Taming His Cowgirl (The Crooked Creek Ranch Book 1)

by Delta James

  He kissed to Mouse, who increased his speed to a lope. Joker following along willingly enough, but Sierra continued to fume. He crested the rise and spied the line shack. He urged Mouse to a faster pace. When they arrived, he reined the horses to a stop.

  “Whoa, Charlie wasn’t kidding. This looks like you went to a lot of trouble to upgrade these line shacks.”

  “I had an idea about…” she started but then stopped herself.

  Ryder stepped off of Mouse and lifted her down. He brushed her hair away from her face. He rubbed the silky strands of her blonde hair between his thumb and forefinger.

  “I’d forgotten how soft your hair was,” he said in a tone filled with a kind of awe and longing.

  “Untie me,” she said quietly, her voice shaking.

  He grinned. “No.”

  “Bastard,” she hissed.

  “Yep.”

  Ryder grabbed the rope coiled around her and took her into the line shack. The inside of the line shack was even more impressive than the exterior. Instead of a cot there was a full-sized bed, an open closet with hangers and what appeared to be bedding, a small table with chairs, a stove with burners and an oven, a mini-fridge, a space heater, and a generator. The huge fireplace still dominated the space but Ryder thought the improvements were impressive.

  He led Sierra to the table and chairs and made her sit down. He looped the rope around the chair itself so that he had her body and legs bound to the chair. Ryder took her hat off her head, putting it on the table. He kissed the top of her head.

  “I’ll go get the horses settled and be back. Will you be okay until I get back?”

  “You have me tied to a fucking chair. I am not okay.”

  He chuckled. “You’ll live, Freckles.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  Ryder walked to the door, turned to smile at her as she bounced around in the chair, and walked out to take care of the horses.

  The lean-to and corral had been upgraded as well. Under the lean-to was a large weather-tight feed locker as well as a tack box. Opening the tack box, he realized you could fit the gear for two horses in it. The feed locker contained feed buckets and grain as well as a small group of medical supplies. Ryder was impressed. Sierra had done an excellent job of upgrading the Flying M’s line shacks. He thought he might ask her to do the same for the parts of Crooked Creek he planned to keep.

  Ryder led Joker and Mouse into the lean-to and removed their saddles and other tack. Both horses trotted back out to the corral and rolled in the dirt before getting up and starting to munch on what little grass was there. He put up their tack and grabbed a couple of flakes of hay and threw them in the manger. Both horses wandered in and started to eat. Ryder left them there and returned to the cabin.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ryder entered the line shack and saw that Sierra had managed to bounce the chair from the table over to the kitchen area.

  “And you were going to do what? Start some kind of fire and burn through the lariat? Or maybe get to a knife?” Ryder closed the door and walked over to her. He stooped down and released her from the rope binding her to the chair. He stepped back and leaned against the door.

  She sprang to her feet and put distance between them. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “You and I are going to have a long overdue talk.”

  “You can’t make me talk to you.”

  “You’re right. But I can make sure you stay still long enough to hear me.”

  “I’ll do no such thing.”

  “I’m not giving you a choice. You’re going to listen to me. You’re going to hear what I tried to tell you five years ago.”

  “You have nothing to say that I want to hear.”

  “Don’t I? Do you really not want to hear what happened? Are you still so sure you know?”

  “I know what I saw. You had your arms around your ex-girlfriend and she didn’t have a lot of clothes on.” Sierra’s whole body language spoke of anger and hurt. Her body was stiff and tense with pent-up emotion.

  “She didn’t have a lot of clothes on because the sonofabitch she hooked up with after me didn’t want to take no for an answer and tried to rape her.”

  Sierra said nothing. Ryder held his breath and let that sink in for a moment. He thought he saw her jaw begin to lose some of its rigidity.

  He continued, “She managed to get away from him but was, as you saw, half naked. She couldn’t go back home. Her father was not an understanding man. Debbie knew she was pregnant and knew her dad would force her to marry him. So, she called me. I got her some clothes from Andy’s sister and met her at the old barn. You got there maybe five minutes behind me.”

  “But you didn’t say anything.”

  He laughed with no mirth. “You didn’t give me a chance. You ran out, grabbed your grandfather’s shotgun, blew my windshield out, and peeled out for the Flying M.”

  “You didn’t follow me,” she said accusingly. “I’d been home a while before you bothered to show up.”

  “Debbie was terrified. I needed to get her calmed down and some place she’d feel safe. I knew you were pissed, but I thought you knew me well enough to know that I had no interest in anybody but you. By the time I got her settled and got to the Flying M, you’d worked yourself up into major tantrum and wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say.”

  “That doesn’t change anything… you left me,” she accused.

  “Left you?” he said in astonishment. “I left after you damn near blew my fool head off and then wouldn’t listen to anything I tried to tell you.”

  Sierra started to say something and stopped. Sensing that perhaps he had finally gotten through to her, he crossed over to her.

  “Don’t you dare put your hands on me,” she said, more with trepidation than anger.

  Ryder laughed. “I’m going to do a lot more than put my hands on you, little girl. You remember that spanking I gave you the night you threw your ring in my face?”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “You know me better than that, Sierra. The mistake I made that night was not finishing the job. I know it’s five years later, but I mean to fix that.”

  “No,” she said as she tried to dart away from him.

  He caught her arm and brought her back. “Yes.” She made a fist and swung at him. He deflected the blow. “You are going to learn not to throw punches at me. That’s being naughty and your naughty ways are coming to an end.”

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  “I’m the man who’s going to give you the structure and discipline you’ve been needing for a long, long time. You’re going to learn to mind me, Sierra, and that includes not cussing at me or trying to inflict bodily harm to me. And when you don’t, I’m going to put you over my knee and spank your bare bottom until you apologize and promise to try to behave better in the future.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “No, little girl, I’m not.” Ryder half-dragged, half-led her over to the bed. He wrapped his arm around her upper body, effectively trapping her arms against her sides and immobilizing her. With his other hand, he unbuckled her chaps and unzipped her jeans. He pulled both down past her knees and bared her backside.

  Sierra could feel the chilled air of the line shack against her now naked buttocks. She struggled and tried to stomp on his foot, but he had anticipated her maneuver. As Ryder sat down on the edge of the bed, he pulled her between his legs and bent her over his knee. He used his other leg to trap her legs between his and then pressed her upper body into the mattress.

  “You want to apologize for what a bitch you’ve been since I got back?”

  “I swear to God, I’m going to kill you.”

  Ryder chuckled as he rubbed her derriere. “I’ll take that as a no. Have to tell you, I was kind of hoping that would be your answer.”

  Ryder lifted his hand from her exposed rear end and brought it crashing down in the middle of her two cheeks.


  “You bastard!”

  “Yes, Sierra, we’ve established that I’m a bastard both literally and figuratively.”

  * * *

  His hand came down a second time, focusing solely on her left butt cheek. She could feel not only the impact but the residual burn and pain it left behind. Before it could really register or she could react, her other cheek was given the same treatment. Sierra had been dumped on her ass many a time by a horse, but that was nothing compared to the pain resulting from Ryder’s hand.

  “Damn it, Ryder! Stop!”

  “Not a chance, brat. You’ve had this coming ever since your daddy’s will got read. Oh, hell, you’ve had this coming longer than that, but I wasn’t here to see to it. Well, I’m home now and you are going to start behaving yourself.”

  His hand came down again and again on what was quickly becoming a very painful bottom. She wriggled and screamed but couldn’t make him stop. She tried flailing her arms backward to ward off the blows, but Ryder merely caught them in his large hand and pinned them to her back. Nothing seemed to be able to stop or even slow the punishment he was set on inflicting. Again and again, Ryder’s hand delivered a stunning chastisement to her backside.

  Sierra couldn’t believe this was happening to her. No one had ever spanked her. Well, no one other than the man who was doing so now. The thrashing he had given her the night they split up was nothing compared to what she was experiencing now. Over and over his hand descended onto her bottom, making her cry out in pain. Sierra realized that each swat increased the pain exponentially… it continued to build upon itself until all of the embarrassment over being put over his knee, all the hurt from her father’s passing, and all the agony of losing Ryder began to fade in the face of her punishment.

  She couldn’t believe when she suddenly realized that the only thing that was moving the pain from the forefront of her mind was desire. Her nipples had begun to harden and were getting increasingly tight. She could feel her arousal swirling in her core and starting to coat the inner walls of her pussy. Her bottom felt like it was on fire, but the place between her legs was hotter still.

  “Ryder, please, stop. I’m sorry.”

  His hand stopped mid-swing. “What did you say?”

  “I asked you to stop. I can’t take any more.”

  “I heard that, but what else did you say?”

  “I said I was sorry.”

  “Are you?” he asked quietly.

  “Yes,” she said as she started to weep.

  “For what?”

  “Everything. All of it. Just please stop.”

  He rubbed her bottom soothingly and she moaned as she tried to rub her clit against the rough texture of his suede chaps. Ryder ran his finger down between the cleft of her cheeks and toyed with the entrance of her warm sheath. Sierra tried to increase the pressure on her clit from his leg. The sound she was making now was a kind of keening sob that tore at Ryder. It was filled with remorse and desire.

  Ryder released her and pulled her into his lap. He pushed the hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ears. He held his breath until she wrapped her arms around his neck and folded herself into his body, fitting herself as tightly against him as she could. His arms embraced her and held her close. He could hear her crying… feel the tears against the hollow of his throat.

  “It’s all right, baby, I’m here.”

  Words failed her and she just cried. Ryder held her and let her do so. He rocked her back and forth, keeping one arm around her to reassure her that he had her and stroked her hair and back with the other.

  “God, Ryder, what did I do?”

  He kissed her temple. “When? There’s so much to choose from,” he teased.

  She stopped crying and looked up at him. “It’s not nice to tease me when I’m an emotional mess.”

  “You’re right. My bad. But seriously, give me a clue. That’s a pretty broad question with myriad possible answers.”

  “Myriad? Really? When did you get so fancy?”

  “While I was off being stubborn and proud in France.”

  She giggled nervously. “I don’t know what to say… I don’t know what to do.”

  “Good thing for you, I do.”

  “Just tell me it doesn’t involve you spanking me anymore.”

  “Not any more right now, but I meant what I said. You’re going to start behaving and when you don’t you’re going back over my knee for a refresher course in why not minding me is a bad idea.”

  He stood up and set her on her feet. He leaned down and kissed her with a raw and unguarded passion.

  “Strip, Sierra.”

  “What?” she said, not quite sure she’d heard him correctly.

  “You heard me. Get naked.”

  “Uhm, okay.” She removed her clothes. “Now what?” she grinned.

  “Not what you think… not yet anyway.” He turned her around and pointed her toward one of the corners of the shack by the fireplace. “You go stand in that corner.”

  “Ryder.”

  He swatted her. “Sierra. Minding me starts now. Go stand in the corner.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You will. The question is do I need to spank you some more before you do as you’re told?”

  “But…”

  “Now, Sierra. Go stand in the corner.”

  She looked over her shoulder and saw nothing but grim determination. He motioned to the corner with his finger. She thought about defying him, but thought better when he quirked his eyebrow at her. She went to the corner feeling every bit the naughty little girl. She turned to look at him.

  “Turn around. Nose in the corner.”

  “Ryder.”

  “Sierra. I’m not going to tell you again. Nose in the corner, now.”

  She turned and did as he said. She heard him pick her clothes up off the bed and the floor and hang them up. She thought she could hear him removing his shirt and getting something down off the shelf. She looked back over her shoulder.

  “Sierra, where did I tell you that nose belonged?”

  “In the corner,” she said sullenly.

  “Careful, brat. You get snotty or snappy with me and I’ll think I didn’t get the job done again.”

  “No, Ryder. You got the job done.”

  “I got part of it done. But we’ll get the rest done before we head out of here.”

  “You aren’t going to spank me anymore, are you?” she said in an anxious tone.

  “Depends. You planning to do what you’re told?”

  “Yes.”

  “When you’re getting punished, it’s yes, sir. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.” He cleared his throat in warning. “Sir. Yes, sir.”

  “Better.”

  He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her red, swollen bottom into contact with his groin, which was still encased in his jeans. Evidently, he’d removed his chaps. Ryder ran one hand up her torso and wrapped it around her breast, cupping the entirety and then playing with the nipple.

  Sierra was glad that his other arm was wrapped tightly around her as she felt her knees start to buckle. Ryder nuzzled her neck and began to whisper kisses down the side of her neck and along the top of her shoulder. Sierra rubbed her bottom against him and winced from the pain it caused, but then rubbed again.

  He continued to hold her pressed up against him as he fondled her breasts and nipples, moving back and forth between the two. Her breathing began to increase in tempo but became somewhat erratic in rhythm. He increased the attention to her nipples and began to rub the hard cock in his jeans against her.

  Sierra grabbed the hand that was holding her and pushed it down her body and between her legs. There was no mistaking what she wanted. Suddenly Ryder stopped all of his touching and stepped back from her.

  Sierra wailed in frustration. “Ryder, please.”

  “No way. I’ve been waiting more than five years. I should take you hard standing in the corner
and the next time I spank you, I will finish your punishment that way, but not this time.” He turned her around and kissed her, pressing her back into the wall.

  Sierra wrapped her arms around his neck once more and hopped up, locking her legs around his waist and rubbing herself on his belt buckle.

  Ryder chuckled. “I take it you’d like to get laid?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said with just a hint of sarcasm on the last word.

  “Careful, Freckles, your backside felt good under my hand when I was spanking you.”

  “As I recall,” she murmured, “you liked the way that nice warm place between my legs felt even better.”

  His mouth captured hers as he reclaimed what was his. The kiss was neither tentative nor was it asking for permission. It was a statement—a declaration of intent and imminent possession. Sierra responded by yielding her mouth and softening her body so that all he felt was her surrender.

  * * *

  Ryder leaned down and swept her off her feet. She felt good in his arms; moreover, she felt right in his arms. He walked to the bed and knelt on it, laying her gently on her back, trying to lessen the amount of discomfort she would have when her bruised backside made connection with the quilted mattress.

  She winced and he smiled at her. Before she could say something to get herself back into trouble, he kissed her mouth again and then leaned down to capture a nipple. Sierra had forgotten what it was like to feel his mouth on her breast. She’d had a few lovers during the time they’d been apart, but none had ever made her feel the way Ryder did. She felt as though her whole body tingled with anticipation and energy. Regardless of what else might be happening, the minute his mouth or hands or cock connected with one of her erogenous zones, the rest of the world faded away and all she wanted was him.

  His hand snaked down to the juncture of her legs. “Spread your legs for me, Sierra.” He smiled as she complied.

  He cupped her entire sex with his hand before bringing his thumb down on her clit and entering her pussy with two fingers.

  “God, Ryder,” she panted.