"And speakin' of that," he said, with a wink at me, "I'll no expect ye in the stables tomorrow. Keep to your bed, laddie, and, er… rest."
"Why is it," I demanded, looking after the crusty old horsemaster, "that everyone seems to assume we've no more on our minds than to get into bed with each other?"
Jamie tried his weight on the foot again, bracing himself on the counter.
"For one thing, we've been married less than a month," he observed. "For another—" He looked up and grinned, shaking his head. "I've told ye before, Sassenach. Everything ye think shows on your face."
"Bloody hell," I said.
Aside from a quick trip to the dispensary to check for emergencies, I spent the next morning ministering to the rather demanding needs of my solitary patient.
"You are supposed to be resting," I said reprovingly, at one point.
"I am. Well, my ankle is resting, at least. See?"
A long, unstockinged shin thrust up into the air, and a bony, slender foot waggled back and forth. It stopped abruptly in mid-waggle with a muffled "ouch" from its owner. He lowered it and tenderly massaged the still-puffy ankle.
"That'll teach you," I said, swinging my own legs out from under the blankets. "Come along now. You've been frowsting in bed quite long enough. You need fresh air."
He sat up, hair falling over his face.
"I thought ye said it was rest I needed."
"You can rest in the fresh air. Get up. I'm making up the bed."
Amid complaints about my general unfeelingness and lack of consideration for a gravely injured man, he got dressed and sat long enough for me to bind up the weak ankle before his natural exuberance asserted itself.
"It's a bit saft out," he said, with a glance through the casement, where the mild drizzle had just decided to buckle down to it and become a major downpour. "Let's go up to the roof."
"The roof? Oh, to be sure. I couldn't think of a better prescription for a strained ankle than climbing six flights of stairs."
"Five. Besides, I've a stick." He produced the stick in question, an aged hawthorn club, from behind the door with a triumphant flourish.
"Wherever did you get that?" I inquired, examining it. At closer range, it was even more battered, a three-foot length of chipped hardwood, age-hardened as a diamond.
"Alec lent it me. He uses it on the mules; raps them twixt the eyes wi' it to make them pay attention."
"Sounds very effective," I said, eyeing the scuffed wood. "I must try it sometime. On you."
We emerged at last in a small sheltered spot, just under the overhang of the slate roof. A low parapet guarded the edge of this small lookout.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" Despite the gusty rain, the view from the roof was magnificent; we could see the broad silver sweep of the loch and the towering crags beyond, thrusting into the solid grey of the sky like ridged black fists.
Jamie leaned on the parapet, taking the weight from his injured foot.
"Aye, it is. I used to come up here sometimes, when I was at the Castle before."
He pointed across the loch, dimpling under the beat of the rain.
"D'ye see the notch there, between those two craigs!"
"In the mountains? Yes."
"That's the way to Lallybroch. When I'd feel lonely for my home, sometimes I'd come up here and look that way. I'd imagine flying like a corbie across that pass, and the look of the hills and the fields, falling down the other side of the mountain, and the manor house at the end of the valley."
I touched him gently on the arm.
"Do you want to go back, Jamie?"
He turned his head and smiled down at me.
"Well, I've been thinking of it. I don't know if I want to, precisely, but I think we must. I canna say what we'll find there, Sassenach. But… aye. I'm wed now. You're lady of Broch Tuarach. Outlaw or no, I need to go back, even if just long enough to set things straight."
I felt a thrill, compounded of relief and apprehension, at the thought of leaving Leoch and its assorted intrigues. "When will we go?"
He frowned, drumming his fingers on the parapet. The stone was dark and slick with rain.
"Well, I think we must wait for the Duke to come. It's possible that he might see his way to doing Colum a favor by taking up my case. If he cannot get me cleared, he might be able to arrange a pardon. There'd be a good deal less danger in going back to Lallybroch, then, ye see."
"Well, yes, but…" He glanced sharply at me as I hesitated.