him, and frowned. The man was too handsome. Galaxy help him, Bannon had almost whimpered when he’d taken the torch over to study the other part of the ship and gotten his first good look at Ciaran. Those black eyes had met his, and all Bannon’s pain and suffering had ceased, at least momentarily. He’d stood there for several minutes just staring like a ninny and taking in the perfection that was Ciaran MacKay. Eyes so dark they appeared black, with thick, flawlessly shaped eyebrows—not the meticulously plucked brows perfected by valets, but those created by nature. Nature so exquisite that not even a gifted artist could match its beauty. His chin was strong with a slight cleft, and his cheekbones were high and framed by a fall of ebony hair that glowed with red highlights in the firelight. He had beard shadow on his jaw that should have made him seem rough, but his features were too fine for him to look anything other than classically handsome. He was too good to be true.
Now that Bannon was no longer distracted by the rugged beauty of the man, he remembered the surprised expression on Ciaran’s face. Yes, he was definitely hiding something, and Bannon was going to find out what it was.
Bannon didn’t trust him. Actually he didn’t trust any of them, but especially not Ciaran. The man was too… something… everything. He made Bannon feel almost protected and secure. He made Bannon want to trust him, and that couldn’t be good. No one was that nice. Who planned to rescue strangers when they were so outnumbered? The man was either insane or he had an ulterior motive. At this point, as Ciaran was leading them up a mountain during an impending storm, Bannon wasn’t entirely sure which, but he was leaning toward ulterior motive.
They’d left the crash site, with the rain chasing them to Ciaran’s home, but there was no sign of the dastardly MacLeans. Ciaran rode to the side and slightly in front of Bannon. Louie rode a few feet behind Bannon, talking to the Highlander that Ciaran had called Angus, and Ramsey was bringing up the rear.
Fatigue began to weigh on Bannon, but he didn’t think he’d be able to sleep. His body ached too much, and his mind? Well, it wasn’t liable to settle for at least a year or two. “So, Ciaran, why don’t you like the MacLeans? I mean other than the fact that they are barbarians.”
Ciaran slowed his horse to draw even with Bannon and match his pace. For several moments he didn’t speak but tilted his head as though he was thinking. “They dinna join my clan in fighting our enemy, and I now have reason tae believe they are in league with that enemy.”
“And who is your enemy?”
Ciaran shrugged. “I dinna ken. I was hoping ye could tell us. They are outsiders, like ye.” He too pronounced the word as ootsiders, only on him the term sounded charming rather than an expletive.
“Whoa, wait a minute. Louie and I aren’t your enemy. I told you. We are just here because of the crash. We were on our way somewhere else.”
“Where? What is this planet ye were going tae called? What planet are ye from?”
Now it was Bannon’s turn to hesitate. He’d spent the last fifteen minutes discreetly trying to collect every piece of evidence that could identify the diplomatic party as Regelens. He’d taken the crew’s name tags as well as anything that showed their rank or connection to the IN. He strongly suspected the outsiders the MacLeans had referred to, and the enemy Ciaran spoke of, was the IN. So Bannon had thought it best to get rid of anything that could link him and Louie to the IN. But there was no hope for disguising Captain Kindros’s crew’s identity forever, because all IN members had implanted dog tags. There was no way for Bannon to find the tags on the charred…. Bile rose into his throat, making him swallow hard. Egads, just thinking about the bodies…. Nope. He glanced up at the cloudy sky and took a deep breath. He couldn’t think about it.
After a few seconds, he realized Ciaran was still waiting for an answer, so he gave him a partial one. “Englor. We were going to planet Englor to, er, visit a friend.”
A soft feminine chuckle sounded behind him as Louie rode up on his left. She grinned at him, then looked past him at Ciaran. “He caused