Only 05 - Autumn Lover

kids.”
    The sound Hunter made could hardly be called a laugh.
    “Not Elyssa,” Hunter said bluntly. “Not with me.”
    “Why?”
    “She didn’t like it one bit. When I tried to make it right, she went for my eyes like a cat.”
    Case’s expression shifted very slightly, as close to a smile as he ever came since the war.
    “Seems to me,” Case drawled, “that a girl with that much passion in her would be worth the trouble of gentling.”
    “First I have to catch her. She’s as hard to get close to as that ghost you keep chasing.”
    “Interesting thing about that ghost,” Case said.
    “Did you find out who he is?” Hunter asked quickly.
    “No. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of that critter since Gaylord was killed. Nobody is giving information to Ab now, either.”
    “How do you know?”
    “That’s what I’m supposed to be doing now,” Case said ironically. “Spying on the Ladder S for Ab.”
    “Interesting.”
    “I thought so.”
    “Does Ab trust you?” Hunter asked, thinking fast.
    “Ab doesn’t trust anyone.”
    Hunter grunted.
    “Like you and women,” Case continued. “Ever since you let that faithless bitch lead you around by your dumb handle, you haven’t had a good word to say about women.”
    Hunter gave Case a long, measuring kind of look. Quietly Case waited to see if his brother would lose his temper again.
    In the moonlight Case’s pale green eyes looked the same as Hunter’s—like hammered silver.
    “You’re riding me pretty hard,” Hunter said. “Why?”
    “You’re riding Sassy harder.”
    “If you’re that steamed about it, marry her yourself.”
    “I’ve thought of it,” Case said easily.
    “ What ?”
    “Keep it down unless you want visitors.”
    “What’s this about you and Elyssa?” Hunter demanded in a low, seething voice.
    “Nothing but a few facts.”
    “Such as?”
    “Sassy is a woman alone in a country where women have a hell of a hard time alone,” Case said. “She has a fine ranch and a desire to make it work. If she didn’t believe in such a damn fool thing as love, I’d have a ring on her finger so fast it would make your head spin.”
    “No.”
    “Why not? Are you planning to marry her?”
    “It’s the only decent thing for me to do,” Hunter said simply. “But she’s not having any part of it.”
    Case grunted. “She was a virgin, then. I wondered.”
    It wasn’t a question, but Hunter answered anyway.
    “Yes,” he said distinctly. “Elyssa was a virgin.”
    “At least you know who she’s been with,” Case said. “Girl like Belinda, you never could tell how many neighbors were looking at her and remembering what it was like to climb into her saddle.”
    Hunter grimaced but didn’t disagree.
    For a few minutes the men stood and listened to the sounds of the night. Then Case turned his attention to his brother once more.
    “Ab is going from bad to worse,” Case said. “Gaylord was a favorite of his.”
    “Ain’t that just too damned bad.”
    “You getting ready to go after Ab?”
    “I don’t have much choice,” Hunter said. “The armywill be wanting their livestock in less than two weeks.”
    “How many head of cattle do you have for them?”
    “Beeves? Less than fifty. Maybe another hundred in breeding stock.”
    “The Ladder S won’t last long without breeding stock,” Case said.
    Hunter didn’t answer.
    “But that’s not our problem, is it?” Case continued. “Culpeppers are.”
    “Have you found where the stolen cattle are being held?” Hunter asked curtly.
    “Funny thing about that. Lately I’ve noticed some prime Ladder S strays on B Bar land.”
    “Strays?” Hunter asked sharply.
    Case nodded. “It’s as though some of the cattle are drifting out of wherever they’ve been held.”
    “Backtrack them.”
    “I did. They seem to be coming from the willow bottoms north of the B Bar.”
    Hunter grunted. “That’s a rough stretch of land from what I’ve heard.”
    “You heard right. Lots of ravines reaching back up into the Rubies. A man could hide a lot of cattle up that way.”
    “Not good enough. I have to know where the cattle are before I risk a raid.”
    “I’m getting close,” Case said.
    “You’ve got three days.”
    Case nodded.
    “If you find out about the cattle before then, don’t wait for dark to tell me,” Hunter said. “Just get over here quick. We’ll need you at the ranch more than at the raiders’ camp.”
    “What if I can’t find the