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The Blue Hat and the Red Rose: A Historical Romance

Page 10

by Forest,Lynn


  He nodded his head in appreciation of the well-kept grounds. “This is very beautiful and very peaceful. You must spend a lot of time out here.”

  Emily nodded her head. “In decent weather, this has always been the preferred place for us to gather and talk. And many times, we just may sit out here and read, each of us singularly occupied, but still together as a family. This has always been a very special place for me.”

  They sat in silence for a moment, his arm around her shoulder. “Emily, I have some good news and some bad news.” She pulled away and turned to look at him. “The bad news is, I have to report back to the Army in two weeks.” He watched as Emily closed her eyes and looked down. “But the better news is, I have a new assignment that the General promises is going to be for the rest of the war. I'm going to be the commander of the garrison at the river crossing.”

  Emily's eyes opened wide and she looked up, her mouth hanging open as he continued. “I'm going to be a thirty-minute ride from here.”

  Emily's eyes filled with tears, and she leaned over and wrapped her arms around his neck. He drew her on to his lap and held her while she cried from relief and happiness. “So now, Miss McMannus. I guess that means I'm going to keep showing up rather often until you are tired of me.”

  Now she was crying loudly, and clinging to him even more tightly. Emily tried to begin speaking, but she was finding the words difficult. “I… I was so… so afraid you were going to be sent far… away. Back to the fighting.”

  As she began to settle down, he ran his fingers through her wavy brown hair. “I think the most dangerous thing I’m going to face there is being bored. I guess that you'll have to keep me distracted.” She leaned away and looked up at him, intertwined her hands and placed them on his shoulder, then leaned her chin upon them. “I keep thinking, how when you brought me home I ran from you again. I did it because I couldn't face seeing you leave.”

  Charles summoned up a mock, stern voice and shook a scolding finger at her. “I was so afraid that wagon was going to break a wheel off and send you to the ground to get a broken leg or something worse.” He sighed loudly and theatrically and shook his head. “I think that you are quite lucky, because I remember telling you earlier that day what was in store for you if you pulled any more of your stunts.”

  Emily leaned her head against his chest and spoke softly, “I think there was a reference to my having to ride the rest of the way home in the wagon bed on my stomach.”

  They glanced at each other, and drew each other into another long, deep kiss. Emily was suddenly chewing on her lower lip, and arching her eyebrows. “I know that we talked about my doing something to convince you that I would be willing to accept your protection and judgment, even if it meant that I may not be happy about it.”

  Charles continued to stroke her soft hair. “I think that's pretty much the way we left it.” He could hear Emily swallow hard, and he could feel that she had tensed up. When she spoke, her voice was a little more halting and higher pitched than usual, “Well, when we wrap all those things together, I guess there's one way to show you that, yes, I do accept your protection. I even accept everything that comes along with it if I do things like oh, perhaps run away from you in a carriage and put myself in danger of being hurt.”

  She scooted off his lap, then leaned to her right and reached beneath the end of the cushion. She turned partway and handed Charles a large rectangular oak hairbrush. He turned it over, and there was the exquisitely painted red rose that she had described. She tapped her finger against the brush. “After all, you have been in charge of training.”

  He peered at her for a moment, trying to fully absorb the determined expression on her face, then she finally closed her eyes and exhaled a deep breath, and just as he reached out to take her by the arm, she began to kneel on the sofa next to him and place herself across his knees.

  With each passing second, his understanding of her actions became clearer to him. He tossed the blue dotted dress up onto her back, and somewhat nervously took hold of the top of her bloomers and gently pushed them down to the middle of her thighs. Not only had he spanked her bare bottom before, he had seen her completely naked during their bathing session at the river, but this moment suddenly seemed more intimate and serious.

  He placed the hairbrush against the center of her bottom, and he could feel her tremble when he did so. Then he drew the brush away and brought it back.

  A sharp WHACK brought about nothing more than a muffled grunt. Again the brush landed against her soft pink bottom, but there were no loud cries of pain. Her reactions were subdued, if difficult. Every several seconds, the brush cracked again across her bottom.

  Although he had spanked her twice before, this was a surprisingly leisurely effort. She was now resting her forehead on her crossed arms, squirming somewhat to cope with the intense sting of the hairbrush. As he continued to paddle her, there were muted squeals but she seemed to be intent on absorbing and accepting the punishment, proving to him that she was accepting his limitations if he would have her.

  The paddled flesh of her bottom was turning a dark pink, interspersed with splotches of darker red juxtaposed against lines of white. She never uttered a word of protest and never asked for him to stop. Instead, he saw her reaching ahead and grasping the ends of the cushion and pressing her forehead into the cushion.

  The previous times he had spanked her had also taken place in a time of tremendous stress and some danger. And even though Emily had instigated her own tanning this time, the entire scenario had become quite arousing to him, and he knew that there was no doubt that the gorgeous little woman on his lap was feeling the evidence pressing against her.

  He felt that whatever she was trying to prove to him had been accomplished, so he placed the brush on the sofa in front of her where she could see that it was no longer going to be in use. He began to softly and carefully stroke her inflamed backside. Her head jerked up and she sucked in her breath as his fingertips began to make contact with the flaming hot flesh, then she relaxed and settled back down, and began to moan in contentment as the soft caressing continued all around her bottom and the tops of her thighs.

  As he began to raise her bloomers and to help her to sit up, she cried out urgently, “No, please, not yet.” He released his grip on the small cotton garment, and then trailed his hand softly up her thighs to resume the soft circling of her red bottom. Soon he knew it was not his imagination that he was feeling her pressing her bottom up against the pressure of his hand and fingertips, seeming to enjoy the contact with her sizzling backside that he thought would have seemed uncomfortable.

  He continued to caress her bewitching backside with his right hand, and he haltingly and hesitantly ran his left hand up her back, and over her left shoulder and reached to the brush. He picked it up in his hand, and moved it in front of her to be sure that she could see it was once again in his grasp. In a near whisper, he spoke to her with uncertainty in his voice, “Shall I, Emily?”

  Even in their positions, he could see her face turn darker red as she looked back and nodded with an almost embarrassed smile, “Yes, please… please.” There were no birds singing nearby, and the breeze had stilled, so there was almost a deafening silence until a solid WHACK, followed by a few more, echoed off the ceiling of the porch.

  In a flash, Emily had raised up and was kneeling next to him, her trembling fingers trying to unbutton the top of her dress. She closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him and whispered, “It's different now, isn't it?” He nearly shuddered as he nodded his head and began to help her unbutton the front of the garment.

  In spite of the searing pain she was still feeling, she fluttered her eyes at him and giggled. “I think we should pick up where we left off. I think that cool water in that wonderful little stream would feel quite good to a certain part of me right now.” She stood up and the dress fell to the floor of the porch, and then she laughed and sprinted down the steps, running as fast as she could to the stream where
she disappeared behind a stand of evergreen trees.

  Charles’ pulse was racing and his own desire was nearly driving him out of his mind as he followed her path, only to get to the covering trees to find the scant pile of her remaining clothes in the grass nearby. Floating just above the surface of the stream, as she had before, she was swimming on her stomach, her red bottom visible and protruding from the water. He scrambled to remove his own clothes, while Emily tread water and watched, laughing at him in his frantic efforts.

  When he finally had removed all his clothing and ambled down to get in the water, she reached up and began to clap her hands together in appreciation. And once again, although the water was up to her chin, it was just part way up his chest, he picked her up by the waist, pulled her up out of the water and drew her into a tight embrace. They began to kiss and laugh and splash each other, and then Emily put her arms tightly around his neck and wrapped her legs around him.

  They were kissing once more, but the reality of what they were doing overwhelmed them, and the kiss became urgent and hard, unyielding but giving fully to each other in the process. The kiss finally ended, and they pressed their foreheads together, each of them with their eyes closed until she felt the sensation of Charles' strong hands grasping her hips, and she was raised up a few more inches out of the water.

  His mouth quickly covered a nipple, and the flicking and tickling of his tongue caused her to cry out in pleasure and anticipation of what more was to come. Then his mouth moved to the other nipple, and it was treated to the same teasing, arousing actions that were causing her to squeeze her arms around him as hard as she could, wanting to keep him from ever allowing his mouth to leave that sensitive little peak.

  His lips and tongue continued to torment her breasts, while beneath the water his fingertips were stroking, probing, tickling and teasing her, her breathing more shallow and rapid, her soft moans becoming more urgent and demanding. Suddenly they stopped, and he held her so that their eyes met, and while there was not a single word spoken, there was no doubt about what was being communicated between them.

  With her legs still wrapped around his body, even as they continued to embrace and kiss, Charles began to walk them toward the bank. The stone bottom of the stream was wonderfully painful as he was pressed down by the added weight of the woman who was changing his life by the moment, and forever.

  Her face full of desire, apprehension and anticipation, they were again locked in a kiss when he lay her gently down in the grass along the bank. He held her close to him on their sides, as his caressing and stroking made her smolder with want, then she was suddenly on her back. As he entered her, she briefly cried out, then pulled him to her and into her more deeply.

  He gently began to thrust slowly, so that she could adjust to the initial discomfort that was joined by the fiery pain of her bottom being pressed to the ground by their combined weight. The hot stinging pain in her bottom only enhanced her arousal, and soon she was rocking upward in tandem with his thrusting, meeting his passion with her own.

  Finally, she felt a shuddering wave of spasms throughout her body like she had never suspected was possible, and he could no longer withhold his own climax in the excitement of seeing Emily so wild and uninhibited in her own satisfaction. They finally collapsed onto their sides, kissing and laughing and nuzzling, shaking their heads in disbelief and still moaning in happiness and completion.

  They were in the stream once again, the moon reflecting on the water as they cooled down after their second, even more animated and energetic, coupling. They held onto each other, sighed, kissed and caressed as they bobbed gently in the water.

  Emily burst into giggles as they embraced. “I don't want to embarrass you Colonel Charles Morrow, Sir but I thought it was so absolutely cute… I mean, there I was across your knees, my bloomers were yanked down and I was getting my bottom smacked good and hard and I suddenly feel something poking me in the side.”

  She put her fingers over her lips as she began to giggle once again. “There I was getting a painful tanning that was setting my behind on fire, and it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud when that thing started…” She was interrupted when Charles picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, gave her a hearty smack to her bottom and placed her back into the water.

  She continued to laugh as she reached behind her under the water and rubbed the sore spot. Charles placed both his hands on either side of her head and drew her close and kissed her. “And you arranged for me to use Red Rose on you, and I understand why. I was surprised that you seemed to find pleasure in it.”

  She laid her head on his chest and was silent for a moment. “I suppose that sometimes what you need can become what you desire, and vice versa. I felt a need. I felt desire. There was a moment there, Charles, when I couldn't really tell the difference between them.” She placed her head against his chest once more, and spoke in a soft voice that was nearly a whisper, “I'm not sure that I ever want to understand the difference.” She looked up at him then drew his lips down to hers and kissed him. “I just want to know, I want your reassurance, it will be there when I desire it or need it.”

  It was late May in 1865 when Charles placed the trunk holding his meager belongings in the back of the ornate wagon that Emily had driven to Cincinnati. While it had only been a few minutes, the wait as she watched Charles coming across the river on the barge for the last time seemed like hours. She scooted over in the seat to hand him the reins to drive, but before he lifted himself up onto the wagon, he reached for his cavalry hat, slid it backwards a little on his head so he could see better, and gazed across the river as the last of the garrison tents was taken to the ground.

  Emily sat silently on the seat of the wagon, looking at him with a mixture of happiness and concern. She knew that in his months at the crossing, there had been three captures of marauders wanted for either murder or theft, along with the occasional man who had spent too much of his money in one of the taverns on either side of the river.

  Aside from that, each time he came back to the farm, the home of Charles and Emily Morrow, she would hear his reassurance that his duty was safe and almost disappointingly inconsequential. She wished beyond all else that he had had enough time to allow some of the nighttime demons to quiet.

  A sergeant walked by with his horse being led by a rope, and presented Charles with a smart salute, which he acknowledged and returned with a quick snap of his arm. His eyes seemed to linger uncomfortably long as he turned and saw the last of the garrison working the Cincinnati side saddling up their horses to prepare to leave.

  She knew that it would have been in all likelihood his last salute, and she knew that he was happy to be relieved of the danger and the horror, but she also knew that a man cannot live each day for months on end testing his courage, living in fear of his manhood being seen as lacking, and then expect him to simply walk away, as if from a game of horseshoes.

  He pulled his hat back in place, appeared to stiffen his posture and leapt up onto the wagon. If it really was a tear in his eye, she knew that she had best turn away so that he would think that she never saw it. He clicked his tongue and shook the reins and they began the upward journey to the other side of the Ohio River valley.

  When they came to the crest where the land flattened out somewhat, they would be at home, their home. Charles was not very talkative between the river and the Morrow cattle farm. Emily seemed to keep her hand on his thigh most of the way home, and he would respond, sometimes even cheerfully when she spoke to him.

  When he would, by instinct, seem to scan the terrain in front of them and beside them, or slowly and carefully turn his head to look behind them, she herself would look away and pretend to not notice. Their slow pace in the wagon brought them home just about as the sun was falling.

  They made small talk as Charles carried the trunk upstairs and into their bedroom. Emily watched him disappear up the steps, but stayed downstairs to give him some time, because he had neve
r had a homecoming such as this one before. She grabbed a light wrap and went out and sat on the front porch swing, feeling anxious in his absence. She knew that even though he was home, his most difficult journey might still lie ahead.

  After a little while, she heard footsteps, and the front door opened. Charles emerged in his denim slacks and a heavy cotton work shirt. He looked at her with an uneasy smile, she got up and walked to him and put her arms around his waist and gave him a tight hug. He squeezed her tightly in return, then leaned down and kissed her on the top of the head.

  He walked toward the steps and leaned against the railing. He turned to Emily, then reached out and took her hand and drew her close beside him, and put his arm around her shoulders. He looked down at her and smiled, then looked forward over the land. He took a large deep breath, and inhaled as a wide smile came across his face. He looked down at his bride, nodded his head, gave her another squeeze around the shoulders and looked back out over the place where he belonged… where they belonged together.

  THE END

  Lynn Forest

  Lynn enjoys the challenge of coming up with storylines that readers will find exciting, enjoyable or even humorous. She lives in a small midwestern city, spending most of her free time with family and enjoying the outdoors.

  Don’t miss these other exciting titles by Lynn Forest and Blushing Books:

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