Only 05 - Autumn Lover

was as white as moonlight. He bent and gave Elyssa a swift, fierce kiss, surprising both of them equally.
    Then he was gone.
    Anxiously Elyssa stared into the cloud-tossed night. She knew that Hunter was out there, a shadow among racing cloud-shadows, but she couldn’t see him.
    Nor did she know why he was here. She knew onlythat the sound of his footsteps going down the stairs had awakened her instantly.
    That was hardly surprising. The sound of him shifting position in bed often awakened her…assuming she had been able to get to sleep in the first place. Being just scant feet from Hunter all night, every night, had an unsettling influence on her body.
    Not to mention her dreams.
    Hunter checked over his shoulder several times to see if Elyssa was keeping her promise to stay put. When he realized that she wasn’t following him, he let out a soundless sigh of relief.
    Unlike the herb garden, the kitchen garden was a thicket with many places for a man to hide. Pole beans, pea vines climbing on a big trellis, corn plants that stood higher than a man—there was a lot of cover for an intruder.
    There was cover for Hunter as well.
    Silently as moonlight itself, more quiet than the fat raindrops that had begun to fall, Hunter sifted between rows of corn. Without even being aware of it, he merged his outline with that of the tall plants around him as he moved.
    Hunter had done the same thing so often during the War Between the States that it was second nature to him now. But during the war there had been an army of blue uniforms surrounding him.
    Now there was only the night and a single man-shadow out there among the shades of darkness.
    Motionless, Hunter stood and listened to the night and the ragged storm.
    Nothing came back to him but the restless stirring of the wind and the spatter of raindrops against the garden plants.
    Slowly Hunter crouched and ran his hand over the toowhite ground. Sitting on his heels, he brought his fingertips to his mouth and licked lightly.
    Salt.
    You son of a whore , Hunter thought coldly. Wait until I get my hands on you .
    The wind shifted like a woman turning over in bed. At the far end of the garden, pole beans rustled.
    But it wasn’t leaves stirred by the wind. It was a man drawing a bead with his six-gun on something pale that stood within the shadows of the barn.
    Elyssa .
    “Get down, Sassy!” Hunter yelled.
    As he yelled, he drew his six-gun. He was off balance, trying only for speed and surprise. Before the shots ever left the six-gun, Hunter knew they would miss the target.
    All he hoped was that the other man would miss, too.
    Shots split the night, a man cried out, dogs erupted into barking, cowhands yelled from the bunkhouse, and Hunter cursed in the kind of words that could etch granite as he reloaded.
    “Sassy! Are you all right?” Hunter yelled.
    “Yes!”
    “Stay there! Make sure none of the men shoot until they can see what the hell they’re aiming at!”
    Hunter didn’t wait for Elyssa’s answer. He just ran flat out between the cornstalks, chasing the shadow he had sensed disappearing down the garden rows.
    Before Hunter reached the edge of the garden, he heard the sound of a horse running hard. The drumroll of hoofbeats faded rapidly into the wind and rain.
    “Son of a bitch ,” Hunter snarled.
    Barking wildly, Vixen burst from between hills of squash vines.
    “Oh, shut up!” Hunter said in disgust. “The time for barking is long past.”
    Chagrined, Vixen fell silent.
    “Colonel?” called Morgan. “You all right?”
    The choppiness of the words made it clear that Morgan was running toward the garden.
    “I’m fine,” Hunter said. “Tell the men to swap their guns for shovels and lanterns.”
    Morgan broke through the last rows of corn, looking around hopefully.
    “We having a burying?” Morgan asked.
    “No,” Hunter said in disgust. “The son of a bitch got the garden, damn his black soul.”
    “What?”
    “Salt,” Hunter said succinctly.
    “Mother of God,” Morgan said.
    His eyes widened as he looked at the destruction of the garden written in trails of white running down the furrows. Cursing steadily, Morgan lit the lantern he was carrying and lifted it high.
    White gleamed back at him from all directions.
    Rain started to come down harder. Salt began dissolving before Hunter’s eyes.
    “Get those shovels over here now!” Hunter yelled.
    A chorus of agreement came back through the gathering rain.
    “Hunter?” Elyssa called.