by Misty Malone
Cece hadn't realized what she'd said, and she froze. It wasn't like her to blame her mistakes on someone else. She looked down, unable to look him in his eyes.
He gently pulled her chin back up, though, and repeated, "Who put you up to those things, Cecelia?"
She hadn't planned on getting anyone else in trouble, but she wasn't going to lie, either. She quietly admitted, "Ralph McDermott."
Chase took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "My Uncle Ralph put you up to this?"
"Yes," she whispered. "I'm sorry, Chase."
"Did he come to you, ask you to do these things?"
"Yes."
"When?" After a second he asked, "And why? Why did he say he wanted you to sabotage my ranch? Was it so I'd fail, and have to sell it?"
"What are you talking about, have to sell it?"
From the look on her face Chase didn't think she knew what the will said. He explained, "If I'm not successful running the ranch I have to sell it, and half the money goes to Uncle Ralph. Is that why he wanted you to sabotage me?"
Cece gasped, and he could tell she hadn't known that before. He asked, "When did he approach you, Cece?"
"Chase, I'm really sorry. I didn't know that. He told me he thought you were a little too sure of yourself and needed to be taken down a little bit for your own good. He came to me not long after you spanked me."
"So you were upset with me when he asked you to do this?"
"Yes." She looked up at him and said, "Chase, I'm really sorry. I already felt bad about it and told him no the last time he asked me to do something else, but honestly, I didn't know about the will. He said this was for your own good, and I thought he was your uncle and in his own way was trying to help you. I was upset with you at the time, so I admit I didn't think it through as much as I should have. But I never would have done that if I had known his motives. I'm so sorry."
He pulled her against his chest for a hug as he said, "I know, Cece. I believe you. You're right; you didn't think it through as much as you should have, but now I understand why. He asked you when you were pouting, and that made you vulnerable. You're still getting spanked for it, but it won't be as hard as I'd planned. You should have known better, Cece. You're a better person than that. But I do understand the extenuating circumstances."
"I'm glad you believe me. That means a lot to me," she said, hugging him back.
He held her for a couple minutes before saying, "There's one other thing I have to ask you."
"What's that?"
"Earlier you said you hate me, but I don't think you do. I hope not, because I've come to care for you a great deal. I understand you said you've had confusing feelings that have changed. But—"
She held up her hand and said, "Let me try to explain this a little bit. I really enjoyed the time we spent together before you spanked me, even though I didn't want to. But then you did some things that made me want to hate you, and I tried to hate you. But then when I was almost able to hate you you'd do something I really liked, so I couldn't hate you. But then I'd remind myself I didn't want to like you … it's just been so confusing.
His eyes drew together. "Why didn't you want to enjoy our time together?"
She froze again. She sighed and admitted, "I'll be honest. I'm not real keen on men in general right now, so I didn't want to get to know you much, and I especially didn't want to like you. But you made that really hard."
He grinned and said, "Thank you for being honest. I didn't think you hated me."
"No, I don't," she admitted. "But I've sure tried to."
"So, why are you anti men right now?"
She shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it yet."
He accepted her answer. "Okay, that's fine. Whenever you're ready, I'll be happy to listen."
"I'll bet you're a good listener," she said more to herself than him. "I'll remember that. Thank you."
"Um-hmm." After a few more minutes of holding each other he asked, "Are you ready to get this spanking over with so we can have some supper and play with the puppies?"
"Remind me afterwards that I really don't hate you, okay?"
"Will do," he said with a chuckle. "Okay, over you go." And just like that, she was over his lap again, but this time her upper body was lying on the couch. Before she had time to appreciate that change, however, he flipped her skirt up onto her back.
"Hey, wait a minute," she complained. "What are you doing?"
"I'm baring your bottom," he said as he pulled her panties down to her knees. Cecelia immediately reached back to grab her panties, but his hand caught both of hers. "Cecelia, spankings are done on your bare bottom. Since we were outside and it was your first spanking I let you keep your wet swimsuit on the last time. But unless I'm just giving you a few quick swats, like I did earlier tonight for your language, spankings will always be on your bare bottom."
"But I don't like that idea," she protested.
"I don't imagine you do, but that's the way it is. Behave yourself and don't earn any more spankings."
Before she could argue further, he started spanking her. Although they were firm smacks, they weren't as hard as he normally would be giving her. It was her first bare bottom spanking and he was sure she was feeling it. And he was actually more upset with his uncle right now than with her. He'd approached Celia when he somehow knew she was very vulnerable.
He continued the spanking as he began his lecture. "Cece, you were right when you said you didn't think this through. For instance, when you unplugged the refrigerator, not only did it cost extra money to replace all the medications, but if any of my animals had gotten hurt or sick, I wouldn't have had the medicine on hand for them."
He discussed that a bit, then switched his focus to the fence, keeping the spanking just hard enough to be sure he was getting his point across. "I have a system in place to move the cattle from one pasture to another, giving the empty pasture sufficient time to regrow, before switching back. Having Pete's horses in there for a few days upset that balance. Some of those horses could have gotten hurt on the sharp edges where the fence was cut, and since your dad only checks on the horses in those far pastures twice a week, if a horse had gotten hurt on the fence it could have been a few days before he discovered the injury."
Chase knew Cece loved animals, and as expected, the possibility that she could have caused them to become injured or go without needed medication soon had her crying as much from guilt as from pain. He knew he'd made his point, so he brought the spanking to an end. After she calmed enough to get her breathing under control he lifted her to his lap again, and was relieved when this time she immediately leaned her head against his chest instead of trying to jump and run off. He cradled her in his arms and kissed the top of her head.
"It's over now, sweetheart. You're forgiven. Just rest now, and let me hold you while you catch your breath. You are such a special lady, Cece."
She looked up at him, confused. "You can't mean that, after what I did to you and your ranch."
"I absolutely mean it. I don't say things I don't mean. I'm not proud of the fact you did those things, but I understand how you were feeling at the time. You said you were trying to hate me, and I understand why. I wish you'd talked to me about your feelings, although I understand why you didn't. Why would you reach out to someone you're trying to hate? But I hope in the future if you have feelings that are giving you problems you will come to me so we can talk about them."
"I will, Chase."
"Good. That's my girl." He hugged her tighter, both feeling a closeness neither of them wanted to end. After more holding and talking, though, they both heard her stomach growl.
"Let's go feed you, woman. You worked up an appetite with all that squirming and screaming you did."
"I hate to move," she said.
"Me, too," he agreed, "but I don't like knowing you're hungry."
"That protective thing you were telling me about?"
"Yep," he said with no apology.
"I
think I can get used to knowing someone's looking out for me."
"I hope so," he said. "But being held accountable is part of that, you know."
"Yeah, I know," she said. "But cuddling after being held accountable is nice."
"Yes, it is," he said as he hugged her tighter.
They ate, and then went out to see the puppies again. Chase lost all track of time watching Cece playing with them. She was so gentle, and all four dogs obviously trusted her from the start. He was surprised at that, as the two older dogs had both been pretty protective of their young family. They didn't allow just anyone to come into the stall and pick up the puppies. One or both dogs had growled at different times, preventing several people from coming in. But apparently they both knew right from the start that their puppies were safe with Cece.
When he suggested it was time to leave, she sighed sadly, but brightened when he told her she was welcome to come check on the family of spaniels any time she wanted, whether he was there at the time or not.
When he told her goodnight, it was not just a quick kiss on her cheek; he kissed her soft lips. It was a gentle kiss, full of tenderness, but it held lots of promise. When he pulled back he was elated to see the big smile on her face.
"Good-night, Cece. Think about what we discussed tonight. If you ever want to talk, either about my way of showing you I care, or what happened to make you distrust men, I will always listen."
"I know that, Chase, and thank you. And thank you for being patient with me. And again, I'm sorry for what I did."
"Sh, sugar, that's in the past. You've been held accountable for it and you've been forgiven. I'm sure you won't do it again, so we don't need to talk about it again unless you want to. I'll always listen to anything you want to talk about." He smiled. "It's supposed to be hot Sunday. Do you think you'll feel like swimming?"
"I love to swim," she said.
"I could tell. If you'd like some company, we could go swimming Sunday afternoon."
"I'd love that."
He could see the excitement in her eyes. "We can either swim out at your favorite spot, or here in the pool. I'm good with either. Think about it and let me know when I come pick you up Sunday. How's two o'clock? We'll swim, then we can go into town for supper."
"Sounds wonderful. I can't wait."
"Good. Behave yourself until then," he said with a wink and another quick kiss.
She had a big smile on her face as she watched him get in his truck and leave. He waved when he saw her watching him.
* * * * *
The next morning Chase called his dad and talked to him. He explained how Ralph had put Cece up to the vandalism. After Joe quizzed his son on his budding relationship with his young neighbor, they talked about what to do about Ralph.
Chase sighed. "Do you think as long as Cece won't do anything else he'll drop it, too?"
"I'd like to think so, but I don't really know," Joe admitted. "Maybe we should talk to him."
"Maybe, but on the other hand, if we can avoid having to confront him it may prevent any hard feelings, and he is family. I'd hate to start a family feud if it can be avoided."
Joe was proud of his son. "I agree with you wholeheartedly there, Chase. If you want to wait, that's fine. But if he does one more thing, I think we both need to go talk to him. I don't want you going to him alone. If he's upset enough to do these things, it's better to have a witness when you confront him. You just don't know what he may try to tell the family. Understand?"
"I do, and that's probably a good idea, Dad. I'll let you know if anything else happens."
Chase hoped that was the end of it, so he was disappointed when Ty called early Sunday morning. "Boss, you better get out here to the northeast pasture where it joins Pete's land, and see if Pete will meet us here."
Chase sighed. "Why; is another fence cut?"
"No, nothing that simple," Ty answered. "The creek coming off of Pete's ranch dried up. You know as well as I do that a creek that big doesn't just dry up overnight. Something's happened, and it's got to be on Pete's land."
"I'll be there as soon as I can, and I'll call Pete. What were you doing up there this time of morning, Ty?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I got up early and came out for a ride. I heard the cattle bawling over in this direction, so I came over to see what was going on."
"I'll bring a couple guys with me and we'll move them into the next pasture south of there for now. They won't have as much grass, but we can throw some hay in for them and at least they'll have water."
Half an hour later Chase, Ty, and Pete helped Mack and Clint, two of Chase's ranch hands, herd the cattle into the next pasture and then went to find the source of the problem.
Someone had mounded rocks in the creek to form a dam. Water had collected nicely, forming a pretty good-sized pond. The three men all agreed that whoever had done it had put some thought into it. The location was perfect. It was in a low area between two pastures Pete didn't frequently visit. The bank going down to the creek in that area was extremely steep on both sides. Pete didn't want his horses getting hurt going down that steep bank to the creek, so he fenced off that part of the creek.
They would have to be careful removing the rocks, since moving the wrong one at the wrong time could send a wall of water crashing down on them.
Chase called Ryan, and had him bring the backhoe. Then he called Cece to tell her he would probably be late picking her up this afternoon, and why. While they were waiting for Ryan and the backhoe they removed enough rocks from the ends of the newly installed dam to allow water to start flowing on both sides. When Ryan and the backhoe got there they were able to reach out and get rocks further out.
They were all happy to see Cece when she showed up with sandwiches and cold drinks. They took a few minutes to rest and eat, then got back to work. It took several hours, but Chase and his men made it back to the ranch just shortly before 4:00. Chase was surprised to see Cece's car there, parked by the barn, but knew right where he'd find her.
He was exhausted, but had to smile when he saw her in the stall with a dog lying on either side of her and the two puppies climbing and playing on her tummy. She saw him watching her and started to get up, but he held up his hand to stop her. "I need to take a shower. Go ahead and stay with the puppies while I do that." She nodded, and he went to the house.
While he took a shower and dressed he wondered about who could have built the dam, and why. He knew it wasn't Cece; stacking the rocks would take a lot of time and strength. He presumed it had to be his Uncle Ralph, but he wasn't used to doing physical labor, and some of those boulders were big. He wasn't sure he would have been able to get them there himself.
He went back out to the barn, and Cece put the puppies down and greeted Chase. Seeing how tired Chase was, she suggested they skip the swimming today and just rest by the pool. He agreed, and she was impressed when he thanked her for the thoughtful offer.
Later they went to eat in town, where once again, conversation flowed easily and she again noted how comfortable she felt around him and how easy he was to talk to. Afterward they came back to cuddle on the couch.
After the nice evening they'd had together, Chase hated to bring the subject up, but he had to know if she thought his uncle was behind it. Cautiously, he said, "Cece, we haven't talked about the dam in the creek yet."
"I know. I thought you might be too upset to talk about it."
He nodded, and cautiously asked, "Do you know anything about that dam, how it got there?"
She sat up, giving him a hurt look. "No, Chase, I don't. Not a thing."
He could tell she was upset, and he hated that. He tried to calm her down. "Okay. Don't get upset; I was just asking to make sure." He watched as she looked away and made an obvious attempt to relax.
She was quiet the rest of the evening. When he tried to talk to her, she insisted she was okay, but her mood had changed. She didn't even play with the puppies again; she simply told them goodnight, and was ready to l
eave.
Chase tried one more time to cheer her up. As he helped her in her car, he said, "Darlin', I hate that I upset you. I never thought you played a direct part in creating that dam, but please try to understand why I asked. I know you wouldn't want to volunteer information that may get someone in trouble, but I felt sure if I asked you straight out if you know anything about it, you would answer truthfully. I was simply trying to give you that chance. I thought maybe you might have heard Uncle Ralph mention doing something like that. The last thing I meant to do was upset you."
"I understand, Chase. Don't worry about it; I'm fine." She leaned over, kissed his cheek, and backed up and left.
Chase stood there watching her leave, wishing he knew what she was thinking, and how to fix this problem. He went to bed hoping she had a better outlook in the morning.
Chapter 7
Chase called Cece the next morning after breakfast, but got no answer. He continued to call all day, leaving her messages.
He considered calling Pete, but didn't want to worry him if she was just ignoring his calls, which was what he suspected was happening.
He finished his work for the day and was ready to head back to the barn, when he had an idea. If she was upset and wanted to think about things, he had an idea where she might be. He headed Thunder in the direction of her swimming hole.
* * * * *
Cece had been out checking supplies in their line shacks all day. It was an annual practice on the ranch to make sure the shacks were well stocked in case someone got hurt, or was caught in a storm or flood. When her dad had asked if she would do that for him she jumped at the chance. She'd had trouble sleeping the night before, as she kept thinking about Chase. She welcomed the opportunity to do something to keep her mind occupied so she couldn't concentrate on Chase.
After the spanking and the ensuing heart-to-heart talk, she thought they'd reached a mutual understanding and were on their way to developing a good relationship. But last night when he'd accused her of damming up the creek it had really hurt. She couldn't believe he felt she was responsible. Memories of Tom kept coming back to her, and they were all bad. She'd thought they had a good relationship, too, right up until the end. It was obvious to her now that either all men were the same and simply led women on, telling them whatever they wanted to hear, or she was horrible at relationships. She concluded that either way, it hurt too much to allow it to happen again.