Free A Bride Worth Billions by Tiffany Morgan Page A

the cobwebs loose from my head. “He punched me and when I was unconscious, he stole my bag and my mother’s bracelet! It’s everything I have in the world, I have to find it!”
     
    “Just take a moment and calm down some more. Can you tell me what the man looked like?”
     
    “He was short, he had long dirty brown hair, and his nose was crooked.”
     
    “Crooked?”
     
    “Yes, like he’d been punched in it a dozen times and it never healed proper.”
     
    “Aye, I know exactly who you’re talking about because I’ve busted his nose a time or two before. His name’s Shamus, it’s just like him to do this to a woman.”
     
    “Do you know where he is? I can’t just let him take my things like that! I just can’t”
     
    “No need to worry, lass, we’ll get them back. Are you feeling well enough to walk, or you need a minute more?”
     
    “No, I should be fine. Please, take me to him!”
     
    “Alright, then,” He said as he led me from the blind alley by the hand. “Oh, and as proper introduction, I’m Shaun of the Kilryan Clan.”
     
    “I’m Sharron, also of the Kilryan.” Me and my big mouth. I knew the names and locations of every clan during this time period and I had to choose to you my own name? Thankfully, the Kilryan were a massive and wide-ranging clan. Their holdings were to the far south, but they were nomadic by nature, so it wouldn’t have been too uncommon to run into a clan member you’d never met before.
     
    “You’re an awful long way from home, ain’tcha?” He asked, giving me a grin over his shoulder.
     
    “And ain’tcha? And what are you doing wearing Comyn-Balliol colors for?”
     
    “Ah, you noticed that, did ya? Shaun said with a laugh. “I’m doing some soldiering for the Bruce. The Comyn-Balliol are campaigning hard against the King and he’s having me sneak into their camps so I can feet out information.”
     
    “That’s quite sneaky, I might say. Devious even!”
     
    “Aye, well, the Comyn-Balliol are being arses aren’t they? The whole country needs to be behind the Bruce if we’re to drive the English from our lands, yeah?”
     
    “Aye, I suppose so..”
     
    We spent the rest of the afternoon walking all throughout Glasgow, checking on the man Shamus’ usual haunts. As we searched, he told me of the secret missions the Bruce had sent him on over the past several months. None of them seemed to be very dangerous, lots of subterfuge, but not much in the way of action.
     
    “That’s what bothers me about it, you know. I’m a highlander, I ranged with Wallace before they martyred him.”
    “Ya did not!” I said with as much incredulity as I could muster. The one thing you have to remember about the Scots no matter what age they’re in, all of them are born storytellers and Scot women knew their men liked to tell stories, so it was almost expected of me to question him as if he was doing nothing but telling tales.
     
    “I did so! I was only 15 when I joined up with his band! I was even there when he was captured! Barely made it out of that scrape alive, you know? The priests dragged me off the field because I had a big stomach wound, they thought I was dead for sure.”
     
    “Well, how didn’t ya die?”
     
    “The father’s sewed me back up, believe it or not! I’ve got a big scar to prove it. Maybe I’ll show it to you once we get to know each other a bit better?” He smiled and winked over his shoulder. I couldn’t help but blush a bit. I even thought about flirting back a little, but then Shaun’s hand tightened around my wrist.
     
    “There’s the little scrub now!” He said as he began charging us towards the man who’d punched me. I suddenly filled with relief when I saw that he was still carrying my survival pack. Shaun grabbed the crook by the back of his neck and slammed him to the ground with all of his strength. The thief landed flat on his back, the wind whooshing out of him. Shaun grabbed the collar of his