Autumn Lover by Elizabeth Lowell

Author:Elizabeth Lowell [Lowell, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Historical Romance, Cowboy
ISBN: 9780786207893
Google: 6RZcMWiFVnAC
Amazon: 0380769557
Barnesnoble: 0380769557
Goodreads: 470917
Publisher: Avon
Published: 1996-03-31T11:00:00+00:00

to be sure?“

Elyssa grimaced. The customary way to prove that an old brand

had been altered was to kill the animal and peel off the part of the hide that had been branded. From the inside, the first brand usually showed clearly, no matter what changes had been made to the outer hide.

„I’ll take Lefty’s word for it,“ she said.

„Them Culpeppers won’t.“

„The Culpeppers are keeping low to the ground since the shooting

odds have changed,“ Elyssa said dryly.

„Like Hunter says, it’s the nature of snakes to be low to the

ground. Don’t mean there’s no poison in their fangs.“

Elyssa’s eyes narrowed against the wind that was gusting over the

land. To her immediate left lay the nearly dry marsh. Tawny reeds

bent and rattled and bowed beneath the weight of the wind. To her

right the grassland rumpled up to the base of the Ruby Mountains.

Storm clouds were gathering over the peaks, concealing their jagged

outlines.

The wind rushing down from the heights had the taste and feel of

winter in it.

„Then you think Hunter is right, that the Culpeppers are just

waiting for us to do all the work of roundup before they attack?“

Elyssa asked.

„First thing you learn about Hunter,“ Morgan drawled, „is that

he’s usually right.“

„Not always.“

Morgan’s smile flashed.

„No, ma’am, not always. He chose the wrong side in the war, and

that’s gospel.“

Shifting in the saddle and shading his eyes against the brilliant,

relentless sun, Morgan looked behind them. Unlike his soft, easygoing voice, his eyes were swift, probing, and hard.

„Of course,“ Morgan said, „joining up with the South was mostly

Case’s doing, and Belinda’s. Young hotheads, believing all that

moonshine about nobility and cotton.“

„Belinda?“

„His wife, God rest her soul.“ Then, under his breath, Morgan

added, „More likely the devil is closer to her resting place.“

Elyssa didn’t hear. Knowing the name of Hunter’s dead wife made

her all too real.

Hunter had loved a woman. He had married her. She had died.

And now his heart was buried with her.

„Case?“ Elyssa asked quickly. „Who is he?“

„Hunter’s younger brother.“

„Did he die, too?“

„No, ma’am, though more than one Union boy did his best.“

„Including you?“

Morgan shook his head.

„I owed the Maxwell brothers my life,“ he said simply. „When the

time came, I helped them the same way they had helped me.“

„How?“

„I helped Case get into the prison where Hunter was being held.

Case did the rest.“

Elyssa flinched at the thought of Hunter being imprisoned.

Military prisons had been infamous for the pain they inflicted on their inmates.

„Case might have been a hothead before the war,“ Morgan

continued, „but he got cured of it all the way to the bone. He’s a hard man, now. Real hard.“

„And before the war?“ Elyssa asked. „Is that when Hunter helped

you?“

Morgan nodded.

„What happened?“ Elyssa asked.

Sighing, Morgan shifted in the saddle and reined his horse to the

right so that he could watch a fresh section of marsh.

„Long before the war,“ Morgan said softly, „some white trash

down Texas way thought they’d hang this colored boy from a tree, just to see how long I’d kick.“

Horrified, Elyssa turned and stared at Morgan. He was watching

the ridgeline and the marsh in turn.

And he was smiling like a man enjoying a memory.

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