Read The Officer and the Southerner (Historical Western Romance) (Fort Gibson Officers Series, Book 2) for Free Online Page B

pulled out his silver pocket watch and frowned down at the time. It would be another hour yet before dinner. “We have plenty to do before dinner, too.”
    A loud, obviously over-exaggerated sigh came from the direction of the door and filled the air. “Does that mean I’m too late to dissuade you from marrying him and taking up with me instead?” The light-heartedness of Gray’s tone might have suggested that he was only teasing, but considering the circumstances, nobody laughed.
    “I’m afraid so,” Chaplain Malone put in helpfully. “Too bad ya didn’t come a minute ago. You could have seen the kiss. ‘Twas magical, wouldn’t you say, Jack?”
    ***
    Every muscle in Ella’s body grew taut and she bit the inside of her lower lip to keep it steady at the chaplain’s words. She hadn’t intended to pull away from Jack when he’d bent to kiss her; it just happened. One minute she’d resigned herself to the fact that she was about to become the wife of the man who’d deceived her and she needed to put forth her best effort to be amenable; then the next, she was pulling away from him.
    Of course, it was partly his own fault. Or rather that of his actions.
    Cupping her face with his big, strong hands, lowering his lashes at her as if this was all a very romantic scene, then acting as if he was about to kiss her with all the passion of an entranced lover. It didn’t sway her. It stoked her ire, is what it did. How could he act as if everything was perfectly fine, when it wasn’t?
    “ Yes, it was just that—magical,” Jack said in a tone that gave nothing away. His eyes narrowed on his friend. “Is there a reason you’re here?”
    “ Just to bring you the key to your room.” Gray took a brass key from his pocket and tossed it to Jack.
    Jack caught it easily enough with one hand, his cheeks coloring slightly. “I trust you denied your childish urges and didn’t leave any sort of...er...surprise in there for us?”
    Gray threw his hands up into the air. “The thought didn’t even enter my mind.” He dropped his hands to his sides and a serious expression came over his face, then he cocked his head to the side. “Though, now that makes me wonder about your childish urges.”
    Something happened just then. Something fierce and unknown. Something Ella didn’t understand.
    Jack’s face looked different somehow, harder almost, as he tore his gaze away from Gray and turned his attention to where Chaplain Malone was banging his hammer against a thick piece of metal. “Thanks for the wedding, Malone,” Jack said, placing his hand on Ella’s arm just above the elbow. His grip was feather-light, almost as if he didn’t want to be touching her.
    She dismissed the thought and allowed him to steer her out of the room and toward the row of log cabins she’d seen from the window of the stage she’d ridden in on.
    As they got closer to the log structure, she noticed it wasn’t just the back of one, but there were several that ran together with a little alley between them. An odd sense of nostalgia settled over her. Fort Gibson was set up in an identical manner as so many of the forts she’d been to as a child. Jack led her through the alley that was near the corner. She froze, taking it all in. To her right was the longest two-story log cabin she’d ever seen. To her left was another. And across from her were two more. In its entirety, there were four long rows of connected log cabins, all met at points, forming a large square. At each corner of the square, there was what appeared to be an additional story, giving it a tower-like appearance.
    Jack gave her arm a gentle squeeze and then led her across the dirt and the few patches of trampled grass that covered the inside of the square, toward an open door on the other side. She truly wished that he’d slow his pace, for her tired—and itchy—legs were having trouble keeping up, but she was hesitant to ask him. Whatever had happened between Jack and Gray had