Saving His Runaway Bride (Dark Embrace Book 2)

by Sue Lyndon

  “You got me something, too?” His gaze falls behind me as I step aside to reveal the vase of roses.

  “Of course I got you something. I’ve been planning it since my arrival in Marystown. When I saw the greenhouses, my first thought was whether or not they’d have roses. I’d read in an old magazine once that roses were the most romantic flower, however I think carnations are just as lovely. Oh, thank you, Luke.” I inhale the fragrant scent of my flowers again and beam at him, thinking today is our happiest day together yet.

  Or, at least, I believe so until a shadow falls over his face, his eyes darkening as a deep frown replaces his smile. My stomach flips.

  Oh God, I’m in trouble. In my excitement to give him the roses, I pretty much admitted to leaving the property. My bottom quivers, and I step back, still holding the bouquet and box of chocolates.

  “Did you leave the estate and walk to one of the greenhouses all by yourself, Nora?” he asks quietly.

  “Yes, sir, but I didn’t try to run away or anything, so I shouldn’t get in trouble for it.” I gesture at the vase of roses. “I’d recently studied Valentine’s Day and thought it would bring us closer if I got you a present of some sort.”

  “How did you pay for them? Please tell me you didn’t steal them, Nora.”

  I feel all the blood drain from my face, and I set his gifts down on the windowsill next to the vase. My hands shake as I meet his hard gaze. “No, I would never steal anything, but I didn’t have any money of my own, so I swiped a few coins from the desk in your study.”

  He relaxes slightly at this. “Good. I had planned to give you a generous allowance once I was certain you wouldn’t attempt escape. What’s mine is yours, and I care not about the coins you took, but I do care that you disobeyed me. I’m touched that you got me flowers, and I thank you for the thoughtful gift, Nora, but, little girl, you did not have permission to leave our property yet. What did I say would happen if you disobeyed me in this?”

  “You said I would be punished.” I cross my arms and glower at him. “But I came back home, didn’t I? I could’ve disappeared down any street and hidden from you, or I could’ve left the village entirely, even taken one of the horses and ridden hard for Gerrardsville. But I didn’t. I came back because I’ve decided to take our vows seriously and I happen to like you!” I almost stomp my foot. Yes, I realize we’ve only been married a short while, but it irks me that he still distrusts me.

  How long does he plan to hold me prisoner at his estate? Weeks? Months? A year or more?

  He removes his jacket and starts rolling up his sleeves.

  LUKE

  Maybe I’m a bastard for deciding to punish her, on Valentine’s Day of all days, but she blatantly disobeyed me. The memory of finding her missing from her family’s home in Gerrardsville, and then her cousin’s compound, is still fresh in my memory and strengthens my resolve to do what I must.

  I give her a stern look to let her know I won’t be swayed by any amount of pleading, followed by a tender look meant to soothe her nerves.

  “You will pay the price for your disobedience, wife. Now, come here.”

  Chapter Nine

  NORA

  I try to slip by him and reach the door, but he catches me around the waist and drags me to the bed. No amount of struggling fazes him, and I soon find myself bottom up over his knee with my wrists secured at the small of my back, just like the one and only time he’d spanked me, on the night before our wedding.

  “Nora, you will settle down this instant. You know you were naughty, and I fully intend to redden your bottom. What if I’d come home earlier and found you missing? I would have assumed you’d run away again. Did you bother telling one of the staff where you were headed?”

  In my anger, I blurt, “No, I didn’t. I waited for the butler to be distracted then snuck out.”

  His deep sigh doesn’t bode well for my backside. I know I’m in for it. I disobeyed him, and now I’m foolishly mouthing off.

  “Nora, if you would’ve asked for permission to leave the property today in order to run a personal errand, I would probably have allowed it. But you didn’t bother asking, did you?” He lifts my skirts and rubs my bare bottom. “We will discuss the specifics of your comings and goings from the estate later this evening, but I am a man of my word, and right now I have no choice but to punish you.”

  “It’s not fair. I wanted to surprise you. I wanted you to know…wanted you to know…” I sniffle and damn the tears brimming in my eyes.

  “You wanted me to know what?” he asks gently. His warm hand roves up and down my bottom cheeks, caressing and squeezing.

  By now, my stupid tears are streaming down my face. Not that he can see. My shoulders heave, and I turn my head to the side, feeling vulnerable over the confession I’m about to make. “I wanted you to know that I am coming to care for you. That I honestly believe I will wake up one day and realize I’ve fallen in love with you.”

  “Nora.” His voice sounds strained, and he turns me over and kisses my forehead. “You’re a sweet girl, and I am grateful you are my wife. Do you want to know why your stepfather arranged our marriage? God, I should have told you by now.”

  “Why?”

  “I’d been set to marry a woman several years ago, but she skipped town with another man two days before our wedding.”

  Guilt assails me. I straighten and cup his face. “Oh, Luke. I’m so sorry. God, I did the same thing to you. I mean, disappearing before our wedding. I feel awful.”

  “I already forgave you for that, little one. Besides, your reasons for running off were much different than hers. She led me on and got me to give her family large sums of money, only to run off with her secret lover and all the money that had been intended to help her family.” He strokes my hair and continues. “On the night of our wedding, I went to a bar and ended up meeting your stepfather. He was the only man in the bar who didn’t know why I was so down, and the whole time he talked about his family. Your mother. You and your stepsisters. He showed me a tiny painting of you that he kept in his pocket, and the moment I saw it, I got a feeling.”

  “A feeling?”

  “Your blue eyes called to me. The sweet expression on your face, the slight smile and your pretty auburn waves. I felt at peace when I looked upon your painting. Then, to make a long story short, after your father and I began doing business together, once he mentioned that he was looking for a suitor for his stepdaughter, I asked for your hand in marriage.”

  “I had a traveling painter make the miniature as a Christmas present one year.” I peer into his gentle gaze and sink further into his arms.

  “It was a lovely painting, however, you are much more beautiful in person, Nora.”

  I flush. “Thank you, Luke, and thank you for finally telling me of your history and how our marriage came to be arranged. I worried you had a more ominous reason for not already having taken a wife.”

  He holds me as the sun dims, the room darkening slowly as another day draws to a close. His arms are my refuge from the world, the steady beating of his heart my home.

  “I would never run from you again, Luke. I swear it.”

  “I believe you, Nora,” he murmurs at my ear. “Still, you disobeyed me, and I must see to your discipline now.”

  I didn’t believe he would excuse me from the punishment I’ve earned, and I don’t protest as he turns me back over his knee, once again securing my wrists. Pulling my skirts up and baring my bottom, he sets about spanking me with rapid, hard swats that soon bring tears to my eyes.

  “You will follow my rules, little one, even when you don’t agree with them.” Smack smack smack. “You will talk with me if you don’t agree with a rule, rather than going behind my back to break it.” Smack smack smack.

  His scolding deepens the shame I feel over displeasing him. Even when he lands sharp blows to my tender upper thighs, I remain as still as possible, accepting my chastisement and aching for his forgiveness. He stops spanking sooner t
han I expect, but his purpose becomes clear when he next speaks.

  “Get up and bend over the bed, Nora. You’ll be getting my cock in your bottom hole. I want to make sure you think twice before you disobey me again,” he says in a gentle, patient tone. “We live in a dangerous world, and while Marystown is safer than most villages, there are still dangers here sometimes. If you don’t respect my authority and follow my guidance, it will be more difficult for me to keep you safe.”

  I gulp and move into position, bending over the bed and spreading my legs slightly as I raised my backside, offering him my ass even as I tremble and fear his hugeness might not fit into my snug hole.

  “Reach back and pull your bottom apart. Show me that naughty hole I’m about to punish.”

  My face flaming, I reach around and draw my cheeks apart. Heated desire has my pussy clenching, and arousal trickles down my inner thigh.

  “Look at that naughty, pink puckered hole of yours, little one.” He places a hand on my lower back and trickles something cool down my crevice. The lubrication. I shudder and struggle to remain in position, holding my backside wide open to his attentions. “Someone’s about to get a big cock shoved in her naughty hole, isn’t she, Nora?”

  “Yes, sir.” I’m panting hard and impossibly turned on by his highhandedness and crass words.

  He rubs the cool ointment around my entrance, and, strangely, his touch relaxes me. I trust him not to really hurt me, and I’ve been thinking about this moment since he first threatened me with anal punishment.

  “Take a deep breath and hold it in, little one. Good girl. Now,” he says, pressing the head of his cock inside, stretching me wider than the plug ever has, “close your eyes and exhale.”

  The moment I obey, he pushes inside the rest of the way. I cry out and attempt to stand up, but he grasps my hips and withdraws from my passage only to thrust deeper. This stills my movements, and I clutch at the covers for support. With each rapid drive into my ass, my toes lift off the floor.

  “Are you going to be a good girl from now on, Nora?”

  “Oh! Yes, sir!”

  “Ask me to come in your naughty hole.” His palm cracks across my right cheek.

  “Please, wi-will you come in m-my na-naughty hole?”

  A growl rumbles from him, and his pumping increases until I feel the warmth of his seed spurting into my tightness. I expect him to withdraw from me at once, but he instead reaches around and swirls a finger over my throbbing clit.

  Vibrant colors explode behind my eyelids. I gyrate my hips and ride the dizzying waves of ecstasy, pressing myself against him as heated spasm after heated spasm ripples through me.

  He pulls his length from my ass and turns me in his arms, holding me to his chest as he strokes my hair. The brush of his lips on my forehead warms my insides. I feel treasured each time he kisses me there.

  “I’m sorry I disobeyed you, Luke.”

  “All is forgiven, little one.”

  He wipes away the last of my tears with his thumb.

  “Come. Let’s get cleaned up and spend the rest of the evening celebrating Valentine’s Day.”

  “That sounds perfect. Thank you, sir.”

  Epilogue

  Nora kneels at my feet. I stare down at her, taking note of the sweet look of apology on her face. She’s trembling, and I don’t blame her. She’s already endured a spanking on her bare little cunny after I caught her touching herself. The naughty girl. And her punishment isn’t over yet.

  After reddening her cunny lips, I gave her a choice—endure a hard ass fucking, or suck my cock and swallow every last drop. A second after giving her the choice, she eagerly dropped to her knees.

  Her eyes are red-rimmed from crying, and her cheeks glisten under a sheen of tears that haven’t yet dried.

  “Tell me the rule about touching your cunny again, Nora.” I grip the base of my cock and hold it in front of her mouth, ready to drive home this last part of her lesson.

  She flushes profusely. “My pleasure belongs to you, sir, and I am not allowed to touch myself unless you’ve given me permission. I’m so sorry, Luke.”

  “I still can’t believe I came home early to find you debasing yourself in such a manner,” I say firmly. “I hope you’re very embarrassed, little girl.”

  “Oh, I am, sir.” Her bottom lip quivers. “I’m so very ashamed and so very sorry.”

  “How does your cunny feel now?”

  “It hurts, sir.”

  “If this happens again, I will make you wear the chastity device while I’m at work. Think about that. One of the servant girls will have to keep the key and remove the device whenever you must use the bathroom. If you think being caught touching yourself and then receiving a spanking on your cunny is embarrassing, I bet you would find such an experience even more humiliating.”

  Her eyes well with tears. “Please, sir, I’ll be a good girl from now on. I’ll never be so naughty again.”

  I nod, gesturing for her to finally take my cock in her mouth. I grip her head and set the pace, driving in and out as she struggles to accommodate all my shaft. “If you don’t swallow every last drop, Nora, I’ll make you one very sorry little girl.”

  She runs her tongue along my length as I plunge deeper, hitting the back of her throat with fast thrusts. It isn’t long before dark spots dance in my vision and heated tingles race up my inner thighs, my balls tightening as my release approaches. Her mouth feels so fucking good.

  In the end, when I pump my seed down her throat, she obediently swallows every last drop.

  “That’s a good girl.” I stroke her hair and feel her melt against my hand. “I love you, Nora. All is forgiven.”

  “I love you too, sir.”

  Then I gather her in my arms and dry her tears. I always do.

  ~THE END~

  About Sue Lyndon

  USA TODAY bestselling author Sue Lyndon writes steamy D/s romance in a variety of genres, from contemporary to historical to fantasy. She's a #1 Amazon bestseller in multiple categories, including BDSM Erotica and Sci-Fi Erotica. She also writes non-bdsm sci-fi romance under the name Sue Mercury. When she's not busy working on her next book, you'll find her hanging out with her family, watching sci-fi movies, reading, or sneaking chocolate.

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  Other titles by Sue Lyndon:

  *Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Dystopian*

  The Seal’s Captive Bride

  Taken by the Admiral

  Punished by the Admiral

  Claiming His Human Wife

  Owning His Bride

  His by Law (Dark Embrace, Book 1)

  Claiming Their Maiden (Banded Mates, Book 1)

  Claiming Their Princess (Banded Mates, Book 2)

  Big Blue Valentine

  Taming Princess Anna

  Surrender (Alien Warriors, Book 1)

  Commander’s Slave (Alien Warriors, Book 2)

  Daman’s Ward (Jackson Settlement, Book 1)

  Shana’s Guardian (Jackson Settlement, Book 2)

  Rules of War (Rules of War, Book 1)

  Rules of Command (Rules of War, Book 2)

  *Historical*

  Sold into Marriage

  His Sweet Amber

  Conquering Lady Claire

  His to Educate

  Marriage of Convenience

  A Firm Husband (Wyoming Heat, Book 1)

  A Strict Husband (Wyoming Heat, Book 2)

  *Contemporary*

  His Loving Guidance

  Her Old-Fashioned Doctor

  His Naughty Valentine

  Confessions of a Spanking Author

  Maid to Submit

  Marry me in Montanta

  Mine by Christmas

  Report for Punishment

  It Takes a Do
m

  Breaking His Rules

  Christmas with the Professor

  Snowed in with Santa

  Tessa’s Submission

  Valentine Submission

  Dark Without You

  Mountain Devil

  Halloween Heat VI

  *Age play*

  The Girl, the Doctor, and the Texas Ranger

  Becoming Little Lexie

  His Naughty Little Mate

  Hanna’s Awakening

  Titles by Sue Lyndon writing as Sue Mercury:

  Step Alien (Reestrian Mates, Book 1)

  Sweet Alien (Reestrian Mates, Book 2)

  Double Alien (Reestrian Mates, Book 3)

  Boss Alien (Reestrian Mates, Book 4)

  Savage Alien (Reestrian Mates, Book 5)

  Reestrian Mates: The Complete Series

  Alien’s Innocent Bride (Mail Order Human, Book 1)

  Alien’s Princess Bride (Mail Order Human, Book 2)

  Alien’s Reluctant Bride (Mail Order Human, Book 3)

  Alien’s Orphan Bride (Mail Order Human, Book 4)