My Ranch My Way

by Misty Malone

  Once home he got his phone out and compared the picture he'd just taken with some he'd taken of footprints he'd noticed around the refrigerator when they found it unplugged, and again at the fence that had been cut. Sure enough, they looked to be from the same boot – a small boot. And the only small boot that he knew of around Pete's would be Cece's cute little pink boots. But why would she unplug his refrigerator and cut the fence?

  He spent the morning working around the barn, and trying to make sense of this whole thing. By the time he went to pick her up he didn't have any answers yet, but he had a plan for how to find out.

  * * * * *

  Cece spent the day thinking as well. Ralph had stopped by the day before with another deed for her to do. He'd suggested she dam up a creek that was on their property, but fed onto Chase's. She told Ralph she wouldn't do it. Doing that would stop the water from running onto Chase's land, and that would affect his cattle. She wasn't at all in favor of harming any of his cattle. Ralph had been noticeably upset, but tried to minimize his disappointment, saying he'd think of something else.

  Cece told him she wasn't really interested in doing anything else. She felt bad now that she'd agreed with Ralph to do them in the first place. After Chase's visit this morning she realized she'd missed seeing him.

  She took a little extra time getting ready for Chase that evening, wanting to look just right. She changed her outfit twice, finally deciding on a skirt that, although shorter than most of her skirts, looked more casual than sexy.

  She let her hair down, remembering how Chase had run his fingers through it so gently that fateful afternoon while he was holding her on his lap after the spanking. Not normally one to worry much about her appearance, she was surprised to find herself hoping Chase approved of how she looked.

  Her worrying had been for nothing once she answered the door. Chase took one look at her and whistled.

  "You look beautiful tonight, pretty lady." He reached down and kissed her cheek. "Are you ready?"

  She blushed, nodding. He led her to his truck with a soft hand on her back, and opened her door for her. Without hesitating, he put his hands around her waist and lifted her effortlessly into his truck. "This truck's awfully high up for a little thing like you," he said in way of explanation.

  "If it's okay with you I want to stop at my place a minute first," he asked as they pulled onto the road. "There's something I want to show you."

  "What's that?"

  "I know how you like little animals," he said, "and Grandpa's dog—" He stopped mid-sentence, then tried again. "— and my dog had two little puppies. They're cute as can be. I thought you might like to see them."

  She clapped her hands as she said, "Oh, I'd love to see them. Thank you."

  When they got to his house he pulled up by the barn, and warned her, "Stay right there." He was at her door just seconds later and lifted her out, setting her on the ground. Again with his hand on her back he led her inside the barn to an empty stall, where a beautiful cocker spaniel lay, with two little puppies climbing on her.

  Chase bent down and asked, "Hey, how are the kids?"

  The mother dog lifted her head, stretching her neck to his hand. He chuckled as he fondly stroked her fur just behind the ears. She cocked her head, leaning in to his touch with a big doggie grin. Just outside of the stall, a handsome male Cocker Spaniel looked on, every bit the proud papa.

  "They're really pretty dogs," Cece said, petting the male. "I didn't know your grandfather had two of them. I've seen one on a few occasions when I've been over here, but I didn't know he had two."

  "A friend of his got it for his son last year, but they found out he's allergic to dogs, so Grandpa took it as a mate for his female. They do make a nice looking couple, don't you think?"

  Cece giggled, agreeing. Chase handed her one of the wriggling puppies while he held the other one. "They make cute little puppies, too," he proudly said.

  "They certainly do. They are so cute." She and Chase switched puppies so she could fuss over the other wriggly little thing, as well.

  After a couple minutes he asked, "Are you ready to go?"

  "I hate to leave them, they're adorable," she lamented.

  He hesitated a moment before saying, "We don't have to leave if you don't want to, Cece."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I thought you might want to spend a little time with the new puppies, so I asked Stella if she'd mind making us a dinner here."

  "Chase, you shouldn't have. I could have made us something."

  "I know. You're a great cook. But she cooks supper every night for me and Ty and herself, so she was cooking anyway. She made supper for all of us. She wanted to go visit her sister in town tonight, so she and Ty already ate and ours is in the refrigerator. I assured her you'd know how to heat it, but I think she left instructions anyway, just in case."

  "Sounds wonderful. Maybe we could eat, then come back out and check on the puppies again?" she asked hopefully.

  With a smile, Chase answered, "If you want to, we can, yes." Then he turned serious. "There's something we need to discuss tonight, so I'm glad we have the house to ourselves. Let's head on up there and get that out of the way first, then we can have some supper and come back out and play with these little wrigglers again."

  She smiled a little at his choice of words, but was worried about the serious look on his face. "Okay. What is it you want to discuss?"

  He didn't answer right away, but then said simply, "I'd rather wait until we're in my office."

  His office? Whatever it was he wanted to discuss must be serious. She'd never seen his office, and right now she wasn't sure she wanted to. Flashbacks of that awful afternoon came into her mind. Before she had a chance to think too much she found herself being escorted into his office.

  He led her over to the big leather couch and sat down, practically pulling her down beside him. He didn't say anything for several moments, which only added to her unease.

  "Cecelia," he began. "I've had a couple problems around my ranch lately. Someone unplugged the refrigerator in the barn and I had to throw away all the medicines I keep for the animals. It cost a good amount of money to replace all of it. Then someone cut the fence between my place and yours. Your dad probably told you about that."

  "Yes, he did," she said.

  He noticed she sounded a little shaky. "Do you know anything about either of those events?"

  "I knew about the fence because Dad told me," she said, looking down.

  "Do you know anything else about them?" he asked.

  "No. Why would you think I would?" she asked.

  "Because there were footprints around both places that were way too small for me or any of my men." He watched her stiffen, but she didn't say anything. He continued, "They were smaller, like they were made by a child or a woman." Still no response, and she was still looking down. "Look at me, Cecelia." When she didn't move, he reached over and gently used one finger to lift her chin so she would look at him. "Darlin', open your eyes and look at me."

  To his surprise, she did. Tears were running down her cheeks; it was hard for him to see her crying. He wanted nothing more than to gather her up and pull her against his chest and hold her there, tell her everything would be fine. But he couldn't do that. Instead, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and asked, "Why, Cecelia? Why did you do those things?"

  When she closed her eyes and refused to answer, he addressed her sternly. "Cecelia Louise, I'm waiting for an answer."

  Sniffling, she angrily asked, "And I still want to know how you know my full name."

  "An attitude right now is not a good idea. I'll tell you how I know your full name when you tell me why you did those things." When she didn't say anything, but looked down again, he gently lifted her chin again and said, "If you don't answer my question, Cecelia, I'll put you over my knee again and see if I can't convince you to answer it."

  "How dare you threaten me like that!" she said, her temper boiling ove
r.

  "Darlin', that wasn't a threat, it was a promise."

  "How dare you even mention that! That is not going to happen again." She stood up, intending to storm out of his office, but he stopped her before she'd taken one step. In one quick easy movement she found herself over his lap yet again. She instantly started struggling and screaming. "Chase, let me up. Don't you dare spank me again!"

  "If you want any hope of getting out of this spanking, Cecelia, you better start talking. I want to know why you did those things. Then I'll decide if you're getting this spanking or not."

  She stubbornly remained silent.

  "If you don't answer I can guarantee you'll be getting a good spanking. If you explain to me right now and I understand it, you might at least get off easier. So if I were you I'd start talking, Cecelia."

  Her temper tantrum was in full force now. "You want to know why I did them? Okay, I'll tell you why. I did them to get even with you for spanking me."

  Chase laid his hand on her bottom, but held it there, not moving, and not saying a word for several moments. Cece was angry, and was ready for a good argument with him. When no argument was forthcoming from him she turned around and looked up at him. He looked hurt, and that set her back a little. Her emotions had been driving her crazy since she'd met Chase. She'd gone from hating all men to enjoying the time she spent with him, to hating him for spanking her and wanting to exact revenge, to admitting she probably deserved some sort of punishment and feeling bad about what she'd done.

  Now he'd upset her again with his threat of another spanking. But as quickly as she'd gotten angry, his hurt expression had her feeling guilty again.

  "Chase, damn you, don't do that to me! I've changed my feelings about you so many times my head's spinning!"

  Picking her gently up and sitting her on his lap, he quickly wrapped his arms around her so she couldn't run. "I think we need to talk," he said.

  "Talking's better than spanking," she said, still angry.

  "That reminds me," he said. He stood her on her feet, turned her sideways and gave her three quick, hard swats on her bottom, and sat her back down on his lap. He was ready when she immediately tried to jump back up, holding her tightly to keep her on his lap.

  "What the hell! I thought we were going to talk instead of you spanking me again, you jackass!"

  Just that quickly she found herself over his knees yet again. He quickly gave her six hard smacks before pulling her up to sit on his lap again. When he had his arms in place, assuring she wasn't going anywhere, he said, "Those first three swats were for your language, Cece. Those last ones were for your last little outburst. Are you done swearing now, or are you ready for us to go into Round Three?"

  "I hate you!" she said through gritted teeth.

  "No, you don't, Cece, and we'll discuss that in a little bit." His calm and gentle voice surprised her. "But you need to calm down first, so we can talk."

  She stared at him momentarily, then her shoulders slumped and she sighed. "See, there you're doing it again."

  "What am I doing again?"

  "You do something that makes me want to hate you, but then you do something that makes it hard to hate you. Treat me the same way all the time, Chase, so I know how I feel about you." She broke down and started crying, and when he guided her head to his chest she didn't resist. Before she knew it she was crying hard, leaning against his chest, with his arms around her. And it all felt good – even the crying. She hated crying in front of anyone, but somehow right now it felt good to cry.

  To make it worse, as if he knew her thoughts he ran his fingers through her hair and kissed the top of her head again. "It's okay, darlin'," he soothed. "Go ahead and cry; get it all out. You need to right now and you'll feel better." She couldn't have stopped crying after she heard those softly spoken words if she'd wanted to. And darn that man – he held her gently while she cried.

  "Feel better?" he asked when she thought she had no more tears left.

  "See? That's just what I mean. How can I hate you when you do things like that?"

  He smiled. "Well, don't expect an apology, darlin', because I don't want you to hate me."

  "Then stop smacking my butt! It hurts, and I hate it!"

  "Then behave yourself and watch your mouth."

  "But I'm an adult. I'm too old to be spanked."

  "No, you're not," he said firmly. "Not in my family."

  "What does that mean?"

  "In my family, men treat women like they're special. We treat them like women, which means we open doors, help them into trucks, give them our jacket if they're getting cold, and a number of other things. That also includes protecting them. That's why we step between them and someone who's getting upset, or go first into a dark building – things like that. But we'll also correct them if we see them doing something dangerous, so they don't do it again. It's another form of protection. We'll also encourage them to be the best they can be, and do what we can to make sure they're happy."

  "Couldn't you just buy me flowers? You could even pick wildflowers. That would make me happy."

  "Nope," he said shaking his head. "That would be a lot easier on our part, though, to simply call and order some flowers and have them delivered."

  "So what's wrong with it then?"

  "That wouldn't be doing everything I can to protect you and make you happy and keep you safe and healthy."

  "You don't have to be an overachiever to make me happy," she said. "Simple flowers mean a lot."

  "Are you sure? Maybe I should explain one thing I've learned about young ladies, Cece. Ladies like you have a big heart, which is wonderful. It's one of the things that makes you so special. But you can also be very emotional, prone to temper tantrums and the like. This often causes you to lash out at someone, and say things you don't mean, like you hate someone. The problem is that afterward you feel bad. Being held accountable - which is what I'm doing - will not only help you stop that habit, teach you to hold your temper better, but after you pay the price for the outburst, you feel better. You're not ridden with guilt. If you lash out at me, once you've paid the price for the outburst, not only can I forgive you, but you can forgive yourself. And you're not as apt to lose control and lash out at me again."

  "But Chase, I've been like that my whole life. You think that one spanking is going to make me stop?"

  He chuckled as he said, "Well, obviously not. You just called me a jackass while you were in the midst of a tantrum. But after a few spankings, I bet you'll be controlling your temper better. And can you sit there and look me in the eye and tell me that once you've calmed down you don't feel bad for doing some of the things you do or say?"

  "No, I admit that, but I apologize to the person afterward."

  "And that takes care of it? You feel fine then afterward, and the person is fine with it? No lingering regrets on either part? As soon as you say you're sorry, everyone's fine again?"

  She dropped her head, not saying anything.

  "That's what I thought," he said quietly. "Cece, this is a lot to take in and think about right now, but I do want you to think about it later, when you're alone. Or maybe tomorrow, when your cute little bottom has recovered from your spanking tonight."

  "If you wouldn't have done that I wouldn't have to wait until tomorrow for it to not hurt, you know."

  "Just so we're talking about the same thing, darlin', I didn't mean those few swats you've gotten for your language. I mean the full spanking you're going to get when we're done talking."

  She looked up at him with her eyes wide, and her mouth dropped open.

  Chapter 6

  Cece shook her head and said, "The full – the full spanking yet to come? Are you crazy? What makes you think I'm going to let you spank me any more tonight?"

  "Nothing makes me think you're going to let me," Chase answered calmly. "But as I recall, I haven't asked for your permission to spank you yet, have I? You can count on me being consistent, and my theory on spankings is if you earn o
ne you'll get one."

  "But you already gave me one tonight. Actually, two," she whined.

  "Then maybe I should say if you earn three you'll get three."

  "But what did I earn them for?"

  His eyebrows rose as he asked, "Are you saying you don't know why you got those two very short spankings tonight? Maybe I need to repeat them, making sure you know what you did to earn them first."

  "No, no," she said quickly. "They were for swearing. Although the second time was because it surprised me and hurt so much."

  "Well, now you know not to swear during a spanking. Don't swear anytime, but especially not during a spanking. And to answer your third question, the one that's yet to come is for unplugging my refrigerator and cutting my fence. Unless, of course, you have a perfectly good explanation for doing those things. If you do, now would be a good time to share that with me."

  "I'm not proud of myself, Chase. I'd already stopped."

  "You said you did those things because you were upset that I spanked you. Is that true?"

  "Yes," she whispered. "I know it sounds lame, but—"

  "Yes, it does sound lame. So to sum it up, you did something I told you specifically not to do on my land because I consider it very dangerous. When you did it anyway, I spanked you. You were pouting because I spanked you, and so you unplugged my refrigerator and cut my fence. But you don't feel that should earn you another spanking. Do I have that right?" She glared at him, but didn't answer. "Cecelia Louise Anderson, once again I'm waiting for an answer."

  "I'm beginning to hate my full name." When he looked at her sternly she quickly said, "Okay, okay. Yes, that's basically it, but you make it sound even worse. And like I said, I'd already realized it was a bad idea and told him I wouldn't do anything else."

  Chase had been gently rubbing her arm while they talked. At her last words his hand stopped, and he looked into her eyes. "You told who you wouldn't do anything else?"