Staring absently out at the rain, he abruptly said, 'I told ye once I'd tell you the other reason. Do ye want to know?' 'Reason?' I said stupidly, taken by surprise.
'Which was?' I don't know what I expected him to say, perhaps some further revelation of his family's contorted affairs. What he did say was more of a shock, in its way.
'Because I wanted you.' He turned from the window to face me. 'More than I ever wanted anything in my life,' he added softly.
I continued staring at him, dumbstruck. Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn't this. Seeing my openmouthed expression, he continued lightly. 'When I asked my da how ye knew which was the right woman, he told me when the time came, I'd have no doubt. And I didn't. When I woke in the dark on the way to Leoch, with you sitting on my chest, cursing me for bleeding to death, I said to myself, "Jamie Fraser, for all ye canna see what she looks like, and for all she weighs as much as a good draught horse, this is the woman." '
I started towards him and he backed away, talking rapidly. I said to myself, "She's mended ye twice in as many hours, me lad; life amongst the MacKenzies being what it is, it might be as well to wed a woman as can stanch a wound and set broken bones." And I said to myself, "Jamie, lad, if her touch feels so bonny on your collarbone, imagine what it might feel like lower down..." '
He dodged around a chair. 'Of course, I thought it might ha' just been the effects of spending four months in a monastery, without benefit of female companionship, but then that ride through the dark together' - he paused to sigh theatrically, neatly evading my grab at his sleeve - 'with that lovely broad arse wedged between my thighs' - he ducked a blow aimed at his left ear and sidestepped, getting a low table between us - 'and that rock-solid head thumping his own head and went clanging to the floor. me in the chest' - a small metal ornament bounced off 'I said to myself..'
He was laughing so hard at this point that he had to pause for breath between phrases. 'Jamie... I said... for all she's a Sassenach bitch... with a tongue like an adder's... with a bum like that... what does it matter if she's st face like a sh-sh-sheep?"
I tripped him neatly and landed on his stomach knees as he hit the floor with a crash that shook the house 'You mean to tell me that you married me out of love?' I demanded. He raised his eyebrows, struggling to draw breath. 'Have I not... just been... saying so?"
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