“Where the hell are your underthings?”
“Um, well, I washed them and since I was already bare for most of the day, I figured I wouldn’t soil one. I would just wait until tomorrow.” She looked up at Colton with a worried expression. “I, that is, lots of girls never wear them, I hear.”
“You thought, lots never-why didn’t you say something?”
“Well, I thought you wouldn’t go through with it if you knew.”
“And you would have been right.”
“Well, now that you have seen, you know, it is too late so you can just do the deed, and I can go back and start pa’s supper. It is coming up on the time I should do that.” Her implication and expectation were clear. He had committed a bigger crime than she had if anyone found out about it.
“The hell I will.”
“Oh, but you have to now.” She got back into position. “I have been sitting here, near naked and exposed for several minutes. You must or I’ll tell my pa what you saw and how. While I might get the strap, you would get much worse. Men are horsewhipped for seeing a man’s daughter in her all in all. Please, I don’t want to be so cruel when you have been so accommodating but could you please just finish?” She would never tattle, but she hoped he didn’t figure that out.
There was silence for a moment then a searing pain raced across her buttocks. She rose up on her tiptoes and released air that she had held with a swoosh. She panted and moaned, “Oh my God.”
Before she gathered her composure, another roared across her buttocks like a lit torch. Texanna cried out and bounced her legs up and down. She clutched the chair tightly as she wondered if she would survive this whipping. After a few more had flamed a path across her nates, she began to sweat noticeably. She tried to stop the spurting of tears as they blurred her vision. She didn't want the marshal to see her cry. She screeched again but her training from past whippings came through, and she was not one to give into herself if it was called for her to be stoic. The problem was that if she just remained there and didn’t do something to halt his discipline, there was a very real danger that she wouldn’t be able to sit for several days. She wondered if he would move to her thighs making it almost impossible for her to sit later.
Texanna was very subdued, but she would survive. She had decided the best course of action was to be quiet. If someone discovered her, it would surely be known that not only had she done wrong, but also that a man other than her father had bared her. If that happened, then not only would Colton be in trouble, her reputation would be ruined, and she wouldn’t be able to get a good husband. Besides, Colton might very well hate her forever.
“Oh please, Colton, sir. Please stop. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have let Mandy entice me. I should have known better. Please let me up.” She could not stem the trembling in her voice still worried that he would continue and move down to her thighs.
“Sorry, honey, but I need to know that you won’t do things without thinking and that is too enticing a bottom that I’m looking at to allow it to wander into scrapes without thinking of the consequences. And I need to know that the next time I go to whip your bottom, it isn’t bared before I want it bared.”
Texanna moaned and worried that she had begun falling for a man that was too hard handed for her. She couldn’t think about it now, there were other worries on her mind, like not blubbering like a fool.
***
Colton stopped when he spoke to Texanna, reached out his hand and stopped mid movement. He had stayed away from her legs so her whipping would not be so obvious to others, especially her pa. He did not want to embarrass her or hurt her pride, scare her or do her harm. He just wanted to make the point that he did not want her being careless with her choices.
“I’m sorry, honey, but I need to look at your bottom just real quick. I want to make sure there isn’t a place that caught it too hard.” He reached out to run his hand over the welts. “Well, it looks like you might notice sitting and sleeping tonight. You might have gotten away with a little less ache but I bet you don’t go without underthings when you go asking a man to whip your naughty bottom next time. And don’t you go asking any other man to take care of your chastising, you understand?”
Her lips trembled and her voice was watery. “No, sir, I won’t.”
“You’re a pretty shade of dark rose pink. You are even beautiful while getting your tail tanned.” He continued to look at his handiwork suddenly through with the whole affair. He waited to see if she responded but other than sniffles, he didn’t get one.
“Honey, are you okay?” When Colton noticed Texanna had gone quiet. That bothered him more than the noise had. He was worried that he had actually hurt her and that would have been worse than just not giving her enough of a lesson.
“Yes, sir,” she whispered.
“Sweetheart, I’m going to give you a few more with my hand for the deception. You cannot go out into public without drawers no matter what other girls say. Then to not tell me was plain wrong. If you were mine, I would be wearing you out instead of almost finishing. Hold steady now.”
He laid his hand briskly to her reddened bottom, taking notice of her body relaxing some even though he was landing slap after slap on her bare skin.
“That was ten for the indecent wear and here are ten more for tricking me into baring you.”
As he had surveyed the dark pink bottom quivering under his leather, he had thought about how lovely that bottom truly was. Her wails became more pronounced as he continued to punish her with his hand for more than the peeking but the omission of necessary information, namely her bare ass.
Colton listened to her subdued cries as he rapidly laid smack after smack on her round sore bottom. He knew in his gut that she was okay and this might not be near the spanking she might have earned but it satisfied him. There was a sheen of perspiration on her skin and he longed to run his hands over her red painted bottom. He wanted to caress her and comfort her. His manhood had stood at three-quarters mast for most of the last fifteen minutes and that on the heels of half-mast across the street. He chastised himself as he quickly pulled up her trousers after one more look. He carefully helped her up.
He was relieved it was over and she weathered the spanking well. It made him proud of her in some inane way. One’s strength of spirit was admired in his mother’s village. His staunch Scottish father also admired it as Colt admired it now. He knew he had smacked decently, equal to Mandy and that girl cried before the fourth swing was completed. He wondered how Texanna handled it so well unless she was one to experience it often, as she had said.
“You need a hug.”
It was not a question but a statement of fact. He knew she needed comfort. He could feel her aching need. When he saw she hesitated, he rephrased his sentence.
“Okay, I need a hug.”
He sat in the chair she had held so tightly to and drew her down onto his knee. Colton made sure he didn’t touch her thighs when he laid the belt across her bottom. He did not want to hurt her or make sitting too difficult. He knew she worried about it because he could feel her thoughts. He knew she was a part of him by the connection they had. He brought her face to him, settling her head in the crook of his neck leaning her cheek on his chest and kissed the top of her head. He could get used to this bit of dandelion fluff. She was sweet, intelligent and could speak her mind if she desired to be heard. Colton almost groaned at the innocence as she cuddled into his lap. She snuggled in and sighed. His answering arousal was painfully obvious as she sat on his knee
He liked that spunk in a woman and while she was not as dramatic as Mandy, he was sure that he had gotten her to the place she needed to be to understand he didn’t put up with any nonsense. As she became more comfortable with the cuddle, he became more uncomfortable. He began to want for this girl, and it was time to end this. He needed to be careful because Texanna was quickly crawling into his heart. He didn’t know yet if she would be his to keep.
He lifted her off his lap. She st
ood. “Um, thank you, sir, I need to go home now.”
“Texanna, are you all right?
“Yes, why wouldn’t I be? You’re not as bad as my pa is at using leather. However, neither of you are weak men. I can attest to that. I have to go and get dinner on the stove before I’m out of time and get another lathering before the day is done.”
“Oh, well good then, I didn’t want to do any damage.”
He didn’t know what else to say and didn’t want to say more. He wanted to forget that this ever happened but knew that wasn’t a possibility. He wanted to think on what he truly wanted for a spell. Besides, she was keeping his cock at attention and her bottom still flashed in his head. He was sure that was not seemly.
“Yes, go on and stay out of trouble.”
She looked back at him and smiled back. “Kind of like the Bible, go and sin no more?”
“Don’t bring the Bible into this. I am sure we violated something in the good book.”
Colt decided this whole incident had been worth the step away from propriety when she grinned back. It lit up her whole face. When nothing else was said, she calmly walked out of his office, closing the door behind her quietly.
Colton forced himself to work for a while but finally gave up in frustration. All he could do was think about Texanna. It wasn’t that she was the prettiest girl he had ever met or even the sweetest but there was something else about her. There was a strong will, a confidence he enjoyed seeing in her. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. She seemed to have a genuine innocence about her, a sincerity that he couldn’t get out of his heart. He wondered what he might do with a girl like that.
She was sweet, sassy, smart, and as slight a woman as he had seen in a while. Then there was the physical side of this woman. He would challenge anyone who said she lacked in that area or any area. Texanna could hold her own in the womanly attributes if she didn’t cover them up with those trousers. Today proved that truth. Besides, he could read her better than he could read any he had ever met and that meant something to him. It meant that he could help redirect some of those errant thoughts by heading them off at the pass if he was given the opportunity to spend more time with her.
He decided to go home, cut some wood, do some heavy chores to be able to forget this happened. He couldn’t understand why this girl had so quickly slipped into his heart, or why he had felt increasingly drawn to her for over a year now, but it was a reality. A reality he couldn’t do anything about because of his heritage. A reality that just didn’t sit right with him, one he wished he could challenge.
He had half decided to go ask her father to allow him to court her before he had made it home. But knew that could never be. He was getting soft when a slip of a girl got his Charlie Cock so excited that she even felt luscious under his spanking hand. Besides that, he had not had a woman for a long time. That was the problem. He needed to find a woman to settle his need. That is what he tried to convince himself, anyway. It wasn’t that she bewitched him but that he was just needier than normal. Maybe he should think about visiting Miss Jonquil’s place again even though that thought no longer appealed to him.
Nothing came over the wire the rest of the day and nothing new presented itself but a bare hind end, so he figured the day was as good as over. If someone needed him, he or she knew where to find him. Colton saddled up and went home. He concentrated on fixing the chicken coop behind the barn so that when he walked through his door, he didn’t look like a randy horse.
He walked into the front door with pride. For six months, he worked on this house, six long months, but when he finished, the house was something to be admired. This house was impressive for anyone, especially one with his heritage. He built five full bedrooms, even though his neighbors told him that was extravagant. Extravagant yes, but it was more important to have places for his Pia and Kaku as well as room for his future family. And while his mother and grandmother did live with him, it still would not be a true home until he brought home his bride. The woman made for his house, was Texanna. A truism he did not doubt no matter how unlikely it appeared to be.
Colton watched his pia’s face as concern crossed it quickly only to be replaced by a nod.
“Why are you here? Something has happened.”
It was not a question, but a statement. Colton knew he followed a self-imposed regimen performing most tasks in a prescribed way. Timely. Predictable. Methodical. He was one of those people you could set your watch by. Most could count on him to go about his day the same way, day after day. That precise thoroughness made him a good tracker. It kept him safe. His pia knew things just as he and Kaku did.
It was common for his pia to appear to follow his thoughts as he thought them, like now. She continued his mental conversation, verbally. “It is not always a good quality in life to be so predictable. When you bring your wife home, priorities will change because they will need to change. Some priorities like always being early to things, or placing your clothing in the identical spot you did yesterday, won’t be as important. You will find that if your bride wants to sleep on the right side of the bed, you will allow that. You might not milk Bessie every morning at six because other things are more important at six.” Pia walked away but continued to watch him quietly as was her more typical way. He knew his grandmother, on the other hand, had too many years behind her to be silent. He waited for her to say her piece when she was ready.
What Colton expected or needed didn’t factor in at that point. His desires had not often been considered in his choices in the last years since reaching manhood. Colt was a man of duty and followed rules because they gave order to his world when the words peace and harmony were not commonplace. He liked the rhythm of consistency and familiarity. That is why his mother and grandmother gave him comfort in their presence. He smiled to himself and thought usually they were a comfort. He was a true half-breed. His father was a stoic Scotsman, who fell in love and married his mother of Kiowa and Comanche heritage. It left Colton with the combined pedigree of half-breed. He grew up in both worlds.
Two years ago, he had taken his grandmother and mother to his home. His life was running smoothly. His blue eyes and nearly black hair allowed him to work amongst the white population effortlessly enough. His womenfolk were perfectly happy not going into town so that no trouble ensued. As a marshal, he was able to keep them safe when someone came knocking on the door. He left plenty of evidence that a U.S. Marshal lived there when he wasn’t home to keep them safe. People assumed the women worked for him, he didn’t disabuse many of that assumption. The women didn’t care because after living many years in fear for their lives and the lives of their menfolk, they were content to live quietly. They were far enough out of town to lessen the contact.
“Hmm,” Kaku grunted her satisfaction. “Your woman troubles you.”
“What?”
He knew it was a useless question with his kaku. She never repeated herself if she was sure he heard her. She continued to shell peas. She only spoke in the hybrid Kiowa-Comanche tongue. His mother, on the other hand, was too silent even for her. The women in his family knew him too well. They also had the uncanny talent that he had in reading situations and on occasion, people, quite well. Obviously, this was one of those times for his kaku as well as his pia. He hated when he so easily showed them his personal thoughts. He remembered how effortlessly he read Texanna earlier.
“Yes, I have two women to clean, cook, sew, and irritate me. Why would I want a third?” He shook his head and walked out to the shed to begin cleaning the debris brought in by the last tornado. The turmoil inside was as chaotic as that storm had been. Standing around inside hoping for more conversation was a waste of time.
Was it a week ago? His mother had done just about everything she could to clean things up after the hot, humid weather brought with it that whirlwind storm. Luckily, he did not have too much built up yet on his property but his family and his home were at risk. It appeared to skip from river to pasture land without doing
any real damage. He was not happy when he had raced home after the storm and found his mother and grandmother outside clearing debris.
He sent them both in and threatened to find a man to put them in their places. They mumbled about the uselessness of most men. He knew at that moment he was among the scorned, but he wouldn’t have them outside moving broken tree limbs and large debris when he could do it. They just wanted it done immediately, as always.
He had cleaned the front on that day, but while his mother would have gone further into the wooded area, she didn’t defy her son. He was the man of the house, and if he was not concerned that the rest of the yard was unkempt, he knew she wouldn’t embarrass him by pointing his shortcomings out. Now, he was ashamed he had forgotten, so he spent the next several hours clearing the land of debris.
Afterward, he chopped wood, patched the roof of a small outbuilding, and then cleaned all his equipment. He ended his day with sharpening every knife and sharp edge that he possessed from the machete to the smallest kitchen utensil. He couldn’t find anything else that needed doing. He wondered if it meant his mother and kaku did too much. Was it possible that they were too capable?
It might be there just wasn’t as much that needed doing if you were three adults on a small farm. He spent a few minutes reminding the women that the blades were sharp only to be lost in thoughts of a creamy white bottom turned red belonging to a particular young lady. He realized his carving had taken on a life of its own tonight and instead of a woodland animal his kaku loved so much, he found he was carving a flat, hand sized oar. He immediately knew he was fashioning the paddle he would use on his lovely wood sprite and in his distraction cut his own finger on the sharpened knife.
The pain cut through his thoughts. “Dammit.”
Kaku was first to hand him a cloth for his bleeding finger. Colton, angry with himself, grabbed the cloth and waved her away but was immediately contrite.
“I’m sorry, Kaku.”
Taming Texanna Page 4