My own Soul

The whole Scene:

He looked up the slope to the ter­race, where those not danc­ing strolled to and fro, cool­ing off between dances, sip­ping wine and flirt­ing behind fans. He sighed nostalgically.“Aye, a ver­ra pret­ty lass, Annalise de Mar­il­lac. Grace­ful as the wind, and so small that ye want­ed to tuck her inside your shirt and car­ry her like a kitten.”I was silent, lis­ten­ing to the faint music from the open doors above, as I con­tem­plat­ed the gleam­ing satin slip­per that encased my size-nine foot.After a moment, Jamie became aware of my silence.“What is it, Sasse­nach?” he asked, lay­ing a hand on my arm.“Oh, noth­ing,” I said with a sigh. “Only think­ing that I rather doubt any­one will ever describe me as ‘grace­ful as the wind.’ ”“Ah.” His head was half-turned, the long, straight nose and firm chin light­ed from behind by the glow of the near­est lantern. I could see the half-smile on his lips as he turned back toward me.“Well, I’ll tell ye, Sasse­nach, ‘grace­ful’ is pos­si­bly not the first word that springs to mind at thought of you.” He slipped an arm behind me, one hand large and warm around my silk-clad shoulder.“But I talk to you as I talk to my own soul,” he said, turn­ing me to face him. He reached up and cupped my cheek, fin­gers light on my temple.“And, Sasse­nach,” he whis­pered, “your face is my heart.”It was the shift­ing of the wind, sev­er­al min­utes lat­er, that part­ed us at last with a fine spray from the foun­tain. We broke apart and rose hasti­ly, laugh­ing at the sud­den chill of the water. Jamie inclined his head inquir­ing­ly toward the ter­race, and I took his arm, nodding.“So,” I observed, as we made our way slow­ly up the wide steps to the ball­room, “you’ve learnt a bit more about women now, I see.”He laughed, low and deep, tight­en­ing his grasp on my waist.“The most impor­tant thing I’ve learned about women, Sasse­nach, is which one to choose.” He stepped away, bow­ing to me, and ges­tur­ing through the open doors to the bril­liant scene inside. “May I have this dance, milady?”

All rights for the Pic­tures of Jamie and Claire go to the right­ful owner Starz/ TV Guide Magazine
Excer­pt and Quo­te by Diana Gabal­don from “Dragonfly in Amber“
I own not­hing but the editing