Only 05 - Autumn Lover

flatten him?”
    Elyssa’s lips tightened.
    “After,” she said reluctantly.
    Hunter grunted. “Figures.”
    “What does?”
    “You couldn’t hold your tongue even to save your ranch.”
    “I disagree,” Elyssa said through her teeth. “I’m holding my tongue right now. Admirably. In fact, I will apply for sainthood by the next mail!”
    Hunter made a sound that could have been a cough or a strangled chuckle. Because his hand was smoothing over his mustache at the time, it was hard to tell.
    “So there won’t be any help from the army,” Hunter said after a moment.
    “No, As the captain pointed out to me in generous detail, the livestock will still exist. The army simply will purchase them from a different owner.”
    “A true officer and a gentleman,” Hunter said ironically.
    “I will defer to your superior judgment in the matter.”
    “That would be a first.”
    Elyssa bit her tongue.
    “How many head of cattle carry the Ladder S brand?” Hunter asked.
    “Before I left for England, Father said there were nearly a thousand.”
    “How many now?”
    Elyssa’s eyelids flinched. It was an involuntary response to the sinking in her stomach that came whenever she thought how close she was to the crumbling edge of disaster.
    “I don’t know,” she said starkly.
    “Guess.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Why?” Hunter asked.
    “Mac never told me.”
    “Try counting them yourself.”
    “I tried,” Elyssa retorted.
    “Too much work?”
    “Too much Ab.”
    “What?”
    “Ab caught me away from the ranch house just after spring roundup. I haven’t dared ride out since.”
    Hunter’s gut clenched. He knew precisely what kind of evil Ab could wreak on a girl’s soft body.
    “Did he hurt you?” Hunter asked.
    The promise of unleashed hell in Hunter’s voice shocked Elyssa. She swallowed once, then had to swallow again before she could trust herself to speak.
    “N-no,” she whispered. “Leopard is very fast.”
    “So are those racing mules the Culpeppers ride,” he said, but his voice was neutral once more.
    Elyssa let out a long breath as Hunter resumed brushing Bugle Boy’s muscular haunch. For a few moments he had looked like a man poised on the edge of violence.
    “The mule wasn’t much on hurdles,” Elyssa said.
    “What?”
    “I jumped Leopard over ravines and deadfalls and boulder piles and creeks. Ab’s mule couldn’t stay the course.”
    The thought of Elyssa racing headlong over the rough country made Hunter’s heart hesitate, then beat with redoubled speed. He didn’t know why the thought of her in danger should affect him so fiercely, but he couldn’t deny that it did.
    “That was a fool thing to do,” Hunter said bluntly. “You could have broken your horse’s leg.”
    Elyssa didn’t disagree. Even now the thought of that wild ride made cold sweat gather at the base of her spine.
    But nothing made her feel as cold as what her fate would have been if she hadn’t outrun Ab Culpepper.
    “Damn,” Hunter muttered. “You don’t have the sense that God gave a goose. You never should have been out alone in the first place.”
    Hunter walked around Bugle Boy and went to work on the stallion’s other side.
    “Someone had to do the count,” Elyssa said.
    “What about your cowhands?”
    “They left,” she said simply.
    “How many do you have now?”
    “Oh…three, at last count. Depends on how their Dutch courage is holding out,” Elyssa added wryly.
    “Just three? A ranch this size could use four times that many hands.”
    “Finally we agree on something,” Elyssa said beneath her breath. “I will treasure the moment.”
    Hunter looked at her over Bugle Boy’s back.
    “Did you say something?” Hunter asked, his voice bland.
    Elyssa cleared her throat and decided that baiting Hunter was tempting, but not very bright.
    “I agree that the Ladder S could use more men,” Elyssa said. “In fact, when Mother and Father were alive, we had thirty hands for the busiest times of the year. In the winter we had fewer, of course. It dependedon how many cattle we were holding over.”
    Hunter was silent for a moment. Then he pinned Elyssa with night-dark eyes.
    “Do you have enough money to hire at least seven more men at gunfighting wages?” he asked bluntly.
    Elyssa’s stomach tightened again. Money wouldn’t be a problem if the cattle and horses were delivered to the army on time.
    If they weren’t, she would be bankrupt.
    “I can pay,” Elyssa said tightly.