Cowboy Caveat (7 page)

Amy and Millie made the train connection at
Henrietta in good time and settled themselves into a private
compartment. They watched the comings and goings of people outside
the train window as they moved onto the platform, some boarding and
others departing.

Suddenly the door into the
girl’s compartment was wrenched open and a small tousled-haired boy
appeared in the doorway. He grinned at the girls briefly, then he
dived under their seat. “Don’t give me away to the old witch,
ma’am
, please!
”
he implored as he vanished. He was followed by a thin wiry woman
wearing a dirty white bonnet. Her skin was wrinkled and brown and
she sported a rather large nose with a wart on one side. She looked
so much like an archetypal witch that both girls took one look at
her and dissolved in a fit of the giggles. This did nothing to
improve the demeanour of the ‘witch’ and she glared at Amy,
demanding to know if they had seen a small and ‘very bad’ boy. Amy
truthfully replied that she had seen no ‘bad’ boys at all since
boarding the train, whereupon the woman spun around and left,
banging the sliding door shut behind her.

“
You can come out now; the
witch has gone!” called Millie as she leant down to peer into the
darkness under her seat. The child stuck his head out and grinned
up at them before scrambling out and plonking himself down next to
Millie. “Gee, thanks miss, that Miz Cardon’s a real
meanie!”

“
What did you do to make
her mad?” asked Amy curiously.

“
She was just born
cussed...but I guess a spider down her neck upset her a mite!” The
boy chuckled and his light brown eyes twinkled with merriment. Amy
and Millie burst out laughing.

“
So is she your aunt or
something?” Millie asked the boy, who it seemed had spotted the
picnic and appeared to be mesmerized by the wicker basket full of
goodies.

“
Um, no, she’s the warden;
can I taste some vittals outa that basket?” He was already reaching
with small grubby hands toward the lid.

“
I will get you a ham
biscuit but look - your hands are filthy!” Amy pushed his grubby
hands away and pulled out the promised food, handing it over with a
small checked cloth.

“
You said ‘warden’...what
are you, a child criminal?” Millie asked, intrigued.

The boy cocked his head on one side and told
them he was an orphan being moved to an all-boy institution from
the mixed one he had been living in up until now. Millie was
horrified.

“
You mean your parents are
dead and you have no family?” she asked.

The child nodded, his mouth full of ham and
biscuit.

“
We are orphans, too, but
we have an older brother and sister-in-law who look after us. We
are going to see our grandmother for a visit,” Millie told the boy.
“I am Millie and this is my older sister Amy.....what’s your
name?”

“
Luca, Miss. Can I stay
with you and visit your grandmother, too? I won’t give you no
trouble, please Miss?” Luca asked eagerly.

“
How old are you, Luca?”
Amy asked the small boy. Surely he couldn’t be much more than six;
he was so slight.

The boy chewed his mouthful and swallowed
before answering. “Um, I guess I might be seven?”

“
You mean you don’t
know?!” Millie was shocked. How could any child not know its own
age?

“
No one ever told me, I
guess.” The boy looked embarrassed and Amy quickly handed him a
peach to cover the awkward moment. The child took it gratefully and
bit into it, seemingly unaware of the juice running down his chin.
Amy passed him a red-checkered napkin to wipe his mouth.

The door was suddenly wrenched open and all
three swivelled their heads toward the opening. Amy gave a cry of
recognition and flew off her seat to Ethan, wrapping her arms
around his waist and laying her head on his chest. Ethan’s arms
came around Amy in an instinctive protective action and, relieved
to find her in one piece, he hugged her close and kissed her hair,
breathing in her sweet scent. His eyes closed with relief – Amy was
safe in his arms where she belonged. For a moment Ethan forgot his
anger with her and savored her presence. She was home to him as no
other could ever be.

Amy spoke first, still holding him. She
raised her face to study his handsome features. Amy hadn’t realised
how much she had missed her fiancée and the security he bought to
her by his strong, reassuring presence. Amy also knew Ethan well
enough to read the fury building behind his steady hazel gaze as
his eyes locked onto hers.

“
Ethan
.... darlin’!”
she
breathed.

Ethan quirked a brow at his intended. “Yup.”
He held her away from him and looked her over for any sign of
damage; she certainly looked none the worse for her adventure. “Do
you realise that today should have been our wedding day?” he asked
her, his eyebrows lowered over shadowed, disappointed eyes.

“
Well, of course I....”
Amy started to say, but was quickly interrupted by
Ethan.

“
You also realise that you
could have been up on a murder charge if Henderson had died? As it
is, the man is pressing charges against you for attempted
murder!”

“
I suppose Lucy blabbed
did she....and told you where we were?” Amy pulled away from Ethan
irritably.

Ethan was incredulous. Did Amy really have
no idea of the seriousness of her situation?

“
My sister very
stupidly and
stubbornly
refused to tell Ed or
me
anything
at
all until Ed spanked her good and hard with a butter pat until she
could take no more and finally gave in, confessing everything,”
Ethan told her in a low voice.

Millie, who had been
following the proceedings with great interest, butted in,
exclaiming, “Ed
spanked
Lucy? But Ed never spanks!!!”

Ethan, who had forgotten the presence of the
others, so intent was he on speaking to Amy, nodded and said, “Yup,
she was foolhardy for not telling him when he first asked her where
the two of you were. She got no more than she deserved....say,
who’s this?” Ethan cast his gaze over a round-eyed Luca, who was
staring at him, entranced by the arrival of the big handsome cowboy
with such a deep Texan drawl.

“
Oh this is my friend,
Luca - Luca say howdy to my brother-in-law, Ethan Walker. He’s
Amy’s fiancé!”

Ethan nodded to the small boy and Luca
muttered a shy, “How-do, mister.”

Ethan turned back to Amy. “Have you any idea
of the mess you’ve landed us all in, young lady!”

Amy snorted in the most unladylike
manner.

Ethan frowned at her and noticed Millie,
wide-eyed and drinking in the whole conversation. “We need some
private time here, Millie, so you and your friend wait outside
please and don’t come back in here until I call you no matter what
you hear, understood?”

Millie nodded, took Luca’s hand and led him
out of the carriage, sliding the door closed. Ethan immediately
pulled the blinds down so that no one in the corridor could see
inside the compartment. He turned to face Amy, who had sat down on
one of the long seats and was watching Ethan wearily.

Ethan turned to gaze at Amy and said, “Okay,
tell me what happened, all of it, the truth and don’t leave
anything out.”

Amy looked at her hands and cleared her
throat before she begun recounting the bizarre happening of
yesterday.

“
We were on our way to the
church for my appointment with the Reverend Norman, when Henderson
appeared from around the corner and deliberately barged into us,
knocking Millie off the side walk and into the dirt. He started to
call us names; then something strange came over me and Ethan, I
knew, I just
knew
for sure he had killed my parents. I felt my little hand gun
in my reticule, and I just shot him. You know how that silly thing
shoots high left?”

Ethan nodded grimly.

“
I aimed for the bastard’s
heart but shot him in the shoulder instead,” Amy said and
shrugged.

Ethan made a sound like a
low growl; his jaw was set and he ground out slowly, “Amelia Jane
Campbell, you shot an unarmed man on a
whim!
” He held up his hand to
silence Amy as she began to protest.

“
On a
whim
Amy, because you have no
evidence at all that Henderson killed your parents. You have
sacrificed our wedding day and put your family in an untenable
situation and you seem to have no remorse or understanding of how
wrong your behavior was and still is. Now listen up, young lady,
‘cos this is what is gonna happen now.”

Amy opened her mouth to speak but Ethan
stopped her again, this time with a look.

“
If you interrupt me
jus’
once
more,
missy, you will be even sorrier, little girl! In just a moment, I
am going to put you across my knee and spank your sorry butt for
what you put me and Ed through. I am going to escort you to your
grandmother’s house and once we’re there, I’m gonna find me a
Justice of the Peace to marry us. After that, I intend to spank you
‘til you can’t sit down for at least a week for shooting an unarmed
man. Then hopefully your grandmother will find you a good defense
lawyer to fight your case in court.
Now
then missy, you jus’ come here
!”

Amy wasn’t too worried about being spanked.
She considered herself a tough girl, although she was horrified
about it happening in a public railway carriage! She tried to tell
Ethan but he ignored her totally and tugged her unceremoniously
across his well-muscled thighs. He pushed up her dress and
petticoats and parted her drawers. Amy blushed and wriggled about
with embarrassment. Ethan lifted one of his legs and placed it over
Amy’s legs, securing her to him. Amy buried her face in her hands
on the train seat and resigned herself to her fate. After all,
Ethan had spanked her before, it would soon be over and she knew it
was no worse than falling off a horse. The first blow took her by
some surprise; surely it hadn’t stung quite like that last
time?

Ethan’s itchy right hand was in its element.
He was determined that his wife-to-be would learn a lesson from
this spanking, and oh boy, was he going to teach it to her!

Without any preliminaries, Ethan lit into
Amy’s bottom, raining down heavy-handed blows all over until she
was rosy pink. Then he began spanking the tender, creased area
where her thigh met her bottom. The staccato sound of falling slaps
sounded like small gunshots within the confines of the railway
carriage, and Amy worried that the whole train knew she was getting
a spanking!

Amy squirmed and tried to kick. This was not
what she was expecting at all! Ethan was actually hurting her!

“
Stop, Ethan! Enough
now...
I said stop
!”

Ethan, far from stopping, continued to scald
Amy’s bottom with blistering spanks until Amy was unable to stop
herself from crying out with each sizzling swat. She tried to rock
sideways to evade the scorching punishment but to no avail. Ethan
held her fast and his hand bounced off Amy’s quivering and tender
bottom with merciless resolve.

Amy’s pleas turned to cries for mercy, then
just to cries and she sobbed.

Outside in the narrow
corridor of the train, Millie grinned at Luca, who was wide-eyed.
“That man is mighty,
mighty
cross with your sister!” he said, stating the
obvious.

Millie nodded. “Yup. He loves her, though.
Amy’s a bit, well wild, and Ethan is going to marry her. He just
wants to keep Amy safe is all.”

Luca looked confused. “Safe from who?” he
asked.

Millie pursed her lips, “We-e-ell, from
herself, I guess. Amy is always in a scrape! Don’t worry, Luca, I
like Ethan....he’s alright.”

“
Shall we peek?” Luca
asked. They slid the door open a crack and peered through to see
Ethan’s arm swinging high, delivering blows all over Amy’s
bottom.

Without breaking his stride or looking up
Ethan said, “Unless you want to be next over my knee, Millicent
Campbell, I suggest you shut that door right now!”

Millie, blushing furiously, hurriedly
slammed the door closed.

No sooner had they pulled the door shut than
the spiteful Miss Cardon bore down on the two of them; she reached
out to grab hold of Luca’s arm and Millie immediately grabbed his
other arm. A tug of war began between them with poor little Luca
caught in the middle of two screeching females.

When the ruckus out in the corridor could no
longer be ignored, Ethan reluctantly helped Amy upright. “That’s
just a taste of what’s yet to come, missy,” he told her before
jumping up and opening the door to see what the kerfuffle was
about.

Amy wiped the tears from her face with her
palms and then hurriedly rubbed her scalded rump with both hands
but she wasted little time on self-pity. She was more interested in
what was happening out in the corridor. Amy could hear Millie
shouting and another raised female voice.

Ethan rubbed a weary hand over his face.
What was it about females, anyway? They just had to screech. Why
couldn’t they just speak instead of this perpetual shrieking all
the time? It was one of the reasons he liked Amy so much -- she was
quiet most of the time; she didn’t scream and carry on like other
women seemed to do.