The Sheriff Wears Pants

by Kay, Joannie

“In danger?” she asked, perplexed. “From what, Waldo?”

  “He arrested Rusty Campbell’s kid brother, and Rusty has given the Sheriff until high noon to release him or he’s going to draw on the Sheriff and break his brother out of jail. Rusty Campbell is a hot shot gunslinger, Miss Darcy.”

  It was obvious that Waldo relished sharing the information, hoping for something he could print in his paper. This time, however, it backfired on him as Darcy took off running before he could get a word for his paper.

  “That damn Waldo!” Darcy muttered under her breath as she took off running and went straight to the jail to confront Will. “Were you even planning to tell me that you are in trouble, Mr. Davies?” she demanded, her hands on her hips as she glared at him in a confrontational manner. It was obvious that she was struggling to control her temper, and he was pretty darn sure that he was going to end up spanking her before she left his office!

  “Don’t worry, Darcy. I can handle it.” Will thought she looked adorable, but the last thing he wanted was his feisty wife getting involved in this situation. He could handle it without her interference.

  “Rusty Campbell is a gunslinger.” Darcy wasn’t going to be dismissed so easily. She was married to this man now, keeping him safe was her job, and she intended to do it to the very best of her ability.

  “I was a gunslinger before I decided to become a lawman. I can handle him.” Will didn’t talk about that period of his life often. A good friend of his was gun downed, and when Will found out the law wasn’t going to go after the killer, he strapped on a gun, in spite of his parents’ objections, and he went after the man. It ended in a gunfight, with Will the winner, and it gave him an instant reputation. He made his living with his gun for a couple of years until he realized it wasn’t the way he was raised, and that he was slowing turning into the sort of man he hated and went after in the first place.

  He hired on as a deputy in another town, and learned all he could from the Sheriff there, and then he came to Cactus Hill to Deputy for the elderly Sheriff. Sheriff Layton died of a heart attack one day, and Will took over the job. However, he still knew how to use his gun, and he wasn’t afraid of a kid like Rusty Campbell. But, his wife was apparently having a lot of trouble dealing with that fact.

  “No! I forbid it. I won’t permit you to be in a shootout with that man.” Darcy was tapping her toe and her green eyes were snapping with temper.

  “I’m not planning on having a shootout with him. I intend to throw him in jail if he attempts to break his brother out of this jail.” Will carefully explained, hoping she would calm down before he put her over his knee to calm her down. Sometimes a spanking to get her attention was the only way to get Darcy to listen to sweet reason!

  “Why did you arrest the brother in the first place?” Darcy demanded, positive that Will was hiding something from her, and determined to get to the truth of the matter.

  “He threatened Mrs. Forrester.”

  “What! Why?” Darcy was shocked that anyone would pick on that sweet woman!

  “He wanted her purse and the money in it, and she refused to let him have her money. She said she worked too many years to earn that money and she wasn’t giving it to some kid because he demanded it. He pulled a gun on her and threatened to hit her with it, and she hit him in the nose with her purse, while yelling for help. I heard her and took off running, to find that three other men got there first. They were holding Buster, and he was screaming and threatening them with his big brother. I put his ass in jail where he belongs.”

  “How old is he?” Darcy asked in disbelief.

  “Fourteen, maybe fifteen. He needs a trip to the woodshed.” Will sat down in his chair. “Honey, I want you to go on home and trust me to deal with Rusty. He’s just a big mouth kid, with a troublesome little brother. He’s all bluster. I’ve come across his type many times. Go on home and let me deal with this. It’s nothing to worry over.”

  “I can’t help but worry over you, husband. I love you!”

  “I love you, too, honey, but I need you to trust me and have faith in me.”

  What he said touched her deeply. Darcy leaned down and kissed him, and then she went on home. She wanted to change into her pants and strap on her gun and protect her husband, but she also knew that if she did that each and every time he was in trouble, she would undermine his authority in the town.

  To keep herself busy and glued to the house, Darcy started a batch of molasses cookies and just put the first batch into the oven when there was a knock on the front door. Louisa was out with John again, trying to decide whether or not they would go ‘home’ or stay in Cactus Hill and join Dr. Grayson’s practice, and Greta was with some friends, stitching on a quilt. Darcy was all alone, so she went to answer the door, praying it wasn’t Waldo again. Dealing with him once in a day was more than enough, and this time she just might lose her temper and make him very sorry he kept hounding her with stupid questions!

  “Are you Mrs. Davies?” A pleasant faced young man asked with a smile.

  “Yes, I am. May I help you?” She didn’t know the youngster, but it was possible one of her friends who lived out of town on a ranch had sent him with a message for her. The ranchers hired new people all of the time.

  “Yes, ma’am. You sure can.” His face suddenly changed and he drew his gun and pointed it at her. “You’re going to come with me right now, and if your husband lets Buster go, I just might release you after I have me some fun with you. No Sheriff gets away with putting my brother in jail and not paying for it some way! I reckon my having you will hurt him real bad!”

  “Your little brother tried to take an elderly woman’s purse. Do you know how hard she and her husband worked to earn their savings?” If this was the gunslinger Waldo told her about, Will had nothing to fear. He was just a scared kid trying to bluff his way, and frighten her. It wasn’t going to work.

  “I don’t give a damn, lady. I just want my kid brother out of jail, and you’re going to help me get him out. Let’s go!” He reached for her arm and Darcy stepped back.

  “No! I have cookies in the oven, and I’m not about to let this home burn down because you are selfish and could care less about real people.” He needed a sharp lesson.

  “Lady, do you want me to beat you?” He waved his gun threateningly.

  “You’re the one who needs a beating, you, and your brother, both!” Darcy told him, her temper flaring as she looked at the young bully who was just asking for a hard lesson. He thought to intimidate and frighten her, but he’d picked on the wrong woman. Darcy wasn’t afraid of him; he sparked her temper.

  This time when he reached for her, she kicked him in the crotch, and then she brought her hand down on the back of his neck. He fell unconscious to the floor. Darcy fetched some rope from her back porch and tied his hands and his feet, and took his gun and put it where he would never find it. She then calmly took her cookies from the oven and put in the next tray. Then she sat down and waited. Greta should be home soon, and she would send her to fetch Will so he could throw this one in a cell next to his brother!

  * * * * *

  As noon came and went, Will had to smile. Rusty Campbell was a coward who was careful not to get into a gunfight with someone who had a prayer of beating him. In the back, he heard Buster having a tantrum. He went back there and said, “You’d best calm yourself, kid, or I’ll personally give you the tanning you’ve been needing for a good long while.” It wasn’t an idle threat. Each and every time he thought of this boy threatening Mrs. Forrester, he wanted to bend him over and set his pants on fire!

  “Where is Rusty?” the boy demanded, his blue eyes full of tears. “Did you kill him?” he demanded, and Will could see the kid was scared.

  “He didn’t show up at noon like he said he would.” Will saw no point in lying to the boy.

  “Do you think he rode on and just left me behind?”

  Buster looked frightened and Will couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. The thought o
f sending him to reform school didn’t sit well with Will, but his hands were tied. “I wouldn’t know. You calm down now or my belt is going to come off.”

  “Rusty will shoot you dead if you try to whip me, Sheriff!” The kid was back to blustering and making threats. Will was just about fed up and he took a step toward the cell when he heard someone come into the office.

  “Sheriff Will! Sheriff Will!” Greta called for him, and from the tone of her voice, he knew something was terribly wrong. He hurried out of the jail, shutting the heavy wooden door between the office and the cells.

  “I’m here, Greta, what’s wrong?” he asked, reaching out to put his hands on her shoulders to calm her. The poor woman was shaking, and then she started crying. He took out his handkerchief, thankful it was clean, and handed it to her.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “It’s just that I feel so guilty. Poor little Darcy was all alone because I wasn’t there to look after her, and that man tried to hurt her. She wants you to come home right away. I’m all right now, and I’ll be along. You go fast. She shouldn’t be all alone!”

  Will’s heart was in his throat as he ran as fast as he could run for home. What had happened to his sweet little wife? If someone hurt her, he would kill them! He was scared as he neared the house, and he simply jumped the fence and bounded up the steps to the porch. He ran inside and yelled, “Darcy! Darcy! Where are you?” He was almost up the staircase, running to their bedroom when she called to him from below.

  “I’m down here, darling. Calm down!” She looked at him in shock. “What is wrong?”

  “Calm down? What’s wrong? What’s happened to you?” he demanded, looking her over, head to toe. “Greta said a man tried to hurt you? Who was it? By God, I’ll kill him with my bare hands!”

  “Darling, sh! Calm down now.” She wrapped her arms around him and held his shaking body close to hers. “You can see I am just fine. I don’t know what Greta said to upset you so much, but I’m not hurt. I handled the situation myself, but I didn’t want to leave my cookies to bring you a prisoner.”

  “What?” Nothing she said was making sense. But, he gave thanks, she seemed to be alright.

  “I was baking you some molasses cookies, and Rusty Campbell came to the front door to take me captive so he could force you to release his brother. I refused to go with him, of course. I told him I wasn’t about to let this house burn down because he was selfish. He didn’t like that too well, and he tried to grab me. I kicked him where it hurts most, and then gave him a chop on the back of his neck. While he was unconscious, I tied his hands and feet, and then put another tray of cookies in the oven. When Greta got home, I asked her to please go and ask you to come home so you could take Rusty to jail. I won’t be threatened like that, and I think having him stand trial for attempted kidnapping is a good idea. It might discourage anyone else who thinks to have their way in that manner.” She paused and looked at him. “Are you alright, darling?”

  “I was so damned scared!” he whispered emotionally. “Greta was bawling, and said she wasn’t here to protect you, and this man tried to hurt you…. I thought you’d been beaten or raped, sweetheart, and I was planning to kill the bastard with my bare hands. Please, just let me hold you until I can breathe normally.”

  He needed to hold her in his arms and reassure himself that his precious wife was safe. He’d died a thousand times at least, assuming the very worst, and now that she was in his arms, and unhurt, he was having trouble calming down. Oh, thank God, Darcy was safe!

  “Oh, poor you! I was never in real danger, Will. You know that I can take care of myself. You were so right about Rusty, he is all bluster. He and his brother could do with some serious discipline. Gram would have straightened them out in a big hurry, I can tell you that.” Her hands rubbed his back comfortingly, and she kissed him tenderly. “You are feeling the same panic I felt when Waldo told me you were going to be in a gunfight!”

  “Love is wonderful, but it can also hurt like nothing else. I’d rather anything happened to me than to you,” he whispered, trying to be manly and not cry.

  “And I would rather it happened to me than to you, my darling.”

  “Wait until we have children. We’ll both be crazy if they get hurt in any way.” He was trying to be humorous, but it was the darn truth, and he knew it!

  “That is so true. I remember how protective Gram was of me all the time.” She squirmed in his arms, “Will, I need to check on my cookies. Please remember that Rusty is suffering from aching private parts and a splitting headache. He is also tied and can’t protect himself.”

  “I’ll try,” Will said, doing his best to remember that he was wearing a badge and it wouldn’t do for him to pound on a mouthy kid just because that kid threatened his Darcy.

  Rusty was awake when they walked into the kitchen. He’d somehow managed to scoot next to the wall and was propped up. He looked at Will in obvious fear for one second, and then put on his blustery attitude. “She kicked me when all I did was try to get her to come to the jail with me to talk you into releasing Buster!”

  “Rusty, don’t lie to me. I know my wife very well, and if you’d asked her nicely to help you, she probably would have come up with a solution that was fair.” Will could see that Rusty didn’t believe him, but at this point, he didn’t care. He was furious with the kid for daring to threaten Darcy.

  “I do have a solution,” Darcy said with a smile, much to Will’s dismay. “I am sure Mrs. Forrester would approve, too. Buster needs a good thrashing, and he needs to work at an honest job, and see just how difficult it is to earn money the right way. I think you need the same thing, Rusty.”

  “I ain’t got to listen to you, lady!”

  “No, you don’t have to listen to me. You can serve time in prison instead for attempted kidnapping, and for threatening to rape me!” she told bluntly told him, then wished she hadn’t when Will’s temper exploded.

  “He what?” Will roared, closing the distance between himself and Rusty in two strides. He picked him up off the floor by his shirt and pulled back his fist to slug him when Darcy put her hand on his fist to stop him.

  “No, Will. Can’t you see? That is all this boy has known. My guess is that his parents died young and he and his brother were given to an Uncle to raise. They were made to work, and not given a word of praise and no money, either. They don’t know what it’s like to earn money instead of a fist.”

  “Did my brother tell you all of that?” Rusty asked, tears in his blue eyes.

  “No, I haven’t talked to him at all. Am I right?”

  He nodded. “As soon as I could, I got us away from Uncle Frank. We didn’t get no schoolin’, either. I don’t want Buster to go to prison.”

  “I don’t want you to go to prison, either, but with that attitude of yours, that is where you are headed.” Darcy felt it was time to be honest with him.

  He bowed his head. “I’m sorry. You’re a nice lady, Mrs. Davies. I really feel awful for being mean to you.”

  “Mrs. Forrester is a nice lady, too, and Rusty, she and her husband raised ten kids and she earned money by taking in laundry and ironing. Her husband shoed horses. They worked so hard, and did without anything to make sure their kids were fed. She doesn’t want Buster to go to prison, she wants him to learn better.”

  “Can you make that happen?” he asked hopefully. “It might be too late for me, but Buster is only thirteen, and he deserves a chance.”

  * * * * *

  “We need to have a talk, and by that I mean a talk with your butt bare and over my knee, young lady,” Will said firmly once he was home for the night. His deputy was at the jail, and he was seasoned enough by now that Will felt safe leaving him alone. He’d found his wife upstairs in their bedroom, already wearing a pretty nightdress and brushing out her long red hair while she waited for him to come home.

  “What did I do wrong?” Darcy asked, her green eyes wide and full of confusion. She’d been home most of the day, a
nd had even baked molasses cookies for her husband!

  “You cannot make promises like you made today to a prisoner.” Will was very upset with her for doing so, and he intended to make that quite clear on her backside so that she never even considered doing something so foolish again!

  “Oh, that!” she said, nodding her head as she realized what he was complaining about. “I feel strongly that both of those boys need a guiding hand instead of prison.”

  “I feel you need a guiding hand,” Will said, and just that quick, he pulled her over his lap on the bed and started spanking her!

  “Don’t, Will!” she complained, trying to scoot free. She wanted to make love, not nurse a sore bottom! “This is not what I planned for tonight! I wanted to comfort you!” she told him, trying again to get free of him, but he simply dragged her back and wrapped his left arm around her waist to hold her where he wanted her.

  “You can do that, too, but after I give you a good spanking.” He pushed up her pretty, lace-trimmed nightdress to bare her equally pretty rounded bottom. He gave her a firm spank and then another, causing Darcy to squeal in outrage and wounded dignity.

  “Will, don’t do this! This was a special case and I don’t intend to do something of this sort often.” He continued to spank her, his hand stinging and hard on her bared cheeks. “Ow! This isn’t fair! You let me go”

  “What isn’t fair is promising Rusty something the Judge won’t approve of! And, who is going to take those two boys in and give them a chance?” He continued to redden her cheeks and then he spanked her sit spots while she kicked and doubled her efforts to get away from him. “Am I making my point?” he demanded.

  “I will find someone willing to do that!” she promised, hoping he would stop soon.

  “Do you think that will be easy?” Will thought she was being very naïve.

  “Yes, I’m sure it will be. The ranchers and farmers around here are always looking for hired help! They may be at different homes, but wouldn’t that be better than going to prison and sharing a cell there?” she asked, crying out as the spanking increased in intensity.