Page 30 of Surrender Your Grace
“You did not.”
“I’m sorry. But addressing someone above my station properly was drilled into me from the nursery.I will strive to do better.”
“You will indeed, sweeting. The formality ends now.”He spun her around, his fingers seeking her laces.
“What are you doing?”
“What I should have done days ago to help you remember.” One tug, and her riding skirt dropped to her knees.
Stunned, Cici didn’t resist as he propped a boot on a nearby stump and tumbled her forward over his knee, flipping her skirt up with practiced ease. She regained the ability to speak when his hand smoothed over her backside.
“You can’t mean to spank me in my drawers!” she yelped. “It’s improper.”
“Correct. Which is why they must go.”
“My lord!” she gasped, wriggling as he loosened the drawstring.
“And there it is yet again!” he grumbled, holding her fast with one arm, while parting the linen seam to bare her bottom to his gaze.
Mortified, she reached to cover herself, but he caught her wrists easily and pinned them to her back.
“You can’t!” she protested. “It isn’t done!”
“It most certainly is,” he replied. “You’re an innocent and wouldn’t know that. Fortunately for you, I’m a patient teacher.”
His low chuckle made her bristle.
“This isn’t funny. Let me up.”
He ignored her protest, squeezing the curves of her bottom before tracing the cleft between them. Her outrage battled the heat his touch stirred—especially between her thighs.
“If your father punished you and your sister over your skirts, it’s little wonder it wasn’t effective.”
“Please,” she exclaimed as she struggled. “This is beyond embarrassing. I’m your wife, not a child.”
“A wife is never too old to go over her husband’s knee,” he said mildly. “And when I do discipline you, it will always be on the bare.”
She kicked her feet, half defiant, half unsure. “Do you plan to spank me into submission?” she huffed, cheeks burning.
“Only until you remember my name—correctly, unprompted, and with enthusiasm.”
“That seems excessive.”
She let out a whimper as his palm lightly stroked and then squeezed each of her cheeks. “So is calling memy lordafter I’ve kissed every square inch of your beautiful body every night for two weeks running.”
“I suppose Andrew fits better, considering,” she muttered. “But it was a lapse. I swear.”
“I’ve been patient with you, allowing a fortnight of lapses. When I’m done, you’ll be calling me byallmy names—and possibly inventing a few new ones.”
He delivered a firm, measured smack that made her jump.
“You’ve earned a swat for every lapse since we arrived. Let’s see, youmy lordedtwice this morning while I was buttering my toast. And once, last evening when I assisted you naked and glistening from the tub. As well as an abundance of times throughout the day. Let’s call it six per day, just to be fair.”
Cici did a quick calculation. “That’s seventy-four! Such a number is hardly fair, since I didn’t know you were keeping a tally.”
“Yes, well,” he said lightly, tugging her drawers down her thighs. “I am the lord of this estate, which means I define justice.”
Cici wriggled under his grip, scandalized, seething, and a tiny smidge amused. Dear heavens, she couldn’t actually be enjoying this.
