𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄 | outlander ↠ jamie fraser

8 | Questions and Answers

Jamie simply nodded his head in understanding, but I was done talking. With my hands on my hips, I marched toward him. "Now, if you're done interrogating me, I'd like to see that shoulder. I can see you've been misusing it and you're covered in blood."

"It's no my blood," he responded and then paused for a moment. "At least no much of it anyway."

"How reassuring. Still, you ought to let me see. You could have done more damage by simply using the arm...even after I specifically told you not to."

He smiled slightly, but when my hands reached to move his shirt away for a better look at his shoulder, he side-stepped me. "Dougal and the others will be waiting. Let's go." He gestured toward his horse.

"Your shoulder..." I began as I reached toward him again, but he easily slipped out of my reach.

"Pay it no mind, Mistress Tallmadge." There was something odd about the way he said my name, but I couldn't quite place what it was.

Instead, I growled under my breath. "Are you always this stubborn?" I asked him in exasperation, my hands once again on my hips and my expression stern.

Jamie laughed. His laugh was infectious. I tried not to smile, but there was no use. I suppose the scene was rather comical. Me, a small woman barely over five feet tall trying to take on a big, strapping Highlander several inches over six feet. When he saw my expression soften he said, "It runs in the family. Now, if ye will, Mistress Tallmadge, we ought to be going." He gestured toward his horse.

I swallowed hard and moved my arms so that they were folded across my chest. I then looked to the ground in embarrassment, feeling my cheeks beginning to redden. "I wasn't lying when I said I was scared of horses."

"Aye, I know." He smiled slightly and moved to reach to touch me before he clenched his hand in a fist and slowly lowered his hand. "I willna let ye fall. I give ye my word."

I arched an eyebrow and stared at him rather incredulously. "Oh? Then what happened the last time?"

"That was different. I threw ye." He grinned broadly, almost laughing at his own response.

Even if I had wanted to stay angry with him about it, I couldn't. It just wasn't in me. "You could have warned me, you know," I told him, trying my hardest not to smile back at him.

He shrugged again with his bad shoulder and winced a bit. "I give ye my word not to throw ye..." he paused for a moment before finishing. "...unless absolutely necessary."

I knew that was about as good as I was going to get from him. So, I nodded my head and walked toward the horse. I looked up at the creature and shuddered slightly. While I had already been atop the beast several times, I still didn't trust it. I knew it to be a necessary evil. I then turned toward Jamie who was bent over beside me with his hands woven together for me to use.

"Your shoulder," I gently chided him.

Jamie shook his head. "I can manage a wee thing like you. I'm injured, not an invalid. Besides, ye can have a look at it when we get where we're going."

"Men," I muttered and rolled my eyes before I placed my foot in his hands.

He easily seemed to hoist me up onto the horse before climbing up himself. He reached for the reins and gave the horse a command. I braced myself against Jamie as I had before. He seemed a little stiffer than our last ride, his body more resistant to my presence. But I still felt safer with him there behind me, holding onto me as I desperately clung to him. And then we were off once again.

It wasn't long before we came upon Dougal and the other men waiting for us on a path. Like Jamie, they were bloodied up a bit and sweating, but it looked like everyone was still alive. Jamie hadn't mentioned if Randall had been a part of the party they ambushed, but it made sense to me that he likely had been. Nor had Jamie commented on Randall being dead, meaning he was likely still alive. I had a feeling that I was now just as wanted as these Highlanders, a reality that no one like myself could ever have prepared themselves for.