Only 05 - Autumn Lover

me. He simply took whatI offered. And in return, he gave me pleasure.
    Not his heart. Not his trust. Certainly not his love.
    Just pleasure.
    When Elyssa looked at Hunter again, her eyes were as empty as her heart.
    “What did Case say about the mule tracks he followed?” Elyssa asked.
    Hunter paused, surprised by the distance and lack of emotion in her voice. She was different in a way he couldn’t describe, but he recognized it.
    Being through a war changes you , Hunter reminded himself. Finding out that your trust has been betrayed changes you, too.
    It sure as hell changed me.
    Yet watching it change Elyssa was unexpectedly painful to Hunter. He would have given a great deal to replace the shadows in her eyes with the light of laughter and passion.
    “Ab Culpepper is headed for the Spanish Bottoms,” Hunter said finally.
    “Then you and Case will be leaving soon.”
    Before Hunter could say anything, Bill did.
    “Hunter isn’t going one step off the Ladder S until he marries you,” Bill said bluntly.
    Startled, Elyssa turned toward Bill.
    “I beg your pardon?” she asked.
    “You heard me,” Bill retorted. “From what Penny told me—and from what I can see with my own two eyes—it’s past time a preacher came to the Ladder S.”
    “To marry you and Penny, yes,” Elyssa said.
    “It will be a double wedding,” Bill said.
    “There is no need.”
    “The hell you say,” Bill shot back. “You and Hunter—”
    “I’m not pregnant,” Elyssa interrupted.
    Hunter made an odd sound.
    “You’re certain?” he asked.
    “Quite.”
    “The fact that he’s asking,” Bill said, “means it will be a double wedding. I’ll see to it personally.”
    “No,” Elyssa said.
    “Sassy—” Bill began, exasperated.
    “No,” she repeated. “I won’t.”
    “Why?” Hunter asked bluntly. “You know we’re good together.”
    Elyssa turned to Hunter, confronting him and all that she hadn’t lost, because it had never been given to her in the first place.
    “A husband’s first loyalty should be to his wife,” Elyssa said neutrally. “Yours is to your dead children. And to Case.”
    Hunter lifted his hand as though to touch Elyssa, or to ward off a blow.
    Or both.
    “ I want you ,” he said. “I can make you want me.”
    “Wanting isn’t enough for marriage.”
    Hunter didn’t disagree. Belinda had taught him that with cruel thoroughness.
    “Marriage requires trust,” Elyssa said, “for without trust, love isn’t possible. You haven’t trusted a woman since Belinda. I don’t really blame you. Being badly burned teaches you not to trust fire.”
    Hunter looked away. He couldn’t endure what he saw in Elyssa’s eyes.
    Then he wished he could stop listening as well, for what Elyssa was saying was more painful than what lay in her eyes. Her voice was an aching combination of exhaustion and understanding and regret that tore at him.
    “I thought I could change your mind, or your heart,” Elyssa said. “I was wrong. There is no room for the future in your mind and heart. Only the past.”
    From the upstairs came the sound of Case calling for his brother.
    “Hunter? If you’re still dead set on hunting Culpeppers with me, the horses are ready and the trail is getting cold.”
    Hunter stiffened. He looked at Elyssa and saw that she already knew he was leaving.
    “Elyssa,” he said hoarsely.
    “Go ahead,” she whispered. “There’s nothing to keep you here. We were lovers. Just lovers.”
    Still Hunter hesitated, feeling as though he had lost something before he could even name it. In a haunted silence he searched Elyssa’s eyes for what had once been there.
    Just lovers.
    Pain stabbed through Hunter as deeply as passion once had, as deeply as ecstasy, slicing all the way to his soul.
    “Hunter?” Case called. “Where are you?”
    “Good-bye, my autumn lover,” Elyssa whispered. “I’ll remember you each year when leaves turn to fire.”
    Hunter simply stared at her, unable to speak.
    “Please excuse me,” Elyssa said. “I haven’t had any sleep worth mentioning in days.”
    Quickly she went to the stairs. When she emerged into the kitchen, Case turned toward her.
    “Have you seen—” he began.
    The look on Elyssa’s face stopped Case cold. She went by him as though he wasn’t there. He watched her go up to the second floor. The sound of a door closing came back down through the silence.
    Hunter strode out of the cellar into the kitchen.
    “What are you standing