Only 05 - Autumn Lover

stranger’s voice from behind Elyssa, “would you lookee here. Someone brung Ab a prime piece of woman-flesh.”
    Bill stumbled and fell into Elyssa. She found herself propelled away from the stranger.
    “ Run ,” Bill whispered fiercely.
    This time Elyssa didn’t argue. She turned and ran.
    Within three steps she was brought up short by the iron band of a man’s fingers wrapped around her upper arm. She gasped in pain as she was spun roughly toward Ab Culpepper. He was tall, rawboned, and had pale eyes that glittered in the gloomy light. The look in those eyes made Elyssa’s stomach turn over.
    “Really prime,” Ab said.
    Elyssa jerked her arm. “Let go of me!”
    “Not so fast, gal. Just because ol’ Bill here is too gone with drink to entertain a lady don’t mean you have to leave all disappointed like.”
    “Let me go,” Elyssa said between her teeth.
    “No gal never said Ab Culpepper can’t rise to the occasion,” Ab drawled.
    Instinctively Elyssa looked at Bill, knowing that she couldn’t defeat Ab alone.
    Bill’s hands were nowhere near the six-gun he wore on his hip.
    Cold seeped into Elyssa’s soul. Bill wasn’t going to help her now any more than he had helped her in the past two months.
    Then Elyssa realized that Bill was looking past her, as though she were no longer important. The bleak, helpless rage on Bill’s face told her more than words could have.
    She turned to follow Bill’s glance.
    Culpeppers materialized out of the dawn as Elyssalooked. First one. Then another. Then Gaylord. They were no more than ten feet away from Bill. Tall, rawhide-lean, pale blue eyes; the Culpeppers were alike as peas in a pod.
    Or devils in hell.
    “Say howdy to the boys,” Ab urged Elyssa.
    “Release me,” she said distinctly.
    Ab smiled.
    Elyssa’s stomach lurched again. The cruelty in Ab was frighteningly clear.
    Gaylord Culpepper might have been missing a piece of his humanity, but Ab was missing his entire soul.
    “Just ignore ol’ Bill,” Ab advised. “He’s been right testy for a time. Comes of not having a gal to poke.”
    Not a word passed Elyssa’s bloodless lips. Her eyes had told her that words would do no good. The Culpeppers had Bill dead where he stood.
    All they had to do was pull the trigger.
    Ab saw the direction of Elyssa’s glance and smiled. The pressure of his fingers on her arm eased a bit.
    There was nowhere for Elyssa to run. Even if there had been, the fog was vanishing as she watched. The last pale wisps were barely knee-high.
    No cover.
    No place to hide.
    Ab pulled off Elyssa’s hat with a fast swipe of his hand. Flaxen hair glowed in the light.
    “Thought so,” Ab said with satisfaction. “You be that Sassy bitch.”
    “My name is Elyssa.”
    The look on Ab’s face said he didn’t care what her name was.
    “Let’s go to the cabin,” Ab said, smiling. “We got business to take care of.”
    Bill gave Ab a quick, savage glance.
    Ab didn’t even notice. All he cared about at the mo-ment was the girl with the flaxen hair and stubborn blue-green eyes.
    “We have no business together,” Elyssa said distinctly.
    “Now, don’t be so hasty, gal. You might like my business,” Ab said slyly.
    “I’m late. I’m expected back at my ranch.”
    “That’s what we’ll be talkin’ about.”
    “What?”
    “You gettin’ shuck of the Ladder S,” Ab said impatiently. “All nice and legal like. Nothin’ for them blue-bellied Yankees to cry over.”
    “No.”
    “Thirty Yankee dollars,” Ab said. “That’s my first and last offer.”
    Elyssa looked at him as though he was mad. Thirty dollars couldn’t buy a Ladder S corral, much less the whole ranch.
    Just as quickly as Elyssa had glanced at Ab, she looked away. Looking into Ab’s eyes was terrifying.
    “No,” she said hoarsely.
    A fourth man materialized out of the rising dawn, rifle in one hand and six-gun in the other. He was standing well away from the Culpeppers. Gun drawn, he waited.
    There was no eagerness in his stance. Nor was there any of the feral lust that possessed the Culpeppers. The calm readiness of the man’s body was more dangerous than the weapons he held.
    With great clarity Elyssa sensed that the fourth man was more deadly than the rest of the Culpeppers put together. She was as certain of it as she was of her own too rapid heartbeat.
    My God, what have I done ? she asked herself in dismay. Bill is little better than a prisoner of these raiders .
    And now I am, too