Training Lady Townsend

by Joseph, Annabel

  “You call my daughter your ‘love,’” the duke sniffed. “It pains me to see such guile. My dearest Aurelia, I have it on the most confident word that your husband recently attended a debauched event in the company of low companions.”

  “The masquerade at Lord Wroxham’s estate?” she asked. “I know he attended that event, because I was with him.”

  Lansing’s brows snapped even tighter, and a flush spread across his face. Hunter imagined those brows tangling into a squirming knot and almost dissolved in laughter. Instead he squeezed his wife’s hand and somehow managed to keep a straight face.

  “There is so little to do out here in the country,” Hunter said. “You must forgive us the occasional masquerade ball.”

  “I am very disappointed in you.” The duke directed this remark to his daughter. “A masquerade such as the one your husband attended is no place for a well-bred lady.”

  “I assure you I was not the only well-bred lady there.”

  “That is not my point.” The duke banged the tip of his cane against the floor.

  Hunter regarded him with warning in his gaze. “I would ask you not to take that tone of reprimand with my wife.”

  “How about I take it with you then?” the duke barked. “What do you mean, taking my daughter to such a licentious gathering, particularly in the company of your no-good friends?”

  “What do I mean?” Hunter repeated the duke’s words in an equally hard voice. “Perhaps I’m trying to make up for a decided lack of fun in her childhood. Perhaps I enjoy seeing her smile and make merry. Perhaps she demanded to go.”

  “Never. Not my Aurelia. She was taught right from wrong.”

  “She was taught to see impropriety and dissolution everywhere, even when it didn’t exist. She was taught that laughter was offensive, and smiling unladylike, no doubt by you.”

  “The Lansing line has always been ruled by propriety. So was the Lockridge line until you came along, a bitter disappointment to the parents who gave you life, who depend on you to maintain the family’s honor—”

  “Stop, Papa. Please.” Aurelia came to her feet and glared at her imposing sire. “I’ll not allow you to say such things to my husband. I’ll not allow you to insult him here in our home.”

  “I am trying to make him stop insulting you, daughter. He’s insulting your honor and the honor of our family.”

  “No,” she said, holding up her hands. “You’ve interfered enough. How could you know he was at Wroxham’s masquerade? How many spies are doing your bidding? You cannot continue to monitor his behavior as if he were your child. He’s a grown man. You must call off your informants and respect his privacy.”

  “Don’t you want a civil, kind husband?”

  Aurelia turned back to Hunter and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I do have a civil, kind husband, and I trust him completely. He has a care for my happiness, which you never did.”

  Hunter wanted to pull her into his lap and kiss her. He would have, except that it would disprove her claim that he was civilized, and Lansing looked rather on the edge of a major apoplexy.

  “Your daughter has the right of it,” he said instead. “You must let us make our own way. Perhaps your interference has served some purpose, but I assure you, Your Grace, that it is no longer necessary. I have been reformed of my hellion ways.”

  “How can you say so?” he said. “I have it on authority that Wroxham’s party was the very vilest of routs. Are both of you so mired in depravity that you consider such activities mere country amusements?”

  “We are not mired in anything but wedded love,” said Hunter. He looked hard at the duke, infusing each word with stern import. “I am deeply in love with your daughter. Her happiness is my entire world. So you may believe I would do nothing to threaten it. Not now, not ever.”

  “Yes, Papa. So call off your spies,” Aurelia added with such heat that Hunter finally cracked a smile.

  “There, there, my dear,” he chided softly. “He is still your father. You mustn’t be disrespectful. He was trying to protect you.”

  “I don’t need his protection any longer.”

  He leaned closer, so Lansing couldn’t hear him. “Naughty Aurelia. Remember that disrespectful girls get spanked.”

  She gave a little snort of a giggle through her nose, then both of them were laughing like children, muffling their merriment with their hands. The duke stared at them as if they’d taken leave of their senses, which perhaps they had.

  “Your mother will be greatly disappointed to learn of these changes in you,” he said, wagging a finger at Aurelia.

  His wife lifted her chin. “I’ll be mother to my own children soon. I’m a married woman, for goodness sake. I think it’s high time she let me grow up and be my own person. You too, Papa.”

  Mother to my own children, she had said. His children.

  Their children.

  Hunter gazed at his wife with unbridled adoration. She wasn’t a mouse anymore, and what a fierce, wonderful mother she’d be.

  “My dearest love,” he said, taking her in his arms. “You are brilliant.” He kissed her hard, caressing her belly where, perhaps, a child already grew. He was so charmed by the idea, he barely noted his father-in-law’s outraged gasp. The stodgy old aristocrat struggled to his feet.

  “If you must engage in such amorous displays,” he growled, “then I will not discommode you by staying for dinner.”

  “Thank God,” Hunter whispered against her lips. Then he straightened and said, “I’m sorry to hear it. But you’ll be eager to relay news of our marital contentment to Her Grace, and Lord and Lady Severin, who are very fond of Aurelia.”

  The duke grumbled that he would certainly do so and then tottered out, clacking his cane against the floor. His valet followed with a dismissive sniff. The carriage was brought round with great alacrity, and after exchanging farewells, they waved the duke on his way.

  “Well,” said Hunter, gazing down at his spitfire of a wife. “That went well.”

  She burst into laughter. “It did not go well, but I hardly expected it to.”

  “It did go well,” he insisted, scooping her up in his arms. “At long last you put Papa Lansing in his place, and I don’t think he’ll soon forget it. Nor will I, my ferocious little grasshopper.”

  She shrieked and held tight to his neck. “Hunter! Put me down before you drop me.”

  “Drop you? Never. That would be an ungentlemanly thing to do.”

  She arched a brow. “And you’ve never been ungentlemanly?”

  “Naughty girl,” he murmured. “The only place I’ll be dropping you is over my lap for a lengthy spanking.”

  She blushed a very becoming shade of pink. “Another spanking? I’ve already had one today.”

  “But we got a bit distracted in the process, didn’t we?”

  Her hand slid down to rest over his heart. “In the most pleasurable of ways.”

  He groaned, carrying her through the great front doors and up the stairs. “I believe I still owe you a ride, wife. A neck-or-nothing gallop. We’ll make a skilled horsewoman of you yet.”

  “Of course. It’s just a matter of proper training.” She clung to his shoulders, her lips curved in a seductive grin. “And you, Lord Townsend, are very good at that.”

  THE END

  A Final Note

  Before I got into bondage and BDSM, I was into spanking, which exists in its own intimate, playful, and imaginative corner of the power exchange universe. I owe a great depth of gratitude to the folks at ShadowLane.com. I used to mail-order naughty and wonderful spanking material from them, and I placed my first personal ad (via snail mail!) in a Shadow Lane directory. It’s been an amazing pleasure to get back in touch with my spanko side and have some fun writing these naughty heroines and stern heroes. If this is your first spanking romance, I hope you found it warm, wicked, and fun.

  I also hope you’ll want to read the rest of the Properly Spanked series. There are three more books set in
this world: To Tame A Countess (Warren’s story), My Naughty Minette (August’s story), and Under A Duke’s Hand (Arlington’s story). Be sure to go to annabeljoseph.com and sign up for my newsletter so you’ll be in the loop for upcoming releases. You can also follow me on Twitter (@annabeljoseph) or find me on Facebook and shoot me a friend request.

  Many thanks to my trusty beta readers Tasha, Linzy, Janine, Doris, and GC, and my editors, Lina and Audrey. They give the best kind of criticism—the kind that makes my books better. Thanks also to my beloved Annabel’s Army, both official and unofficial, and all those readers who review and promote my books. I will never be able to say it enough: you make everything worth it, and I’m more grateful than words can express.

  Coming soon from Annabel Joseph

  To Tame A Countess, the second story in the Properly Spanked series

  The Earl of Warren never considered himself the heroic type—or the marrying type. Unfortunately, while attempting to save the mysterious Lady Maitland from the clutches of a degenerate fortune hunter, he ends up shackled to her himself.

  It was never in the plans, and worse, his bride doesn’t want him. Rather than feel grateful, Josephine begs to be released from the marriage so she can accomplish her dearest goal—to be left alone. Troubled by an unconventional childhood, scarred by painful memories, Josephine acts out until Warren has no choice but to begin a disciplinary program to bring her to heel.

  Although his spankings are firm, painful, and plentiful, he makes little progress in taming his wild countess. But her wildness pleases him in the bedroom, where they spend hours at uninhibited play, fulfilling licentious and carnal lusts. While Josephine struggles to understand her feelings toward her authoritative husband, Warren must decide if having a tame wife is worth the anguish of damaging her already vulnerable heart.

  To Tame A Countess will be available in late October 2014

  The Properly Spanked Series

  #1 Training Lady Townsend

  #2 To Tame A Countess

  #3 My Naughty Minette

  #4 Under A Duke’s Hand

  If you liked Training Lady Townsend, you’ll definitely enjoy

  Disciplining the Duchess by Annabel Joseph

  Over five seasons, Miss Harmony Barrett has managed to repel every gentleman of consequence and engineer a debacle at Almack’s so horrifying that her waltzing privileges are revoked. If she’s not in the library reading about Mongol hordes, she’s embarrassing her family or getting involved in impulsive scrapes.

  Enter the Duke of Courtland, a man known for his love of duty and decorum. Through a vexing series of events, he finds himself shackled to Miss Barrett in matrimony. But all is not lost. The duke harbors a not-so-secret affinity for spanking and discipline…and his new wife is ever in need of it. Will the mismatched couple find their way to marital happiness? Or will the duke be forever Disciplining the Duchess?

  This 85K word erotic romance novel contains domestic discipline themes and both harsh and loving spanking scenes.

  Also Available: The Cirque Masters series by Annabel Joseph

  Enter a world where performers’ jaw-dropping strength, talent, and creativity is matched only by the decadence of their kinky desires. Cirque du Monde is famous for mounting glittering circus productions, but after the Big Top goes dark, you can find its denizens at Le Citadel, a fetish club owned by Cirque CEO Michel Lemaitre—where anything goes. This secret world is ruled by dominance and submission, risk and emotion, and a fearless dedication to carnal pleasure in all its forms. Love in the circus can be as perilous as aerial silks or trapeze, and secrets run deep in this intimate society. Run away to the circus, and soar with the Cirque Masters—a delight for the senses, and for the heart.

  The Cirque Masters series is:

  #1 Cirque de Minuit (Theo’s story)

  #2 Bound in Blue (Jason’s story)

  #3 Master’s Flame (Lemaitre’s story)

  The Comfort series by Annabel Joseph

  Have you ever wondered what goes on in the bedrooms of Hollywood’s biggest heartthrobs? In the case of Jeremy Gray, the reality is far more depraved than anyone realizes. Brutal desires, shocking secrets, and a D/s relationship (with a hired submissive “girlfriend”) that’s based on a contract rather than love. It’s just the beginning of a four-book saga following Jeremy and his Hollywood friends as they seek comfort in fake, manufactured relationships. Born of necessity—and public relations—these attachments come to feel more and more real. What does it take to live day-to-day with an A-list celebrity? Patience, fortitude, and a whole lot of heart. Oh, and a very good pain tolerance for kinky mayhem.

  The Comfort series is:

  #1 Comfort Object (Jeremy’s story)

  #2 Caressa’s Knees (Kyle’s story)

  #3 Odalisque (Kai’s story)

  #4 Command Performance (Mason’s story)

  About the Author

  Annabel Joseph is a multi-published BDSM romance author. She writes mainly contemporary romance, although she has been known to dabble in the medieval and Regency eras. She is known for writing emotionally intense BDSM storylines, and strives to create characters that seem real—even flawed—so readers are better able to relate to them. Annabel also writes vanilla (non-BDSM) erotic romance under the pen name Molly Joseph.

  Annabel loves to hear from her readers at annabeljosephnovels@gmail.com.

  Other erotic romance by Annabel Joseph

  Mercy

  Cait and the Devil

  Firebird

  Deep in the Woods

  Fortune

  Owning Wednesday

  Lily Mine

  Comfort Object

  Caressa’s Knees

  Odalisque

  Command Performance

  Cirque de Minuit

  Bound in Blue

  Master’s Flame

  Burn For You

  The Edge of the Earth (as Molly Joseph)

  Disciplining the Duchess

  Waking Kiss

  Fever Dream

  Erotica by Annabel Joseph

  Club Mephisto

  Molly’s Lips: Club Mephisto Retold