Some kinds of hunger were sweet in themselves, the anticipation of satisfaction as keen a pleasure as the slaking.
So now thee has doomed thy kinsman, repudiated thy father, and caused me to betray my principles. What next?! Oh, bloody hell, he said, and grabbed her arms, pulled her roughly to him, and kissed her....
She supposed she ought to feel exposed in some way, the privacy of her thoughts and dreams laid bare to him—but she trusted him with them. He would never use those things against her.
She had disapproved, audibly, repeatedly, and eventually to my face, of my habit of going about with my head uncovered, it being her opinion that it was unseemly for a woman of my age not to wear eith...
Rain was roaring on the tin roof now, and lightning struck close by, blue-white and sharp with ozone. We rode it together, forked and light-blind, breathless, and the thunder rolled through our bones.
Put your trust in God, and pray for guidance. And when in doubt, eat. A Franciscan monk had once given me that advice, and on the whole, I had found it useful.
People are gregarious by necessity. Since the days of the first cave dwellers, humans—hairless, weak, and helpless save for cunning—have survived by joining together in groups; knowing, as so many oth...
One had known the care of other men from his earliest years, a part of the duty of his birthright; the other had come to it later, but both felt that burden to be the will of God, she had no doubt at...
Once I had thought I was whole -- had seemed to be able to love a man, to bear a child, to heal the sick--and know that all these things were natural parts of me, not the difficult, troubled fragments...
Oh, many and many a time, he whispered. When I saw you. When I took ye, not caring did ye want me or no, did ye have somewhere else to be, someone else to love.
Not a hothouse flower, this daughter of Leoch, despite her surroundings.
No. There were men there from all over the Highlands—from every clan, almost. Only a few men from each clan—remnants and ragtag. But the more in need of a chief, for all that. And that’s what you were...
No wonder he was so good with horses, I thought blearily, feeling his fingers rubbing gently behind my ears, listening to the soothing, incomprehensible speech. If I were a horse, I’d let him ride me...
My father, he said abruptly. Pa—Lord John, I mean. He knew—knows? Yes. Thin ice again. I didn’t think he had any idea that Lord John had married Isobel principally for his sake—and Jamie’s—but didn’t...
Mo Nighean donn, he whispered, mo chridhe. My brown lass, my heart.Come to me. Cover me. Shelter me. a bhean, heal me. Burn with me, as I burn for you.
Man is born to sorrow and whiskers. One of the plagues of Adam.
Last night I dreamed that Roger was leaving. I’ve been dreaming about his going for a week, ever since Da suggested it. Suggested—ha. Like Moses brought down
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 somethin...
Jamie lingered awkwardly a moment, and then, as though suddenly making up his mind to it, stepped forward and bending down, cupped Grey’s face between his hands.
Jamie has held my life in his hands for a good many years now, he answered softly. I will trust him with William’s. And what if Willie remembers a groom named MacKenzie better than you think? Or happe...