Free Only 05 - Autumn Lover by authors_sort Page A

especially if it involved Elyssa showing the Ladder S to Hunter from the back of a horse.
    “Let me know who wins,” Gimp said just before he vanished into the yard.
    Elyssa gave the empty doorway a disgusted look. Quickly she peeled off the leather apron, traded the hoof-pick for a brush, and led Leopard into the paddock. The stud wore neither bridle nor halter nor rope. She controlled him with no more than a tug on his mane and a low-voiced command.
    “Running away?” Hunter challenged from the aisle outside Leopard’s stall.
    “Leopard likes to be outdoors while I groom him.” Elyssa smiled slightly. “Do feel free to join us.”
    To Elyssa’s surprise, Hunter opened the stall door and walked through it into the paddock.
    Leopard turned his head and flattened his ears in blunt warning.
    “Easy, boy,” Hunter said soothingly. “I’m not planning to hurt one hair of your spotted hide.”
    Elyssa almost didn’t recognize Hunter’s voice. Instead of the abrupt, abrasive tone she was accustomed to hearing from him, he was using the same beguiling voice that he had used with Penny.
    I could get used to that voice , Elyssa thought. It’s like being stroked with a black velvet glove .
    The thought made her tremble slightly, secretly.
    Leopard stamped and flicked his ears.
    “Gently, Leopard,” Elyssa said in a low voice. “It’s all right. Not a rope or a blindfold in sight. I’m here, boy. No one is going to hurt you.”
    For the space of several slow breaths, Leopard measured Hunter with feral eyes. Then the stud blew through his nostrils, shifted position so that he could keep an eye on Hunter without turning his head, and slowly relaxed his ears.
    Elyssa’s voice crooned praise, joined by Hunter’s much deeper voice. Leopard’s ears flicked as he listened. After a few minutes he blew again, stamped one foot, and nudged Elyssa to get on with the grooming.
    “You do love being petted, don’t you?” she said. “Well, I love petting you, so we’re even.”
    Still singing Leopard’s praises, Elyssa began brushing the tall horse.
    Though Hunter said nothing, he was impressed by Elyssa’s ability to get past the stud’s wariness.
    After several minutes passed, it became clear to Hunter that Leopard was far more interested in beinggroomed than in stomping anyone. Slowly Hunter moved his right hand away from his gun belt.
    “How did you get him to trust you?” Hunter asked.
    “It started when he was born,” Elyssa said, brushing Leopard’s glossy hide. “Mother’s prize Arabian mare was bred by a mustang stallion that had escaped from the Shoshone.”
    “So that’s where Leopard got his spots,” Hunter said. “The Shoshone trade with the Nez Percé, who are the best horse breeders this side of Ireland. Their Appaloosas are famous among plainsmen.”
    “That’s what Bill said. Mother was too distraught to listen when she discovered what had happened.”
    “Because the foal wouldn’t be purebred?”
    “Partly. But mostly because the mare was too old to be in foal. She died when Leopard was born.”
    Hunter whistled softly. “Did you get another mare to accept him?”
    “No. Leopard was born out of season. There were no other mares nursing foals.”
    Silently Hunter looked at the big stud. If Leopard had gone through a tough time as a foal, it didn’t show now. The horse was big, well made, obviously powerful.
    “What did your mother do?” Hunter asked.
    “She was going to shoot the foal rather than watch it starve, but I begged her to let me try to save him.”
    With a remembering kind of smile, Elyssa brushed the stud’s broad, shiny barrel. Leopard gave a sigh that was almost a groan and half-closed his eyes, obviously relishing the feel of the brush.
    “I washed Leopard down with a warm, slightly rough rag, acting like it was his mother’s tongue,” Elyssa said. “Then I helped him stand, and helped him up when he fell, and rubbed him all over with that rag and talked to him