Only 05 - Autumn Lover

friend in the Culpepper camp,” Case said.
    For the first time Elyssa really saw Case. She looked from his fringed moccasins to Hunter, who also wore moccasins. The resemblance between the brothers didn’t end there. The men were the same size, the same build, and they walked alike.
    The difference between them was subtle, but very real to Elyssa. Case was a dark, brooding, motionless presence. Even in sunlight, Elyssa doubted that laughter would light his eyes. Hunter had been like that when he first arrived at the Ladder S.
    But no longer.
    Now Hunter smiled. Sometimes his eyes even gleamed with laughter. Often they smoldered with passion.
    Elyssa had made a difference in Hunter. He could deny it, he could rage at her, he could call her a flirt, but she had gotten past his guard .
    The realization made Elyssa almost dizzy with relief. Only then did she understand just how much of her heart belonged to Hunter. She had been so afraid that he wouldn’t be able to love her in return.
    Elyssa looked away from Hunter, afraid that her new knowledge somehow would be revealed in her eyes. Then Hunter would find an excuse to push her away.
    She couldn’t take that right now.
    She was too raw over discovering who her real father was, and wasn’t.
    “Case,” Elyssa said. “You’re with the Culpeppers.”
    “They think so,” Case said.
    “I see.”
    She took in a deep breath and let it out.
    “What are our chances?” Elyssa asked Case bluntly.
    “They’ll be a sight better as soon as I figure out where your cattle are being held.”
    “They haven’t been sold?” Hunter and Elyssa asked as one.
    “No. The breeding stock are being held in one place and the steers in another.”
    Hunter’s teeth gleamed in the moonlight.
    “That’s good news,” he said.
    Case grunted. “Maybe. Depends on who owns the Slash River brand.”
    “Ab Culpepper,” Hunter said.
    “Not according to what passes for a brand register in Nevada.”
    “What?” Hunter said.
    “Some man by the name of J. M. Johnstone registered the brand,” Case said.
    Hunter looked at Elyssa. “Do you recognize the name?”
    “No. The only Johnstone I know around here is Mac, and he’s dead.”
    “When did he die?” Case asked.
    “About three months ago.”
    “Could be the same one. The brand was registered in 1863.”
    Elyssa frowned.
    “That was the year my parents died,” she said.
    “Of what?” Case asked.
    “Lung fever took Mother. My father walked out into a storm and never came back. He’s buried with my mother.”
    Hunter gave Case a swift look.
    “Did Mac ever mention having his own brand?” Hunter asked.
    There was silence while Elyssa tried to remember the few conversations she had had with the late, laconic foreman of the Ladder S.
    “Mac never said anything about it to me,” she said after a few moments.
    “Did you father let Mac run his own cattle and horses on Ladder S land?” Case asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Did you give permission?” Hunter asked Elyssa.
    “The question never arose. Mac was a difficult man for a woman to talk to.”
    Case and Hunter looked at one another again. Both were thinking the same thing.
    Mac might have been branding Ladder S mavericks with his own brand. It wasn’t unheard-of, although most ranch owners understandably saw the practice as little better than outright rustling.
    “Sounds like Gaylord came along,” Case said, “saw a good thing, and decided to cut himself in on it.”
    “You think the Culpeppers deliberately killed Mac because he had registered a brand they wanted to use?” Elyssa asked.
    “A brand, and a bunch of mavericks handy to use it on.”
    “You think Mac was stealing from the Ladder S?”
    “It wouldn’t have been the first time a foreman branded a few calves on the side,” Case said calmly.
    “It’s not theft, in some eyes,” Hunter said. “Back in Texas, there was so much livestock on the loose after the war that men killed cattle for their hides and let the meat rot.”
    “I see,” Elyssa said slowly. “Well, I suppose Mac might have seen the Ladder S as his own after my parents died. I was in England, and Bill wanted me to stay there.”
    Hunter turned to Case.
    “Have the Culpeppers said why they settled on taking over the Ladder S?” Hunter asked.
    “About what you’d think,” Case said. “They’re tired of running from us. They’re hunting a hole, and the Ladder S is a well-built, well-watered ranch.”
    Elyssa swallowed