Page 4 of Max
“Those men chasing you said you stole the horse.”
“They lied. I’ve had Angus since he was a colt. They were after me for no good reason. I just went to town to trade with crafters I know. Millie, the weaver, told me women had disappeared since those thugs came to town.”
“I knew he was lying, but not why. I sent them back the way they came.” He believed her; she was his mate. Max would investigate further after he got Falyn and her horse home.
“Thank you. You have been very kind. I am Falyn Wayne. I have a homestead about ten miles down the old road.”
“I am Federation Ranger Max Steele, assigned here to restore law and order to Northern California.”
“All by yourself?”
“The cyborg commander is sending a unit of a hundred trained protectors to help.”
“You will need them.” Falyn paused to study him, still stroking her horse’s head in her lap. He stared at her as if he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Looking back at him, she felt a flutter of sexual awareness between her thighs. He was a big, handsome, sexy male with bulging muscles under his tight khaki shirt… With the bullet hole in the middle of his chest. There was a small ring of blood around the bullet hole, but that was all.
Falyn closed her eyes and shook her head, remembering she’d shot him point blank. “Omigod, I can’t believe I shot you. Are you really all right?” She gave him a worried look.
“It stung just a little. I am fine.” He plucked at the hole in his shirt and pulled out the bullet embedded in the skin over his steel alloy breast bone. “See?”
“I was scared… didn’t realize I was squeezing the trigger until the gun went off. I’m so sorry. I thought you were one of them.”
“Except I was not riding a horse….”
“I didn’t even register that. I just knew if you got a hold of me, I wouldn’t be able to get away….”
“And you were upset because you thought you needed to kill your own horse.” Max closed up his med-kit and stood. “Cyborgs don’t hurt females. They could be a genetic mate to one of our brothers. I am here to help.”
He turned, walking back to his machine.
“Are you leaving?”
“No, just putting away my med-kit. These devices are hard to get on Earth, and I don’t want to lose them.” He stowed the kit back in the cargo compartment and then returned to sit beside Falyn in the grassy meadow. “I will not leave you out here alone to wait for your horse to recover.”
“Thank you,” she said, glancing at him. “You are staring at me again. Should I know you? Or do I remind you of someone?”
He seemed to hesitate before he said, “I…I’m attracted to you… You are very beautiful.”
Falyn laughed, and Max seemed taken aback.
“Why do you laugh?”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m a mess, covered in dust, and I probably smell like a horse. It’s very sweet of you to say… And… I feel attracted to you, too,” she admitted, glancing at him shyly.
She didn’t smell like a horse at all. He smelled deliciously alluring as he moved a little closer to her.
“I’m glad you’re staying. I didn’t relish sitting with Angus alone in the dark all night.”
Max seemed to want to say something more, but he just moved closer and put his arm around her shoulders. If not for Angus’s head in her lap, she might have crawled onto Max’s lap to see where things went.
Chapter Three
The sun set shortly after Max sat in the grass beside Falyn. That she hadn’t pulled away when he put his arm around her encouraged his hope that she would accept him as her cyborg mate. Yet, he couldn’t make himself say the words to her.
Being close to her was not helping his now constant erection. But it was getting cooler with the sunset, and his body heat would help keep her warm. If not for the horse’s head on her lap, he would pull her into his arms and kiss her. He could almost feel her soft lips against his.
However, it was important to keep the animal calm while the nanites knitted his bone back together.
