Only 05 - Autumn Lover

punishing Mickey for his treatment of the vaqueros.
    “Did you tell him not to rub his eyes?” Elyssa asked.
    “Twice. Once when I put him to work. Again when he started bleating that his eyes hurt.”
    “Maybe next time he’ll listen,” Elyssa said.
    Hunter shrugged. “Doubt it. That boy makes a stump look real bright.”
    The mound of cleaned pumpkins grew.
    “Dear me,” Penny said after a time. “Do we have enough spices to make pie filling of all that?”
    “I’m thinking about pumpkin chutney, pumpkin relish, and dried pumpkins,” Elyssa muttered. “Soup, too.”
    “Chutney.” Penny smiled despite the sadness that came to her face along with the memories. “Gloria loved chutney.”
    “So do I. I’ve never made it with pumpkin, but…” Elyssa shrugged.
    “It should work,” Hunter said.
    “Do you think so?” Elyssa asked, surprised.
    “Sure. Most recipes were invented when a cook had too much of one thing and not enough of another. Pumpkin chutney shouldn’t be any different.”
    “It shouldn’t?”
    “No.”
    Elyssa looked bemused. “I do believe you’re right.”
    Hunter shot her a sideways look.
    “I think he is, too,” Penny said. “Gloria always told me that food customs began with what was at hand.”
    “Good food is like beauty,” Hunter said, looking away from Elyssa. “A matter of taste.”
    “Ha,” Penny said.
    She chopped a pumpkin in half with one swipe of her big knife.
    “There’s one ‘taste’ that men the world over share,” Penny added, her voice hard.
    “Really?” Elyssa asked. “What?”
    “Blondes,” Penny said succinctly.
    “Not all men,” Hunter said.
    “Name one,” Penny challenged.
    “Me. I prefer a good, steady woman with a smile that lights up a room. Like yours.”
    Penny looked surprised. Then she smiled, and proved Hunter’s words about lighting up a room.
    “Like food,” Hunter said without looking at Elyssa, “beauty is a matter of working with what you have rather than worrying about what you don’t have.”
    This time it was Elyssa who went through a pumpkin with a single slashing cut.
    “You’re a good woman,” Hunter continued, looking at Penny. “You should take one of the marriage offers you’ve gotten from the men around here.”
    Again, Penny was surprised.
    “How did you know?” she asked.
    Hunter shot a look at Elyssa and said, “All men aren’t blinded by sunlight shining on pale hair.”
    Penny’s smile faded.
    “The right one was,” Penny said. “And he’s the only one that matters.”
     
    That afternoon everyone but Penny, who still wasn’t feeling well, abandoned the kitchen and garden to go back out on the range. Lefty had come in on the run, full of news about a big band of mustangs to the south, down by the marsh. It was an opportunity too good to ignore.
    The shortage of mounts was more critical than the need to can vegetables. The hands had only one or two extra mounts apiece. They needed at least six for the brutal work of combing cattle out of the Ladder S’s rugged highlands. On hot days like today, they would have gone through eight horses each, if they had them.
    Morgan rode with Hunter and Elyssa in search of the mustangs. When Hunter had anything to say, he said it to Morgan. Otherwise, silence reigned while the three of them combed the hot, rumpled land along the edge of the marsh for any sign of mustangs.
    Elyssa was just as happy to be ignored. The sharp side of Hunter’s tongue was no pleasure, and the sharp side was all she had felt since last night.
    The land dipped down once again, leading to the bottom of yet another ravine. The mouth of the ravine was the marsh itself. Without a word Hunter dismounted and looked around for tracks. Very quickly he vanished inthe tall grasses that flourished above the rich, damp earth.
    Morgan drew his shotgun and urged his horse to stand close to Elyssa’s.
    Elyssa couldn’t help wishing that it was Hunter guarding her and Morgan doing the tracking.
    The horses waited with their heads low, dozing on three legs, as though struck dumb by the sun. Their stillness underlined the relentless labor of the past weeks. The animals wasted no time grabbing whatever rest was available.
    Though Elyssa would never admit it to Hunter, she wished for a break herself. She had left Leopard in his paddock, giving him a rest from the grueling schedule of dawn-to-dark work. The big, rawboned mare she was riding now was rough-gaited, but wise in the ways of