The Officer and the Bostoner (Historical Western Romance) (Fort Gibson Officers Series, Book 1) by Rose Gordon Read Free Book Online

purse and a wave of emotion washed over her. This was it. Everything she still owned was right here with her. Tears pricked her eyes and she blinked them away before Wes could notice. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go to bed now.”
    Wes looked out the window at the sun that was still fairly high in the sky and shrugged. Standing, he stripped off his coat and started working on the fastening of his trousers.
    Allison cleared her throat.
    He continued undressing himself.
    She cleared her throat again, louder.
    Wes lifted one dark eyebrow. “Yes?”
    “ Just because I expressed an interest in going to bed, doesn’t mean you have to, too.”
    He scoffed. “Yes, I do.”
    Panic seized her. “You said this was an in-name only marriage until Nicholas can come for me,” she said unevenly.
    “ It is. But I still have a reputation to uphold with my men.”
    Her face flamed. By morning, everyone would think she’d been intimate with Wes. She cleared her throat and sent a pointed look to where his hands were still on the fastenings of his trousers. “You’re not...”
    Wes exhaled sharply, then turned around. “Please remove whatever you think is necessary, get into bed, and pull the blankets over your eyes since the sight of the human form offends you so.”
    Allison swallowed nervously. Right. She had to get into bed, too. Just to be sure he wasn’t able to see her; she turned her back to him, too, and divested herself of her traveling dress, then climbed into the bed. Not so silly as to pull the covers over her eyes, she pulled them to her chin and then turned away from where he’d be undressing.
    A moment later, his warm body settled in beside her.
    “ Don’t worry,” he whispered, “I won’t touch you.”
    She nodded, too nervous to speak. An overwhelming rush of emotions consumed her. Unfortunately, she couldn’t decide if she was more scared, nervous, uncertain, disappointed or just simply sick to her stomach.
     

 
     
    ~Chapter Five~
     
     
    Wes was out of bed and dressed before the sun came up, no more rested than when he’d crawled into bed the night before. He turned his head over his shoulder one last time to glimpse his sleeping wife and then quietly slipped from the room. The best part of living in the middle of the vast prairie was the endless skies above. Long ago, he’d made it a habit to go for a morning ride as the sun came up.
    He made his way down to the stables; nodding his greeting to the privates he passed. Though there wasn’t a full cavalry division stationed here, the United States Army had seen fit to outfit all the commanding and commissioned officers with horses. He’d always favored a horse appropriately named Midnight due to his coal black coat and eerie ability to sneak up on a man.
    Whistling to himself, Wes saddled Midnight, then opened the door and led him out to the courtyard. Though it was already May and the days had a tendency to feel hotter than an oven, this early in the morning wasn’t too hot yet to ride.
    “ Good boy,” he crooned, leading Midnight through the narrow passageway between the jail and the southeast blockhouse and into the open fields.
    Wes paused just long enough to take in the beauty of the canvas in front of him. Orange, purple, red and even a bit of blue painted the sky. He mounted Midnight in one quick, fluid motion and urged him to go with his heels.
    Midnight sprinted forward, running at full speed in the direction of nothing at all. Wes held tightly to the reins and grinned at the way the wind felt against his face, ruffling his hair. While it was imperative to always show his men the best example of being properly attired and ready for anything, his rides in the morning were the one time of the day when all that ceased to matter. All of the present responsibility, the past memories and the future uncertainty were left in his bunk, right alongside his shako.
    He pulled the reins a fraction, signaling Midnight to slow his pace. The sky