wanted to marry Robert and live in New York City.

Reluctantly Josie consented to Phillip’s stipulation. She knew only too well how powerfully she was drawn to the wind swept Kansas prairie, how much she enjoyed even the most menial chores of farming. Although she hated to admit it, she was homesick for Aunt Blanche, Phillip’s mother, and the gleaming white farmhouse.

But what Josie dreaded—and desired—most was seeing Phillip again. In the lonely days after a tornado claimed the lives of both their fathers, Josie had impetuously proposed to her handsome bachelor guardian. Her wounded pride at his gentle refusal had spurred her flight to New York. Even now, despite her engagement to Robert, Josie was not entirely certain that her feelings toward Phillip had changed.