by Gray Gardner
No one said anything. The Zacharys stood in the middle of the street, speechless. Holly sat next to Pryce in the small coach, his presence seemed to make it feel even smaller. He held her hand in his, gently rubbing his thumb along her knuckles.
“Pryce… I… Are you sure…”
“It’s you.” His answer was short and certain, and the look in his eyes dared her to argue with him. “It’s only you for me, Holly. I promise that I will let you know that every day for the rest of my life.”
“Pryce,” she whispered, looking deep into his eyes.
He took her face into his hands and looked eagerly down at her. Then he pressed his mouth against her soft, waiting lips, kissing her in a way she’d never known two people could. It made her a little more enthusiastic about the upcoming lovemaking of their evening.
“After your bath and your discipline, we’ll spend the rest of the night doing more of that,” he said with a playful grin.
Holly pulled back as far as the carriage would let her, and cried out an agitated, “What?”
Pryce had hopped on the fastest train he could find, The St Louis Express Line. Then he’d rushed to the Zachary’s Companions of the West building. It was easy enough to find, since he’d spent so much time corresponding in the past. He’d found her. His beautiful little wife. He’d apologized. He’d told her exactly what he wanted and how it would be.
Then he waited.
All she had to do was look up at him with those trusting eyes. There was longing behind them. Longing for him, he knew. He knew she loved him. He’d just done a poor job of showing her his own feelings. Hiring someone to find a wife had been the easy part, apparently. Keeping her was the problem.
She said his name in the sweet southern accent, a smile playing on her lips, and that was it. He had her in the coach, heading towards the Willard Hotel, two tickets back home already booked for the next day. It wasn’t until he dropped his itinerary on her that he saw the little bit of the gumption he’d grown to adore. Then he knew he really had her back.
She didn’t fight him, really, but did strongly object. All through the majestic lobby, up the grand staircase, down the wide hallway lined with tall double doors, and into the corner suite. He knew if he won her back she’d be weary and grimy from the long trip, so he’d had the hotel fill the clawed-foot tub with steaming hot water.
She looked so appreciatively at it, that she didn’t notice as he started to undress.
“Oh!” she squeaked primly, turning her body and facing away as he stood next to his pile of clothes. She continued to avoid staring at him as he calmly walked across the white octagonal tile floor and eased into the steaming water.
“Time to get in, Holly.” Nodding, he knew she knew they’d have to eventually see one another naked. Her modesty was sweet, but he needed her to follow his instructions too. He had a lot planned for the evening.
She slowly and torturously began to remove her coat, that blue dress she’d had on for three days, laced ankle boots, tight corset, and that was when she paused.
Pryce relaxed in the large tub and raised a single brow at her. “All of it, Holly.”
She nodded and reached for the hem of her thin white undershirt. She peeled it off, revealing a pair of perfect breasts. Pryce bit his lip, as she dropped her petticoat, opened the back of her bloomers and let them fall in a white heap. She followed with the long, white stockings tied high on her thighs, then quickly tiptoed across the cold tile and leapt into the water in front of him.
They cleaned quickly, Pryce moving things along maybe a little faster than Holly wanted, but he needed things to proceed. He stepped out and wrapped the thin towel around his hips, then helped her out as she tried desperately to hide herself. He rubbed the second towel up and down her body, then tossed it aside.
“Come on, Holly.” He took her hand and led her out into the dark room, a bed and sofa lit only by the fire. He sat on the end of the bed and quickly pulled her naked, slender frame over his lap. “Now it’s time for your spanking.”
“Pryce, I’m sorry. I really, really am!” She struggled over his thigh as he hitched it on the soft bed, letting her drape over one leg. She kicked her legs back, though, and even banged her fists in an adorable, frustrated way.
He raised his hand and smacked it down pretty hard, causing her to cry out, but stop kicking.
“Pryce!”
He rubbed his hand over her extremely soft skin and then slapped his hand down again.
“When I couldn’t find you after I left the bank, I felt a little part of myself die, Holly Browning.” He growled out the statement, so he decided to take a quick breath and continue rubbing the round cheeks of his beautiful wife. “And now I have a lot of apologizing to do around town, because I hollered in everyone’s face until someone told me they thought they saw you at the train depot.”
She whimpered, maybe out of remorse, maybe because she didn’t like being over his knee, but he quickly smacked his hand down a dozen more times. Her skin was turning very pink and warm.
“You are my wife. You can be certain that I will spend the rest of my life making sure you know what that means.” He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to sit on his lap, feeling the heat from her backside through his towel. He stared into her eyes. “It means I love you. Forever. You’re mine and I’m yours. We do this, we do everything, together. Do you understand?”
She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder. “Yes, yes. I’m so sorry, Pryce. For running away. For worrying you. For giving up on you. It’s my fault, too. And I know, I know, now, that you’ve been telling me how you feel in your own way.” She exhaled and looked down, frowning and disappointed.
Pryce took her chin in his hand and tilted her head up. “From now on I’m also going to actually say the words when I want to tell you how I feel, all right?”
She nodded, so gorgeous with watery blue eyes, sitting naked on his lap after he’d spanked her. Which brought him to his final point.
“You left without talking to me. Without telling me why. I told you I don’t like lying, Holly, didn’t I? That people can get hurt?”
She looked guiltily up at him and nodded.
“I’m going to show you how much I love you right here.” He nodded over his shoulder at the bed and smiled at her blush. “I’m going to do it as much as possible, as the matter of fact. But for the next week, Holly Browning, you’ll be getting a hard spanking before I do so.”
Her mouth dropped open as she looked up at him, cheeks pink, but finally bit her lip and nodded in acceptance. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her, but he wasn’t letting her get away again.
Carefully, he turned and laid her back on the dark comforter, her skin and hair a pale shock against it. He kissed up her leg, crawling up her body like a predator, licking where she needed it, nipping where she wanted it, and finally pressing the length of his body into hers with a deep kiss on her soft lips.
She answered him with enthusiasm, holding his neck and wrapping her legs around him. It was perfect anyway, but when she spoke, he almost reached his climax right there.
“I love you, Pryce,” she whispered against his lips.
“Love you forever,” he replied with a grin, slowly entering her, so as not to hurt her.
They must have made love a handful of times, before finally sleeping in the luxurious suite. The next day they stayed in bed, eating lazily and learning more and more about one another. When it was time to leave, they made their way through the hotel and the city, hand in hand, kissing and touching on the way to the train station like the pair of newlyweds that they were.
Pryce grinned at her as they boarded their sleeping car, knowing that she knew she’d be spanked at least three times in there, but also loved. And he couldn’t wait to show her the surprise he had waiting at home.
Chapter 9
Silver Creek
Eve’s boots stomped on the wide deck by the creek as she trie
d to get the snow off. She pulled her hood back and smiled as the sun set over the mountains, light reflecting off the winding creek and making it look, well, silver. She bet that under the moonlight it looked even more so.
She walked past the Adirondack chairs under the pine trees with a frown, though. The white tags tied with strings that she’d seen on almost all of the furniture in the house were even out there on the party deck. They were marking each item that her relatives had called “dibs” on. She hadn’t claimed anything yet. She just couldn’t bring herself to separate the antiques from their rightful home.
She didn’t really want to separate herself from that home, either. First, she didn’t really have a place to return to. Her ex had given her four months in the Georgetown condo before kicking her out, and as of December thirty-first she was hereby kicked out. But she hadn’t found a new place yet. She’d been traveling so much for work that she hadn’t had time.
Then on Christmas day she’d gotten the call from Ms. Simson, the attorney for Bill’s estate, and she’d figured what better way to close out the year than on the beautiful ranch. She really hadn’t expected to find Bradley, which made the fact that she had to leave and go back to DC alone and with no home, even worse.
“It’s too dark to be out here.”
Eve sucked in a breath and grabbed the wooden rail in front of her so as not to tumble down into the snowy banks of the creek. She pressed her lips together and turned her head. Bradley sat on a black horse, hat pulled low over his eyes. Jesus, he was sexy.
“Did you eat today?” he asked, even before she could respond to his first comment. When she opened her mouth with a scowl, he jumped in again. “Did you have to use your inhaler?”
“Hell, Bradley, let me get a word in,” she snapped, hands on her hips.
He just laughed under his breath and kicked his horse with a click of his tongue. “Meet you back at the house.”
The horse galloped away before she could retort. They’d have to work on their communication skills or there just might be another funeral out on the ranch. She slapped her hands to her sides in submission and trekked through the half foot of snow back to the house. She’d just hung up her red coat and kicked off her boots, when the tall cowboy appeared at the door to the mudroom, shadows from the kitchen light behind him making things seem a little ominous.
“Got a little surprise for you.”
She grinned and stepped forward, but he remained in the doorway, one finger up.
“One thing, Eve. Why is there a fifteen-foot ladder in the middle of the foyer?” His hands on his hips indicated that it wasn’t really a question, more like an inquisition.
She exhaled and answered, feeling some excitement as to what the surprise could be. “That grand foyer is rife with turn of the century antiques. I was just looking for a maker’s mark.”
“And the ladder was for,” he asked leadingly.
She pressed her lips together and pushed her glasses back up her nose. She shouldn’t have felt guilty. It was her job. She did things like that on a daily basis. Why was he making her so nervous?
“I had to look at the drip pans, and like I said, find the maker’s mark. On the, um, chandelier.” She pulled her shoulders back and walked past him, pausing in the kitchen when he wrapped his hand around her elbow.
“In the future, Eve, if you want to stand on top of a wobbly death trap over a hardwood floor would you please, please let me spot you?”
She swallowed and looked up at the concern in his frown. He hadn’t threatened her, so that seemed like some sort of improvement, so she finally just nodded.
He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times, then pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. “Ready for your surprise?”
“Yes,” she quickly replied, biting her lip at her eagerness.
He chuckled and took her hand, leading her behind him into the large living room with the towering windows.
She stepped into the room with the blazing fire and sucked in a breath. “Bradley,” she whispered, clasping her hands in front of her and staring. She felt a smile cross her lips as she took it all in.
He’d decorated for Christmas. Garland, pinecones, cranberry red bows and white candles everywhere. He walked around the large couches and stoked the fire, grinning back at her. “I couldn’t bring myself to get the decorations out this year. Not without Bill. But having you here, well, it put me in the mood, I guess. I wanted you to have a better Christmas. You deserve to have a better Christmas.”
Eve ran over to him and leapt into his arms, hugging him tightly. He knew. He always knew what she wanted and needed.
He pulled back from her kisses and set her down in front of the fire. “One more thing.” He reached up behind some holly and red berries on the mantle and pulled out a little flat green box.
“A present?” Eve asked, looking bewildered.
Bradley held it up and shook his head. “I don’t want anything from you but this time we have together. But I wanted you to have this.”
Eve slowly took the gift box and removed the lid. Inside, on a silky white cushion, was a shiny silver key. She looked back up at Bradley.
“Technically, my cabin is on two acres of my own land. Bill made sure I owned everything outright. So that’s for you. To use whenever you want. If you want.”
Her eyes turned back down the scrap of metal that held so much meaning. “I love it,” she whispered, feeling a tear roll down her cheek. She was already mourning what was going to be lost between them when she had to leave.
His hands wrapped around her cheeks and he stared intently at her. “Stay, Eve. I saw your packed bags. I know you’re thinking about just leaving before New Year’s and I know why. It’s easier. The less complicated things are between us, the easier it will be to leave when it’s time. But it doesn’t have to be time. You can stay. Just stay until January first. I need this time with you.”
Eve smiled at the warmth swimming through her body at his words and held his hand as it held her face. She pulled it back and kissed his palm. “Pryce chased after Holly when she left.”
“Oh, make no mistake, Eve Childress. I will absolutely chase you down and bring you back and just add that to the list.” He kissed her hand and grinned at her sulking expression.
“What list?”
He laughed softly and wrapped his arms around her, falling to the side onto the fluffed cushions of the couch. She wiggled around on his lap and finally was able to look him in the eyes.
“What list, Bradley?”
“Your spanking list.” He grinned.
Her mouth dropped open and she felt her cheeks heat, as she tried to push off his lap; he held her tightly, though.
“That’s not a thing, foreman,” she mumbled, trying to get him to loosen his grip on her arms.
“Maybe,” he replied, raising an eyebrow at her. “But you have one. Not taking care of yourself, not eating, working all day in a cold, dusty attic, leaving the house after I told you not to, standing on top of precarious ladders, trying to sneak out of here to avoid saying goodbye to me, I could go on.”
“I told you, that worked for Holly and Pryce but not us. Well, me. I don’t really know how deep your depravity goes, I guess.”
“If you’re jealous that I’ve spanked other women just say so,” he chuckled, wincing as she shoved a knee into his ribcage. “Okay, okay, my suspicious little asthmatic historian. You are unequivocally the first and only girl I’ve ever wanted to spank some sense into.”
Admittedly, her jealousy subsided a little bit. She was still upset at how cavalier he was being about hitting her.
“It’s not hitting, Eve,” he said, holding her chin in his hand and staring into her eyes. So astute, as usual.
“It’ll hurt,” she whined, wishing she could back up off him. It didn’t matter that they were arguing. Being so close was turning her on and she wanted to be mad. Mad and resolute.
He leaned for
ward and kissed the edge of her frown, then lightly over her lips. Her stomach tightened as it always did, in anticipation of what kisses like that promised.
“I would never, ever hurt you. And I know you know that. My hand smacking against the soft skin of your ass might hurt for a minute or two, but never in a way that would leave marks. Do you understand?”
Eve bit her lip and shifted around at his low, austere assertions in her ear. He seemed so determined. Could she even allow him to do that? How bad would it be? She was tough and independent and modern, and stuff like that. Right?
Bradley must have seen his opening, because he carefully placed his hands on her waist and lifted her up, then shifted her around, so that her feet were on the floor and her elbows were on the couch. He moved his leg so that her hips sat directly on his leg, pushing her jean-clad ass up as a ready target.
“Bradley!” she protested, grabbing at the couch cushions and kicking her heels back.
“Stop, Eve.” He slowly rubbed the back pocket of her jeans. “Don’t fight me. I don’t want you to have an attack. Keep up on your elbows and your toes. No pressure on your lungs.”
The serious tone in his voice made her pause for a moment. She absently pushed her glasses back up her nose as they slid down. “Of course, I’m going to fight you, damn it!”
“Then we’ll sit here just like this, until you stop.”
Eve let out a frustrated growl as she tried to sit up or shift around or go anywhere, really. But he had her. He was stronger and more determined than she was and he had her over his knee, waiting for him to make the next move. Damn exasperating man.
How had Holly put up with it? Had she just been a stronger woman than Eve? Or weaker and more willing to submit? Did the difference really matter when Holly and Pryce had ended up together and so happy for all those years?
Bradley wasted no time when he saw what he had come to recognize as the pensive look on Eve’s face. He took the opportunity to arrange her slender, fragile frame to put the minimum amount of pressure on her upper body. She needed to be able to breathe.