Ladies of Lallybroch - Drums of Autumn Jamie-isms

From: Lady Valerie L.

I glanced at the slightly bulging front of his breeches, and then up at him. Broad-shouldered and tall, with bold, clean features and a Highlander's proud carriage, he drew the glance of every woman he passed, even with his bright hair covered by a sober blue tricorne. The breeches, which were borrowed, were substantially too tight, and did nothing whatever to detract from the effect---an effect enhanced by the fact that he himself was totally ignorant of it.
"You're a walking inducement to harlots," I said. "Stick by me; I'll protect you."

Chapter 1: A Hanging in Eden - Page 9

From: Lady Julie H.

      "I feel like Eve," I said softly, watching the moon set behind him, over the dark of the forest. "Just on the edge of the Garden of Eden."
      There was a snort of laughter from the vicinity of my navel.
      "Aye, and I suppose I'm Adam," Jamie said. "In the gateway to Paradise." He turned his head to look wistfully across the creek toward the vast unknown, resting his cheek on the slope of my belly. "I only wish I knew was I coming in, or going out?"
      I laughed myself, startling him. I took him by both ears then, urging him gently up across the slippery expanse of my naked flesh.
      "In," I said. "I don't see an angel with a fiery sword, after all."
      He lowered himself upon me, his own flesh heated as with fever, and I shivered under him.
      "No?" he murmured. "Aye, well, you'll no be looking close enough, I suppose."

Chapter 2: In Which We Meet a Ghost - Page 56

From: Lady Julie H.

"I hate boats," Jamie said through clenched teeth. "I loathe boats. I view boats with the most profound abhorrence."

Chapter 6: I Encounter a Hernia - Page 93

From: Lady Stephanie

      He turned then, and gave me a narrow eye.
      "What is it that makes every man ye meet want to take off his breeks within five minutes of meetin' ye?"
      Fergus choked slightly, and Ian went pink. I looked as demure as possible.

Chapter 6: I Encounter a Hernia - Page 100

From: Lady Char2

      "There are things worth dying or starving for---but not words."
      "Maybe not those words.".
      He turned to look at me, features dim in starlight, but the hint of a smile visible on his mouth.
       "Ye know of words that are?"
      The gravestone had his name, but no date. I could stop him going back to Scotland, I thought. If I would.
      I turned to face him, leaning back against the window frame.
      "What about---'I love you'?".
      He reached out a hand and touched my face. A breath of air stirred past us, and I saw the small hairs rise along his arm.
       "Aye," he whispered. "That'll do."

Chapter 7: Great Prospects Fraught With Peril - Page 119

From: Lady Cara

"What's this?" I ran my hand curiously over the box.
"Oh, only a wee present." He didn't look at me, but the tips of his ears were pink. "Open it, hm?"

Chapter 8: Man of Worth - Page 135

From: Lady Valerie L.

      "No. I shouldna like to have that on my conscience; there's enough without. But that's not why I wished to buy ye a present."
      "Why, then?" The box was heavy; a gracious, substantial, satisfying weight across my legs, its wood a delight under my hands. He turned his head to look full at me, then, his hair fire-struck with the setting sun, face dark in silhouette.
      "Twenty-four years ago today, I married ye, Sassenach," he said softly. "I hope ye willna have cause yet to regret it."

Chapter 8: Man of Worth - Page 138

From: Lady Gwen

      "'Foeda est in coitu et breois voluptas,'" he recited obligingly. "'Et taedat Veneiis statim peractae. Doing, a filthy pleasure is---and short. And done, we straight repent us of the sport.'"
      I glanced down at the stained boards under us. "Well, perhaps 'filthy' isn't altogether the wrong word," I began, "but---"
      "It's not the filthiness that troubles me, Sassenach," he interrupted, scowling at Ian, who was hanging over the side of the boat, shouting encouragement to Rollo as he swam. "It's the short."

Chapter 8: Man of Worth - Page 139

From: Lady Gwen

He took both my hands in his, then, and kissed them---the left, which still bore the gold ring of my marriage to Frank, and then the right, with his own silver ring.
"Da mi basia mille," he whispered, smiling. Give me a thousand kisses. It was the inscription inside my ring, a brief quotation from a love song by Catullus. I bent and gave him one back. "Dien mille altera," I said. Then a thousand more.

Chapter 9: Two Thirds of a Ghost - Page 153

From: Lady Hedy

Temptation not only for him, but for me. For him, the chance to be what he was made for by nature, what fate had denied him. He was born and bred to this: the stewardship of a large estate, the care of the people on it, a place of respect among men of substance, his peers. More importantly, the restoration of clan and family I am already part of it, he'd said.

Chapter 13: An Examination of Conscience - Page 235

From: Lady Valerie L.

"Do ye not understand?" he said, in near desperation. "I would lay the world at your feet, Claire---and I have nothing to give ye!"
He honestly thought it mattered.

Chapter 13: An Examination of Conscience - Page 242

From: Lady Kelly W.

At last I took one big, callused hand and slid forward so I knelt on the boards between his knees. I laid my head against his chest, and felt his breath stir my hair. I had no words, but I had made my choice.
"'Whither thou goest,'" I said. "'I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.'" Be it Scottish hill or southern forest. "You do what you have to; I'll be there."

Chapter 13: An Examination of Conscience - Page 242

From: Lady Renee

      He did laugh then, and bending, kissed me thoroughly, his hands carefully exploring the outlines of my rear, snugly confined in buckskin. He squeezed gently, making me squirm against him.
      "Take them off," he said, pausing for air.
      "But, I---"
      "Take them off," he repeated firmly. He stepped back and tugged loose the lacing of his flies. "Ye can put them back on again after, Sassenach, but if there's flinging and ravishing to be done, it'll be me that does it, aye?"

Chapter 13: An Examination of Conscience - Page 274

From: Lady Julie H.

      "It's a rare plant," he said, touching the sprig in my open hand. "Flowers, fruit and leaves all together at one time. The white flowers are for honor, and red fruit for courage---and the green leaves are for constancy."
      My throat felt tight as I looked at him.
      "They got that one right," I said.
      He caught my hand in his own, squeezing my fingers around the tiny stem. "And the fruit is the shape of a heart," he said softly, and bent to kiss me.

Chapter 16: The First Law of Thermodynamics - Page 314-315

From: Lady Jenny B.

"You are my courage, as I am your conscience," he whispered. "You are my heart---and I your compassion. We are neither of us whole, alone. Do ye not know that, Sassenach?"

Chapter 16: The First Law of Thermodynamics - Page 320-321

From: Lady Barb P., Lady Jo MacA, Lady Linda V., Lady Michelle, Lady Ruth

"So long as my body lives, and yours---we are one flesh," he whispered. His fingers touched me, hair and chin and neck and breast, and I breathed his breath and felt him solid under my hand. Then I lay with my head on his shoulder, the strength of him supporting me, the words deep and soft in his chest.
"And when my body shall cease, my soul will still be yours. Claire---I swear by my hope of heaven, I will not be parted from you."

Chapter 16: The First Law of Thermodynamics - Page 322

From: Lady Julie H., Lady Renee

      "If I am to live as a man, I must have a mountain," he said simply. His eyes were open wide, searching mine for understanding.
      "Will ye trust me, Sassenach?" he said. His nose pressed against mine, but his eyes didn't blink. Neither did mine.
      "With my life," I said.
      I felt his lips smile, an inch from mine.
      "And with your heart?"
      "Always," I whispered, closed my eyes, and kissed him.

Chapter 19: Hearth Blessing - Page 358

From: Lady Dorothy

      "You're sure we aren't going to freeze to death, then?"
      "No," he said. "But I shouldna think it likely."
      "Hm," I said, feeling somewhat less reassured. "Well, perhaps we'd better stay awake for a bit, then, just in case?"
      "I wilna wave my arms about anymore," he said definitely. "There's no room. And if ye stick your icy wee paws in my breeks, I swear, I'll throttle ye, bad back or no."

Chapter 21: Night on a Snowy Mountain - Page 401

From: Lady Christina

      "I thought he said you weren't drunk if you could find your arse with both hands."
      He eyed me appraisingly.
      "I hate to tell ye, Sassenach, but it's not your arse you've got hold of---it's mine."
      "That's all right," I assured him. "We're married. Share and share alike. One flesh; the priest said so."
      "Perhaps it was a mistake to put that grease on ye," he muttered, half to himself. "It never does that to me!"
      "Well, you're a man."
      He had one last gallant try.
      "Should ye not eat a bit more, lass? You must be starving."
      "Mm-hm," I said. I buried my face in his shirt and bit him, lightly. "Ravenous."

Chapter 23: The Skull Beneath the Skin - Page 447

From: Lady Kelly W.

For so long as he lived, he could recall this moment. He could feel the cold wind on his face, and the crackling feel of the hair on his thighs, half singed by the fire. He could smell the rich odor of trout fried in cornmeal, and feel the tiny prick of a swallowed bone, hair-thin in his throat.
He could hear the dark quiet of the forest behind, and the soft rush of the stream nearby. And forever now he would remember the firelight golden on the sweet bold face of his son.

Chapter 27: Trout Fishing in America - Page 510

From: Lady Jenny B.

"They say it's a wise bairn that kens its father, but I dinna think there's much doubt who yours is, lass. Ye might have had the lang nebbit and red locks from anyone, but ye didna get the stubbornness from any man but Jamie Fraser."

Chapter 35: Beaucoup - Page 618

From: Lady Lora

      "It's true?" he whispered. "It is you, Brianna?" He spoke her name with a queer accent--Breeanah-and she shivered at the sound.
      "It's me," she said, a little huskily. She made another attempt at a smile. "Can't you tell?"
      His mouth was wide and full-lipped, but not like hers; wider, a bolder shape, that seemed to hide a smile in the corners of it, even in repose. It was twitching now, not certain what to do.
      "Aye," he said. "Aye, I can."

Chapter 41: Journey's End - Page 715

From: Lady Ruth

      "You can....call me Da," he said. His voice was husky; he stopped and cleared his throat. "If---if ye want to, I mean," he added diffidently.
      "Da," she said, and felt the smile bloom easily this time, unmarred by tears. "Da. Is that Gaelic?"
      He smiled back, the corners of his mouth trembling slightly.
      "No, it's only simple."
      And suddenly it was all simple. He held out his arms to her. She stepped into them and found that she had been wrong; he was as big as she'd imagined---and his arms were as strong about her as she had ever dared to hope.

Chapter 41: Journey's End - Page 716

From: Lady Valerie L.

He loved all Jenny's children deeply---especially Ian, the wee gowk whose mixture of foolishness and pigheaded courage reminded him so much of himself at that age. They were his blood, after all. But Brianna...
Brianna was his blood, and his flesh as well. An unspoken promise kept to his own parents; his gift to Claire, and hers to him.

Chapter 44: Three-Cornered Conversation - Page 757-758

From: Lady Julie H.

      He caught her fingers in his and kissed her knuckles lightly. She looked surprised, and then a faint warm glow came up under her skin. She came up a-tiptoe and kissed his mouth, then hurried after Brianna, already at the edge of the clearing.
      "Be careful!" he called after them. They waved, and disappeared into the woods, leaving him with their kisses soft on his face.
      "Deo gratias," he murmured again, watching them, and this time spoke with heartfelt gratitude. He waited until the last flicker of Brianna's cloak had vanished, before returning to his work.

Chapter 44: Three-Cornered Conversation - Page 759

From: Lady Valerie L.

Beyond the sheer unexpectedness of his appearance, it was his looks that stunned Roger into speechlessness. It was one thing to have been told that Jamie Fraser resembled his daughter. It was another to see Brianna's bold features transmuted into power by the stamp of years, and fronting a personality not only thoroughly masculine, but fierce in aspect.
It was like lifting his hand from the fur of a handsome ginger cat, only to find himself staring into the unblinking gaze of a tiger.

Chapter 46: Comes a Stranger - Page 784

From: Lady Valerie L.

"It'll make no difference to him," Jamie said, grasping her harder, almost fiercely, as though he could make things right by pure force of will. "If he's a decent man, it'll make no difference. And if it does---well, then he doesna deserve ye, and I shall beat him into a pulp and stamp on the pieces, and then go and find ye a better man."

Chapter 47: A Father's Song - Page 793

From: Lady Ruth

      He closed his eyes, feeling the wounds bleed clean again as the succubus drew its claws from his heart.
      He sighed, and turned his hands over, the rough wood of the fence comforting and solid under his palms. The demon was gone. He had been a man, Jack Randall; nothing more. And in the recognition of that common frail humanity, all power of past fear and pain vanished like smoke.
      His shoulders slumped, relieved of their burden.
      "Go in peace," he whispered, to the dead man and himself. "You are forgiven."

Chapter 48: Away in a Manger - Page 823

From: Lady Jenny B.

Educated in the universities of Paris, confidant of kings and friend to philosophers, still he was a Highlander, born to blood and honor. The body of a warrior and the mind of a gentleman---and the soul of a barbarian, he thought wryly, to whom neither God's nor mortal law stood more sacred than the ties of blood.

Chapter 48: Away in a Manger - Page 824

From: Lady Valerie L.

      "Brianna," he said quietly behind her. She didn't answer, didn't move.
      He made a small snorting noise---anger, impatience?
      "I have a thing to say to ye."
      "Say it," she said, and the words hurt her throat, as though she'd swallowed some jagged object.
      It was beginning to rain again; fresh spatters slicked the marble in front of her, and she could feel the icy pat! of drops that struck through her hair.
      "I will bring him home to you," Jamie Fraser said, still quiet, "or I will not come back myself."

Chapter 52: Desertion - Page 870

From: Lady Valerie L.

      "There was a reason. It wasn't you. But it's for him to tell you, if he wants to. You did forgive him though," she said quietly. "Why?"
      He sat up then, and shrugged, but didn't put away her hand.
      "I had to." He glanced at her, eyes straight and level. "I hated him for as long as I could. But then I realized that loving him . . . that was part of me, and one of the best parts. It didn't matter that he couldn't love me, that had nothing to do with it. But if I could not forgive him, then I could not love him, and that part of me was gone. And I found eventually that I wanted it back." He smiled, faintly. "So, you see, it was really entirely selfish."

Chapter 59: Blackmail - Page 951

From: Lady Renee

      Brianna's eyes were round as she looked at me.
      "Testosterone poisoning," I said, with a shrug.
      "Can you do anything about it?" she asked. The corner of her mouth twitched, though I couldn't tell whether with laughter or incipient hysteria.
      I pushed a hand through my hair, considering.
      "Well," I said finally, "there are only two things they do with it, and one of them is try to kill each other."
      Brianna rubbed her nose.
      "Uh-huh," she said. "And the other one...?" Our eyes met with a perfect understanding.
      "I'll take care of your father," I said. "But Roger's up to you."

Chapter 66: Child of My Blood - Page 1032

From: Lady Julie H.

"Did that redheaded bastard not love your mother more than life? And love you enough to sacrifice even that love to save you?"

Chapter 67: The Toss of a Coin - Page 1044

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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