One night, I got bored sitting home listening to my folks. They warned me not to go out, but I didn’t listen. That sports car with its bald tires didn’t do very well once the sleet started. The car spun off the road and into a gully. That was before everyone and their dog had a cell phone. I was out in the country in an area I didn’t know that well, and I did a really stupid thing. I left the car and started walking in what I thought was the way back home. But I got lost. My folks called the Sheriff’s Department when I didn’t show up, and Range took the call. He went out in that storm with an inch of ice frozen solid on the roads. He wouldn’t stop searching for me. He eventually came across my car, realized I’d left it and kept searching, even more determined to find me. By the time he found me, I was almost frozen. He took me to his little apartment in town, called my parents, and told them I was safe and that he’d take care of me. He thawed me out, warmed me up, and after I was feeling better, he started scolding me, again. That led to my yelling at him, and that led to him scolding me about being spoiled, immature and ungrateful. Then he spanked me. I didn’t know how to handle that, and believe me I screamed and swore a lot.”
Cathy gave Caitlin a knowing look. “I was there, exactly where you are now. I was confused, and I had a sore bottom and yet I realized that I was in love with him. How could that happen? One minute I hated that man and the next I was making love to him. Even though we were polar opposites… somehow it worked. Range was a solid, responsible adult, and he balanced out my immaturity. I have to admit that I was a spoiled only child.
I know what it is to marry a man that will set your backside on fire for what he considers provocation and what you consider nothing more than stating your opinion. I also know what it’s like to give up that fierce independence we women are made to believe we need. We do need it in the business world but it took me a long time to realize we don’t need it in a personal relationship. That as a woman, its okay to lean on a strong man.
You don’t have to give up who you are, Caitlin, to be what Chase needs. I’m one hell of a lawyer, and I have a killer reputation in this state. I’m also a mother and the wife of a man who loves me to clear to my soul. I don’t have to fight him or prove anything to him for that love. He gives it to me freely for being the woman he wants to care for and cherish. Sometimes I give him as hard a time as he gives me, and it works because where there is love there is also respect. Range respects that I’m as tough as nails in a courtroom, but he doesn’t particularly want to deal with that woman in his home and bed. He wants to see his wife - the sweeter, softer, and more vulnerable person that he fell in love with. I may be biased, but you won’t find a better man, than a Bennett man. Everyone one of them is a keeper.”
Caitlin shut her eyes, then opened them and looked directly into Cathy’s. “Does it ever get less humiliating to be… you know?”
Cathy laughed as she got to her feet. “Never! Gran told Rose once that she was seventy-three the last time Gramps, spanked her. She was kind of proud that she still had the gumption to tick him off that bad after fifty-five years of marriage!”
Caitlin laughed.
Cathy opened the screen door. “By the way, thanks for sticking up for Wyatt. We’d have gotten there eventually, but you probably saved me a lot of arguing to get it through his thick head. Sometimes Range can be a pig-headed ass, but I still love him.”
Caitlin’s face flamed red, but Cathy only laughed and let the screen door slam behind her.
Chapter 11
Caitlin continued to sit on the porch swing, nudging it with her foot occasionally while absent-mindedly giving her bottom a rub or a scratch. The soreness didn’t seem to be getting any better. If anything, it seemed to be getting worse and itchy. The sudden sound of a terrified horse scream brought her to her feet. Whatever was going on down at the corral, it didn’t sound good. She started in that direction, and suddenly men were shouting and she heard another scream from the horse. There were more frantic shouts, and she saw men diving off the corral fences and watched as the Morab stallion cleared the five-foot fence in a magnificent jump and ran in her direction.
“Get out of the way!”
Caitlin heard Chase’s voice above those of the other men. She didn’t run or leap. She held out her arms straight, and started making a clicking sound with her tongue that worked well with the wild Mustangs she’d trained over last two years. Horses instinctively dodged, they didn’t run into anything in their path. The horse came to an abrupt stop and reared, but came back down on all four legs in front of her with a wild, desperate look in its eyes. A saddle was hanging sideways, the halter lead dangling on the ground.
“Settle down, Gumby,” Caitlin said softly, “Settle down.” She moved closer as the men came running and circled her and the horse.
“Stay back!” Caitlin said never raising her voice. She touched the stallion on the forehead as she’d done before and cupped her hands on each side of the horse’s eyes, obscuring its peripheral vision.
“Back off!” she ordered curtly as a man approached her side.
“Get the hell out of the way,” the man ordered.
Caitlin didn’t move, or raise her voice, but her eyes flashed in temper. “I said back off!”
The horse was calming now, and she could see that Marc and Range were motioning for the men to back away. Caitlin took the dangling reins and drew them through her hands slowly, all the while crooning gently. When she had a good grip, she stepped to the side and released the flank cinch. As the saddle fell to the ground, the horse made a sound of distress, and shied away from it. She stayed with the horse, getting a good hold on the halter while using the other hand to pet and rub.
“Someone should make sure Gumby’s stall gate is open,” Caitlin said calmly as she leaned into the horse and guided the stallion around in that direction.
“Caitlin!” Chase’s voice was low his tone was stern.
“I know what I’m doing,” she said quietly again without raising her voice.
The man she’d told to back off came closer, and the horse shied nervously, dragging Caitlin along for a short six feet before she dug her boots into the ground and got him settled him again. This time she did raise her head and eyes.
“I told you to back off! I have this under control,” she hissed.
The man backed off but not at her command. Marc Bennett made a slashing motion of his hand and the man, although angry stepped back.
Everyone hung back which was what Caitlin needed. She talked and crooned to the Morab as she gently led it back into the barn with no difficulty. Once she’d gotten him in his stall, she stood petting him and talking to him. She removed the bridle and tossed it in the direction of the open stall door, aware that someone caught it and when she looked up it was Range. He handed her a bucket with some oats, and she poured it into a feeding pail. When the Morab lowered his head to feed, she gave it a last rub, and backed out as someone swung the stall gate closed.
“Are you out of your fucking mind, lady?” the man she’d told to back off snarled.
“Hey!” Marc, Larson, Range and Chase objected all at the same time.
“No, I’m not out of my mind!” Caitlin snapped back. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Like hell you do! That horse is a killer!”
“Gumby didn’t act like a killer to me,” Caitlin shot back. “Maybe he has a problem with men. Obviously this horse has been abused somewhere along the way, and more than likely that abuse has come from the hands of a man.”
She turned her attention to Marc and tossed her head in the direction of the wrangler. “I’ve trained wild Mustangs for years. Whatever he’s doing, it isn’t working. If you don’t want a real killer on your hands, you should get a different handler.”
“Listen, you bitch …” the wrangler snarled.
Caitlin wasn’t sure it was the snap of the man’s head, or the solid punch to his jaw that she heard. Regardless, the wrangler was flat on his back on the barn floor, and
Range was the one who put him there.
“That’s enough,” Range said. “Miller, this isn’t working. Satan isn’t responding to your methods, and now we’ve seen proof that you’re not the man for the job. The punch was because you’re on Bennett property, and we don’t speak to our woman like that!”
Caitlin raised her eyes to meet Range’s in surprise. “Thanks.”
The wrangler got to his feet and dusted off his jeans and shirt. “Fine, I’ll send you my bill,” he grumbled and sauntered out.
Caitlin couldn’t gauge the reaction of Chase or any of his brothers to what had happened, so she thought she might be wise to clear out. “I know a woman who’s a great handler, she lives in Oklahoma. If I can handle Gumby, she’ll be able to do wonders with him. I’m going back up to the house.” She left the barn before anyone thought to stop her.
Blasé watched as she walked away quickly, turned, and looked at his brothers and father. “That was fricking amazing! I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never actually seen it. She’s got some kind of mystical way with horses or something to make Satan’s Revenge act like that. Why the hell didn’t you tell us?” he demanded of his brother.
“Because I didn’t know,” Chase admitted. “I knew she worked with horses on a Mustang refuge, but I didn’t know she trained them. She did tell me she was good with dogs and horses.”
Range stood looking at the Morab through the slats and turned to his father and brothers and scratched his head. “Why the hell does she call that monster Gumby?”
* * * * *
Caitlin thought there might be some fallout from her interference with the Morab. Her observations of the Bennett men seemed to indicate that they were too macho to ask for help especially help from a woman. She was surprised when Marc asked for the name and phone number of the woman wrangler she’d suggested. Range and Larson simply thanked her for her help and went to join the mealtime gathering in the kitchen. Karen had retreated for another rest, so Caitlin went back to the swing. She was feeling itchy, prickly and hot, and it didn’t have anything to do with what she called her Spidy senses.
Chase came out and joined her. “You’ve got hidden talents,” he said softly. “It makes me wonder what else I don’t know about you.”
“Are you mad?”
Chase shook his head. “You scared the living crap out of me, but you obviously knew what you were doing.”
Caitlin dropped her head on his shoulder. “Good.” She paused and then smiled. “Range knocked that man on his butt! For me.”
“He only got to him first because he was closer,” Chase complained. “I wanted to punch him!”
She laughed. “Is it okay for Range to be my hero for a day or two,” Caitlin teased.
“That’s a whole lot better than your hating his guts,” Chase admitted.
“I talked to Cathy today. She said she wasn’t too fond of him in the beginning too,” Caitlin said, and suddenly she swallowed and tried to clear her throat.
“Are you okay?”
“No,” she said and gave her head a shake. “I don’t feel good all of a sudden. I’m going to go lie down in the truck for a little bit.”
“No, you’re not,” Chase said as he watched little beads of sweat appear on her forehead. “The house may be more full than usual but there are still plenty of empty bedrooms. There’s a spare bedroom upstairs where you can go lie down.” He walked with her to show her which room she could use and opened the door.
Caitlin suddenly gasped, “Bathroom!”
He pointed, and she ran and slammed the door shut. He heard sounds of her retching, and then there was silence. He knocked and opened the door to find her sitting on the floor with her forehead lying on the edge of the cool porcelain tub.
He helped her feet, peeled her out of flannel shirt and laid her down on the bed. He unsnapped her jeans, pulled them down, and stopped. He’d spanked her the night before, hard enough to redden her bottom but her skin should have recovered from that by now. Now her bottom, hips, and the tops of the backs of her thighs were covered in a red, angry looking rash.
“Cait, what were the warnings on that ointment about allergic reactions?”
Caitlin shook her head, her eyes a bit glassy. “Who reads that stuff? It’s in my back pocket.”
He pulled her jeans off, searched for the small tube and read the tiny print about allergic reactions. He went downstairs and straight to Marie, who’d dealt with her kids’ allergic reactions.
“I think Cait’s having an allergic reaction. Can you check on her?”
Marie dried her hands and followed him. Caitlin was already asleep.
“She put an ointment on her bottom this morning, I don’t know how many times since. She’s used it before and she didn’t have a reaction to it.
Marie gently pulled the sheet down and looked at the rash. She put her hand on the Caitlin’s forehead. “She’s running a fever and she’s clammy. If it’s an allergic reaction, don’t mess around with it. They can get serious very quickly. First, get that ointment washed off of her and then you need to take her straight to the clinic.”
Chase followed Marie’s directions and wrapped Caitlin up in a blanket and carried her downstairs. Larson and Jessie volunteered to go with them.
Three hours and one shot of ephedrine later, Caitlin was feeling a lot better, but she was in a foul mood. Chase had been honest with the doctor at the clinic to her total and absolute humiliation. They stopped off at the main house only long enough to drop off Larson and Jessie and to pick up her clothes. Once she was back inside the truck, she fumed the entire trip to his place.
As Chase parked his truck he turned to her. “Enough all ready! I know it was embarrassing, but I had no choice. You were having an allergic reaction and it was serious. I had to tell the doctor the truth.”
“You couldn’t have told him I’d ridden a horse for the first time, or made up another excuse for my putting the ointment on a sore backside. Did you have to humiliate me like that?”
Chase sighed. “Doctor Winford been a close friend of our family for years. He knows we practice domestic discipline. If the truth was known, I doubt we’re the only family around here that does, so there’s no reason to be embarrassed. No one was laughing. The only one uncomfortable with the situation was you.”
Caitlin was about to launch a retort as she exited the truck, but after slamming the door she took a few steps and turned around slowly staring off toward the barn.
“What?” Chase demanded his gaze following hers.
“The Spidy sensors are going off again,” Caitlin said.
“Get in the house,” Chase ordered gruffly. “Now!”
Caitlin did as she was told this time, without arguing. She was upset, but Chase was angry too because he saw no reason to lie when full disclosure of the truth was necessary. Once inside, Chase went into the closet and came out with his revolver and night-vision goggles. “I’m going to check the parameters.”
“Not without me!”
“Yes, without you!” Chase growled. “Stay inside! In case you don’t recognize it, that is a direct order!”
“I’m not your subordinate!” Caitlin snapped.
“Stay!” Chase growled again. “Lock the door behind me, and sit on the floor with your back to the door until I make sure the parameter is clear.”
Caitlin threw the deadbolt furiously. Now he was giving her orders like a dog! Stay! Sit!
Twenty minutes later, he was back. “No sign of anything or anyone.”
“Or someone has been here and gone,” Caitlin said. “My Spidy sense isn’t that faulty.”
“Maybe it is this time. You’ve had a scare, and you’re not feeling well. Let’s not fight, Caitlin. Let’s go to bed.”
“I’m still wired from the shot he gave me. I’m going to sit up for a while.”
Chase gave her a long look, then turned and went down the hallway to the bedroom.
She lay down on the couch and curled up into a ball of
misery. Knowing the doctor had seen her red bottom and learned she’d been spanked like a naughty little girl was demoralizing! She never wanted to go through that again. Caitlin didn’t sleep. She tossed, turned, and tried to find a comfortable position. She wasn’t feeling much of the spanking from the previous night, she was feeling the effects of the rash. The doctor had told her it might be a day or two before the rash went away completely, and she had some pills to take for several days. As she tossed once again, she rolled to her feet, walked across the small living room, and stood looking out the window at an angle so she wouldn’t be seen. A full moon had come out from behind clouds, and something was tickling her Spidy senses again. She didn’t feel watched. She didn’t get a sense of anyone being out there, but she felt… something. Something wasn’t right. She relied on her senses, her hearing, her sight and the ones she’d honed from necessity. She’d had to because they kept her alive. She stood looking through the large windows and slid one open. She stared out over barn, the sheds, and the empty paddock - what little she could see in the darkness. Lost in the misery of her thoughts, she heard a muffled puffing sound and then another and she saw a light in the open barn door, then another. Her head came up, and she focused. That wasn’t right. The barn door shouldn’t have been left open. There were two more noises and she unbolted the front door and ran. By the time she’d run halfway across the distance between house and barn she could see flames. She didn’t hear the identical puffing sounds behind her coming from the house. She ran, hearing the sounds of distressed and frightened horses. Caitlin bolted through the open barn door into the smoke and flames, yanking her T-shirt up and over her mouth and nose. She grabbed an empty feed sack and opened the stall gate. Throwing the feed sack over Smokey’s eyes, she grabbed his halter and pulled him toward the open door. When she was close to barn door opening, she slapped Smokey’s rump to keep him moving and ran back inside for Red.
Caitlin's Conspiracies Page 14