Only 05 - Autumn Lover

paused before walking past Hunter. He seemed to fill the doorway. She would have to go very close to him to get by.
    The thought made her pulse kick.
    Did he plan it that way ? she asked herself.
    Hunter waited with an air of thinning patience.
    Don’t be silly , Elyssa told herself. Hunter has madeit quite clear that he finds me even less attractive than the English lords did. They, at least, were angling for a mistress .
    All Hunter is angling for is a smack on his unshaven cheek .
    Head high, gripping the silk shawl with one hand and her flimsy silk skirts with the other, Elyssa swept past Hunter.
    There was a distinct ripping sound as her skirt caught on a nail.

3
    E lyssa was jerked to a stop. Instinctively she threw out her hands for balance. The silk shawl slithered off one shoulder as she windmilled her arms, teetering on the edge of falling.
    A hand clad in black leather closed around the colorful shawl, saving it from a descent to the fragrant stall floor. Simultaneously Hunter’s right arm closed around Elyssa’s body just above her waist.
    She made a startled sound as she was lifted off her feet without warning. Her legs started flailing.
    “Hold still before you rip your skirts right off,” Hunter said curtly. “Or was that what you had in mind?”
    Elyssa made another ragged sound.
    The feel of Hunter’s naked right hand just beneath her left breast made Elyssa feel light-headed. The warmth of his hand seeped through the thin layers of silk dress and chemise. Her heart kicked frantically. She dragged at breath but couldn’t get enough air into her lungs.
    “Hang on,” Hunter said, backing up a step.
    Abruptly his grip shifted.
    Elyssa forgot about trying to breathe and clung to Hunter. The weight of her breasts was supported on his hard forearm while he bent, still holding her, and eased silk free from the nail.
    The heat of Hunter was like a brand on Elyssa’s soft flesh.
    “Let go,” a deep voice said right next to her ear. “You’re free now.”
    But Elyssa wasn’t. She was held motionless by Hunter’s lean fingers curling across her ribs, brushing against the lower curve of one breast. Her heart was hammering so fiercely she was afraid Hunter would hear it.
    Then she realized he wouldn’t have to hear her wild heartbeat. He could probably feel it against the naked skin of his right hand.
    Elyssa tilted her head and looked back over her shoulder at Hunter, trying to see his eyes. It was difficult. His eyelids were half-lowered, shielding his eyes.
    Yet she sensed he was looking at her breasts and feeling their weight against his arm.
    An odd, shimmering sensation went through Elyssa, as though she had stepped naked into a pool of warm water. Suddenly her nipples tightened and pushed against the silk in twin, hard peaks.
    Hunter’s breath came in with a swift ripping sound.
    Elyssa turned more toward him, struggling softly against his strength, determined to see his eyes. When she succeeded, the glittering intensity of his glance sent a strange wave of weakness through her. She sagged against him.
    Then her own breath came in raggedly. The quintessentially male flesh pressed against her hip was rigid, unmistakable even to a virgin.
    “Hunter?” Elyssa whispered, her voice uneven.
    “Stand up or I’ll drop you.”
    The contempt in Hunter’s voice was like being dumped into ice water.
    “I didn’t mean—” she began, only to have her voice break. “You didn’t have to—”
    “ Stand up .”
    Hastily Elyssa straightened her legs, only to find that her knees were still wobbly. She took a half-step, stumbled, and grabbed the nearest thing for support.
    It was Hunter, of course. The word he said under his breath made her wince.
    “What the hell is going on here?” demanded a harsh male voice from the darkness beyond the stall.
    Hunter looked up. A big, heavily muscled young man was striding down the aisle between the stalls, coming toward Hunter and Elyssa. He was wearing a six-gun on his hip and carrying a coil of rope in his hands.
    The rope worried Hunter almost as much as the six-gun. He knew exactly how much damage a rope used as a club could do in close quarters.
    Without making a fuss about it, Hunter took a step away from Elyssa, giving himself room to fight.
    And the angry flush on the young man’s face told Hunter that it might easily come to blows.
    “Who—oh, it’s you, Mickey,” Elyssa said, glancing away from the young man.
    Cautiously Elyssa shook out