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"You couldn’t leave hi, after all," I said

"Oh, aye, I could," he said, surprising me He saw me look up at him, and smiled, the ist of his mouth barely visible in the dark

"The Crown doesna always pick the wrong , Sassenach," he said "More often than not, the man on the end of a rope deserves to be there And I shouldna like to think I’ve helped a villain to go free" He shrugged, and shoved his hair back out of his face

"Aye, well, it’s done Go and have your bath, Sassenach; I’ll come to ye so soon as I may"

I stood on tiptoe to kiss hiue touched his ently, in answer

"Can ye stay awake a wee bit longer, Sassenach?"

"As long as it takes," I assured hirass edging the point below the s I undressed slowly, enjoying the feel of the water-borne breeze through the das, and the final freedo erly into the water It was surprisingly cool--cold, by contrast to the hot night air The bottom under my feet was mostly silt, but it yielded to fine sand within a yard of shore

Though it was a tidal creek, ere far enough upstream that the water was fresh and sweet I drank and splashedaway the dust in throat and nose

I waded in up to h, mindful of Jaering heat of the day and the sht, the sensation of coolness on bare skin was an overwhel relief I cupped handfuls of cold water and splashed them on my face and brsts; the droplets ran down s

I could feel the slight push of the tide co h I had no soap, but knelt and rinsed my hair over and over in the clear dark water, and scrubbed my body with handfuls of fine sand, until

Finally, I cliuid as a ht, the heat of the air and the sun-warmed stone now a comfort to ers, scattering drops of water The wet stone s

I felt very tired, but at the same time, very ht is slowed and snified Ithe slight friction, and ran a hand lightly down the inside ofin the wake of ht, cool white doled with clear droplets I brushed one nipple and watched it slowly stiffen by itself, rising as if by ht was quiet and still, but with a languid at in a warm sea So near the coast, the sky was clear, and the stars shone overhead like diaht

A faint splashht like fireflies in a spider’s web

As I watched, a great head broke water in theback fro in Rollo’s jaws; the flap and gleam of its scales showed briefly as he shook his head violently to break its back The huge dog swam slowly to the shore, shook his coat briefly, and stalked away, his eveningfroe of the creek, looking atyellow eyes and glea from Rousseau, with its contrast of utter wildness and coone, and there was nothing on the far shore but the trees, hiding whatever ht lie behind theical part ofinto the mysterious dark Civilization--even of the prirown used to--was no e of the continent Two hundred miles from the coast, you were beyond the ken of city and farm And, past that point lay three thousand er Adventure, too--and freedom

It was a neorld, after all, free of fear and filled with joy, for now Jaether, for all of our lives before us Parting and sorrow lay behind us Even the thought of Brianna caused no dreadful regret--I ht of her constantly, but I knew she was safe in her own tie made her absence easier to bear

I lay back on the rock, the trapped heat of the day radiating from its surface into my body, happy only to be alive The drops of water were drying onto a filether

Snats hovered over the water; I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there by the occasional splash of leaping fish, rising to snatch theue I inspected Ja voracious ticks and wood fleas from his crevices, and anointed all of the men liberally with the juice of crushed pennyroyal and tobacco leaves This kept thenats, and carnivorous ed shadows of the woods, but it didn’t prevent the hordes of inquisitive bugs fro inquiry into ears, eyes, noses, and h, the majority of insects leftscent of herbs that hung about ht it went further than that--even when I was freshly bathed, the insects showed no desire to bother ht be a manifestation of the evolutionary oddity that--I surmised--protected s, like microbes, evolved very closely with hunals of their hosts Conals, and consequently the bugs no longer perceived ht, and I just sers in the water and flicked a spray of drops at a dragonfly resting on my rock, no more than a transparent shadow, its colors drained by darkness

I hoped Jaon seat next to hi the changing light on the angles of his face as he talked and se to touch hi to our hurry to reach Charleston, and my inhibitions about intimacy within earshot of a dozen men

A breath of warm breeze slipped past me, and all the tiny down hairs onNo hurry now, and no one to hear I drew a hand down the soft curve of hs, where the blood pulsed slowly to the beat ofthe swollen htly, enjoying the feeling of increasing urgency

"And where the hell are you, Jamie Fraser?" I murmured