Only 05 - Autumn Lover

Bugle Boy. “I can’t abide sulking.”
    “Fancy man, when I have something to say to you, you’ll be the first to know.”
    Hunter’s mouth flattened. He reined Bugle Boy around and headed up the far side of the ravine. Soon he was out of sight among the boulders and piñons.
    He quickly found what he had hoped not to find—signs that another rider had waited at the lip of the ravine. After a quick reconnoiter to be certain the man was gone, Hunter went back to the place where the rider had waited.
    Dismounting, Hunter sat on his heels as the other rider had. The boot tracks the man had left were quite plain, as were the tracks of the man’s mount grazing aimlessly at the top of the ravine. Hunter had seen those horse tracks before, in the ravine where Bedamned had been before he burst out and tried to gore Elyssa.
    There were marks along the rim of the ravine. The man had pried at a group of bounders on the unstable rim of the ravine. Then he had stood back and watched while boulders, brush, and earth hurtled down toward Elyssa.
    That murderous son of a bitch , Hunter thought.
    Rage ran through Hunter, a rage as great as the day when he learned how his children had died.
    And why.
    Grimly Hunter mounted and backtracked far enough to assure himself that the rider had left the scene in one hell of a hurry. Eyes narrowed, Hunter judged the direction the rider had taken.
    Hunter wanted to follow, but he needed to be certainElyssa was safe. With a searing curse, he reined Bugle Boy back down the ravine.
    Morgan came riding up the gully at a canter.
    “Yo!” Hunter called.
    “Got something to show you, suh,” Morgan shouted. “Next ravine to the north.”
    “I’ll meet you there.”
    With eyes that glittered like blue-green gems, Elyssa watched Hunter vanish back into the piñons. The man could set fire to her body—and her temper—with maddening ease.
    But I’m getting to you, too, you stubborn son of a Missouri mule , Elyssa told herself with satisfaction. You get on your high horse and get all insulting and then you ignore me, but I know better .
    I’ve felt how much you want me .
    The memory of how Hunter had felt beneath her hands made Elyssa’s breath shorten and her cheeks flame.
    Morgan reined in beside Leopard.
    “Is something wrong?” Elyssa asked him.
    “Nothing you need to worry about, ma’am. Just a contrary critter.”
    “That’s Hunter, all right.”
    A smile flashed on Morgan’s face. He turned his horse around. With Leopard following, Morgan took the easy way out of the ravine.
    “Have you found some cows?” Elyssa asked hopefully.
    “None to speak of, Miss Elyssa.”
    “But these gullies are usually full of cattle.”
    “I can see the signs all around,” Morgan said quietly. “But signs are all there are. No beeves. Just an old barren cow or two.”
    Elyssa tried not to show the cold that settled in the pit of her stomach at Morgan’s words. Despite the lushgrass and clean seeps pooling in the gully, there were few cattle around. Of those, none had been what the cowboys called “beeves”—steers at least four years old.
    There should have been more. Many more.
    Unhappily Elyssa looked around, probing shadows and creases for cattle. She found nothing but the land itself.
    The meadows and flats near the marsh were dry, with tall grass standing cured in the sun. Cattle could do very well on the dried grass, but they preferred the tender green variety.
    Because of the small springs and seeps welling up from the land, many of the ragged gullies were thick with growing grass. Cattle came to those ravines like chunks of iron to a big magnet.
    Cattle had been here. Elyssa could see the hoofprints and manure piles, the meandering trails and the muddy seeps where hooves cut deeply.
    Yet, despite the signs, there were no cattle now.
    It was as though somebody had been here before the Ladder S hands. Someone who knew all the creases and grassy ravines where cows ruminated in the cool shade.
    Someone who had rounded up all the cows before their rightful owner could.
    The chill in Elyssa’s stomach increased. It was a feeling that had become more familiar each day…a growing fear whenever she thought about the future of the Ladder S.
    Don’t think about it , she told herself. Fretting until your stomach churns won’t help anything .
    Elyssa took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then another. Then one more.
    Hunter is doing everything anyone could , she reminded