Martha
The Marriage Market Book 5
Stevie MacFarlane
Blushing Books
Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
A Note from the Author:
Stevie Macfarlane
EBook Offer
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Stevie MacFarlane
Martha
EBook ISBN: 978-1-61258-259-7
Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design
This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.
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Chapter 1
He watched her, his exquisite new bride flitting from one group of wedding guests to another. Tiny wisps of golden hair escaped from her intricate bun to lie sweetly against her flushed skin. She was happy; he could see that in her brilliant smile and shining dark eyes, the way she giggled when her friends teased her and her gaze sought him out, blushing.
“Lovely, isn’t she,” Jonah Blackthorn remarked as he joined Dalton at the bar. “What a transformation. You’re a lucky man, Dalton.”
“You’ll get no argument from me,” Dalton replied. “Any word yet?”
Jonah removed an envelope from his inside pocket and passed it to Dalton who slipped it inside his coat.
“I received it this morning,” the ex-Pinkerton man replied. “Everything she told you is the absolute truth.”
Dalton nodded, his eyes never leaving Suzanna.
“No surprises?” he asked.
“A few,” Jonah replied with a grim lipped expression. “Apparently her father couldn’t do it in a nice clean way like hanging himself from a beam in the barn. No he had to blow his damn fool head right off his shoulders.” Jonah shook his head in disgust as Dalton cringed.
“Suzanna found him,” Jonah continued softly as Dalton stiffened beside him. “I’ve been told she didn’t speak for nearly three months, didn’t leave the house for six. Poor girl.”
“No wonder she sees men as a means to an end. The one man she should have been able to count on failed her completely.”
“There’s more,” Jonah warned.
“Wait,’ Dalton replied, holding up his hand. “I have a role to play remember.” Striding across the room, he soon caught up with his wife Suzanna, Effie, Grace, Amelia and Tempest. “Just where are you ladies rushing off to?” he asked suspiciously, holding his hands behind his back as he rocked forward on his heels.
“Why nowhere,” Suzanna answered, her cheeks pink. She was having great difficulty keeping the guilty smile from her lips.
“We must go to freshen up,” Tempest offered. “It is so warm in here with all the dancing, Oui?”
“I agree, however, I wouldn’t mind taking my bride out for some fresh air,” he stated.
“No,” Grace nearly yelled before gathering her wits. “I mean, we need to help Suzanna with some personal things,” she continued as her eyes trailed away.
Jonah snorted behind Dalton.
“Yes,” Effie agreed. “A woman likes to look her best on her wedding day,” she informed them, grasping a piece of Suzanna’s hair and pulling it out of her bun.
“Ouch!”
“See, it’s nearly falling down now,” Amelia added. “Come on, ladies. You wait right here, Dalton, and we’ll have your bride back by your side before you can miss her.”
“That’s not possible,” Dalton whispered, taking Suzanna’s hand in his and kissing her palm. “If there is a breath of air between us, I miss her.”
“Oh, that’s so romantic,” Grace sighed, staring up at Dalton in admiration until Effie grabbed her arm and yanked her away. “Hey!”
“Come on,
” she ground out between her teeth. “We’ll be back soon,” Effie called sweetly over her shoulder as Grace stumbled along at her side.
“Are you trying to kill me?” Grace demanded.
Jonah laughed as he and Dalton joined Hugh and Sam back at the bar.
“You do know where they’re going?” he asked, picking up a glass of champagne.
“Of course. Hugh told me this morning.”
“And you’re all right with this photographer fellow taking pictures of your wife in a state of… well, let’s just say they are not your average wedding memory keepsake.”
“To tell you the truth, I can’t wait to see what she does,” Dalton laughed. “I imagine it will be quite unique, although I doubt it will be able to compete with what Sam’s wife arranged.”
“Who told you about Effie’s?” Sam demanded, eyeing his older brother Hugh suspiciously.
“Are you upset by it?” Dalton asked, seriously.
Sam smiled.
“No, in fact, she doesn’t know it yet but I’m having a portrait painted of it to hang in our bedroom. I shall consider it a reason to spank her whenever I choose.” He laughed, adding, “And I plan to choose that quite often.”
“Did you notice mother went with them?” Hugh asked, shaking his head.
“I did.”
“Shall we tell father before it’s too late?”
“I don’t think so,” Sam suggested with a grin. “His life has gotten entirely too settled since mother acquired a number of ‘daughters’ to look after. I do believe he could stand for it to be shaken up a bit. Are we all agreed to keep quiet about it?”
“Oui,” the four men replied, laughing as they raised their glasses for a toast.
It was several hours later, after the cake had been cut and Dalton danced Suzanna around the floor so many times he was sure his feet had blisters beneath his polished black boots, before he ran into Jonah outside enjoying a cheroot.
“You said there was more,” Dalton reminded him after accepting one from the other man and taking a long drag. Slowly he exhaled the smoke.
“I really didn’t want to tell you today,” Jonah replied sincerely.
“Jonah, I wouldn’t have asked you to investigate if I wasn’t sure I could take the results.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about.”
“Just spit it out. I’ll decide what to do with the information once I have it,” Dalton insisted.
“Let’s take a little walk,” Jonah suggested, watching couples come and go through the big barn doors. When they were a good distance away and assured of privacy, he began to speak.
“About three weeks ago there was a fire in Savannah. The house burnt to the ground and Suzanna’s grandmother, Celeste Jeffries, perished.”
“What about her mother?” Dalton asked intently.
“That’s just it. Marguerite Jeffries’s body was never found. There are some who think she set the fire to get rid of the old lady. Their hatred for one another was well known. Celeste blamed Marguerite for the death of her son, insisted she’d turned her son into a coward and things escalated when Suzanna left. She was no longer there to act as a buffer between the two women.”
“That wasn’t her job,” Dalton snapped, furious.
“I recognize that; I’m just telling you what I know. You can’t take her to Georgia, Dalton. Not now, maybe not ever. Her mother may be completely unhinged.”
“God, what am I going to tell her?” Dalton asked, running a hand through his dark hair. “We were going there for our honeymoon. I promised she could flaunt our wealth to her heart’s content,” he snorted derisively. “Now I have to tell her Celeste is dead and her mother is missing. What a way to start a wedding night.”
“Don’t tell her tonight, Dalton,” Jonah advised, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder in sympathy. “She’s been through hell the last few weeks. Let her enjoy her day. She looks so happy. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen her truly relaxed.”
“You’re right. We’re boarding the Mystic Maiden tonight and planned on spending some time in San Francisco. I’ll tell her there, as gently as I can. Maybe I can get her to agree to travel for a while.”
“How committed is she to this women’s rights thing the wives are determined to move forward on?”
“Very. She and Effie are nearly inseparable now. In fact, if she thought she could bring her along on our honeymoon, she would.” Dalton laughed. “I’ve never seen two women who hated each other become such allies.”
“They faced death together. That’s a pretty powerful bond. Grace says Effie would have sunk like a stone left on her own. Suzanna saved her life.”
“I know, and Suzanna’s blossomed under the love they’ve shown her. I’m thankful, not only that they both survived, but that she’s accepted, even cherished now for who she is, who I always sensed she could be.”
“I hope you don’t imagine your wife will now be the perfect little lady?” Jonah asked with a laugh.
“Not at all,” Dalton replied. “I expect she’ll find trouble often enough, but her heart is healing. All the damage her parents did is fading and she’s learning she has value far beyond her beauty.”
“Are you planning on making Seattle your home?”
“Are you kidding?” Dalton laughed. “I couldn’t pry her away from Effie, Grace, Amelia and Tempest if I tried. No, I’ll invest in the community. Soon we’ll be a state, growing, prospering, and I’ll find something to do to help it along.”
“Have you thought about running for office? We’ll need good men to represent us in a new state legislature and in Washington.”
“I haven’t, but it’s something to consider,” he replied thoughtfully. “Come on; let’s go see what our naughty wives are up to. Tell me, where you upset when you learned Grace participated in this photograph incident?”
“Surprised yes, but not upset. Then once I saw the results I was stunned. She’s beautiful, and while her photographs were certainly evocative, they were not blatantly sexual. Effie on the other hand, really pushed the limits of Sam’s tolerance even though he admitted they were the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.”
“Have you seen Effie’s?” Dalton asked in surprise.
“No,” Jonah laughed, “and I doubt anyone ever will. I’ll certainly do everything in my power to keep others from seeing Grace’s. I can’t wait to witness Duncan’s reaction,” he stated, smiling wickedly.
“What do you think he’ll do?”
“I’m not sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he blistered his wife’s bottom and then hung the photograph over the desk in his study.”
“You’re joking?”
“No, it would be just like him to want to remind her of her indiscretion for a while. You didn’t know her before he took her in hand. She was a terror.”
“I’ve heard stories.”
“None of them could have done her justice,” Jonah insisted. “Their home was a battleground while Sam and Hugh were growing up.”
“Why?”
“Duncan adored her,” Jonah explained. “He never said no, or almost never. For years, Tempest assumed he didn’t care what she did, one way or another. To her it was proof he didn’t love her.”
“I see.”
“Let me share a bit of advice, from one newly married man to another. It’s obvious you love Suzanna with all your heart, but don’t ever forget you’re her husband. While it’s your job to provide for her, and love her, you must also be firm at times for her own good. Don’t let your affection lead you to overlook actions that are dangerous or just plain foolish. She’ll lose respect for you and it will take a lot of work to get it back.
“When you have disagreements, talk it out, compromise and bend when you can. There will also be times when you have to trust your own judgment no matter how she fights against you, when you feel her actions or behavior is unquestionably wrong. At those times, a good, old-fashioned spanking works wonders.”
“I’ve already been there with Suzanna,” Dalton admitted wryly as they returned to the party. “If and when the time comes, I’ll have no problem revisiting the concept. I’ll never allow her to put herself or our marriage in jeopardy.”
“Glad to hear it,” Jonah remarked. “Grace means the world to me and I don’t believe in abusing women in any way, but I must admit there is something immensely satisfying ending certain disagreements with her over my knee. It’s far better than getting the cold shoulder for a week with no resolution.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Now let’s go see if our wives are breaking the rules of conventional society once again. For women who strongly support the temperance movement, they certainly like their champagne.”
They walked into a heated argument, a division of the sexes that shocked them at a wedding. Swiftly, Tempest intervened, signaling the band to play and encouraging couples to dance.
“This is not the time or place for such discussion,” she scolded. “Come, we will dance and enjoy ourselves. There is food, wine and music tu comprends? This is a celebration.”
In deference to their hostess, most of the guests complied. Hugh, Sam, Jonah, Dalton and Duncan knew this was only the beginning.
Chapter 2
Martha Jonas stood at the window peering out. It had been three weeks since Suzanna and Dalton’s wedding. There was no moon to allow her to see outside, just the patter of rain on the porch roof. Delicately, she traced the raindrops with her finger as they trickled down the window pane. Another night alone, she thought sadly.
Ethan surely wouldn’t come in this weather, not that she’d seen much of him recently. No, things had changed between them. The big Swede who’d swept her off her feet and into his arms the instant he met her, kissing her and claiming her for his future bride was no more.
She couldn’t fault him. He’d pursued her with gentle determination for months, and while she eventually agreed to marry him, she put him off time and again. There was always some excuse, some reason why they should wait, and apparently Ethan was tired of waiting, most likely tired of her.
Martha (The Marriage Market Book 5) Page 1