Only 05 - Autumn Lover

sun.
    “Tell the boys they did a good job,” Hunter said to Morgan. “Then pick two of them to sleep out here and make sure none get away.”
    “Yes, suh.”
    “The dogs could do that,” Elyssa said.
    “Not if whoever was in the garden decides to punch a hole in the corral,” Hunter said bluntly.
    Elyssa’s mouth turned down, but she didn’t disagree.
    Hunter was right. The dogs could no longer be trusted with any kind of guard duty.
    “Send for Mickey and a wagonload of those water barrels,” Hunter said to Morgan.
    “Yes, suh!”
    “A horse with a gut full of water doesn’t buck nearly as hard as a thirsty one,” Hunter added dryly.
    Morgan gave a shout of laughter, saluted, and trotted off toward the barn, which was barely a quarter mile away.
    The Ladder S hands who were particularly good with a rope went into the corral. Bandannas pulled up overtheir noses against the dust, the men rode among the milling mustangs, picking out targets.
    With as little fuss as possible, men began roping horses that wore a brand of any kind. Those were the animals that went from wild to mostly tame the instant a loop settled around their necks. They offered no fight while they were led out of the brush corral, trotted across the grassland, and put into the home corral close to the barn.
    By the time Morgan returned, the brush corral was down to perhaps seventy horses. Few of them wore brands. All of them were wary and wild as deer.
    Mickey drove up with a buckboard loaded with full water barrels. It was pulled by six broad-shouldered oxen. Morgan and his pony walked alongside to encourage the oxen.
    The sight of the water barrels reminded Elyssa of just how much she would have liked a bath. The surprising heat of the sun, the exertion of the work, and the endless dust felt like a blanket wrapped around her dark riding habit.
    Elyssa had long since unbuttoned her jacket, but that was no longer enough. She stripped off the jacket and tied it behind her saddle. Then, surreptitiously, she unbuttoned a few buttons on her high-necked muslin blouse. Air flowed through the opening to the thin cotton chemise, and from there to the hot skin beneath.
    She made a murmurous sound of pleasure that went into Hunter like a knife.
    “Mickey! Sonny! Reed!” Hunter barked. “Help Morgan with those barrels!”
    Hunter dismounted and went to add his own strength to the task.
    “Mickey, roll them down those planks one at a time,” Hunter said. “Careful, boy! If one of those ran over a man, he’d be flatter than a shadow.”
    One by one the men rolled barrels down two stout planks from the wagon bed to the hot ground. Then each barrel was rolled and shoved over to the trough at one edge of the corral.
    Morgan knocked out the stopper on the first barrel. With a grunt of effort, Hunter tipped the barrel up onto the edge of the trough. Silver water gushed and danced into the dusty trough.
    The scent of fresh water brought the milling mustangs to a halt. Heads turned, ears pricked. The animals all but licked their lips in anticipation as they eyed the trough.
    Elyssa knew just how the mustangs felt. She would have given a great deal to be able to stand beneath the gurgling, leaping water and get wet all the way through to her skin.
    “Mickey,” Hunter called. “Bring the next one.”
    Elyssa barely noticed Mickey’s bulging muscles as he wrestled a barrel into place. She was too busy noticing that Hunter had undone a few buttons of his own. Black hair gleamed through the opening in Hunter’s pale blue shirt.
    Without thinking, Elyssa dismounted and walked closer.
    “Watch out, Miss Elyssa!” Sonny called.
    Elyssa looked up, saw that a barrel had gotten away from Sonny, and leaped nimbly aside. The barrel bounced from the top of the planks and fell apart when it hit the ground.
    Water exploded, drenching everything within reach, Elyssa included.
    Her startled shriek drew every man’s eyes, but it was the sudden feminine laughter that held them.
    Hunter vaulted the corral gate and ran toward Sonny with mayhem in his eyes.
    “Oh, gosh, Miss Elyssa,” Sonny said. “I’m plumb sorry. That durned barrel just had a mind of its own.”
    Laughing, plucking at the blouse that was plastered to her skin, Elyssa turned aside Sonny’s apologies.
    “That’s all right,” she said. “I was just wishing for a bath, and then I had one.”
    Hunter gave Sonny a look that made the younger man long for a place to hide.
    “Did anything but