Diana Gabaldon · @Writer_DG
30th Oct 2013 from TwitLonger
#DailyLines #MOBY #WRITTENInMYOwnHEARTSBlood #Book8 #aflutterinthewame
He glanced at Claire, to see if she was appreciating La Fayette’s stylish toilette, but her gaze was fixed—with a small frown—on a group of men in the far distance, beyond the Continental regulars drawn up in orderly formations. She wasn’t wearing her spectacles. He could see easily at a distance, and half-stood in his stirrups to look.
“General Washington and Charles Lee,” he told her, sitting back in the saddle. La Fayette, spotting them as well, swung himself into his own saddle and rode toward the senior officers. “I suppose I’d best go join them. D’ye see Denzell Hunter yet?” He had it in mind to confide Claire to Hunter’s care—he didn’t mean her to be wandering the battlefield—if there was one--on her own, no matter how helpful she might be there, and was wary of leaving her on her own.
Hunter was driving his wagon, though, and that couldn’t keep up with the marching men. Clouds of dust rose in the air, stirred by thousands of eager feet; it tickled in his chest and he coughed.
“No,” she said. “Don’t worry—“ and she smiled at him, brave, though her face was pale despite the heat, and he could feel the flutter of her fear in his own wame. “Are you all right?” She always looked at him in that searching way when he set out to a fight, as though committing his face to memory in case he was killed. He kent why she did it, but it made him feel strange—and he was already unsettled this morning.
“Aye, fine,” he said, and taking her hand, kissed it. He should have spurred up and gone, but lingered for a moment, loath to let go.
“Did you—“ she began, and then stopped abruptly.
“Put on clean drawers? Aye, though it’s like to be wasted effort, ken, when the guns start firin’.” It was a feeble enough jest, but she laughed, and he felt better.
“Did I what?” he prompted, but she shook her head.
“Never mind. You don’t need anything else to think of now. Just—be careful, will you?” She swallowed, visibly, and his heart turned over.