His Sweet Amber (The Red Petticoat Saloon)

by Sue Lyndon

  Chapter Eight

  They were alone at last. After they said their vows, it had taken a while to make it back to the Bentley Inn. News spread quickly in Culpepper, and many of the gems had come outside to congratulate them, as well as others who lived in town. The mayor and sheriff, along with their wives, showed up in front of the inn as well, to offer Callie and Lawrence their best wishes. It had been a whirlwind of hugs and conversations, and it gave her hope that perhaps they would be accepted just as any other married couple in Culpepper.

  After all the fanfare, Mrs. Bentley had insisted on serving them a late lunch in their room, and then she had winked and promised no one would disturb them for the rest of the day. Madame Jewel had offered to throw an impromptu reception at The Red Petticoat, but Callie and Lawrence had politely declined. She appreciated Madame Jewel’s offer, but after not seeing Lawrence for a week and missing him so much it hurt, she simply wished to be alone with him.

  “Come here, wife.”

  She smiled and rose up off the bed. Despite all that they’d been through together, and all the nights he had spent in her room at the saloon, a stab of virginal apprehension pierced through Callie. She approached Lawrence, where he stood in front of the window, as flutters rose in her tummy. He gave her a dark look as he closed the curtains and turned to face her.

  “I said come here, Callie.” His deep voice reverberated in the small room.

  Biting her lip, she took the final three steps that brought her directly in front of him. Moisture was gathering in her drawers already, and he’d yet to touch her. She took several deep, shuddering breaths, but it failed to calm her nerves. The dark and primal way he looked at her whirled her senses into a spin, and she could hardly form a coherent thought.

  He cupped her face and leaned down to kiss her, sensually at first, before he thrust his tongue deeper into her mouth and claimed her with a force that had her turning to putty in his hands. She kissed him back, whimpering into his mouth, as the warm pulses between her legs became so urgent that she found herself pressing her thighs together in an attempt to relieve the building ache. In fact, she even ground her center into Lawrence as he kissed her, now raking his hands up and down her back and drawing her closer against his hard, muscular form. His masculine scent drove her wild, and the knowledge of what was to come had her flushing hotter and hotter.

  “Now,” he said, breaking away. “I expect you to obey me in all things, Callie. Including in the bedroom. If you don’t obey me, what do you think will happen?” His voice was firm, his tone authoritative.

  “Um, I will get punished?” she ventured. They had played naughty games before, during which he gave her a specific command, such as to keep her hands above her head while he tasted her, and then if she disobeyed in the slightest, her behind paid the price. Her bottom tingled and clenched at the prospect of being on the receiving end of his discipline.

  “That’s correct, my sweet wife. Tell me, what kind of punishment will you get?” His eyes blazed darker, if that were possible.

  “A sp-spanking.” She could hardly breathe. “I, um, get a spanking if I disobey you.”

  “That’s right, Callie. When you disobey your husband, you will get a very hard spanking on your bare little bottom.”

  His dominance thrilled her, and she couldn’t stop the moan that rose from her throat as she stared up at him, feeling chastised for some naughty act she’d yet to commit.

  “In fact, I think it’s time for your wedding night spanking.”

  She gave him a pout. “But it’s not night yet, and besides that, I have never heard of such a tradition.”

  He rose an eyebrow at her. “Are you arguing with me?”

  “No, sir. Of course not.” She fought to keep herself from grinning as he leveled a most stern look upon her.

  He grasped her hand and led her to the bed. “Gather your skirts up around your waist, young lady.”

  She did as he asked, and once she had her skirts lifted to his liking, he reached for the tie that held her drawers up. After he untied them, he pushed the undergarment down to her ankles. She had already removed her shoes and stockings, and she felt quite exposed as she stood in front of him with her skirts lifted and her bottom now on display. Would he spank her harder than usual?

  He sat down on the bed and patted his thigh. “Show me what a good, obedient wife you can be and place yourself over my lap.”

  “Yes, sir.” Keeping her skirts lifted, she shuffled closer to him, her movements impeded by the drawers still around her ankles. Goose bumps rose on her arms, and she shivered as she lowered herself across his strong, hard thighs. He arranged her with her bottom positioned high in the air, her feet dangling above the floor. She felt her drawers fall from around her ankles as he shifted her forward and gave her right cheek a wondrous caress, before he moved to rub her left cheek.

  “Now, let’s get a look at your little pucker, Callie.”

  She stiffened and tried to rise up, but he held her in place with a firm hand on her lower back. Before she could form a coherent protest, he pulled her bottom cheeks wide apart. Whimpering, she hid her face in the covers, beyond mortified. He had made love to her in a variety of positions and spanked her before, but he had never shown any attention to this particular part of her. Shame heated her all over.

  Tap tap tap. He tapped one finger against this most secret part of her, and her pucker involuntarily clenched and unclenched under his attentions.

  “This little hole is part of your bottom too, Callie. If you’ve been a naughty girl, I will sometimes do more than spank your bottom.” He pressed into her snug hole and she squealed and squirmed at the sudden fullness.

  No one had ever touched her there before, but despite her shame of being spread open, she couldn’t deny the increasing ache between her thighs. In fact, moisture escaped her quim and trickled down her thigh. She groaned in embarrassment when he removed his finger from her bottom hole and trailed it through her wetness.

  “I want you to be on your best behavior while I push inside you again.”

  This time, he entered her more effortlessly, the moisture he’d wiped from her inner thigh easing the way. She moaned at the fullness of his one finger, wondering what it might be like for him to thrust his cock into this tight virgin entrance of hers. Would he ever try to do such a thing? Her blood heated at the thought.

  “I’m halfway inside you, Callie. You’re being a very good girl.”

  She melted under his praise, even as he thrust deeper into her bottom hole. He withdrew slightly only to push in further, and then he began a steady in and out motion that had her moaning, and, to her complete surprise, lifting her bottom up to meet his thrusts.

  She felt wanton and beside herself with need. Though the sensation in her backside hole wasn’t unpleasant in the least, she still ached for him to mount her and push his cock into her wet, aching quim.

  “You like this, don’t you, Callie?”

  Embarrassment prevented her from admitting she enjoyed such a naughty act, so she kept silent and tried to keep herself from lifting her hips to meet his thrusts.

  He chuckled darkly. “In time, I will take you here, Callie, with my cock. I will fuck your ass and spill my seed deep inside this puckering hole of yours.”

  She gasped and her eyes grew wide. She couldn’t believe the base language he used in the bedroom, yet his words caused the throbbing in her core to intensify. Though she tried to remain still over his lap, she soon found she couldn’t help but gyrate her hips, pushing back against him as he thrust his finger into her, and then dipping her center hard against his thighs in an attempt to ease her growing need.

  Finally, he withdrew from her bottom hole, and she made to roll off his lap, but he shifted her over one knee and placed his free leg over hers. Her heart raced. In the midst of him touching her most secret place, she had forgotten about the spanking she had coming.

  “Keep still, wife, or I will use my belt instead of my hand.”
>
  “I-I’ll be good,” she said quickly. The one time he’d whipped her with his belt, the soreness had lasted for days.

  “All right. Let’s turn this cute little bottom a nice bright shade of red, shall we?”

  Before she could agree or disagree, he had already raised his hand and brought it down with a firm smack on her right cheek. He struck her left cheek next, and continued alternating slaps between her bottom cheeks as she whimpered and squirmed slightly in his hold. But the man spanked so hard that she couldn’t keep quiet, let alone remain still as he laid into her behind. Well, even if she tried with all her strength to escape his punishing hand, she doubted she would even make it off his lap. He had a firm hold on her.

  “I like turning your bottom red, Callie. Do you know why?”

  She lifted her head and turned to look at him, her gaze questioning.

  “Because you are so adorably sweet after a sound spanking.” One of his eyebrows rose up. “And also because I like watching you grow wet between your thighs.”

  She turned around and buried her face in the covers again. But it was true. She felt her quim becoming shamefully wet, and all because her husband was spanking her.

  He applied one last round of sharp slaps to her sit spot, before he turned her over and sat her upright on his lap. The sternness from earlier still lingered in his gaze.

  “You took your wedding night spanking well, little Callie.”

  She felt a smile pulling at her lips and gave him a saucy look. She almost reminded him that it wasn’t yet night, but when she shifted on his lap, her sore bottom cheeks convinced her to keep quiet.

  “Now, let’s get this dress off you. I want to look upon my wife.”

  *

  She held onto the bed rail, not daring to let go. Lawrence had his head buried between her legs and he was licking her womanly folds and stroking his tongue around her clit, and he had threatened her with a spanking to her nether lips if she dared let go of the bed rail. Considering he’d just thrust a finger in and out of her bottom hole before her wedding night spanking, she decided it probably wasn’t an idle threat.

  “You are so pink and wet and perfect, Callie.” He looked up from between her thighs. “I could taste you all night.”

  She closed her eyes and moaned when he went back to running his tongue in slow circles around her swollen clit. She arched her center up against his mouth, feeling her release was imminent. He shoved two—or was it three?—thick fingers into her quim and started moving in and out, then increased the pressure on her clit.

  Stars exploded behind her eyelids. She came hard, moaning loud and clutching at the bedrails, struggling to obey him even as she was swept away by the most delicious, pulsing release she had ever experienced. He had loved her in this fashion before, but he had never taken his slow time and practically tortured her with pleasure before finally allowing her to come.

  As she fought for her breaths, he came up to straddle her and reached for her hands, pulling them away from the bedrail. His nostrils flared as he gripped her hips and pushed his cock at her entrance. He surged all the way inside her tightness in one swift thrust.

  “You’re mine, Callie. Mine.” He withdrew from her, only to push back inside in the next moment. He dug his fingers into her hips as he loved her. He tried to keep his thrusts slow as to draw out their first time together as husband and wife, but his restraint soon crumbled.

  He growled deep in his throat and commenced pounding into her like a man possessed, claiming her and making her his as if for the first time.

  “My sweet Callie,” he said just before he found his release and filled her with his seed.

  Chapter Nine

  Callie sat beside Lawrence as he guided their wagon up the mountain. The morning was cool despite the warmth of the sun on their backs. Aching and stiff from sitting for too many hours, she stretched her arms out and then rearranged the blanket draped over her legs, tucking it around her skirts. It was a slow journey; one she knew Lawrence normally made on horseback in far less time. But they had her belongings to bring, as well as extra supplies he’d ordered from the mercantile, so buying a wagon had been a necessity. As luck would have it, the owner of the stables in Culpepper had had one for sale.

  “Another two hours and we should be there.” Lawrence leaned over and placed a kiss atop her head.

  Callie smiled at him and fought off her sudden apprehension. Though she had been looking forward to finally being alone with her new husband in his cabin, she couldn’t help but worry about whether or not she would make a good wife. She worried he might not like her cooking or the way she kept house. Silly fears, she knew, because she had become a rather good cook during her time with the Gerrards, and she had always been tidy. After her marriage to Matthew, she’d had no choice but to learn how to clean clothes, mend garments, and perform other tasks the servants had always done in her parents’ manor. She didn’t want to disappoint Lawrence in any way, and she vowed to try her best to maintain a happy home.

  As they came to a fork in the dirt path, Callie’s heart leapt into her throat. This area looked familiar. Lawrence guided the wagon, led by Abraham and a new horse he’d just purchased and had yet to name, up the left path that rose higher up the mountain. Callie blinked back tears and pretended to gaze at the scenery to her right, lest Lawrence notice her upset.

  If they had taken the other path, it would have led directly by Matthew’s claim. They would have driven by the shack she’d lived in for months, before her first husband’s horrid death. They would probably have seen the small grave marker from the road too, where Matthew was buried. She gulped past the burning in her throat and tried to take slow, deep breaths to calm the emotion that tightened in her chest.

  She loved Lawrence, she truly did, but she had loved Matthew with all her heart as well. She had wished to visit his grave, and Mr. Gerrard had once promised to take her up the mountain to her old homestead, but after all his leering glances, she had ceased asking and had all but given up on the idea of visiting Matthew’s grave.

  Would Lawrence be upset if she wished to visit her late husband’s grave? She didn’t know for certain, so she kept quiet and paid careful attention to the path they were taking up to his cabin. Perhaps she could walk to her old homestead one day.

  A coldness gripped her at the thought of walking into the tiny shack Matthew had built for them. The place had once felt so warm and had been filled with love and happiness, but now it was empty and probably quite debilitated. No one had overseen its upkeep since Matthew’s death.

  She closed her eyes, wanting to force thoughts of Matthew and their life together from her heart. It was the morning after her marriage ceremony—to Lawrence—and she ought not to dwell on another man, even if Matthew had been cold in the ground for a long time.

  “Something wrong, my sweet?” Lawrence’s deep voice pulled her from her miserable reverie.

  “No, I’m fine,” she said, turning to meet his gaze. She forced a smile, though the longer she stared into his eyes, the less forced it became. Lawrence was a good man, and looking upon him caused the tenderness she held for him in her heart to swell.

  He urged the horses to a faster trot and Callie focused on her future with Lawrence. Underneath her blanket, she put a hand on her stomach and rubbed lightly, wondering if she might get with child soon. It still bothered her that despite trying to start a family with Matthew, it had never come to pass. Was something wrong with her? Or was she simply not meant to have children with her first husband? She prayed she was meant to have a houseful of children with Lawrence, and she prayed they were meant to have a long life together.

  When the cabin came into sight, Callie gasped and put a hand over her mouth. She gave Lawrence a questioning look, then set about removing the blanket from her legs and folding it neatly. “I never imagined a house that large could be built so far up in the mountains. How many rooms does it have?” It was probably half the size of the manor house Callie had gro
wn up in, which of course meant it was still on the large side, particularly for a cabin inhabited by a miner who, until today, had lived alone.

  “Well, I suppose when I had it built, despite my desire for solitude, in the back of my mind I must have suspected that one day I would have a wife and family again. The downstairs has several rooms, including the master bedroom and two smaller bedrooms, and the upstairs loft has three sleeping areas sectioned off. Plenty of room for a growing family.”

  He brought the wagon up alongside the cabin and pulled the horses to a halt. He jumped off the wagon and helped Callie down, wrapping her in his arms for a quick hug and kiss to her forehead before releasing her. “Let me tend to the horses quickly and then I’ll give you a tour.”

  Lawrence untethered the horses from the wagon and led them into a small stable that was situated a short walk away from the cabin. She peered around the cabin and noticed an outhouse and a woodshed behind it, and she walked in a slow circle around her new home, peering in the windows, until she reached the stable. She wandered inside and found Lawrence watering the horses and brushing them down. He finished and looked up at Callie with a smile.

  “What do you think we should name the new horse?”

  “Hmm. How about Misty? My grandparents had a dog named Misty once, and it had the same white and brown coloring as this horse.”

  “Misty,” he said, petting the horse’s mane before closing the stall and heading toward Callie. “It’s a fine name.” He grasped her hand and led her out of the stable, toward the cabin, then swept her up in his arms and ascended the steps.

  “Lawrence!” She giggled against his chest, and he playfully jostled her around as he kicked the door open and carried her over the threshold and into the warm, inviting cabin. Despite the chill in the morning, the house wasn’t cool inside at all, and there were enough windows spaced around the downstairs that plenty of natural light blanketed the cabin. Callie was most impressed. “Lawrence, please put me down!” She laughed and pushed at his chest, and he finally put her down. He gave her bottom a firm slap after setting her on her own feet.