Betrothed (8 page)

She gasped with the first smack and hunched her shoulders, burrowing her head deeper into the bed as his hand came down again and again.  He was spanking hard and she didn't even try not to cry. It had been so stressful to have her first quarrel with Bronson and though the spanking hurt, in a way it was good to have the release.  Mayhap it
would
clear the air.  
Smack.  Smack. Smack.
  Again and again his hand fell, alternating sides and mostly striking the lower half of her bottom.  She tried to hold very still and stay in place for him, to accept whatever chastisement he thought was appropriate. 
Smack.  Smack.
She knew she deserved it. 
Smack.  Smack.  Smack.  Smack.
  She had acted no better than a petulant child down there. 

After a few moments he finished spanking and began rubbing her bottom.  It was such a sweet and loving gesture that she melted completely.  She felt wholly
his
.  His for punishing and his for making love to.  And sure enough, his thoughts had gone there, too.  She felt his fingers reach between her legs and find her sex, stroking it until it was slick and swollen.  Her tears had stopped and she found she was moaning softly now.  He slid her farther up onto the bed and rolled her onto her back.  His fingers entered her and she spread her knees and arched her hips back.  Bronson groaned. 

As he slid a finger into her— no mayhap it was two— and built a rhythm until he was plunging deeply and then curling his fingers inside her so that she could feel them tickling her inside wall.  The sensation was one like she had never experienced— so intense, so pleasurable, that she suddenly got so wet she almost wondered if she'd peed a little.  He didn't stop the incredible treatment and soon she was climaxing with a shout, then clapping her hand over her mouth, lest the servants hear her.  Bronson laughed and rolled her onto her belly. 

She lay there, panting, wondering suddenly if he meant to spank her some more, until she felt his fingers were between her legs again.  Then—oh!  His thumb pressed into the cleft of her cheeks and found the hole that was farther back.  She clenched her cheeks in surprise and embarrassment.  Bronson chuckled and persisted.  She let out a squeak.  His thumb was circling around her button there, applying gentle pressure but not really forcing entry.  By Our Lady, she had never known such thing was possible!  It was so embarrassing, and yet so...  no, no, no—she simply couldn't!  She tried to scramble away and thankfully, he removed his hand, but then two firm hands grabbed her thighs and dragged her back down toward him and he did spank her— several more sharp slaps that left her gasping, clenching her cheeks in anticipation.  But he was laughing. 

“Julia,” he said with mock admonishment.  “You were a very naughty wife tonight.  Now you must take your punishment.  And this is how I've decided you shall be punished.”  She peeked a look at him over her shoulder and he was grinning, obviously pleased with the direction his punishment had taken.  He held her eyes as he plunged his fingers into her again and she buried her face, too embarrassed to look at him.  His thumb circled around her lower button again, gently applying pressure.  Her heart was pounding, she was gasping and then she was appalled to find that she was relaxing and allowing it, even welcoming it.  Because despite the distinct embarrassment of being touched there, she found the pleasure of having his fingers in both places more than doubled the intensity of her pleasure.  Mayhap it more than tripled it.  She was discovering that he had very clever fingers indeed.  Fingers that required no help from his mouth or sex.  As he found a rhythm rocking his hand back and forth from one entry to the other, he built up speed and intensity until she cried out and climaxed for the second time, her muscles clenching and contracting as she gasped his name. 

After that discovery, he wasted no time in showing her what else he was capable of when she was on her back and he above her.  He slid in easily— she was more than ready for him at this point.  At first he looked at the ceiling as he drove into her, like he was trying to distract himself, but after a while he found a wonderful rhythm and he looked down at her and smiled affectionately, then pinched one of her nipples between his finger and thumb. 

“Oh!” she cried and he laughed and lowered his torso down to hers, kissing and biting at her neck, then reaching one hand underneath her to cup her hot cheek.  He held them tightly together that way, so that they moved in concert, and then his finger sought and found that button again.  This time he pushed more insistently, though, and suddenly she found his finger had entry and he was penetrating her in two places at once.  As shameful as it was, she knew better than to fight him on it and verily, she couldn't deny the waves of pleasure she felt from it.  It was not more than a few moments of that before she felt as if she exploded— as if her whole self turned inside-out, so great was the climax he drew out of her.  She shuddered and clenched, her sex milking the climax out of him, and she was satisfied to hear him shouting now, too, over her cries. 

At the end of it all, though her bottom still smarted, she felt absolutely blissful.  She twined her arms around his neck and kissed it.  He rolled onto his side and cupped her hot bottom in his hand, caressing her in a way that kept the fire in her belly still kindled.     

After they had caught their breaths and laid together in a blissful harmony, he said, “So you do or you don't care about who I choose for the widow?”

“What?  Oh.”  Julia brought her mind back from its satiated drifting.  She leaned her head on her elbow and studied him.  “Well...would you consider giving her a choice?  If it comes down to two men who are equal in your mind?”

He nodded.  “Yes.”

She rewarded him with a grateful smile.  “Thank you, my lord.”

“Julia, verily the widow has nothing to do with us.  I shouldn't have brought our marriage into it to begin with.”  He sighed, “I'm just glad you weren't given a choice, that's all.”

She felt a rush of love at that.  “So am I,” she said truthfully and snuggled into him. 

He patted her bottom affectionately. 

Chapter Six

Spanking Julia had been a pleasure.  She'd been so submissive and looked so beautiful lying across his lap like that.  After being a leader of men for the past seven years, Bronson found that being a husband was a bit of a different game.  Julia was nervous in her new role and she was looking to him for guidance.  The trouble was, he didn't really know yet what he should and shouldn't correct. 

Oh, some of it was easy— the things he wouldn't stand from his men, he would refuse to take from her as well.  Like walking away without being dismissed, or speaking disrespectfully.  But the rest of it he had previously been inclined to let slide because she was... well, adorable. 

But last week she'd been expecting him to punish her for questioning him in front of his men and he'd known only a fool wouldn't follow through on giving her what she thought she deserved.  He hadn't spanked her that hard or long and they both had enjoyed the aftermath.  But he was resolved to chastise her in earnest the next time something came up.  He couldn't have her thinking he wasn't serious when he spoke to her.

They were in the great hall and he was giving orders about which servants should be assigned to a duty.  “But Hannaford has always been in charge of shearing the sheep,” she interrupted.  “I should think he would be better suited there, than working on the barn.” 

He raised one eyebrow at her with a frown.  Like his men, she'd grown to recognize his various looks and when she saw that one she suddenly clapped her hand over her mouth and went pale.  He folded his arms across his chest and said nothing. 

“Forgive me, my lord.  You know best, of course,” she mumbled, turning on her heel to escape.

Cruel though it was, he let her anticipation build, saying nothing to her until after supper, when he simply asked her to go to their chambers and wait for him. 

She was pacing about their chamber when he arrived, her face pinched and apprehensive. 

“Were you just testing to see if I would actually punish you or do you really believe I can't handle the management of this demesne?”  He asked her quietly. 

She blanched.  “Neither, my lord,” she whispered, shaking her head.  “It's just... I'm used to things being a different way and I forget my place.  I'm sorry.”

He nodded.  “Thank you for your apology.”  He sat down on the edge of the bed.  “Fetch me one of my belts,” he said and watched her reluctantly walk to the armoire.  He made a big show of inspecting the belt she brought him and then pointed to the edges of it.  “Not this one, it has rough edges— it might cut your skin.  Find a smoother one.” she headed back to the armoire.  “And more narrow,” he added. She glanced back nervously.  She brought back another belt, which he inspected just as closely and found acceptable.

“Take off your clothes,” he said softly. 

She was quaking as she stripped off her dress and shift, studiously avoiding his eyes as she undressed for her discipline.

“Come here.”

She came to stand in front of him, naked and blushing, and he pulled her down to sit on his right knee.  “Why am I punishing you?”

She looked at her hands.  “For questioning you in front of others.”

“Aye.  I will always be willing to hear your opinion, Julia.  You just need to find a better way to offer it to me.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“When I was a squire along with John and Andrew, my father had a knight who took great pleasure in punishing his wife.  He was always giving us advice about how best to go about it, and although we thought he was half crazy, the strangest part was that he and his wife were closer than any couple in the castle.  There was never any doubt that they were deeply in love and they seemed to have a very happy marriage.  We could never understand it. 

Anyway, one piece of advice that I remember him giving was to spank with your hand first, so that there's less of a chance of leaving marks when you use your belt afterward.”  He shrugged.  “I thought we would test that out because it would please me— nay, that's a bad choice of words— I would be
content
to not leave marks on this beautiful little bottom,” he said lightly stroking the curve of her bared cheek.

At this point she was thoroughly embarrassed and frightened so he wasted no more time.  He leaned her over his left knee, so her upper body rested on the bed and began to spank her with his hand, listening to the little grunts and squeaks she made with each smack and being sure to redden every part of her cheeks.  As he slapped her again and again, his irritation with her faded completely.  He became acutely aware of how beautiful she was and how sweet her submission.  She hadn't argued or tried to talk her way out of the punishment.  She hadn't made him chase her and hold her down.  She had taken off her own clothing and stood naked before him with a bowed head, offering the belt he had asked her to fetch.  And now she quietly held herself in place as he smarted every inch of her bottom.

After a few more minutes, he sat her back up onto his right knee, feeling the heat from her bottom through his leggings.  Her hair was adorably mussed and her face was red but her eyes were dry.  He was surprised.

“Can I not make you cry with my hand alone?”

She looked startled at that.  Then she said thoughtfully, “I'm not crying because you are so calm.  If you yelled at me, I would be bawling from your words alone.”

He started to remind her that he'd promised to never punish her in anger when the full meaning of her words set in.  It was his regard that she cared about, not his punishment.  His little wife wanted to please him, mayhap she even loved him.  The thought set off a flare of passion, and he grew hard, his arm tightening around her naked figure.  He lifted her onto her back on the bed and covered her body with his own, kissing her with demand, worshiping her with his hands and mouth, taking her until they both climaxed.

He lay with her for a while.  But distractions aside, his father had taught him that you never threaten a punishment without carrying through.  He sat up at the edge of the bed and pulled Julia back over his lap into spanking position.  She gave a squeak of dismay and he chuckled.  “I'm sorry, love.  I still have to finish what I started.”  He started over, spanking her again with his hand until her skin had turned a mottled red.  Then he stood her up to face him, cupping a hot cheek in each hand, enjoying the view of her sweet little naked body, the trembling of her lower lip. 

He put on his sternest look.  “Julia, I may not be yelling, but that doesn't mean that I'm not extremely unhappy with you.  Three times now you've questioned me in front of others, even after I'd chastised you for it.  It is disrespectful to me and it weakens my authority with all who serve me.  Each time you apologize, but then it happens again.”

The lip tremble grew.  She was starting to lose her composure.  Just a little more lecture was needed.  He improvised.  “I won't make demands of you unless they're important to me.  When I do, I expect you to honor them.  Will you do that for me?” 

The tears started.  She nodded.  “Yes, Bronson,” she whispered.

He bent her back over his left knee and picked up the belt, doubling it since he had a short swing with her bent over his knee that way.  He alternated cheeks, holding down her upper back with his left arm to keep her still, as she bucked and jumped with each slap of the stinging leather on her skin.  She cried in earnest now, weeping and sobbing, “I'm sorry!” in a way that made his heart contract.

After an even dozen, he finished it, lifting her up to cradle in his arms, kissing her forehead and wiping her tears with his thumb.  He lifted her onto the bed on her belly and stroked her back, then lightly stroked her chastised bottom, tracing the lines of the welts with his finger.  She was beautiful.  And he wanted her again. 

He leaned over and planted a kiss, first on one sore cheek, then on the other.  Then he pulled her hips up, spread her thighs and licked into her core, listening as her sniffles turned into moans of pleasure.  He slid into her from behind and she lifted herself onto her knees and elbows, making a most fetching sight.  He moved gently inside her until she started pushing back against him with a building urgency and he picked up the speed and thrust until they both found their satisfaction again.