Movement out of the window caught his attention and he got up, dropping his feet from the desktop to the ground with a loud thud. He stretched his limbs and moved his neck to ease the crick in it before turning toward his well-worn and much loved Stetson Boss hat, placing it on his head. He was glad for the activity and walked over to the door jerking it open before striding through it and across the dusty road of Cowtown, with a long, confident gait. His intuition was poking at him again.
As he advanced closer, he could see that these weren’t unruly boys but two girls, dressed in britches and fannies sticking out, primed for the palm to behind version of the swat and dance. He laughed when he thought of these girls finding their hind ends smacked for getting into trouble just across from the sheriff’s office and his view. He figured they were just playing when he noticed they weren’t too young.
These were young ladies and if he wasn’t mistaken, those females were his cousin Mandy Sue and her friend Texanna Rae. Everyone called her Anna for short mostly because she liked it, but he liked Texanna just fine for a name. It was a goodly name for when you were in trouble. These two young ladies he could swat without any recourse. Well, Mandy was fair game anyway.
Colt watched them as he approached. Mandy had been getting into trouble lately but he thought Texanna was not one to do that. She was a quiet girl and well-liked. He loved the way those britches outlined assets she possessed and remembered why young ladies were not to wear britches. His cock jumped and instead of refocusing his thoughts, he enjoyed those lustful thoughts while he walked across the street.
As he approached, he looked over at their bent frames to see what it was they were actually doing and he spied a hole in the chinking of the supply shed. He watched as Texanna covered her eyes and stood up before sliding her hand down while turning just in time to see Colton walk up to stand behind them. Whatever it was had seemed to shock her. Her eyes were wide and she was obviously apprehensive. He liked it that way so lies were not likely to be told.
“What is it you girls are looking at? Maybe I should have a peek, huh?”
Mandy jumped up automatically covering her backside and screeched. “No!”
That was enough to tell Colt there was a problem with what these girls were doing.
“Okay, if nothing is going on, then let me see through your little Peeping Tom hole.”
“No, really, Colt, there isn’t anything. Just some storage boxes and stuff. We looked inside and saw that there were new things that came in on the supply wagon for Thompsons Mercantile that we had never seen before so we were curious, that’s all. There wasn’t anybody naked in there.”
“Uh huh. Now, what’s a couple of young ladies doing out here looking through a hole in the wall at the storeroom full of goods of an open store, with a working front door? Now that I think about it, if the merchandise is so good, I might better look myself in case someone has a mind to take it. Maybe I should be keeping my eye on it and alert the sheriff he should do the same.”
The look on Mandy’s face was priceless and it was immediately apparent to Colt that she would do anything to keep him away from the viewing spot. Colt knew that the shopkeeper used his storage area as a changing area as well. He figured that is what was going on now. Her friend, Texanna Rae, had been backing up slowly as the two cousins talked. His inner sense told him she was about to take off so he watched her out of the corner of his eye but kept his focus on his cousin.
“Mandy, girl, you have gotten into more trouble this last month or two than any girl I have ever seen. I know you just turned eighteen a couple of months ago. That is plenty old enough to understand right from wrong and I know you understand lying is wrong.”
He let that stand in the hot and humid North Texas air as he stood to see if she would try to write what he knew to be a fable. One that would end with the moral of the story being what young ladies get when they are caught telling a lie and doing naughty things. He thought about the bottoms he would spank raw over this. Well, one anyway, and shook his head, he’d like to lay his hand over that second bottom. He was positive it was a fine one indeed.
Even though she was nineteen, a girl needed discipline by her daddy until her husband took over and he was neither. Too bad, really, because he was already thinking impure thoughts about her and if he were her husband, he would relish his hand on her bared ass. He would have to think on that courting again as she was something to behold with that hair and curvy body. His pants got tighter as he thought of Texanna. He needed to bring his thoughts out of his trousers.
The real problem was, even though he had light eyes, was educated, and had a very respectable job, it was not always enough to override his half-breed heritage. His skin tanned deeper and his body held a more developed muscle tone than most. Add to that birth blend his ability to know things, and he often came up lacking in people’s eyes, most especially, young women's father's eyes.
Colton sighed. He would have to think about how to get around her daddy on that. However, for now, he needed to keep his mind on the situation at hand instead of his hand on the situation in his mind. For now, he would make sure she got a hot and fiery fanny for her trouble. This type of behavior was best if one nipped it in the bud.
***
Texanna looked at her friend and then the marshal wondering if she was going to be sick with anxiety or her lusting body was going to betray her. She blushed thinking of that word, lust, but it surely was the right one to use. Colton McFadden was a powerful man and she figured she was not the type for him but she sorely wanted to be. Marshal McFadden was older, intelligent, and too gorgeous to think he would even look at her. When she saw him strong and sure with that Stetson tipped just right on his head, she nearly swooned. Of course, today that might have been because he had just caught them where they should never have been.
Her pa would never agree to him as her beau but Texanna was almost twenty. If she wanted him to court her or even marry her, she could consent. Texas allowed women to do that if the situation came up and since he was a marshal, she didn’t think anyone would say a word against it. Nevertheless, even though he wanted her gone from his house, her pa would be against him because he was a half-breed. This was one of the many times in her life that she wished her mother had not left her alone. She needed a woman to talk to about this and to be her defender.
Colton would never look at her the way she had been looking at him since she was seventeen years old. She longed for him shortly after he had shown up to stay around town, anyway. It had been right at the ending of the Civil War and so many things were confused. Now, Texanna loved that she would see him every time she walked this way and tried to do it most every day. He was polite and tipped his hat, opened doors for her and other usual courteous things, but that was it. It didn’t matter that she longed for more; he just never did anything to make her think she was more than another citizen of an ever-expanding cattle town. Mandy had said he was interested in her. That he watched after her whenever she came near but Texanna was sure that was wishful thinking.
Texanna, who preferred Anna, knew things were not going well at home right now and would welcome her own home. She could only guess at the motivation behind her only parent growing more reactive to everything she did these days. She did spend time thinking about the reason behind the behavior but was only guessing. It appeared that as she had become a woman, her father had become more irritated with her. She also noticed that as her hips rounded and she imagined her breasts became the size to fit in a man’s hand… she looked over at Colt’s hand, well, she hoped they fit most men’s hands… her pa began to pick at near everything she did.
She sighed and realigned her thinking. Right now, that was not what she needed to worry about so she changed her focus. She didn’t need to get into any more trouble with her parent as she had already been warned that the next time would earn a good long time with his strop and skin would be stripped off her backend. She knew not to mess with that.
What
was she going to do? She guessed she’d have to consider her thoughts of taking off more intently now because she was not going to take another whipping. She was a grown woman and was tired of being whipped like a child just because her pa was unreasonable. She was through with people thinking she was younger because her stature was on the smaller side. She had allowed it without protest until now. Now she would claim her right as a full-grown woman. Her pa was just getting meaner and she was old enough to say no.
Mandy’s ma had offered her to stay with them because even she had noticed it getting worse and Texanna might have to consider it. It should have been her own ma standing up for her, not Mandy’s ma. She wasn’t going to run to Mandy’s mother for the rest of her life. Now, just to decide what that alternative might be. She could get married to one of those men her pa occasionally brought home. She knew how to do the right thing to entice him even if she didn’t want to.
Well, she would give it some good thought as soon as she got out of the fix she was in at present. Why was she in this mess anyway? She was not the one who had started this peeking into a hole; it was Mandy. Texanna had never even known anything about it before today, but Mandy seemed to be well aware of it. Texanna was embarrassed that she had even considered doing what she had agreed to do. She should have backed out of peeking in that hole but she had gone ahead and done it. She should have had a house of her own by now and trying to make babies not catch a glimpse of a man in his underwear or worse.
Texanna was petite for her age. She was nearly five foot three but slight in build and people were mistaking her for a boy all the time with her hair tucked under her cowboy hat that she never went anywhere without. Her dark auburn hair was mesmerizing with the fire it held and attracted many unsolicited responses. She avoided the unsavories looking at her when she wore the boy’s garb from her brother’s much younger days. Unfortunately, she avoided all men’s consideration at that point. Even the ones she wanted to pay her some attention, like Colton McFadden. Equally unfortunate was the fact that it covered all of her attributes of which she only laid claim to a few.
Ever since she became of age to marry, she was the center of attention if her hair was down. She had learned that to stop ogling cowhands and cattle handlers, not to mention the errant cowboy, she kept it hidden up under the hat. She had also noticed her pa treated her better when she didn’t look too feminine. Lately, he hadn’t wanted her to hide any attributes. Besides, keeping her persona hidden was hard when you needed to have a dress on for propriety most days and a hat didn’t work in all situations, like church socials. Besides, she wanted Colt to see her attributes.
Texanna had been inching away as Colt continued to lecture his cousin and was nearly out of sight. Relieved, she turned to walk away, having gotten far enough to do so without being seen when Tommy Jenkins called out to her in greeting, waving his arm energetically.
“Anna. Hey, Texanna, over here.” Damn that boy to... well, to the next county anyway.
She took off running with the intent on trying to duck inside the relatively dark interior of the saloon. At this time of day, the sun was not beaming in and she could stay there or run out the back door without too much trouble.
“Texanna Rae!”
She stopped cold with her hand on the spring-loaded saloon door. Colt was one of the few people of her acquaintance who called her by her full Christian name and the deep grumbling sound of his voice melted her insides shamefully. She bit her lip hard hoping to stop the moan associated with the weeping of her womanly core in response to his stern delivery of her name. She needed to slip her hand down into her channel to press hard just to ease the ache, just a little. The notion of doing it right in front of him released more of her feminine fluids.
Escape to the anonymity of the saloon would have been fine if she slid inside unnoticed. Now, however, if someone she knew saw her go in since her full name had been called twice, it would be all over but the words read perched above her grave after she paid the ultimate price for that stunt. Public denouncement and shame would be her only reward. Her feet froze, but her mind still weighted the less than remote odds of slipping away without penalty when that ended as well. Colt called again.
“Texanna, get your behind back here. Don’t test me, sweetheart.” Colton McFadden’s words could sure carry. God she loved his voice. It sent the wrong kind of shiver up her spine and the thought of disobedience held a delicious forbidden response, one that affected every part of her now trembling body.
She debated for a few seconds longer. Would he really come after her? Could she really risk it? She had better not give him reason to talk to her pa. How had she gotten herself into this mess? It had gone from just taking a walk after baking pies with Mandy to this. Her sinfully wanton body influenced her refusal to respond quickly and she immediately wondered how Colton punished. She pondered if the feel of his hard hand would be better than her imagination on her upturned, needy bottom. Texanna thought she knew that answer. Did she dare risk it?
“Do not make me say that again. This is the last time I’ll warn you,” he drawled. No anger or yelling and the man was a damn clairvoyant. Interestingly enough, he acted as though she not only had heard him but would also respond as he requested. Damn it, he was right.
She turned her recalcitrant behind around reluctantly and slowly made her way back to the scene of the crime. If she were married, no man would speak to her that way, except her husband and he wouldn’t have a reason to do so because she wouldn’t give him cause. He would love her and want to keep her safe and happy. She would darn well look at his underthings all she wanted. It was something she suddenly wanted very badly. Texanna had begun to have these yearnings that she couldn’t control, and what was worse, was that she didn’t want to control them.
If she were starkly honest, she wanted to appease those yearnings. She felt them most when she thought on Colton McFadden. It was when she had been thinking of Colton one night, imagining his hands on her and his lips touching hers that she realized she had gone wet in her hidden place. At first, she had thought her monthly had started but that wasn’t it. Then while verifying that it was not blood, she felt an uncontrollable twinge of excitement in her secret place. She had not gone further because somehow, in her mind she thought it was wanton. Surprisingly, she wanted to be wanton, she was just too afraid to do it.
When she got close, Colton slid his hand gently behind her neck running his fingers through her hair gliding them under the rim of her hat. Texanna was drawn in by his warm, firm touch, melting into his embrace. His move confused her. That intimate touch communicated ownership. She knew this because she had spent plenty of time examining couples and their responses to each other. What else could she do at a church social, anyway but watch others? The boys bothered her and the men ignored her thinking she was too young or immature, or small or something, to her ultimate humiliation. She wanted to know, first hand, what a good man did with his woman. How he treated her because she intended on getting a good husband and needed to know these tells.
A good husband expressed loving dominance. A friend who had been married for two years had told her. That and another of her friends who had recently married said her husband told her he put his hand on her in public so no other man thought to approach her and to let her know that she belonged to him. She also told Texanna in quiet tones that when he held her by the neck, it was her sign that he was reining her back and she had better heed it.
She only wished and dreamed that Colton wanted to show ownership and to rein her in. She sighed knowing he most likely thought of her as younger than her years because Mandy was her friend. Texanna’s other friends had already married and didn’t have time for her in the same way as Mandy did. Besides, Texanna wanted a husband; she just couldn’t see giving all of her autonomy to a man.
She reveled in the fantasy though that Colt allowed his thumb to rub the side of her throat in an almost absentminded way because she was his. That he was guiding her back
to Mandy because he had that right or, at least, wanted to have the right. Lost in her dream world, she was certain he left his hand for longer than was necessary as the caress continued.
That ignited a not surprising but pleasant tingling sensation that she experienced in her lower belly and a curiously painful aching sensation in her female parts. Even her breasts tingled and ached so much that she wrung her fingers to keep from rubbing them. Earlier she had been aroused, now, she wanted to explode with need and desire. She naughtily thought of what the minister would say if he knew of her thoughts. Would Colton want to spank her because of her unladylike desires? She wiggled and felt like rubbing her rump across his leg like a cat in heat. She needed to get away from him.
When he released her, there was a feeling of bereavement, not freedom. The throbbing that his departing hand left surprised her as well as confused her. She whimpered at the loss. Colt looked at her with a slightly understanding expression on his face, as though he knew how his touch affected her. She banked it for later scrutiny because try as she might to be irritated at his riposte, she couldn’t gather the momentum. At this moment, she was too busy worrying about his reaction when he looked through the hole to give it much attention. She didn’t wait long, for he squatted down on his haunches and took a gander. Mandy gnawed on her lower lip and glanced over at Texanna, who wrung her hands in defeat, her shoulders tight in expectation.
“Huh, now that is something else.” Standing, Colt dusted his hands against his thighs. “I wonder about you girls. There wasn’t a thing in there that wasn’t something I hadn’t seen already. Now I know that I might have had more things come across my sight before, but really, ordinary things most girls wouldn’t look through a peephole to see.”
Taming Texanna Page 2