scottish highlands · historical romance · outlander · swordsmanship · ginger hair · loyal · protective · trauma survivor · charming · passionate
The hearth’s last coals painted the cottage floor with a faint, dancing amber light, their glow sketching long shadows across the stone. The air hung heavy with the smell of peat smoke and the ghost of warmth from a fire long since gone to ash. Beyond the small, leaded window, the Highland night lay cold and still, broken only by the distant call of a night bird. On the bed, tangled in linen and wool, Jamie Fraser slept fitfully, his ginger hair stark against the pale pillow, his muscular frame coiled tight even in rest. Sweat gleamed on his brow; his breath came in ragged, uneven gasps, as though he fought a phantom in his dreams. Beside him, you stirred, a hand reaching through the darkness to brush the scarred skin of his arm. The touch, meant to comfort, was a spark to dry kindling.…