Only 05 - Autumn Lover

through her teeth. “If you can’t remember that, Elyssa will do nicely. I don’t answer to ‘missy’ or ‘little girl.’ Do you understand me?”
    “Touchy little thing, aren’t you?” Hunter asked.
    Elyssa’s temper flashed, but she controlled her tongue. Her English cousins had taught her with cruel precision just how her reckless temper could be used against her.
    “I don’t enjoy strange men being familiar with me,” she said.
    “In a few days I won’t be a stranger.”
    “You are rude.”
    “I’m blunt, Sassy. I don’t have any patience for little girls who think that big eyes and swinging hips are all a man wants in a female.”
    “You arrogant, overbearing—”
    “No doubt of it,” Hunter interrupted impatiently. “Now, do you want this job done or do you want to spend the next thirty-seven days praying for a gentleman gunfighter who also knows how to lead men into battle and round up cattle between skirmishes?”
    It took every bit of the control Elyssa had learned at the hands of her cousins, but she managed not to say what she dearly wanted to: Go to hell, Hunter. I don’t need you .
    But Elyssa did need Hunter, and she knew it.
    So, obviously, did he.
    “I want the job done,” Elyssa said distinctly. “Then I want to see you mount up and ride off Ladder S land.”
    “No problem there. I’ve got better things to do than herd cattle for a spoiled child.”
    “I hope you lead men better than you judge women,” Elyssa retorted.
    Bugle Boy nudged Hunter hard enough to lift a smaller man right off his feet.
    Hunter was barely budged.
    “Follow me,” Elyssa said curtly. “Your horse has waited long enough for water and food.”
    Hunter followed Elyssa’s swirling, scented silk skirts along the paddock fence, paced every inch of the way by Leopard. Yet despite the stud’s fearsome reputation, he made no offer to pick a fight with Hunter’s stallion. Leopard was like the ranch dogs, curious about the new scents of man and horse.
    Well, at least the devil has some manners , Hunter thought. Wish I could say the same for his mistress .
    Sassy to the core .
    As Hunter walked, he watched the quick-tongued girlwho had looked at him first with apprehension, then with a frank feminine appreciation he was doing his level best to turn into distaste.
    Looks like I’m succeeding , Hunter told himself. Last thing I need is another girl like Belinda rubbing against me until I can’t think for the heat in my blood .
    I’m here to get Culpeppers, dead or alive .
    For that, I’ll need my wits about me, or I’ll end up killed before the job is done .
    The rattle and screech of a heavy barn door sticking to its iron railings drew Hunter out of his bleak thoughts. Just in front of him, Elyssa was pushing and shoving against the creaking barn door.
    Hunter’s left hand shot past her cheek. He pushed once. The door complained some more and then slid obediently aside.
    “Need some grease on those door rails,” Hunter said.
    For a moment Elyssa was too rattled to answer. The sheer male strength of Hunter had unnerved her. She could still feel the heat and coiled power of his body close to hers. He had pushed the door aside as though it weighed no more than her silk skirt.
    “We’re out of grease and I haven’t wanted to risk going to the settlement,” Elyssa said huskily.
    “Try some of that scented soap you’re wearing. It’s good for more than making men come to a point when you walk by.”
    Elyssa’s head turned around sharply.
    Hunter was close, so close that she could see the gleam of reflected moonlight in the dark centers of his eyes and the subtle flare of his nostrils as he drank her scent.
    Then Hunter turned away abruptly, freeing Elyssa from his intense, sensual interest.
    Without a word Hunter led Bugle Boy through the barn door. Then he waited while Elyssa struck a matchto light the small lantern that hung by the door.
    The smell of sulfur was sharp against the mellow scent of hay and horses. The clink of the glass chimney sounded loud in the silence.
    “You can put Bugle Boy in the big stall at the end for now,” Elyssa said, her voice uneven. “There are loose rails in the fence on the east paddock. After I get the fence fixed, you can keep your stallion there, unless you would rather stable him.”
    “I’ll see that the fence is sound.”
    Elyssa went to the grain bin and returned with a brimming gallon measure to Bugle Boy’s stall. The grain made a hushed,