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b13b6b1
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Grey was modest about his own endowments, but also honest enough to admit that he possessed some and that his person was reasonably attractive to women.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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e2c2c63
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This certainly isn't the first time you've slept--I do mean slept with--a woman, is it?" I asked. He had been married, though I seemed to recall that he had spent much of his married life living separately from his wife. He pursed his lips thoughtfully, as though trying to recall. "Well, no. I do think it may be the first time I've done it entirely voluntarily, though." "Oh, I am flattered!" He glanced at me, smiling slightly. "So you shoul..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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34a503d
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Delay for a few seconds longer, Mr. Fraser, and you may well go back to being dead." John had gone to the window, peering down into the street. He turned, and I saw that his face was pale but glowing like a candle. "Aye? They were a bit faster than I thought, then," Jamie said ruefully, going to look out. He turned from the window and smiled. "It's good to see ye, John--if only for the moment." John's answering smile lit his eyes. He reache..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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c254884
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Mother Claire! Where's Papa? There are--" He had seized me by the arms as I reeled backward, but his concern for me was superseded by a sound from the hall beyond the landing. He glanced toward the sound--then let go of me, his eyes bulging. Jamie stood at the end of the hall, some ten feet away; John stood beside him, white as a sheet, and his eyes bulging as much as Willie's were. This resemblance to Willie, striking as it was, was comple..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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98c3843
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Some dim instinct said he should step forward, raise his own voice, assert his authority, sort this. He turned and walked away. He wasn't in uniform, he told himself. They wouldn't listen, would be confused, he might do more harm than good. But he wasn't in the habit of lying to himself, and dropped that line of argument at once. He'd lost people before. Some of them dearly loved, more than life itself. But now he'd lost himself. He walked ..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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643df13
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He set off toward Walnut Street, no longer numb. He felt once more himself, strong and determined. There was, after all, one more service he might perform for Jamie Fraser. "You must marry me," he repeated."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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23cb9c3
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You can't possibly have said what I think you said." "Indeed I did," he said, his normal dry edge returning."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ac4884e
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I know I'm shocked," I told him, "but I'm sure I'm neither delusional nor hearing things. Why the bloody hell are you saying that, for God's sake?!" I rose abruptly, wanting to strike him. He saw it and took a smart step back."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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6b8fe4a
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You are going to marry me," he said, a fierce edge in his voice. "Are you aware that you are about to be arrested as a spy?" "I--no." I sat down again, as abruptly as I'd stood up. "What ... why?" "You would know that better than I would," he said coldly."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a4632ed
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Even if that were true," I said, struggling to keep my own voice level, "why the bloody hell would I marry you? Let alone why you would want to marry me, which I don't believe for an instant." "Believe it," he advised me briefly. "I will do it because it is the last service I can render Jamie Fraser. I can protect you; as my wife, no one can touch you. And you will do it because ..." He cast a bleak glance behind me, raising his chin, and I..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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57fc033
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I--yes. All right.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a1e3bd6
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When?" "Now," he said, and took my elbow. "There is no time to lose."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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31bfc29
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I found Lord John and William in the parlor, both of them a little flushed. "Mother Claire." Willie took my hand and gently kissed it. "Come and look. Papa has found something he thinks you will like. Come and see it," he repeated, drawing me gently toward the table. "It" was a large wooden chest, made of some expensive wood, banded in gold. I blinked at it and put out a hand to touch it. It looked rather like a cutlery safe but much bigger..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a73a50a
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There must have been some sound that made me look up, but I wasn't aware of having raised my head. John Grey was standing in the doorway of my room. His neckcloth was missing and his shirt hung limp on his shoulders, wine spilled down the front of it. His hair was loose and tangled, and his eyes as red as mine. I stood up, slow, as though I were underwater. "I will not mourn him alone tonight," he said roughly, and closed the door."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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c4ac178
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Well, you are a bit odd, aren't you?" I said tolerantly. "I don't really mind, though. What is it?"
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Diana Gabaldon |
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7d4034f
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He gave me a look, strongly suggesting that if one of us was indeed odd, he didn't think it was himself. Gentlemanly instincts suppressed any remark he might have made to this effect, though. "Will you allow me to see you? Ah ... naked?"
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Diana Gabaldon |
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52e364d
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You can take the Governor's pinnace; that's small, but it's seaworthy." Grey fumbled through the drawer of his desk. "I'll write an order for the dockers to hand it over to you." "Aye, we'll need the boat--I canna risk the Artemis; as she's Jared's--but I think we'd best steal it, John." Jamie's brows were drawn together in a frown. "I wouldna have ye be involved wi' me in any visible way, aye? You'll be having trouble enough with things, w..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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4a5d9ce
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For a friend, John," he said. "And if I'll take your friendship--and your damned boat!--then you'll take mine, and keep quiet. Aye?"
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Diana Gabaldon |
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717814c
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It was as if there was a - it wasna a door, exactly, but a passageway of some kind - before me. And I could go through it, if I wanted. And I did want to," he said, giving me a sideways glance and a shy smile. He had known what lay behind him, too, and realized that for that moment, he could choose. Go forward - or turn back. "And that's when you asked me to touch you?" "I knew ye were the only thing that could bring me back," he "I didn't..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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d903eb8
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It was as if there was a - it wasna a door, exactly, but a passageway of some kind - before me. And I could go through it, if I wanted. And I did want to," he said, giving me a sideways glance and a shy smile. He had known what lay behind him, too, and realized that for that moment, he could choose. Go forward - or turn back. "And that's when you asked me to touch you?" "I knew ye were the only thing that could bring me back," he said, "I ..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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b028eec
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Two things weren't. The silver bracelet he had given her--and her grandmother's pearls. "Jesus bloody Christ." He looked again, just to be sure, dumping out the glittering junk and spreading it on his counterpane. No pearls. Certainly no string of baroque Scottish pearls, spaced with antique gold roundels. She couldn't be wearing them, not to an engineering conference in Sri Lanka. The pearls were an heirloom to her, not an ornament. She se..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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c43cdf5
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Thought of the general drew his fragmented thoughts together, a magnet in a scatter of loose iron filings. Someone to depend on...a man to share the burden...he wanted that, above all things. "Oh, God," he whispered, and moths touched his face, gentle in the dark."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ba23ae8
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I assure you, Mother," he said dryly, "you are undoubtedly the most interesting woman I've ever met." She snorted briefly and gave him a direct look. "I suppose that's why you haven't yet married, is it?" "I didn't think a wife needed to be interesting," he replied, with some honesty. "Most of the ones I know certainly aren't."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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648075d
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Then she was crying in his arms, choking and gasping, tears running down her face as she clutched him. "Why?" she sobbed. "Why did you have to follow me? Didn't you realize? Now what are we going to do!" "Do? Do about what?" He couldn't tell whether she was crying from anger or fear--both, he thought. She stared up at him through strands of tangled hair. "Getting back! You have to have somebody to go to--somebody you care for. You're the on..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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437fe5d
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He felt a moment's passionate gratitude to her. He'd seen her look at the boy, and knew how she must feel. She'd known about the lad, of course, but seeing the flesh-and-blood proof that her husband had shared another woman's bed wasn't something a wife should be asked to put up with. Little wonder if she was inclined to stick pins in John, him pushing the lad under her nose as he had.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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14395a1
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It wasn't stubbornness, nor even loyalty, that had made Willie insist on staying at the Ridge. It was love of John Grey, and fear of his loss. And it was the same love that made the boy weep in the night, desperate with worry for his father.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ac093ee
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Tom had automatically picked up the oily rag that lived on the corner of Grey's desk and, with a dexterous flick, snapped a fat fly out of the air and into oblivion. "Dead whale garnished with mint? That should cause my blood to be especially attractive to the more discriminating biting insects in Charles Town--to say nothing of Canada." Jamaican flies were a nuisance but seldom carnivorous, and the sea breeze and muslin window screening ke..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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cd54e97
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I thought he'd have an apoplexy on the spot," Grey said, lips twitching. "Likely wishes he had." Grey looked at Tom, Tom at Grey, and they burst into suffocated snorts of laughter at the memory of the Honorable Mr. Braythwaite's face on this occasion. "Come, come," Lord John said, getting himself under control. "This will never do. Have you--"
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Diana Gabaldon |
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8c5d9b7
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I wouldna tell ye if I did," he said, just as quietly. "But I don't." "Would you warn him--if you could?" Grey asked. He oughtn't, but was possessed by curiosity. "I would," Fraser replied without hesitation. He turned round now and looked down at Grey, expressionless. "He was once my friend." So was I, Grey thought, and took more brandy. Am I now again? But not even the most exigent curiosity would make him ask."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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d085231
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That's not right," Willie was saying, turning to look up at him. "You cast with the left hand. I saw you." "Aye, but I'm cack-handed, my lord. Most men would cast with the right." "Cack-handed?" Willie's mouth curved up again. "I find my left hand more convenient to most purposes than is the right, my lord." "That's what I thought it meant. I'm the same." Willie looked at once rather pleased and mildly shamefaced at this statement. "My--my ..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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f0cb514
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He was tempted to tell the boy the circumstances of that first meeting, but that would be poor repayment to John for his priceless gift, these precious few days with his son. "He was a verra gallant soldier, indeed," Jamie agreed, straight-faced. "And right about the hands, as well. Have ye begun your schooling with the sword, then?" "Just a little." Willie was forgetting his embarrassment in enthusiasm for the new topic. "I've had a little..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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697d141
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I'll try verra hard, John." The Governor sat down, wearily. There were deep circles under his eyes, and his impeccable linen was wilted; obviously he had not changed his clothes from the day before. "All right. I don't know where you're going, and it's likely better I don't. But if you can, keep out of the sealanes north of Antigua. I sent a boat this morning, to ask for as many men as the barracks there can supply, marines and sailors both..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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328cddf
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Jamie rose to take our leave, but Grey stopped him. "Wait. Will you not require a safe place for your--for Mrs. Fraser?" He didn't look at me, but at Jamie, eyes steady. "I should be honored if you would entrust her to my protection. She could stay here, in the Residence, until you return. No one would trouble her--or even need to know she was here."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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eac410a
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Come to me. Cover me. Shelter me, a bhean, heal me. Burn with me, as I burn for you." "Until we two burn to ashes."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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315c391
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She must go with me, John," he said. "There is no choice about it; she must." Grey's glance flickered to me, then away, but not before I had seen the look of jealousy in his eyes. I felt sorry for him, but there was nothing I could say; no way to tell him the truth. "Yes," he said, and swallowed noticeably. "I see. Quite." Jamie held out a hand to him. He hesitated for a moment, but then took it. "Good luck, Jamie," he said, voice a little ..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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335f18b
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Grey spoke with more heat than filial respect, but panic made him edgy.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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5f4163b
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Grey was thinking that Lieutenant Rimes was equally likely to rise to great heights in his service or to be court-martialed and hanged at Execution Dock, but he kept these thoughts to himself.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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9226177
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The Frenchman's Gold! Beyond its value as treasure--which would belong to the Crown in any case--the gold had a considerable and personal value to John William Grey. The finding of that half-mythical hoard would be his passport out of Ardsmuir--back to London and civilization.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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fb6eeb9
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His own words brought back to him the letters he had written now and then. The phantoms, as he thought of them: letters he'd written to Jamie Fraser--honest, conversational, heartfelt, and very real. No less real because he'd burned them all.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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3cd2788
|
When you write it down..." he said. "Does that make it--whatever it is--real again? Or does the act of putting it into words make it unreal? You know, something...separate from yourself."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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7f13ede
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He put his arm around her and drew her head down on his shoulder, and they sat silently together, waiting for the light to come back.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ea514d5
|
Dearest mother, John Grey wrote, later that night. I am arrived safely at my new post, and find it comfortable. Colonel Quarry, my predecessor--he is the Duke of Clarence's nephew, you recall?--made me welcome and acquainted with my charge. I am provided with a most excellent servant, and while I am bound to find many things about Scotland strange at first, I am sure I will find the experience interesting. I was served an object for my supp..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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5e71cfd
|
the Dowager Countess Melton was not a fool. She knew quite well that he was in disgrace; promising young officers in the good graces of their superiors were not sent to the arse-end of Scotland to oversee the renovation of small and unimportant prison-fortresses. But his brother Harold had told her that the trouble was an unfortunate affair of the heart, implying sufficient indelicacy to stop her questioning him about it. She likely thought..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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af2826b
|
An unfortunate affair of the heart! He smiled grimly, dipping his pen. Perhaps Hal had a greater sensitivity than he'd thought, in so describing it. But then, all his affairs had been unfortunate, since Hector's death at Culloden. With the thought of Culloden, the thought of Fraser came back to him; something he had been avoiding all day.
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Diana Gabaldon |