The Laird’s Runaway Bride (Charmed by the Sassenachs #1)

Chapter 1

Nine years later…

It was the middle of the night in Tarbert village.

Anne, now a woman of twenty-two, slipped out of bed.

She smoothed down her hair and wore a wicked smile.

She was light on her feet, while candlelight illuminated the room.

Behind her, a man snored.

His lips were parted, showing yellow teeth, while his chest rose and fell with each breath.

She stifled a chuckle, pitying him for the way his eyes had lit up when she had approached him, knowing that he was a fool for believing he could ever spend the night with her.

But some men’s ambition was their downfall.

Anne had made a living off of this.

While he slept, his mind addled with drink, she rifled through his clothes, relieving him of his pouch.

The weight felt nice in her hands, and she knew it was going to be a while before she and Rory were going to go hungry again.

She clutched it close to her chest and closed her eyes for a moment, feeling triumph rushing through her.

She gripped it tightly, not intending to let it go for anything, and then glanced back at the man.

A pang of guilt stabbed at her heart because she hated that she had to resort to stealing like this, but she told herself that he deserved it.

After speaking with him it was clear that he wasn’t a nice man, and he would only have frittered this money away on other vices.

Better that it be put to good use, like feeding two starving people who had no other way to survive.

In a way, she was helping him be charitable, and that had to be good for the soul.

She stole away from the room before he had a chance to wake up.

She closed the door quietly behind her and relaxed when no commotion was raised.

She tiptoed through the inn and descended the stairs to the bar, when she narrowed her eyes.

She hunched her shoulders and walked towards a table, reaching down and pinching Rory’s ear.

He jerked awake, batting away her hand, and rubbing his earlobe as he frowned at her.

“Ye are supposed tae be keeping watch,”

she hissed, glancing around with a furtive gaze, trying to make sure that nobody noticed her crime.

The last thing she needed was someone noticing the same woman with straight red hair, emerald eyes, and a dusting of freckles across her face frequenting taverns and leaving men sleeping in bed, frustrated that instead of enjoying a warm body they were relieved of their coins.

Rory yawned and rubbed his eyes.

Anne yanked him up and pushed him out of the inn.

The crisp, cool air of the night rushed around them and tingled against her skin.

She kept walking, knowing that there were no guarantees with this particular theft.

Her target could have woken up at any moment and realized that she had stolen his purse.

She and Rory scurried away from the inn, making the trip back to their small hut on the outskirts of the village, the far outskirts where few people ever ventured.

“Ye need tae be more careful,”

Anne scolded again.

Rory wore a sullen look.

“I thought ye hae everything under control.

Besides, he was alone.

It was nae like he hae any friends tae warn him.”

“But ye never know who is watching.

And taenight was nae just about him, it was about our next target.

Ye were supposed tae see if there was anyone else we could steal from.

We cannae afford tae miss any opportunities.”

“I dinnae like ye daeing this,”

Rory said in a quiet voice.

He was fourteen now, and starting to become a man.

He was also starting to become aware of some of the things that happened in the inns.

It was her fault, she knew, for exposing him to this world.

He overheard things in conversation, dark things that no lad should ever hear.

For her own protection, however, she needed him to be beside her.

“I told ye it is nae dangerous, as long as we are careful.

Men are desperate creatures and sometimes what they want more than anything is some company.

I dinnae dae anything with them, I just talk with them a while and make sure they are drunk enough tae fall asleep before they can expect anything.

That’s why picking the right target is important,”

she said.

She shuddered at the thought of any man laying a hand on her without her consent, but she tried to hide this discomfort from Rory.

Unfortunately, there was no other way for her to earn as much money as this.

“Dae ye think Da met women like ye when he was away?”

Rory asked in a small voice.

“Nae.

He loved Ma,”

Anne replied, although she wasn’t too convinced about her own statement.

After seeing for herself how greedy men were, how relentless they could be in their ardent hunger, she wondered if, in his lonely years, her father had indeed succumbed to this urge that seemed to be within every man.

She tried not to think about it too much, though.

She preferred to think of John as he was when he was married, the happy home he and Ellen had created for their children.

It was a nice thought.

Sometimes, Anne could think about it so fiercely that it almost seemed real, as though this life was a dream and she would wake up as a girl again before everything had gone wrong.

But that was a dream, and this was the reality.

The thing with this was that it was never going to end.

“I dinnae mean tae scold ye.

I know ye are nae used tae staying up this late, it’s just that we hae tae be careful.

If people discover what we are daeing then they’re gaeing tae be angry,”

Anne said.

“I dinnae know why we hae tae dae it at all.”

“Because we hae nae alternative.

I cannae gae tae war like Da, and the inns dinnae pay a waitress enough tae feed both of us.

Maybe once ye are older ye can find work on a farm or somethin’.”

“I’m gaeing tae be a warrior like Da,”

Rory said, puffing his chest out proudly and lifting his chin into the air.

Anne’s eyes went wide with panic and she almost froze on the spot.

Her heart skipped a beat and uneasy tension ran through her body.

“Ye are nae,”

she said with a heavy breath, glaring at him.

Rory’s pride and excitement were doused just like a flame that had been drenched by rain.

He dipped his head.

“Being a soldier was what took him away from us, and I am nae haeing anything take ye away from me, ye hear me?”

she grabbed hold of his arm and squeezed it tightly, perhaps a little too tightly.

Rory frowned and wrested his arm away.

“Aye,”

he said mournfully.

Anne hated herself for getting so worked up, but the emotions were still raw.

She glanced over her shoulder at the road they had walked.

It was no use to hope that her father would return.

She hadn’t been much older than Rory was now when they had received the news that he had perished in battle.

It had left a hole in the world and her heart, and she dreaded to think that Rory might suffer the same fate.

Tears began to well in her eyes, but she blinked them away, not wishing to conjure all the sorrow of the past.

“Sae did ye hear anything about future opportunities?”

Anne asked.

Rory kicked a pebble along the ground.

“There were some men talking about a gathering at the McLeod clan.

Apparently, there are people from all kinds of clans gaeing there tae celebrate their alliances.

Most of them are wealthy as well.

I’m sure there will be someone ye can target there,” he said.

Anne’s eyes flashed with excitement.

She knew that it was only a matter of time before people realized who was stealing from them.

There were only so many travelers who passed through Tarbert, and the men in her own clan would quickly narrow down the suspects.

At best she would be placed in a dungeon, at worst her head would be put on a pike.

This way of life was all well and good for the time being, but she needed an opportunity to guarantee Rory’s safety.

A gathering such as Rory described would provide ample opportunity to steal from someone who would never recognize her.

And if they were wealthy, well, perhaps she could steal enough coin to provide her and Rory with many years of comfort.

She bid farewell to him, promising him that he would feel better in the morning once she went to the market and gathered enough food to fill their bellies.

Their house was old and foreboding.

The wind blew through holes in the roof, and in winter water dripped down.

She had patched it up as best she could, but it only seemed like a matter of time before a harsh storm came and blew the whole thing down.

She dreamed of living in a house like the one Ellen had told her in stories, and when she went to bed she pretended that she was sleeping in a wide bed and a soft mattress, rather than the cold, hard, narrow thing that she had to use.

She wrapped herself up tightly in a blanket and closed her eyes, wishing that her parents were still around.

She had to believe that things would be better if John and Ellen could take care of her.

She was twenty-two now, but in many ways, she still felt like a child.

She had no trade to be proud of, nothing to boast about to the world, and nothing that would secure a future for her and Rory.

Ellen and John had both died, leaving the responsibility of his safety to her.

She needed to make sure that he was safe, and she vowed to do anything to make sure that happened.

And she wanted to do it before he came of age to fight, because she did not want him to feel he had no other choice than to go to war.

She had lost her parents.

She wasn’t going to lose him too.

Life was lonely enough already, she could not bear it if she had to lose him.

She fought against the cold and dreamed of a better and brighter future instead, one where she had an endless supply of food and safe surroundings.

She hoped she could put this life of cozying up to sleazy men behind her, for she hated laughing at their jokes and pretending they were the most handsome men she had ever had the luxury of meeting.

The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that this gathering would prove to be a boon for her.

She could slip in and out like a ghost, taking as much gold as she could carry, and perhaps some jewels as well.

She could afford to repair this house, no, she could afford a better house! They could move away from Tarbert and honor their parents’ memories properly.

Anne knew that Ellen and John would never have wanted her and Rory to live like this.

If it wasn’t for sickness and war then life would have been very different indeed, and it was up to Anne to balance the odds.

A new day beckoned, and with it came the potential for change.