Only 06 - Winter Fire

don’t want anyone put in—”
    â€œI’ll see to Sarah,” Case interrupted, looking at Hunter, “except when you need me to scout Spring Canyon.”
    â€œI’m not bad on the stalk,” Morgan said to no one in particular. “Particularly at night.”
    Ute grinned. “You almost got me over to Mexico.”
    â€œI came real close,” Morgan agreed.
    â€œYou still hunting me?”
    Sarah stiffened and stared at Morgan.
    â€œI sure did love that pony you stole,” Morgan said wistfully. “But no, I’m not hunting you anymore. Unless I find you near my ponies…”
    Ute chuckled.
    â€œPlenty horses now,” he said. “Conner and Sarah sweet talk them wild ones. Mustangs take to them like flies to jam.”
    Hunter looked between the two men and nodded, satisfied that there would be no trouble.
    â€œI take it you know the country best,” he said to Ute.
    The old outlaw grunted, swallowed the last drop of his coffee, and stood up. “I know it.”
    â€œShow me the best lookouts around the ranch,” Hunter said, “the best ambush sites near Spring Canyon, which canyons are blind and which can be climbed by a man afoot.”
    Ute looked at Case.
    â€œIf Hunter had been a general,” Case said, “the South would have won the war.”
    â€œDoubt it,” Morgan said.
    â€œSo do I,” Hunter muttered. “Tactics are one thing. Repeating rifles are another. Those Yankee rifles were a blazing wonder.”
    He stood and looked at Ute.
    â€œAfoot or on horseback?” Hunter asked.
    â€œRide now. Walk later.”
    â€œWhen are you due on the rim?” Morgan asked Ute.
    â€œNoon.”
    â€œI’ll take noon to sundown,” Morgan said, standing.
    He looked at Sarah.
    â€œThank you for breakfast, ma’am. A man misses a woman’s hand at the stove.”
    â€œYou’re welcome,” she said. “Feeding you is the least I can do. This isn’t your fight.”
    â€œWhere there’s a Culpepper, it’s my fight.”
    She looked at the suddenly hard lines of Morgan’s face and wondered what the Culpeppers had done to him. Despite her curiosity, she didn’t ask. After hearing about Hunter’s family, she didn’t really want to know anything more about the Culpeppers than where to bury them.
    She turned and looked at Hunter.
    â€œWhy don’t you just shoot them from ambush?” she asked bluntly. “There are ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ posters out on every last one of them.”
    â€œIf it were that easy, the Culpeppers would have died in Texas,” he said. “They’re real canny when it comes to surviving.”
    â€œI been to their camp,” Ute said. “Next time I kill some.”
    â€œNo,” she said. “Not if Conner is with you.”
    â€œYou can’t protect him forever,” Case said.
    â€œI’ll do whatever I have to,” Sarah said coldly. “Conner has the whole world in front of him. I want him to have every bit of it.”
    â€œIf it’s all the same to you,” Hunter said, looking at Ute, “I’d rather you didn’t kick over the beehive until we’ve had a chance to lay some traps.”
    Ute shrugged. “Today. Tomorrow. Next week. Makes no never mind. Them Culpeppers is dead men walking.”
    â€œAre you riding a particular grudge?” Hunter asked.
    â€œThey shot Sarah’s jacket to rags. Thought it was her. Dead men walking, every last one.”
    Surprised, Case looked into Ute’s clear black eyes. Before the ambush in the canyon, Ute had simply played pranks on the raiders for the hell of it.
    Ute was through playing.
    â€œRide now?” Ute asked Hunter.
    â€œRide now,” he agreed dryly. “Walk later.”
    â€œI’ll take a look around out back,” Morgan said.
    â€œDon’t trip over Conner,” she said. “He’s sleeping near one of those clumps of big sage.”
    Morgan grinned and headed for the cabin door. “I’ll be real fairy-footed, ma’am.”
    Hunter and Ute followed Morgan out. The door shut behind them.
    Sarah was intensely aware of being alone with Case. Without warning she turned toward him.
    He was watching her with smoky green eyes.
    â€œSet some beans to soak,” he said. “I’ll saddle Cricket and Shaker.”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œHunting