Only 05 - Autumn Lover

of the earth. Despite that, he kept to the lengthy, meandering route he had chosen.
    Finally Hunter brought Elyssa to a place where mountains and the long, wide valley merged at the edges in a series of rumpled ridges and canyons. At the head of a small, steep canyon there was a cave mouth shielded by a riot of shrubbery. Clear, sweet water flowed between the willow thickets crowding the banks of a small stream.
    Elyssa recognized the place. She had been to Hidden Creek before, but not for many years. And never by such a circuitous route.
    Without dismounting, Hunter rode Bugle Boy through a thicket and into the creek itself. As he turned the horse upstream, Leopard followed. Limber willow branches bent away from the horses, then sprang back into place with little to mark the fact that horses had passed through.
    When Hunter reached the cave mouth, he reined aside. A gesture of his hand urged Elyssa to ride in front of him into the cave itself. After Leopard walked past, Hunter bent low on Bugle Boy’s neck and followed. Calmly both horses walked beneath an overhang of rock and into the mouth of a cave.
    Just beyond the smaller opening, the cave was perhaps a hundred feet wide and three times that deep. Because it was autumn, there was a wide margin of dry, sandy bank around the pool that was concealed within the cave.
    The pool itself was like a black mirror reflecting daylight from the entrance. Any disturbance to the water left ghostly, quicksilver traces on the surface. At the back of the pool was a long, narrow crack in the mountain.
    In spring, water would gush from the crack with a sound like thunder. Today water welled up silently, filling the pool as quickly as the small creek drained it.
    Hunter dismounted and grabbed a loose screen of freshly cut brush. He pulled it into place across the lower part of the opening, concealing the mouth of the cave.
    With the brush screen in place, the light filtering into the cave became as mysterious as the quicksilver motions of the pool itself. Bugle Boy went to the water and drank. Silver circles shimmered outward from his muzzle.
    “Can you see?” Hunter asked.
    Elyssa started. Hunter was standing at Leopard’s shoulder. His left hand was on the stallion’s bit.
    “All I can see is that we’ve ridden four miles and we’re only a half mile from the house,” Elyssa said. “Why?”
    “Get down. It’s over here.”
    Hunter stepped aside as though he knew that his closeness was making Elyssa nervous. Retreating a few steps, he waited for her to dismount. When she did, he turned immediately toward the stream.
    “This way,” he said.
    After a moment of hesitation, Elyssa followed Hunter. He went to the point where the pool overflowed to create Hidden Creek. There he waited until she came to stand by him.
    “Where is it?” Elyssa asked.
    “Other side.”
    Elyssa peered into the oddly luminous darkness on the other side of the creek. She could just make out blurred shapes of boxes or bedrolls or both.
    “Can you see it?” Hunter asked.
    The subtle, leashed anticipation in his voice made Elyssa curious.
    “No,” she admitted. “I’m afraid I can’t see much at all.”
    “Hang on.”
    With that, Hunter lifted Elyssa off her feet, carrying her across his chest like a child. He was splashing through the creek before she realized what had happened.
    “Hunter!”
    The word echoed around the cave, Elyssa’s voice doubled and redoubled, calling his name.
    Hunter cocked his head, listened, and smiled.
    The tenderness and sensuality in his smile made Elyssa forget to breathe.
    “Hunter?” she whispered.
    “I’m right here.”
    He walked out of the stream onto the sandy bank and kept on going.
    “Put me…down,” Elyssa said, swallowing.
    “In a minute. We’re almost there.”
    As Hunter walked, sand whispered and slid away from his boots with a silky sound.
    Elyssa started to speak, then closed her mouth. She was afraid her voice would give away the turmoil of her mind and body.
    Hunter was too close. Too powerful.
    Too gentle.
    He carried her as though she was made of a crystal so fragile that a breath would set it to shivering and singing. It made her feel just that fragile, just that shivery.
    The tremors that went through Elyssa were felt by Hunter as well. He looked down into her face. All he saw was the flash of her half-closed eyes, the tightnessof her lips, and the pallor of her smooth skin.
    Hunter’s mouth flattened. Elyssa looked like a