Page 10 of Chasing Trouble
“No, you’re certainly no child,” he agreed, running his palm over her trembling globes.“But you still deserve a spanking.Stealing is a very serious matter, and it needs to be addressed.Since you don’t want me to turn you over to the law, I’ll have to serve justice myself in the time-honored tradition of the mountain folk.Unless you’d prefer the sheriff?”
Whitney knew she was trapped.Mac wasn’t playing fair by holding her theft over her head to get his way.Still, a minor niggle of truth told her he was correct.Consequences were a part of life, especially among the mountain folk.
“Al...alright,” she finally agreed, flushing scarlet.“But not bare-bottomed.”She wiggled, impatient for the punishment to be over now that she had agreed.It wouldn’t make much difference in the pain, but at least the panties preserved her modesty—sort of.
“Justice is best served on a bare bottom,” he growled, lifting his big hand and bringing it down with sharp, stinging slaps on her shrinking bottom.“But I can live with your ultimatum.”
Whitney gasped and flailed her arms uselessly.She was right—the panties did nothing to shield her from his hard palm.She gritted her teeth and tried to endure his scolding, which was almost worse than the spanking.He laid down his rules in no uncertain terms—arrogant pig.Whitney’s anger simmered as she listened with an occasional yelp of outraged pain.
“You can stay up here, but only under my supervision, Whitney.”
“What?”She squealed indignantly.
“And I’ll be checking on you regularly and making sure you have what you need.”
“I don’t needthat,” she gritted between her teeth, trying to hold the traitorous tears in.
He ignored her and continued.“I’ll be going to town with you tomorrow, and my mom and sister can watch Luke and Amelia while we are gone.And we’ll be seeing the preacher about getting married in the near future.Those are my terms for you to stay up here.”
Whitney couldn’t believe her ears.Married?Who did he think he was to demand she marry him?She would never marry a brute who dished out raw fire to her tender flesh, leaving her in agony as she squirmed helplessly.She was so humiliated and angry that she couldn’t even speak.Her backside felt raw and blistered, and the tears tore free from restraint and ran in rivulets down her face.Giving him the satisfaction of making her cry really galled her.
He finished up with a flurry of hard spanks that left her breathless.Then he pulled her upright to look into her face.He was a demanding, arrogant brute.Whitney impulsively decided the mean right hook her father had taught her would come in handy right now.It was timehelearned a lesson.
She gave it all she had.
In retrospect, Whitney realized she shouldn’t have hit Mac as she flung herself into the hay in the corner of the hayloft.The dull thunk of his head against the hard logs of the woodshed had sickened her.She hoped she hadn’t hurt him after all.Still, right now, her pity party was absorbing every emotion she had, mixing in the attraction she felt for him and his arrogant resolution to her problem, creating a swirling mess in a pot of mental stew.And the worst part of all?The idea of marriage to the handsome cowboy wasn’t that heinous—just not on these terms.
Where was her dad when she needed him the most?She cried harder, missing her mom like crazy, and wishing for her dad to come home and get her out of this mess.
***
MAC NEVER SAW THE SMALLfist coming that darned near took the side of his head off.He reeled backwards, his skull striking the wall behind him, and he was helpless to stop her from jumping up and running out.Seeing stars was as accurate a description as he could come up with.Groaning, he closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them to make sure his vision wasn’t doubled or blurred.Staring at the open door of the woodshed, he rose carefully to his feet, his jaw throbbing like crazy.He couldn’t believe she’d actually hit him.
Feeling something wet, he gingerly touched the back of his head.His fingers came away with blood on them.The little brat had caused a break in the skin.Hell, he could have a concussion for all he knew.Where had she learned to punch like a barroom brawler?
The last time he’d taken a hit like that had been when his drunk friend Jake had decked him at Dobbins bar a few years back.But he’d never expected a little girl to punch his lights out.
Cursing softly to himself, he yanked the door wide open and stepped outside, his gaze searching for the obstinate young woman.He spotted the pink color of her dress just as she disappeared into the ramshackle barn, and he determinedly followed her.Her butt was going to be the color of cranberries when he was finished with her.
He yanked the barn door open and stepped inside, half expecting to be greeted with a pitchfork at his chest, but he was surprised to hear the sounds of distraught weeping instead.He followed the harsh sobs that led him up the ladder and into the hayloft.He finally spied her, lying curled in a little ball on the soft, loose hay in a corner.The anger drained from him as he listened to her anguished weeping, and he wondered how long it had been since she’d cried.
Sitting gingerly down beside her, he tried to gather her up in his arms, but she pushed at his broad chest, trying to hide her face from him and pull away.He ignored her and pulled her into his embrace anyway, sliding her onto his lap and then holding her tightly, rocking her stiff little body.She certainly was a prickly little thing.
At last, he felt her begin to relax, and her distressed cries slowly diminished until finally, a big sigh escaped her bosom.He just held her, on the alert now, but content to hold her through her stormy emotions.He figured it must have been pretty hard on her trying to see after Luke and Amelia for months.Dammed hard, actually, now that he tried to see it from her point of view.It was a different from her perspective.
Maybe he would have had more choices, being a man and all, but he supposed she had done what she thought had to, even when she stole from him to keep their parents’ absence a secret.Still, that didn’t justify her trying to take his head off, but he would deal with that later.
“I’m s-sorry I hit you,” she confessed into his shirt, hiding her face from him.“That was wrong of me, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“We’ll discuss that later,” he replied gently.
“A...are you very angry with me?”She peeped up at him.
“Furious, but like I said, we’ll settle up later.”He tilted her chin up to look in her eyes.They were puffy and red around the edges, and her nose was a little sniffly, but Mac thought she was quite a pretty little thing.Her dark lashes swept towards her eyebrows like tiny fans, and tears clung to them, making them spiky.Her lower lip still trembled as she stared back at him.
“Look, I know it must have been a shock for me to spring marriage on you like that, but I figured it was time I got married, and you need someone too.”He rubbed the back of his neck when she frowned at him in disbelief.“Well, besides, Luke seems a good boy, and little Amelia needs a daddy.I don’t mind a ready-made family.”
He gazed earnestly down at her.Small talk wasn’t one of his finer points, and he could feel the red creeping up his throat.But here in the hills folks didn’t stand much on ceremony.If couples were interested in each other, they just got married—better to do it before the shotguns came out.
