by Holla Dean
He smirked at her admission of being attracted to him but made the same confession.
“I have that same attraction and I don’t mind admitting it to you. I don't spank whenever I feel like it. Each time has been because of your actions or your attitude. Some may call me an old-fashioned man, but I expect my wife to respect me, to obey me, and to be honest with me. Above all, I expect her number one concern to be avoiding danger and keeping herself safe."
"Obey you? What century are you living in? I don't have to answer to you or follow your rules or obey you. I've lived on my own and I've supported myself. The ranch is mine, by birthright if nothing else. I understand why Gramps wanted us to get married. I know it'll be hard running that ranch by myself, but he didn’t even given me the chance to prove I can do it and I don't think that's fair."
"I don't know if you've noticed, but life isn't fair."
"So your idyllic marriage is one where the wifey stays home and follows the rules laid down by the man of the house? I don't want to be a housewife. I want to work on my ranch. I may be a little rusty after spending ten years in the city, but I know how to work with cattle. I know how to deal with horses. I know far more than my grandfather is giving me credit for.”
She was getting madder the longer she talked. Gramps had just assumed she couldn’t handle it—that cowhands wouldn’t take orders from a woman. “Even though it might be hard to handle the ranch hands and get them to follow a woman's orders, it's being done on other ranches and it can be done on my ranch. I want that ranch and I will marry you, but I'm not going in for those spankings or any of your stupid standing in the corner crap."
Seth didn't respond for several minutes and thought about what she said. Maybe they should just have an open marriage. Nothing in Jason's will said that they had to consummate their marriage; it only said they had to be legally married. If that's what it took for them both to have what they wanted with the ranch, maybe he could live with it. It might cause a few scandalous thoughts in town if either one of them were to start seeing other people but he didn't really care what the townspeople thought about him. Maybe they were both being so prickly because this marriage thing was being pushed upon them so suddenly. There was attraction on both sides, but it didn't look like they were going to have the chance to let it develop into anything more before they had to marry. Maybe, just maybe, it could develop into something more after they were married.
"How about this; let's take spanking off the table. At least for the most part. Let's go ahead and get married and see how it works out. I won't give you any rules; all I'm asking is that you treat me with respect and you don't get yourself into dangerous situations. I will spank you if you put yourself in danger. And I will spank you if you are disrespectful or if you lie to me. But you'll have no other rules and you can work with me and the boys doing ranch work. And that includes all ranch work—from riding and mending the fences, to herding cattle, and helping out at roundup. Castrating, branding—the whole works. Let's give it a shot. If it doesn't work, we can get divorced and it'll be the same as if we never married. But we’ll at least know we’ve given it a shot."
Julie thought for a minute or two and decided he was right. They couldn't lose anything by giving the marriage a try. She could speak to him with respect and she could easily stay out of danger. There would be no reason for him to start any spanking crap. There was one thing she did want to know.
"When you say we’re going to give this marriage a try, what exactly do you mean? Are you saying you expect me to be in your bed? To sleep with you and be intimate with you?"
Seth chuckled and said, "I wonder what you’re more afraid of, making love with me or the possibility of liking it? Well, I'm not going to force myself on anyone who doesn't want to have sex with me. It's a trial, so let's just take it a day at a time and see where it leads us."
"Okay. When should we get married then?"
"So all of a sudden you're in a hurry now,” he shook his head and gave a little grin. “But first I want to hear you agree to treat me with respect and that includes speaking to me with respect, and also the safety issues."
"Yes, I suppose I could do that. Just don't go thinking that you can order me around and make me follow a bunch of silly rules. Respect and safety, that's all you're getting from me."
He couldn't help but chuckle once more before saying, "All right. Let's make this nice and quiet. We’ll tell the ranch hands we’re keeping it all low key since your grandfather just passed. I’ll contact Jason's attorney tomorrow and see if he's willing to be our witness. That should be all we need to go to the courthouse and get ourselves hitched."
“Okay, then it's settled."
"Let's get to bed now, it's been a long day and we need to be up early again. Dress warmly because we’ll be out on the range all day long."
"I'll see you at breakfast."
And with that, Julie stood up and went to the guest room where she set her alarm clock for 4:30 so she could take a long hot shower before breakfast. She fell asleep thinking about tonight’s conversation. While she still had some misgivings, she felt she had no choice but to give it a try.
They both spent the early part of being in bed the same way. Thinking about their agreement and wondering how it was going to work out. Would it work out for ten years? Eventually they both drifted off to sleep and met again in the morning at the breakfast table.
Chapter Eight
Three days later they were married at the courthouse with Jason’s attorney standing as their witness. Seth wore a suit with a bolo tie and Julie wore a simple blue dress. With Gramps having passed such a short time ago, she didn’t think it was right to dress up too much. Besides, it wasn’t like this was a love match. Afterwards, the attorney took them out for a celebratory lunch and promised he would have the deed to the ranch recorded in their names on the following day.
Julie sat nervously throughout the lunch and managed to barely do more than nod as the men talked. All she could think about was the coming night. She’d been thinking about sleeping arrangements ever since their talk.
How could they announce their marriage and then continue sleeping in separate rooms? She would, for the sake of propriety, have to move into Seth’s bedroom. If she didn’t, Mrs. Alvarez would be sure to tell her husband who would then tell the ranch hands who would in turn go to town with the information and soon everyone would know their marriage was nothing but a sham. But how could she ask Seth without it sounding like she wanted to sleep with him? And while she’d never admit it to Seth, she missed sleeping in his bed with his arm around her waist. Even though she was sleeping well in the guest room now, it just wasn’t the same as snuggling up to the cowboy for the night
Finally the lunch was over. The bottle of champagne was empty—she and Seth had each had only one glass. It was time to go back home. But to which home? They now had two houses. Oh, it was just too damn confusing and she wished they hadn’t rushed quite so much to get married. They could have waited at least one more week and worked out all these details that were driving her crazy.
At last they were in Seth’s truck and on their way back to Seth’s ranch. Though technically it was now half hers, she thought of it as his; just as she thought of her grandfather’s ranch as hers.
*****
“Well, Ms. Berrett, how’re you feeling?”
“I’m feeling just fine, but my name is Julie Fallon. I won’t be taking on your name.”
“You got a problem with my name?”
“Not at all, it’s just not my name. It’s yours.”
It wasn’t an argument he wanted to have now. He’d rather discuss her moving into his bedroom.
When they got back to the ranch they entered through the kitchen door and were greeted with a loud, "Surprise!" from all the ranch hands. Mrs. Alvarez had hung streamers throughout the large kitchen, and prepared a small feast for all the ranch hands to participate in a little wedding celebration. Julie was completely dumbfounded, ha
ving not expected anything like this. She was under the impression that their marriage was a quiet affair but apparently everyone on the ranch knew about it and felt it called for a party.
The ranch hands all clapped Seth on the back and congratulated him on the wise decision he made to marry such a beautiful girl. Mrs. Alvarez beamed her approval as everyone helped themselves to the Mexican meal she had made.
There was a huge stack of tortillas in a covered warmer, a large skillet filled with chicken fajitas, taco shells along with all the fixings to make tacos. There was beer, wine, and soft drinks.
The party pretty much ended the day's work, since most of the men had a little more to drink than they should have. When everyone had their fill and the party was coming to an end, it was past sundown. Seth sent his foreman and one of the other hands to do the final chores of the day before letting everyone call it a day. He and Julie thanked Mrs. Alvarez for planning the party. Even though this marriage was basically meant for nothing more than to give both of them what they wanted in the end, to the rest of the people on the ranch it was something to celebrate.
Once the house was theirs again, Seth turned to Julie and said, "It’d be best if you moved into my room tonight. If for no other reason than to keep Mrs. Alvarez gossiping should she find you in a different bedroom when she comes in the morning."
"I agree. Just don’t get any ideas. We’re sleeping in the same bed just to keep any gossip from developing.”
Giving her a lopsided grin, he said, “Don't worry, I'm not going to force my attentions on you."
Julie bit the corner of her mouth, thinking of the possible ramifications of sleeping in the same bed with Seth. She was just tipsy enough to not give a damn if he did try something. Even though he’d been a gentleman when she came to his bed in search of comfort, she wasn’t sure he’d continue being a gentleman now that they were married.
"Okay, I'll get a few my things and take them to your room."
"Good," Seth said and then turned to head towards his room.
Julie dragged her feet gathering things in her room as long as she thought she could. She hadn't brought that much with her from her grandfather’s ranch, so she couldn't take too long to get the job done. Her next stop was the bathroom where she removed her make-up, put on her flannel pajamas, and then finally went to his room.
The door was standing open so there was no need to knock. She stepped inside and looked around but didn't see him. The door to the master bath was closed and she assumed he was in there getting ready for bed. She placed her small pile of belongings on an empty chair, found an extra blanket on the window seat and took it to the bed where she rolled it up and placed it in the middle as a barrier between them. She didn't want to give him any opportunity to take advantage while they were sleeping side-by-side. Next, she crawled under the covers on one side, curling up to feign sleep when he came out of the bathroom.
The bathroom door opened and he said, "What the hell is that rolled up blanket doing in the middle of the bed?"
"I just didn't want you to get any ideas or have you crawling all over me while you toss and turn during the night."
“Did I crawl all over you the other nights you came to sleep in here?”
“No,” she admitted. “But now we’re married and I want to make sure you don’t get any ideas.”
Seth walked over to the bed, grabbed the offending blanket and yanked it off. Julie jumped up to snatch it back from and Seth burst out laughing.
She looked at him and asked, "What is it that you find so funny?"
"I think this has to be a first, the bride wearing flannel pajamas to bed on her wedding night."
"You can't really say this is our wedding night. The whole marriage is nothing but one of convenience."
"I know, honey. But it's still funny as hell. I can't imagine how the boys would rip me apart if they knew this is how we were spending our wedding night."
"Just get in bed and go to sleep. Can you do that?" She rolled on her side and closed her eyes, determined to put the rolled up blanket back between them once he fell asleep.
"I sure can, honey.” He tossed the blanket on the easy chair that sat by the big window.
She didn't answer him, again pretending to be asleep. She felt the mattress sink down when he sat on the edge of the bed. Then she felt him lift his side of the covers and slide his legs underneath them. There was a lot of movement as he jostled around getting into what she assumed was his favorite sleeping position.
It felt like it was the first time she was in his bed. All the other times had been right after Gramps died and she had come in and crawled beside him just for comfort. He seemed to know that and she wasn’t sure what might happen. She lay awake for some time wondering if he was going to attempt to make a move on her. Most of that time she also spent wishing he would make a move but confused as to how she would or should respond.
There was so much she admired about Seth. She loved his easy manner with the other ranch hands. She loved how he remained in control when dishing out orders to his hands, but still made it sound friendly, like he was just one of the guys. The easy laughter and joking during the party was a new side of him that she hadn't seen before. So was how he swung Mrs. Alvarez around the kitchen floor in an impromptu dance and then gave her a quick kiss in appreciation for her hard work in setting up the party.
She just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he thought it was all right to spank his woman. Then she cursed her body for the flutter in her belly and the dampness she felt between her legs whenever she thought about being spanked, whenever she thought about the palm of his hand cracking down on her ass. The first two times he spanked her she had on clothes. Both spankings had been done outdoors so he hadn’t pulled her pants down, but he had threatened to. Then there was the spanking when he pulled down her pajama bottoms and spanked her naked ass. He had been about to use his belt on her when he had shoved her in the corner. If she hadn’t slapped him first, he would have used it. And the thought of that put more flutters in her belly and she felt more wetness between her nether lips.
*****
Seth lay on his back and stared at the ceiling wondering if she was just waiting for him to touch her. She certainly hadn’t minded the previous times she’d been in his bed and he held her while she slept. Now he heard her breath quicken and it made him wonder what she was thinking about. He wanted to rip off those ridiculous flannel pajamas, and pull her close to his body so he could keep her warm and safe. But she was still fighting him, still fighting the attraction, and she was still refusing to admit that there could be something more than a business arrangement to their agreement.
Chapter Nine
The sound of the bathroom door closing woke Julie up. She glanced at the bedside table and saw that it was five o’clock. She stretched like a cat and then got up. Gathering her robe and clothes for the day, she padded down the hall to the other bathroom so she could shower and get ready for the day.
A half hour later she was in the kitchen where she joined Seth for breakfast.
"I expected you to sleep in," Mrs. Alvarez said. "After all, it is the day after your wedding."
"That may be, but there's still a lot of ranch work to do. And most of yesterday's afternoon work didn't get done since we had that party."
"That's right, Mr. Seth. Blame all the work that didn't get done on me. The party was my idea so it's all my fault."
Seth could tell she was joking, so he just chuckled and said, "Well, someone's got to take the blame, it might as well be you."
The housekeeper made a tsk tsk sound and went back to her stove to bring more food to the table. He helped himself to a stack of pancakes and looked over at his wife.
"How about we go on a tour of my ranch and I show you where the two ranches come together? I’ll tell about some of the ideas I've had if we could be successful in combining them both into one very profitable ranch."
Mrs. Alvarez interrupted saying, “The ne
ws says another blizzard is coming this afternoon; you shouldn’t go too far from a shelter.”
“Damn,” Seth said. “I was hoping we were done with blizzard weather for a while. What do you say, are you game for exploring the ranch?”
"I think I'd like that," Julie answered as she munched on some delicious breakfast sausage.
"Come on, let's take our breakfast on the road with us. Let me show you how I do this."
He poured just enough maple syrup on a pancake so it would soak in without dripping, then he held up a sausage link, planted it in the center of the pancake, and folded it in half. Mrs. Alvarez came to the table with a shallow plastic storage container and a box of toothpicks. Seth grabbed a toothpick stuck it were the two sides of the pancake met to hold them together, and placed it in the container. He made five more and had them all tucked into the container.
"Six little pigs in the blanket. Three for me and three for you. That should hold us till lunch."
"I can’t eat three of those, I've already had eggs and sausage for breakfast. You better leave half of them here."
"Nah, they’re never as good when they're reheated. It'll just be four for me and two for you. If you can’t even eat two of these, then I guess I'll have to eat five and you'll get just one."
"You sure can put the food away, I'll give you that."
“Ranch work is a hard business. Takes a lot of stamina to get through the day. I bet it won't be long before you start eating more, especially if you're going to be working with us."
Mrs. Alvarez put the lid on the container while Seth and Julie put their jackets on and got ready to deal with the outdoors.
"Great idea turning on the engine and letting it warm up while we ate breakfast. There's nothing I hate more than getting in a cold truck and having to wait for everything to warm up."
"I turned the seat heaters on too, so your bottom won't be cold. Though as you know, I do have other ways of warming up your bottom."