Ladies of Lallybroch - Voyager Jamie-isms

From: Lady Julie K.

For them, Jamie felt a piercing sorrow---and for the others here, loyal friends and gallant soldiers. For himself, he felt only relief. No more to worry, nothing more to do. He had done all he could for his men, his wife, his unborn child. Now let this bodily misery be ended, and he would go grateful for the peace of it.

Chapter 1: The Corbies' Feast - Page 10

From: Lady Julie K, Lady Valerie L.

      Bloodshot blue eyes gleamed wide with alarm, under the spikes of matted red hair. "Where are ye sending me?" Turning from the door, Melton cast him a glance of intense dislike.
      "You're the laird of Broch Tuarach, aren't you? Well, that's where I'm sending you."
      "I dinna want to go home! I want to be shot!"

Chapter 1: The Corbies' Feast - Page 15

From: Lady Valerie L.

He shrugged such thoughts away. He had chosen his way, and was satisfied with it. Still, he searched the sky, looking for Taurus. Not the prettiest of constellations, but his own. Born under the sign of the bull, stubborn and strong. Strong enough, he hoped, to do what he intended.

Chapter 6: Being Now Justified by His Blood - Page 88

From: Lady Valerie L.

"Jamie had that," she said softly, as though to herself. "He wasn't a man to turn away from anything he thought his job. Dangerous or not. And I think he won't have felt himself wasted---no matter what happened to him."

Chapter 10: A Faith in Documents - Page 110

From: Lady Valerie L.

      "I shall not ask you again why you left the prison," he had said, calmly conversational. "But I will ask you---why did you come back?"
      Fraser had frozen briefly, startled. He turned back and met Grey's eyes directly. For a moment he said nothing. Then his mouth curled up in a smile.
      "I suppose I must value the company, Major; I can tell ye, it's not the food."

Chapter 10: White Witch's Curse - Page 156

From: Lady Kelly W.

He had been born a leader, then bent and shaped further to fit such a destiny. But what of a man who had not been born to the role he was required to fill? John Grey, for one. Charles Stuart for another.
For the first time in ten years, from this strange distance, he could find it in himself to forgive that feeble man who had once been his friend. Having so often paid the price exacted by his own gift, he could at last see the more terrible doom of having been born a king, without the gift of kingship.

Chapter 12: Sacrifice - Page 189

From: Lady Valerie L.

      He felt relieved at once of many things. Of the weight of immediate responsibility, of the necessity for decision. Temptation was gone, along with the possibility of it. More important, the burden of anger had lifted; perhaps it was gone for good.
      So, he thought, through the gathering fog, John Grey had given him back his destiny.
      Almost, he could be grateful.

Chapter 12: Sacrifice - Page 189

From: Lady Valerie L.

"James MacKenzie Fraser," he murmured. He looked up from the paper to the sleeping woman on the sofa. The light had just touched the curve of her ear; she stirred briefly and turned her head, then her face lapsed back into somnolence.
"I don't know who you were, mate," he whispered to the unseen Scot, "but you must have been something, to deserve her."

Chapter 13: Midgame - Page 190

From: Lady Valerie L.

"Well, love's for only one person. This, what you feel from me---ye can have that with any man, it's not particular."
Only one person. He pushed the thought of Claire firmly away and wearily bent again to his work.

Chapter 14: Geneva - Page 218

From: Lady Valerie L.

      Willie started for the door, but stopped halfway, suddenly distressed again, with a hand pressed flat to his chest.
      "You said to keep this to remember you. But I haven't got anything for you to remember me by!"
      Jamie smiled slightly. His heart was squeezed so tight, he thought he could not draw breath to speak, but he forced the words out.
      "Dinna fret yourself," he said. "I'll remember ye."

Chapter 16: Willie - Page 241

From: Lady Kelly W.

I shook so that it was some time before I realized that he was shaking, too, and for the same reason. I don't know how long we sat there on the dusty floor, crying in each others arms with the longing of twenty years spilling down our faces.

Chapter 24: A. Malcolm, Printer - Page 314

From: Lady Valerie L.

      "I've seen ye so many times," he said, his voice whispering warm in my ear. "You've come to me so often. When I dreamed sometimes. When I lay in fever. When I was so afraid and so lonely I knew I must die. When I needed you, I would always see ye, smiling, with your hair curling up about your face. But ye never spoke. And ye never touched me."
      "I can touch you now." I reached up and drew my hand gently down his temple, his ear, the cheek and jaw that I could see. My hand went to the nape of his neck, under the clubbed bronze hair, and he raised his head at last, and cupped my face between his hands, love glowing strong in the dark blue eyes.
      "Dinna be afraid," he said softly. "There's the two of us now."

Chapter 24: A. Malcolm, Printer - Page 316

From: Lady Valerie L.

I took a deep breath of the damp, clean air, feeling exhilarated by the wildness of the evening and the closeness of Jamie, tall and powerful by my side. I had found him. I had found him, and whatever unknowns life now held, they didn't seem to matter. I felt reckless and indestructible.

Chapter 25: House of Joy - Page 324

From: Laird Scotty

I saw the realization dawn in his eyes as well. Neither of us moved, barely breathing. Then his chest swelled as he took a deep breath, reached and took both my wrists in one hand. He pulled them up, over my head, and held me there, my body arched taut and helpless under him.
"Give me your mouth, Sassenach," he said softly, and bent to me. His head blotted out the candlelight, and I saw nothing but a dim glow and the darkness of his flesh as his mouth touched mine.

Chapter 25: House of Joy - Page 344

From: Lady Kelly W.

He had been fixed in my memory for so long, glowing but static, like an insect frozen in amber. And then had come Roger's brief historical sightings, like peeks through a keyhole; separate pictures like punctuations, alterations; adjustments of memory, each showing the dragonfly's wings raised or lowered at a different angle, like the single frames of a motion picture. Now time had begun to run again for us, and the dragonfly was in flight before me, flickering from place to place, so I saw little more yet than the glitter of its wings.

Chapter 26: Whore's Brunch - Page 366

From: Lady Julie H.

"Oh, aye," he said. "Well, you're speaking to the only man in Scotland who has a terrible cockstand at the sight of a plucked chicken."

Chapter 26: Whore's Brunch - Page388

From: Lady Valerie L.

      "I had forgotten," he said, a moment later.
      "Forgotten what?" His back was warm through the thin shirt.
      "Everything." He spoke very softly, mouth against my hair. "Joy. Fear. Fear, most of all." His hand came up and smoothed my curls away from his nose.
      "I havena been afraid for a verra long time, Sassenach," he whispered. "But now I think I am. For there is something to be lost, now."

Chapter 26: Whore's Brunch - Page: 394

From: Lady Christina

      "It's no just the bedding, ye ken," he said, drawing back a little at last. His eyes looked down at me, a soft deep blue like the warm tropic sea.
      "No," I said, touching his cheek. "It isn't."
      "To have ye with me again---to talk wi' you---to know I can say anything, not guard my words or hide my thoughts---God, Sassenach," he said, "the Lord knows I am lust-crazed as a lad, and I canna keep my hands from you---or anything else---" he added, wryly, "but I would count that all well lost, had I no more than the pleasure of havin' ye by me, and to tell ye all my heart."

Chapter 27: Up in Flames - Page 402

From: Lady M&M

"It gets a bit easier with practice, Sassenach," he said. "Try living wi' me for a time, and ye'll find yourself spinning silk out of your arse easy as sh--, er, easy as kiss-my-hand."

Chapter 29: Culloden's Last Victim - Page 447

From: Lady M&M

"For so many years," he said, "for so long, I have been so many things, so many different men." I felt him swallow, and he shifted slightly, the linen of his nightshirt rustling with starch.
"I was 'Uncle' to Jenny's children, and 'Brother' to her and Ian. 'Milord' to Fergus, and 'Sir' to my tenants. 'Mac Dubh' to the men of Ardsmuir and 'MacKenzie' to the other servants at Helwater. 'Malcolm the printer,' then, and 'Jamie Roy' at the docks." The hand stroked my hair, slowly, with a whispering sound like the wind outside. "But here," he said, so softly I could barely hear him, "here in the dark, with you....I have no name."

Chapter37: What's In a Name? - Pages 563-564

From: Lady Christina

      The small vibration in his chest this time was laughter, not cold.
      "Take ye and be damned for it, I expect," he said. He kissed my forehead gently. "Loving you has put me through hell more than once, Sassenach; I'll risk it again, if need be."
      "Bah," I said. "And you think loving you's been a bed of roses, do you?"
      This time he laughed out loud.
      "No," he said, "but you'll maybe keep doing it?"
      "Maybe I will, at that."
      "You're a verra stubborn woman," he said, the smile clear in his voice.
      "It bloody takes one to know one," I said, and then we were both quiet for quite some time.

Chapter 39: Lost, and By the Wind Grieved - Pages 603-604

From: Lady MinLyn

      He gave me a long, level look over one shoulder. The golden needles sprouted through his hair in twin bunches, gleaming in the morning light like a pair of devil's horns.
      "Dinna try me too high, Sassenach," he said. "I'm no going to forget, ye ken. Tangled testicles---pah!"
      Mr. Willoughby had been ignoring this exchange, squatting on his heels in the shadow of the aft-deck scuttlebutt, a large barrel filled with water for the refreshment of the deck watch. He was counting on his fingers, evidently absorbed in some kind of calculation. As Jamie walked away, he looked up.
      "Not rat," he said, shaking his head. "Not dragon, too. Tsei-mi born in Year of Ox."
      "Really?" I said, looking after the broad shoulders and red head, lowered stubbornly against the wind. "How appropriate."

Chapter 41: We Set Sail - Pages 658-659

From: Lady M&M

"I think she will do verra well," he whispered. "For no matter what poor gowk has fathered her, no lass has ever had a better mother. Kiss me, Sassenach, for believe me---I wouldna change ye for the world."

Chapter 42: The Man in the Moon - Page 670

From: Lady Dee

      "How many times have we lain together, since ye came back to me?" he whispered. "Once, twice, in the brothel. Three times in the heather. And then at Lallybroch, again in Paris." His fingers tapped lightly against my wrist, one after the other, in time with my pulse.
      "Each time, I left your bed as hungry as ever I came to it. It takes no more to ready me now than the scent of your hair brushing past my face, or the feel of your thigh against mine when we sit to eat. And to see ye stand on the deck, wi' the wind pressing your gown tight to your body..."
      The corner of his mouth twitched slightly as he looked at me. I could see the pulse beat strong in the hollow of his throat, his skin flushed with wind and desire.
      "There are moments, Sassenach, when for one copper penny, I'd have ye on the spot, back against the mast and your skirts about your waist, and devil take the bloody crew!"

Chapter 44: Forces of Nature - Page 684

From: Lady M&M

"Too late," he said, with breathless certainty. "I must have ye, or die."

Chapter 44: Forces of Nature - Page 695

From: Lady M&M

"And we'll see what sort of noise it is ye don't make then, Sassenach."

Chapter 52: A Wedding Takes Place - Page 816

From: Lady Valerie L.

      "I didn't say you shouldn't worry---do you think I don't worry? But no, you probably can't do anything about me."
      I saw him opening his mouth to disagree. Then he changed his mind, and laughed again. He reached out and popped another orange segment into my mouth.
      "Well, maybe no, Sassenach, and maybe so. But I've lived a long enough time now to think it maybe doesna matter so much---so long as I can love you."
      Speechless with orange juice, I stared at him in surprise.
      "And I do," he said softly. He leaned into the berth and kissed me, his mouth warm and sweet.

Chapter 56: Turtle Soup - Page 886

From: Lady Valerie L.

"Only you," he said, so softly I could barely hear him. "To worship ye with my body, give ye all the service of my hands. To give ye my name, and all my heart and soul with it. Only you. Because ye will not let me lie---and yet ye love me."

Chapter 59: In Which Much Is Revealed - Page 942

From: Lady Kelly W.

      "Daddy," she said, with great certainty. "I knew it was you. I've been dreaming about you."
      Jamie's face was white with shock. I saw his lips form the word "Jesus," without sound, and his hand moved instinctively to cross himself.
      "Don't let Mama go alone," said the voice with great certainty. "You go with her. I'll keep you safe."
      There was no sound save the crackling of the fire. Ishmael stood transfixed, staring at the woman beside me. Then she spoke again, in Brianna's soft, husky tones.
      "I love you, Daddy. You too, Mama." She leaned toward me, and I smelled the fresh blood. Then her lips touched mine, and I screamed.

Chapter 61: The Crocodile's Fire - Page 1009

From: Lady Renee

"Then kiss me, Claire," he whispered. "And know that you are more to me than life, and I have no regret."
I couldn't answer, but kissed him, first his hand, its crooked fingers warm and firm, and the brawny wrist of a sword-wielder, and then his mouth, haven and promise and anguish all mingled, and the salt of tears in the taste of him.

Chapter 62: Abandawe - Page 1026

From: Lady Valerie L.

"Damn you, Sassenach!" his voice said, from a very great distance. His voice was choked with passion. "Damn you! I swear if ye die on me, I'll kill you!"

Chapter 63: Out of the Depths - Page 1053

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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