Page 21 of When The Dust Settles

“Is Rand pissed at me?” I managed to get out.

“Actually he’s madder at himself for leaving you alone. I think we all thought someone else was back there with you.”

His hand was so warm, and the thought hit me that I wanted it much, much lower. “Maclain?”

He grunted softly.

“You know you’re touchin’ me, right?”

“I do,” he whispered, and his easy grin made me catch my breath.

This was so dangerous. He was trouble for me and I should have gotten up and run. The smart thing to do was to put a lot of real estate between me and the gorgeous sexy man with the sinful mouth and wicked glint to his eyes, but holy God, he smelled good. How did a man smell like that after a full day in the saddle? Like leather and smoke, a trace of soap and sun on his skin. I wanted to inhale him, press my face to the side of his neck and taste him even as my brain screamed at me that it was a mistake. He didn’t know what he was doing, by allowing this present communion, because he had no clue what was really going on in my head or what I truly wanted from him.

“Maclain,” I whispered and found that his name sounded good coming out of my mouth.

He grunted.

“How come?” I fished, swallowing hard.

“How come what?”

“You know.”

“Why ya think?”

He really had a great smile. It crinkled the deep laugh lines in the corners of his eyes and curled the corners of his mouth. He was very handsome. Not the breathtaking kind or the movie-star kind, but rugged, like he could have been a sheriff in the Old West. He seemed concrete, strong, and man, did I need some of that. It was really too bad he wasn’t for me.

“Glenn?”

Even though I could feel the ball of fear in my chest, I answered, “I dunno.”

“You wanna guess?”

I could, and I really hoped it didn’t get me beat up. Mac had easily fifty pounds of muscle on me, all of him looking like roped steel. If he wanted to hurt me, I’d be in real trouble. But I couldn’t help myself. I had to know. So I cleared my throat and threw caution to the wind. “I thought you were straight,” I mumbled.

“Nope,” he said flatly.

My mouth went dry, and just for a second, I thought time had stopped and I would live forever in this moment of complete and utter disbelief where everything I thought I knew turned upside down and inside out.

“Pardon?”

“I suspect you heard me just fine.”

The hell did he say?

His chuckle was a little bit evil. “You should see your face.”

I couldn’t for the life of me remember how I was supposed to tell if I was dreaming or not. It would have been good to check since I was really unsure if I was awake.

Mac Gentry was gay? How the hell had I missed that all these years?

The shudder went through me fast, and then I got my bearings and met his gaze, holding it, not looking away. “How come you never mentioned that before?”

“Because you never asked.”

I coughed softly to give myself a moment.

“Rand finally got a call to go through and called got a hold of Everett and he agreed to drive up here and pick up you and your horse with the stupid-ass name.”