new sort of nervousness took its place. Hopefully Marcus and Patrick had more luck with their mission than Bannon and Ciaran had on theirs.
“Come on.” Ciaran tugged his hand to get him to stand. Once Bannon was on his feet, Ciaran dipped his head toward the right but didn’t let go of Bannon’s hand. Which was fine with him.
Bannon wasn’t ready to let go of the connection. Following Ciaran’s head dip, Bannon spotted the rifle propped against the wall.
“Get ye fagger and let’s go see what Patrick, Marcus, and Ram learned.”
A chuckle bubbled up inside Bannon. “It’s a fragger.” He made sure to enunciate the r sound.
“Fragger?” Ciaran said, testing it on his lips.
“Yeah. You know fag used to be a derogatory term to describe men like us, don’t you?”
Ciaran frowned. “A fag is a bunch of kindling.” His brow creased, forming lines on his forehead. “That makes even less sense. I can see how the fag… uh, fragger resembles sticks but how does it resemble men? Who named the damned thing? And what do ye mean, men like us?” The words came out as a grumble, as though he were putting a lot of thought into it, and galaxy help Bannon, it was just what he needed.
“Men who like other men.”
The frown turned into a grin, and Ciaran’s eyes sparkled, attesting to the fact that he’d been teasing. He kissed Bannon on the lips. Just a quick peck. “I dinna ken about all that, but I ken that I like ye, Red.”
Galaxy help him, he liked Ciaran too. A lot!
CHAPTER NINE
“I now have a new appreciation for soldiers, besides how smashing their uniforms look.”
—Timothy on the battle.
By the time Marcus started back to Lochwood Castle, he was bone-tired and cursing his decrepit body. Every muscle he had was sore, and his brain hurt from trying to sort through electronics and metal he could melt for solder. Fortunately his damned bum leg had gone numb; it ought to make getting off his horse interesting. Too bad he couldn’t build an orthopedic surgeon robot with all the things he’d collected from the crashed vessel. Sadly he doubted he even had enough to build a small satellite. They were going to have to think of another way to get home.
He glanced over at Patrick, riding beside him and talking to Ramsey, one of the six MacKay warriors who had accompanied them.
The other five men rode behind, talking among themselves. They all had saddlebags full of scraps Marcus had salvaged from the crash. Hamish drove a wagon filled with pieces of wreckage as well. It had not been easy liberating all those parts without a drill, but they’d done it. Now it was time to go back to Lochwood and see what he had and what he could build. It was not a task he was looking forward to. No drill was only part of the problem. Not having a soldering iron or electrical tape was going to be an issue. And honestly he hadn’t gotten a lot of metal that could be melted down for solder in the first place.
Patrick laughed at something Ram said, drawing Marcus’s attention back to them. Damn, but Patrick looked happy. He’d really made a place for himself here.
Grinning ear to ear, Ram turned to look at Patrick and caught Marcus’s gaze. He winked. The scamp.
“What are you two up to?” Marcus asked.
Patrick had the gall to turn to him, place one hand on his chest, and look affronted. “Us? Why would you think we were up to something?”
Oh yes, they were up to something. “Perhaps because everyone else is tired and quite somber, yet you two are laughing like loons.”
Ram chuckled. “We’re tired tae. We’re just passing the time.” He pretended to take notice of their surroundings. In all fairness, he was probably very aware without looking. It was something warriors did. You remained vigilant or you died. It was the way of the land.
“By?”
Pressing his lips together, Patrick too feigned interest in the landscape. Not that he could see much of it, dark as it was. The moon was behind clouds as usual. Skye had perpetual cloud cover. That, too, would be a problem with any sort of….
“Oh my galaxy!” Marcus must have pulled his reins back, because his horse stopped.
Patrick and Ram turned to look at him, and the wagon creaked to a halt behind them. They grew still and quiet as the others ceased talking and reined in as well.