Ladies of Lallybroch - A Breath of Snow and Ashes Jamie-isms

From: Lady Alissa

     Ian opened one eye a slit.
     "Has anyone ever told you what a comical fellow ye are, Uncle Jamie?"
     "No."
     Ian closed the eye.
     "That's as well, because ye’re not."

Chapter 3. Keep your friends close, page 18

From: Lady mommio

     "James Fraser, Indian Agent," I said, closing one eye as though reading it off a screen. "It sounds like a Wild West television show."
     Jamie paused in the act of pulling off his stockings, and eyed me warily. "It does? Is that good?"
     "Insofar as the hero of a television show never dies, yes."
     "In that case, I'm in favor of it," he said, examining the stocking he'd just pulled off. He sniffed it suspiciously, rubbed a thumb over a thin patch on the heel, shook his head, and tossed it into the laundry basket. "Must I sing?"

Chapter 7, James Fraser, Indian Agent, page 53

From: Lady SueP and Lady Teddie

"If I die," he whispered in the dark, "dinna follow me. The bairns will need ye. Stay for them. I can wait."

Chapter 7, James Fraser, Indian Agent, page 59

From: Lady AngieLass

     I regarded him gently over my own bowl of stew. He was very large, solid, and beautifully formed. And if he was a bit battered by circumstance, that merely added to his charm.
     "You're a very hard person to kill, I think," I said. "That's a great comfort to me."
     He smiled, reluctant, but then reached out and lifted his glass in salute, touching it first to his own lips, then to mine.
     "We'll drink to that, Sassenach, shall we?"

Chapter 13, Safe Hands. page 91

From: ladyphantom

     "Ian, there is a woman in my bed," he said in Gaelic, trying to match his nephew’s calm tone.
     "There are two of them, Uncle Jamie." Ian sounded amused, damn him! "The other will be down by your feet. Waiting her turn."
     That unnerved him, and he nearly lost his grip on the captive hand.
     "Two of them! What do they think I am?"
     The girl giggled again, leaned over, and bit him lightly on the chest.
     "Christ!"

Chapter 14, People of the Snowbird, page 95

From: Lady LizT

      "Ye’re smiling to yourself," Jamie said in my ear. "Nice, was it?"
      I turned my head and opened my eyes, finding them on a level with his mouth–which was smiling, too.
      "Nice," I said thoughtfully, tracing the line of his wide lower lip with the tip of one finger. "Are you being deliberately modest or are you hoping to inspire me to raptures of praise by means of classic understatement?
      The mouth widened further, and his teeth closed gently on my questing finger for a moment before releasing it.
      "Oh, modesty, to be sure," he said. "If I’d hopes of inspiring ye to raptures, it wouldna be with my words, now, would it?"

Chapter 16, Le Mot Juste, page 109

From: Lady terric853

     "Yes. Just now, I was actually trying to rank 'I love you. I like you, I worship you, I have to have my cock inside you,’ in terms of their relative sincerity."
     "Did I say that?" he said, sounding slightly startled.
     "Yes. Weren't you listening?"
     "No," he admitted. "I meant every word of it, though." His hand cupped one buttock, weighing it appreciatively. "Still do, come to that."

Chapter 16 Le Mot Juste, page 109

From: Lady Teddie

"Oh, aye", he said, gathering me firmly against him with a sigh. "I will say the flesh requires a bit of supper and a wee rest before I think of doin' it again, but the spirit is always willing."

Chapter 16, Le Mot Juste, page 109

From: Lady CindyC

     I could see a deep blue gleam of speculation at the back of his eyes as he looked at me. He extended one finger, and very delicately ran it down the side of my neck, the slope of my breast where it disappeared into my bodice, and over the thin cloth covering my nipple—which promptly popped up like a puffball mushroom in response to this attention.
     "The sort that make me want to take ye straight into the forest, far enough that no one will hear when I lay ye on the ground, lift your skirts, and split ye like a ripe peach," he said softly. "Aye?"
     I swallowed, audibly.

Chapter 20, Dangerous Gifts, page132

From: Lady Beth

     "So what is my most endearing trait?" I demanded.
     "Ye think I'm funny," he said, grinning.
     "I...do...not..." I grunted, struggling madly. He merely lay on top of me, tranquilly oblivious to my pokings and thumpings, until I exhausted myself and lay gasping underneath him.
     "And." he said thoughtfully, "ye like it verra much when I take ye to bed. No?"
     "Er..." I wanted to contradict him, but honesty forbade. Besides, he bloody well knew I did.

Chapter 20, Dangerous Gifts, Page 142

From: Lady Jay, Lady Lynn H and Lady SueP

     "There are only two people in this world to whom I would never lie, Sassenach," he said softly. "Ye're one of them. And I'm the other."
     He kissed me gently on the forehead, then leaned past me and blew out the lamp.
     "Mind," his voice came from the darkness, and I saw his tall form silhouetted against the faint oblong of light from the doorway as he straightened up, "I can be fooled. But I wouldna be doing it on purpose."

Chapter 21, We Have Ignition, page 153

From: ladyphantom

She was in the window of their bedroom, watching out to wave to them as they rode past, her hairbrush in her hand. Her hair was standing out in a great curly swash round her head, and the early-morning sun caught in it like flames in a thornbush. It gave him a sudden queer feeling to see her thus so disordered, half-naked in her shift. A sense of strong desire, despite what he’d done to her not an hour past. And something almost fear, as though he might never see her again.

Chapter 25, Ashes to Ashes, page 182

From: Lady AngieLass

Then Jamie's hand came down upon the dirk, snatching it away, and I saw as from a great distance that the light fell on his hand, gleaming wet with blood smeared past the wrist. Random drops shone red, dark jewels glowing, caught in the curly hairs of his arm.
"There is an oath upon her," he said to Arch, and I realized dimly that he was still speaking in Gaelic, though I understood him clearly. "She may not kill, save it is for mercy or her life. It is myself who kills for her."

Chapter 28, Curses, page 241

From: Lady Beth

    "Which of them?" he said. "How many?" He spoke in English now, and his voice was remarkably matter-of-fact, as it might be if he were inquiring as to the number of guests expected for dinner, and I found the simple tone of it steadying.
     "I don't know" I said. "They—it was dark."
     He nodded, squeezed my arm hard, and turned.
     "Kill them all." he said to Fergus, his voice still calm.

Chapter 28, Curses, page 241

Lady Cindy C

He'd led her through the morning light in that clearing, a blood-soaked Adam, a battered Eve, looking upon the knowledge of good and evil. And then he had wrapped her in his plaid, picked her up, and walked away to his horse.

Chapter 29, Perfectly Fine, page 242

From: Lady Teddie

"Listen, Sassenach. If I mean to fight my own fears, and yours—and I do—then I shallna boggle at pinpricks,aye? Do it!"

Chapter 29, Perfectly Fine, page 253

From: Lady LizT and Lady terric853

"Well. So. At least now I know why you’ve been coming back from the Cherokee villages in such a state of—of—" I felt an unhinged giggle rising, and bent over, moaning as I stifled it. "Oh, Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ. And here I thought it was thoughts of me, driving you mad with lust."
He snorted then himself, though mildly. He put down the cup, rose, and turned back the coverlet. Then he looked at me, and his eyes were clear, unguarded.
"Claire," he said, quite gently, "it was you. It’s always been you, and it always will be."

Chapter 31, And So to Bed, page 283

From: Lady mommio

God, Bird was still at it. Well, tonight it wouldn't matter; he could lie naked with a covey of young women, and sleep sound. Too exhausted to be annoyed by her presence, he struggled for some polite acknowledgment of the woman. Then she stood up.
The firelight showed him an elderly woman, her hair in grizzled plaits, her dress of white buckskin decorated with paint and porcupine quills. He recognized Calls-in-the-Forest, dressed in her best. Bird's sense of humor had finally got completely out of hand; he had sent Jamie his mother.

Chapter 44, Scotchee, page 392

From: Lady Beth

Jamie inhaled deeply, then let his breath out slowly, coughing slightly from the smoke.
"Aye, well," he said. "So we're down by one print shop and one thief—but four whores to the good. D'ye think that a fair exchange, Sassenach?"

Chapter 56, Tar and Feathers, page 518

From: Lady mommio

"I'd told Marsali to bring the wee lad, and after we'd eaten, I took him on my knee, and had them all come and touch him, just to see."
He smiled lopsidedly.
"One of the lads asked me was it true, what Mr. Roger said, about the wean belonging to the Lord? I told him I certainly wouldna argue with Mr. Roger about that—but whoever else he belonged to, Henri-Christian belongs to me, as well, and best they should remember it."

Chapter 64, I am the Resurrection, Part 2, page 571

From: Lady AngieLass, Lady Helka and Lady Jay

     "It's a great comfort," he said at last, "to see the sun come up and go down. When I dwelt in the cave, when I was in prison, it gave me hope, to see the light come and go, and know that the world went about its business."
     He was looking out the window, toward the blue distance where the sky darkened toward infinity. His throat moved a little as he swallowed.
     "It gives me the same feeling, Sassenach," he said, "to hear ye rustling about in your surgery, rattling things and swearin' to yourself." He turned his head, then, to look at me, and his eyes held the depths of the coming night.
     "If ye were no longer there—or somewhere—" he said very softly, "then the sun would no longer come up or go down."

Chapter 66, The Dark Rises, page 585

From: Lady Cindy C

"Well, I'll tell ye, Sassenach," he said. "If I havena got calluses there, It's no fault of yours, believe me."

Chapter 66, The Dark Rises, page 587

From: Lady Lynn H

     "I wrote my name! Grandda showed me!"
     "Oh, you did? Well, good for you!" Brianna beamed at him, then her brow furrowed. "What—just now?"
     "Yes! Come see afore it's covered up!"
     She looked at Jamie under lowered brows.
     "Da, you didn't."
     He took a piece of fresh toast from the platter, and spread it neatly with butter. "Aye, well," he said, "there's got to be some advantage still to being a man, even if no one pays a bit of heed to what ye say."

Chapter 74, So Romantic, page 675

From: Lady Margit

     "From Fraser's Ridge, in the Colony of North Carolina
     this 16th day of March, Anno Domini 1775,
     James Fraser to Lord John Grey, of Mount Josiah Plantation, in the Colony of Virginia

     My dear John—

                    It is too late.
                    Our continued Correspondence cannot but prove a Danger to you, but it is with the greatest Regret that I sever this Link between us.

                    Believe me ever

                                                       Your most humble and affectionate Friend,

                                                       Jamie

Chapter 76, Dangerous Correspondence, page 688

From: Lady terric853

     "He loves you. Ye ken that, aye?" He spoke very quietly; I heard the reverberation of the words in his chest, as much as the words themselves.
     "He said he did." I felt a tightness in the throat, recalling that very direct gray look. Tom Christie was a man who said what he meant, and meant what he said—a man like Jamie, in that regard at least.
     Jamie was quiet for what seemed a long time. Then he sighed, and turned his head so his cheek rested against my hair; I heard the faint rasp of his whiskers.
     "Sassenach—I would have done the same, and counted my life well lost, if it saved ye. If he feels the same, the ye've done nay wrong to him, to take your life from his hand."

Chapter 98, To Keep a Ghost at Bay, page 827

From: Lady tlk2vicki

     "You wouldn’t. He wouldn’t." The lawyer was staring at the brooch in Roger’s hand, his heavy face gone pale.
     "Oh, I expect he would, if ye mean Uncle Jamie," Ian Murray said. "He’s fond of his daughter, aye?"
     "Nonsense." The lawyer was making a game attempt to bluff it out, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off the brooch. "Fraser is a gentleman."
     "He’s a Highlander," Roger said brutally.

Chapter 103, Put to the Question, page 854

From: Lady terric853 and Lady tlk2vicki

     "I dinna much mind if the place bursts into flame by spontaneous combustion, Sassenach, provided I have my supper first."
     "A cold supper, were you thinking?" I asked dubiously.
     "I was not," he said firmly. "I mean to light a roaring fire in the kitchen hearth, fry up a dozen eggs in butter, and eat them all, then lay ye down on the hearth rug and roger ye "til you—is that all right?" he inquired, noticing my look.
     "'Til I what?" I asked, fascinated by his description of the evening's program.
     "'Til ye burst into flame and take me with ye, I suppose," he said, and stooping, swooped me up into his arms and carried me across the darkened threshold.

Chapter 111, January Twenty-First, page 908

From: Lady tlk2vicki

"He realized suddenly that every fragment of Fraser’s being was focused on the scene outside. Of course; he had not seen Willie since the boy was twelve. And to see the two together—his daughter and the son he could never speak to or acknowledge. He would have touched Fraser, put a hand on his arm in sympathy, but knowing the probable effect of his touch, forbore to do it."

Chapter 118, Regret, page 947

From: Lady Alissa, Lady Lynn H and Lady LizT

Jamie looked down at Jem, who was clinging to his hand, looking back and forth between father and grandfather, confusion, fright, and longing in his face.
"If one day, a bhailach," Jamie said conversationally, "ye should meet a verra large mouse named Michael—ye'll tell him your grandsire sends his regards". He opened his hand, then, letting go, and nodded towards Roger.

Chapter 120, If Only For Myself, page 954

From: Lady Cindy C

     Tears were falling down her face, and Roger was saying something, but she didn't attend the words, and the children were making an uproar upstairs, the builders were still arguing outside, and the only thing in the world she could see were the faded words on the page, written in a sprawling, difficult hand.

                                                                                                December 31,1776

          My dear daughter,

                As you will see if ever you receive this, we are alive. . . .

Epilogue I Lallybroch, page 979

Permission to reprint these quotes from her copyrighted books
was given by Diana Gabaldon. Thank you, Diana!

Go to other Jamie-isms pages:

Outlander Dragonfly in Amber Voyager Drums of Autumn The Fiery Cross A Breath of Snow and Ashes

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