Gabaldon, Diana - Outlander 01 - Outlander (Cross Stitch) by Outlander (Cross Stitch)

Author:Outlander (Cross Stitch) [Outlander (Cross Stitch)]
Language: bul
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

thought I knew Jamie well enough now to see that practicality with

him went deep—as it must, with a man who had spent the last few

years of his life on the run. He would not, I thought, be swayed in his

decisions by sentiment or the attraction of rose-leaf cheeks and hair

like liquid gold. But that didn't mean that neither sentiment nor

attraction existed.

There was, after all, the little scene I had witnessed in the alcove,

Jamie holding the girl on his knee and kissing her ardently (I've held

women in my arms before, his voice came back to me, and

they've made my heart pound and my breath come short…). I

found that my hands were clenched, making bunched ridges in the

green and yellow quilt. I released it and wiped my hands over my

skirt, realizing in the process just how filthy they were, grimed with

the dirt of two days of holding reins, with no respite in between for

washing.

I rose and went to the basin, forgetting my tiredness. I found, a

bit to my surprise, that I strongly disliked the memory of Jamie

kissing Laoghaire. I remembered what he had said about that, too—

'Tis better to marry than burn, and I was burning badly then. I

burned a bit myself, flushing strongly as I remembered the effect of

Jamie's kisses on my own lips. Burning, indeed.

I splashed water on my face, spluttering, trying to dissipate the

feeling. I had no claim on Jamie's affections, I reminded myself

firmly. I had married him from necessity. And he had married me for

his own reasons, one of them being the frankly stated desire to alter

his virginal state.

Another reason apparently being that he needed a wife in order

to collect his income, and could not induce a girl of his own kind to

marry him. A reason much less flattering than the first, if no more

lofty.

Quite awake by now, I slowly changed from my stained traveling

garments into a fresh shift, provided, as was the basin and ewer, by

Mrs. Fitz's minions. How she had managed to make accommodation

for two newlyweds in the time between Jamie's abrupt

announcement to Colum and the time we had mounted the stairs was

one of the mysteries of the ages. Mrs. Fitz, I reflected, would have

done quite well in charge of the Waldorf-Astoria or the London Ritz.

Such reflections made me suddenly more lonely for my own

world than I had been in many days. What am I doing here? I

asked myself for the thousandth time. Here, in this strange place,

unreachable distances from everything familiar, from home and

husband and friends, adrift and alone among what amounted to

savages? I had begun to feel safe and even intermittently happy

during the last weeks with Jamie. But now I realized that the

happiness was likely an illusion, even if the safety was not.

I had no doubt that he would abide by what he conceived to be

his responsibilities, and continue to protect me from any harm that

threatened. But here, returned from the dreamlike isolation of our

days among the wild hills and dusty roads, the filthy inns and fragrant

haystacks, he must surely feel the pull of his old associations, as I felt

mine.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.