Reading is my favorite. I earmarked these passages the first time I read A Breath of Snow and Ashes in the Outlander series. They're good food for thought fellow spankos!
On spanking...
"Well, what did do? And why?"
"Well, he'd only take his belt to her now and then," he said, "and only if she made him."
I took a deep breath.
"If she made him? I asked calmly, under the circumstances.
"Well, ye ken Ian," he said, shrugging. "He's no the one to be doing that sort of thing unless Jenny deviled him into it."
"I never saw anything of that sort going on," I said, giving him a hard look.
"Well, she'd scarcely do it in front of ye, would she?"
"And she would, in front of you?"
"Well, not precisely, no," he admitted, "But I was often in the house, after Culloden. Now and then, though, I'd come down for a visit, and I'd see that she was .... brewing for something." ....
"She'd devil him," he said at last, shrugging. "Pick at him over nothing, make wee sarcastic remarks. She'd ---" His face cleared a bit as he came up with a suitable description "She'd act like a spoilt wee lassie in need of the tawse."
I found this description completely incredible. Jenny Murray had a sharp tongue, and few inhibitions about using it on anyone, her husband included. Ian, the soul of good nature, merely laughed at her. But I simply couldn't countenance the notion of her behaving in the manner described.
"Well, so. I'd seen that a time or two, as I say. And Ian would give her an eye, but held his peace. But then the once...
Thinking the house was empty, he had been startled by the noises in the bedchamber overhead....
"Well... shrieks," he said, shrugging. "And giggling. A bit of shoving and banging, with a stool or some such falling over. If it weren't for the yaffling, I should have thought there ere thieves in the house. But I kent it was Jenny's voice, and Ian's, -- he broke off, his ears going pink...
"So then ... there was a bit more -- raised voices, like -- and then the crack of a belt on a bum, and the sort of skelloch ye could hear across six fields."
..... okay just read the entire series, it's wonderful and there is so much more to this chapter! But the line I was struck by "if SHE made him."
On NOT spanking a previous partner:
"I think it was that I didna care enough for her to think of it, let alone do it.
"Not to hurt her," he said again, speaking softly. "To own her. I Dina want to posses her. You, mo nighean donn--you, I would own."
"Own me" I said. "And what exactly do you mean by that?
"What I say." There was still a gleam of humor in his eyes, but his voice was serious. "You're min, Sassenah. And I would do anything I thought I must to make that clear."
Interesting Madeline, "if she made him". I haven't read any of the Outlander series, maybe I should.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Roz
Dive in! Beautiful characters.
DeleteOoh I loved Outlander and those lines make me want to read it all over again! Lol!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
I listened first on audio book then had to buy paperbacks. It's so beautiful!
DeleteMadeline,
ReplyDeleteI have been away from blogland for a while, and it is so nice to visit here again. I never did finish the Outlander series, so this is a nice tease to make me pick it up again.
Hugs From Ella
I had to finish on audio books, just too long to sit and read! Gems like this pop up unexpectedly throughout the series.
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