02 Madoc (10 page)

Her eyes went wide at the mention of a spanking. “You’re not serious!”

But Shayna could see from the expression on his face that Madoc was definitely serious. She would have put up more of a fuss, but she was still sort of fuzzy from sleep and before she could even attempt to put up a serious protest, she found herself being pulled over his knee. Even though past experience told her that struggling against him wouldn’t do any good, she found herself fighting to push herself off his lap anyway. But his firm hand on her lower back held her easily in place as he pushed up the dress shirt she had worn to bed.

“Ah, no panties,” he observed. “Good. That’ll make it easier.”

Shayna groaned. She really loved Madoc, but these spankings of his were a real pain in the butt. Literally.

“Owwwww!” she yelped as the first smack came down on her bare bottom. “Do you have to start out so hard?”

“If I don’t spank you hard, you won’t think I’m serious,” Madoc said, giving her another sharp smack on the ass.

“And I wouldn’t want you to think that.”

Oh, yeah, he was serious, all right, Shayna thought as he began to methodically apply his strong hand to first one cheek, and then the other. Without the benefit of panties, the spanks had her ass blazing right from the very start, and even though she told herself it would do no good, she still struggled all the same, wiggling and squirming around on his lap.

All that did was cause Madoc to wrap his arm tightly around her waist and spank her even harder.

“What you did tonight was beyond foolish, Shayna,” Madoc said, punctuating each word with a stinging slap.

“When you ran into the clearing, Mulrooney could easily have tried to shoot you instead of me.”

“But he...owwwww!...didn’t!” she pointed out.

“And then, as if that weren’t enough,” he continued, “you decide to join the fight.”

“I had to!” she told him in between yelps. “You needed help!”

“I needed you to be safe!” Madoc told her.

“But...”

“Oh, and let’s not forget about borrowing Mrs. Murray’s car,” he added, giving her a hard spank to each of her sit-spots.

“Owwwww!” she cried. “Okay, okay, I get it! You’ve made your point! I promise to not do anything that foolish ever again!”

At her words, Madoc paused for a moment to rest his hand on her tender bottom, and she let out a sigh of relief.

“Once again, I really doubt that,” he said.

She craned her neck to look at him over her shoulder. “But I promise I really will try to be better,” she said softly, and then added, “Besides, it’s not like I’m going to get involved with a murderer again any time soon, right?”

From the scowl Madoc gave her, Shayna immediately realized she had said the wrong thing, but before she could explain, he had lifted his hand and was bringing it down on her ass again. The smacks seemed even harder than they had before, and all she could do was press her face into the covers and kick her legs. To her relief, however, he didn’t give her much more than another dozen or so before he flipped her over and cuddled her on his lap.

“You really scared me out there tonight, Shayna,” he told her, his voice rough with emotion. “I know that you were only trying to help, but you could have gotten yourself killed. I don’t ever want you doing anything like that again.” He drew in a ragged breath. “I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you.”

Shayna felt herself melt at his words. If she had any doubt as to what his feelings were for her, they disappeared in that moment. Ignoring the way the rough material of his jeans rubbed against her freshly-spanked bottom, she leaned forward and kissed him hard on the mouth. He returned her kiss just as passionately, his mouth moving over hers with an eagerness that left her breathless.

When Madoc lifted his head several long minutes later, it was to set her gently on the bed so that he could take off his clothes. Once he was naked, he stood beside the bed and gazed down at her. “I love you, Shayna Matthews,” he told her hoarsely.

Even though she knew how he felt about her, hearing him say the words out loud made her heart leap for joy.

Tears of happiness welling in her eyes, she smiled up at him. “I love you, too,” she said, and then added, “Now, get that gorgeous body of yours into this bed and make love to me.”

Madoc promptly obeyed, his mouth finding hers in a kiss as he settled himself between her legs.

Afterward, as they lay together in the huge bed, a thought occurred to Shayna and she smiled. “You know,” she said softly as she idly trailed her fingers up and down his muscular chest. “If you hadn’t come into that diner in Flint Rock, I’d still be living my life on the run and we never would have found each other.”

Madoc chuckled, the sound a deep rumble beneath her ear. “If I hadn’t gone in there,” he told her. “I would never have met the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

Her pulse fluttering, Shayna pushed herself up on her elbow to look down at him. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Madoc grinned. “Yup,” he drawled, and then added, “You know, since that diner holds such special meaning for both of us, maybe we should have our reception there.”

Laughing, Shayna snuggled up beside him. Now, that was a romantic thought, especially since that diner would always be special to them. Even so, she couldn’t really see them having their wedding reception there. Thank God, Madoc wasn’t serious, she thought. Then she frowned. He had been joking, hadn’t he?

The End