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and I do mean anything , I’ll be right over there.”
    “ I think the one she’ll be looking for is me,” Gray said with a wink. “I’ll also be right over there...waiting.”
    Ella didn’t know whether to be flattered or mortified by his implied offer. Instead, she nodded her understanding and her resolve strengthened. She truly had no intention of embarrassing either herself or Jack that way, or marrying a stranger she knew even less about in order to give Jack a much-needed lesson. Over the course of their letters, she’d formed quite a fondness for him. Or at least she thought she had. She frowned. How much of what he’d revealed about himself had been superficial or misleading? A lot apparently, as so many of his letters had been relatively short. Except the one he’d written her last winter about his Christmas. But that didn’t mean anything, either. It could have just been part of his ruse. Her heart thudded in her chest. Michaela had been right. He was a master manipulator, and if she needed any more proof, his next words seemed to furnish it and make her doubt her own mind all over again.
    “Fine then, if you think you can find another man here who’d like to marry you...” He trailed off and forced a stiff shrug.
    Her blood ran cold. Did he already not want her? “I didn’t say that I wanted to marry another,” she said softly to keep her voice from wavering. “I just don’t want to share my body and possibly create a new life with a man I cannot trust.”
    Jack flinched as if she’d slapped him, which seemed to be a rather strong reaction when one considered what she’d requested didn’t seem too out of place when one remembered they were virtually strangers. Then he swallowed hard and nodded his head once; his face appeared as hard as stone. “But you’re still willing to marry me?”
    She released a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. “Yes,” she choked and then cleared her throat. “But only if you’re agreeable to my terms and promise not to push me.”
    Jack’s face softened. “Of course I’ll honor your terms.” He dropped his voice. “All of them.” A grin split his face that could only be categorized as predatory and he added, “As you should know from my diligence in responding to your letters, I don’t back down from a challenge—particularly one as tantalizing as this might prove to be.”
     
     
     

 
     
    ~Chapter Six~
     
     
    Jack did his best to close his mouth, but the truth was, he was just as shocked by the words that had tumbled out of his mouth as Ella seemed to be.
    He couldn’t say why he’d just spoken to her the way Gray might have if he were in Jack’s situation, nor did he care. He’d said it, and strangely enough, he’d meant it. He’d seen the ridiculous way that Wes had courted Allison after she arrived—barely at all, to his mind—surely he could do better and have Ella madly in love with him in no time at all. He was sure of it. Their getting off to a rough start wouldn’t matter soon and one day it would be nothing more than a fading (and possibly amusing) memory of how they first met. Nothing more.
    “Are you ready to go make this official?” he asked, offering her his arm.
    “ A-all right.” When she took his arm, Jack shot a triumphant look over to where Wes and Gray stood, barely out of earshot.
    “ Chaplain Malone is still over in his shop, Jack,” Gray called in a tone that sounded almost as if there was a slight edge.
    Jack nodded and bit back his grin at Gray’s tone as he escorted Ella past them and toward the blacksmith’s shop where Chaplain Malone worked unless he was needed for some ministerial pursuit. Oftentimes, like today, he wouldn’t stop when everyone else did, but would continue to work until dinner.
    After they were officially married, Jack would take her to the barracks and show her their room... He inwardly cringed. If she didn’t relish the idea of living in a room she’d so adequately