Only 05 - Autumn Lover

mouth.
    The thought of what would happen if Ab got his hands on Elyssa was unbearable.
    “Elyssa.”
    Hunter’s hoarse whisper reached Elyssa the instant before his mouth closed over hers. The kiss was as hard as his thoughts, but Elyssa made no complaint. She simply wrapped her arms around Hunter and gave back the kiss with all of the leashed wildness inside her.
    “ Promise me ,” Hunter said urgently.
    “Yes,” Elyssa whispered.
    An instant later the kitchen door closed behind Hunter. He paused long enough to hear the bar thumping into place. Then he set off for the barn.
    Hunter and Morgan rode out of the ranch yard first. They sat warily, repeating rifles drawn and laid across the saddle, their eyes quartering the darkness for any sign of movement.
    They saw only wind blowing through trees stripped of all but a few pale leaves. Clouds raced overhead, veiling and unveiling the stars. The moon gave enough illumination to reveal movement.
    A hunter’s moon.
    Reed and Fox left the Ladder S a few minutes afterward. Their destination was the same as that of the first two men, but their route was slightly different. They had another part of the Ladder S to ride over, hoping to find raiders.
    Or be found by them.
    Live bait for a trap that could swing shut on them without warning.
    By twos, the remaining men slipped into the darkness. Each took a different trail to the same place.
    Hunter and Morgan rode to the rendezvous point and waited, listening intently to the small noises of the night.
    No sound of shots came. No alarm was raised.
    Two by two, men began materializing out of darkness at the rendezvous. Soon all but the final pair of men had arrived.
    Hunter sat off to the side on Bugle Boy, glancing at his watch.
    Case, damn it, where are you ? Hunter thought impatiently. The longer we wait here, the more likely we are to be discovered .
    Two more minutes. Then the last vaqueros will be here .
    I can’t wait any longer than that .
    Seconds ticked into the moonlight like fleeing ghosts.Silently Hunter prayed that Case wasn’t lying wounded or dead in some nameless ravine. And as Hunter prayed, he couldn’t help remembering the time he had queried Case on how secure his position was with the raiders.
    Do they trust you ?
    As much as they trust anyone who isn’t a Culpepper .
    Two men rode up quietly. Their wide-brimmed hats were silhouetted against the moonlight.
    Morgan rode to Hunter’s side, saw the watch in his hand, and waited.
    The last second fled.
    The watch clicked shut with a final sound.
    “No sign of Case, suh,” Morgan said softly.
    “We’ll have to go in without him.”
    “Yes, suh.” Then, unhappily, “It’s not like him.”
    “No,” Hunter whispered. “It isn’t.”
    “I’ll pray for him.”
    “Pray for all of us.”
    Hunter urged Bugle Boy forward. Morgan came up alongside. The other men fell in behind, two by two.
    They had gone less than a quarter mile when they heard the sound of a horse running hard, destroying the silence of the night.
    The horse was coming toward them.
    Hunter signaled everyone into cover. Then he spurred Bugle Boy down a steep ridge, racing toward whatever was coming at him out of the night. The big stallion plunged forward in wild leaps, then sat on his hocks and slid the rest of the way down.
    “Damn,” Sonny said under his breath. “That man sure can ride.”
    “He shoots better,” Morgan said.
    The men watched from cover as Bugle Boy hit the flats and raced recklessly over the moonlit land.
    After several hundred yards a horse burst from a ravine and ran toward Hunter. The horse’s rider wascrouched low over the animal’s neck, barely a shadow against the flying mane. A rifle barrel gleamed dully in the moonlight. There was no bulk of a saddle on the horse’s hard-running body.
    “Bareback,” muttered Fox.
    “Injun,” Mickey said, lifting his rifle.
    Morgan knocked it aside.
    “What the hell!” Mickey said. “I had him dead to rights!”
    “Be glad you didn’t pull the trigger,” Morgan said curtly. “That’s Hunter’s brother out there.”
    “His brother?” Mickey said. “I didn’t know he had one.”
    “You do now. Keep it in mind. Case is as hard a man as you’ll find on the right side of the law.”
    Morgan watched the two riders below. Within seconds, his worst fears were confirmed.
    Case didn’t bother stopping to talk to Hunter. He simply shouted something and swept past at a dead run.
    He was heading for the