Three riders raced toward them from around the other side of the mountain.
Forgetting all about the moon and its location, Bannon wheeled his horse around in the opposite direction. “Let’s go!” He heeled his horse and took off in a dead-run, with Louie right beside him.
Even with their head start, the men gained on them. One of them was shouting something, but Bannon didn’t wait around to see what. He leaned over his horse’s neck, dug in his heels, and hoped the horse didn’t step in any holes. The wind whipped past him, burning his face and eyes. He turned back over his shoulder to get a look at the men following.
They were close, only twenty yards or so away. How had they gotten so close?
Panic seized Bannon, and he turned back around. They had made it too far to go back now. The MacLeans would surely kill them this time. Glancing to his side, he found Louie in the same position, leaning over her mount, with her hair streaming out behind her.
She turned toward him. He couldn’t make out her face clearly, but he felt her worry buffeting him.
“Stop, we are trying tae help ye!” a voice carried on the wind behind them.
Ha! No way was he falling for that. Bannon kept going, with no idea where he was heading. Blast this planet! There wasn’t even anywhere to hide. Just desolate land with weeds.
The man in the lead closed in. His voice rang out again, and he rode up on Bannon’s other side. “Stop! We willnae hurt ye!”
“Balderdash!” Bannon yelled aback. “Go to the devil!” The next thing he knew, his horse was slowing. Why was he slowing?
The man beside him had taken hold of his reins.
Bloody hell. Louie screamed but kept going. The other men slowed with Bannon and the man holding his reins.
“Keep going!” he shouted at Louie and bent forward and bit the man’s hand.
The man roared and let go of the reins.
Bannon heeled his horse, but before he got far, something hit him in the side. He plummeted through the air, and the sensation of falling barely registered before he hit the ground with a heavy weight on top of him, and rolled. He just kept rolling over and over.
When he stopped, he was underneath another body—a much larger, much heavier body. Bannon stared up into the shadowed face above him and froze.
This was no MacLean.
§ § § §
Wrestling with a wildcat would have been easier. Ciaran had already been bitten once, and he was pretty sure he had a few scratches as well. At this point he didn’t know which way was up. Limbs were everywhere, punching him in the sides, the face. There was a heel thundering down on the back of his thighs. Good heavens, the little demon beneath him might not have Ciaran’s strength, but he had persistence and determination in bulk. The blows by themselves did not have enough leverage for real pain, but the accumulation of them was not pleasant. And the ground wasn’t exactly soft. They’d rolled over rocks and Lord knew what else. Ciaran was going to have dozens of bruises tomorrow morning.
Red bucked his head up, aiming for Ciaran’s face.
Whoa! Enough was enough. Out of patience and out of breath, Ciaran jerked his head out of the way and rolled off Red.
Unfortunately, Red bounded up seconds after him, still swinging. He all but frothed at the mouth, even in the dim light of the cloud-covered moon. The wildness in his expression stated more than words that he fought for his life, or so he assumed. And no wonder, after being kidnapped by MacLeans.
Sympathy assailed Ciaran as he jumped back, avoiding a rather vicious uppercut. Holding his hands up in the universal sign of surrender, he said softly, “Calm down. I’m nae going tae hurt ye. We were coming tae free ye from the MacLeans when we saw ye escape.”
The lass reined in about six feet away and slid down from her horse. She ran forward and plastered her back against Red’s, and then she too put up her fists, ready to fight. It said a lot about her and her relationship with Red that she’d come back for him. Were they lovers? Siblings? Together they looked like a couple of vicious kittens, too cute to take seriously, but Ciaran knew for a fact that the red kitten had teeth. They were not to be underestimated.
Ciaran held his ground but met Red’s gaze as best he