Dealing With Discipline (19 page)

"Because he deserved it," Eleanor
retorted, although she wasn't quite so certain of that anymore.
 His reaction hadn't been at all what she'd thought it would
be, in fact he didn't seem nearly to be the kind of indifferent and
uncaring brute that Grace had made him out to be.  Would
someone like that tell Edwin to go easy on her?  Commend her
loyalty to her friend?  

"Exactly what did he do to deserve your sharp
tongue?  He was nothing but polite to you when you were rude
to him, and he even gave you a second chance to return his
regard."

"He treats Grace horribly," Eleanor said, the
only defense that she had.  "I saw her yesterday... she's an
emotional wreck and it's all his fault!"

Edwin wanted to bang his head
against the carriage wall; the flickering lights of the streetlamps
allowed him to see glimpses of Eleanor's face as they traveled.
 She was upset, he could see that and he knew that she meant
what she was saying, but he was also frustrated with her.
 Sometimes she could be so stubbornly immature when it came to
relations between the sexes.  That was something that he was
grateful for the majority of the time, but sometimes - like now -
it was a hindrance to her understanding. 

"It is rarely all one person's fault," he said
angrily, wrapping his fingers around his cane so that he didn't
reach out and drag Eleanor across his lap.  He itched to spank
her but he didn't want to do so in a moving carriage.  "Grace
hasn't exactly been an exemplary wife.  From what I can see
she's been making Alex's life a misery ever since they
married."

"You don't know how things are between
them!"

"Somehow I doubt you do either.
 There are always two sides to every story, Eleanor, and while
your loyalty to Grace might be admirable, the truth of the matter
is that blind loyalty often means that you will find yourself on
the wrong side of the equation.  I can assure you that Alex is
just as upset with her behavior as she apparently is with
his."

"He’s had just as many lovers as
her! More!"

"Why is it any of your business?" he
countered.

"Because Grace is my friend."

"As her friend you should be her confidant and
her support, but that does not mean that you go about willy-nilly
making judgments on people whom you haven't bothered to have a
conversation with, much less get to know them on their own
merits."

Biting her lip, Eleanor privately
conceded that Edwin had a point.  It wouldn't have mattered
what Lord Brooke said to her, she would have been rude to him
anyway. But his responses to that rudeness had given her second
thoughts about Grace's presentation of him already, and she was
well aware that Grace had never given her all of the details about
their marriage.  Also, she conceded, she was sensitive on the
subject of men with wives having mistresses.  Not that she
would tell Edwin that. 

The long silence told Edwin
that his wife was finally thinking about what he had said.
 Thank goodness, he thought exasperatedly.  Just because
he liked Alex didn't mean that he begrudged Eleanor her friend's
company, even if he wished that his wife's best friend had better
morals and less lovers, but he wasn't going to allow her to be rude
to a peer in public either. Especially not one he
did
consider a
friend.

The rest of the carriage ride was spent in
silence, but the waves of resentment emanating from Eleanor's
direction had ceased.  Instead he saw a thoughtful expression
on her face as she looked out the window.  Rather than forcing
her to talk about it, Edwin let her process his arguments on her
own.  Pushing Nell was not the way to change her mind, she
would just dig in stubbornly.  And it's not as if this was a
behavior that he could spank out of her - although he certainly
intended to spank her for her rudeness.  His cock stirred at
the thought.  

Unfortunately he was going to have to wait
until they were home before he could indulge in anything physical
with her, whether it be punishment or pleasure.  He wasn't
going to rush her now that she was finally thinking things through
instead of just reacting.  Although even if she decided that
she still didn't like Lord Brooke, Edwin was absolutely not going
to tolerate that kind of lack of decorum in public from his
wife. 

******

Following Edwin upstairs, Eleanor did
her best to drag her feet without actually seeming to drag her
feet.  She still couldn't decide whether she hated the way she
responded to the punishment he meted out or if she was glad that
she managed to find some pleasure in it.  It seemed singularly
humiliating that she should become so aroused while being demeaned
by a spanking - or worse - and yet she couldn't be entirely sorry
that her discipline was invariably followed by
passion.  

At least she knew that her strange
reaction was entirely due to her husband.  She'd certainly
never found any kind of enjoyment during the spankings and
birchings she'd received from her father.  So perhaps it
wasn't that she responded to the punishment but to Edwin.
 That made it slightly more palatable.  And more
embarrassing. 

Worse, she found herself rather
embarrassed by her behavior this evening as well.  The more
she'd thought about Lord Brooke's reactions and his defense of her,
the worse she'd felt about how she'd acted.  Not only had she
been deliberately rude to someone her husband obviously considered
a friend, but she certainly hadn't furthered Grace's cause at all
in Edwin's mind and probably not in Lord Brooke's either.  And
lately she'd been thinking that perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to be
in Edwin's good graces, to try and be the wife that he wanted.
 Perhaps he would be more inclined to show his feelings
towards her if she behaved. 

At least that was a theory.  One
which would, hopefully, cut down on the number of disciplinary
spankings she received from him and the humiliation of her
reaction.  Although, she thought as she blushed a little, she
did enjoy it when he gave her a light spanking just to warm her
bottom and heat up her body before making love to
her. 

But that was very different from the
kind of spanking that she knew she was about to
receive. 

Edwin preceded her into the room
before turning and facing her; she could feel the color rising in
her cheeks under his disapproving gaze.  To her horror, her
nipples tightened as he looked at her and she internally cursed her
body's response.  Reminding herself that she was here for
punishment, not passion, didn't deter the arousal that was curling
inside her stomach at all.  

Then again, who could entirely blame
her when the man she was looking upon was so devastatingly handsome
in his evening attire?  In the flicking light of the candles
and fire Edwin looked even more like a fallen angel, his face
partly shadowed, his dark hair and eyes seeming to drink in the
light.  

"Come here, Nell," he ordered, holding
out his hand.

When she reached him, tilting her head
back to look pleadingly into his eyes, he turned her around to face
away from him and she could feel him pulling at the laces on the
back of her dress.  She started to tremble.  Not because
she was afraid, but because she so desperately wanting him to touch
her.  The feel of her clothing sliding off of her body always
became erotic when Edwin was the one undressing her.
 

After she stepped out of the dress he
tossed it to the side, treating her undergarments with the same
lack of care until she was standing before him in nothing but her
stockings and the blue ribbons holding them up.  The same blue
ribbons that he'd bought her because they matched her eyes exactly.
 As he turned her around to face him again his eyes were hot
with desire and she knew that he'd noticed.  

"Do you understand why I'm going to
spank you tonight Eleanor?" he asked, cupping her chin in one hand
and forcing her to look at him.

Surprisingly there didn't seem to be
any fight in his wife tonight, instead she looked both resigned and
almost relieved.  As if she felt that she deserved the
punishment she was about to receive - which she did - and accepted
that fact.  While he enjoyed her spirit, he was glad to know
that he wasn't going to need to actually beat this lesson into her
rebellious bottom; sometimes he was sure that his wife was contrary
just for the pleasure of it.  

"Yes, I do," she said, looking up at
him with what looked true contriteness in her sapphire eyes.
 "I'm sorry I was rude to Lord Brooke."

"You would have done better to
apologize to him," Edwin said mildly, pleased at this change in
Nell.  Of course he didn't want her without her spirit, but he
also didn't want her to think that she could get away with bad or
rude behavior, and it pleased him to know that she wasn't so
self-involved and spoiled that she couldn't recognize and change
her ways when the situation merited it. 

"I wasn't sorry yet," she said, a
little waspishly, and he had to swallow a laugh.  But Eleanor
could see the twinkle in his eyes which meant that she had amused
him and she was glad of it.  That meant that he wasn't truly
upset with her, although she knew that it wouldn't make any
difference as to her spanking.

"Then you will apologize the next time
you see him?"

She sighed, but she knew it was the
right thing to do. "Yes," she muttered, her eyes glancing away from
his even though he kept her facing him.  It was uncomfortable
to look away for too long so she found herself back gazing into his
deep brown eyes, searching hers as if he was looking for the
secrets to her soul. 

"Good," he said, and she bristled,
which only amused him again.  Still, he knew that she wouldn't
back out of apologizing just because he approved.  That wasn't
the kind of person that Eleanor was.  

Deciding he was done with the lecture,
because having her standing in front of him in nothing but the
ivory silk stockings that were clinging to her long legs, was
killing him.  He loved undressing her and seeing her body
slowly revealed to him, and even more than that he loved having her
naked in front of him when he was fully clothed.  It was about
more than just her beauty, it was also about his domination over
her... he never tired of having Eleanor submit to him.  Some
wives might do so just to placate their husbands or to make them
happy, with Eleanor it was always a struggle and that made her
final submission all the more special.  

She would never do it for a man who
didn't deserve it and he knew that.

Releasing his hold on her chin,
feeling the loss of warmth against his palm, he sat down on the
chair in front of her vanity, facing away from the other piece of
furniture. 

"Come here, Nell," he said again,
patting his lap as he did so.  Unlike before, when she had
come slowly to his hand, this time she hesitated before moving
towards him.  It gave him time to admire her soft skin, the
strawberry nipples which had already hardened into little buds, and
the enticing golden cover of her mound. With her hair piled high
like a lady's, the jewels he'd bought her still clasped around her
neck, she looked like an erotic dream as she came towards him.
 His cock was already rock hard and she wasn't even across his
lap yet.

As she lowered her upper body, using
his thighs and the sides of the chair to brace herself, Edwin sat
back and forced himself to watch without touching her.  This
was the first time that she'd truly given herself over to
discipline without a fight and he wanted to relish it.  Of
course she deserved it, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy it.
 

The way her back arched, tendrils of
golden hair caressing the back of her slim neck as she moved, her
body pale and creamy against his dark pants.  For a moment her
breasts pressed against his thigh and then they were gone as she
tipped herself forward more, positioning herself so that she could
brace herself on the floor with her hands.  Now that she
couldn't see him, Edwin allowed himself a grin as he pulled her
body towards hers, nestling her soft stomach against his aching
hardness.

"Because you were deliberately and
unrepentantly rude at the ball, I think a count of twenty is fair,"
Edwin said. 

He could feel his wife shift as if she
wanted to say something but she didn't argue. Truthfully it was
more than fair, especially as he didn't plan to be particularly
hard on her - although he wouldn't describe his swings as soft
either. 

SMACK!

Eleanor let out a little yelp, her
body tensing and relaxing as Edwin rubbed his hand over the spot
that he'd just hit.  There hadn't been any warning and he'd
caught her off guard.  His hand rubbed at the sting and she
couldn't tell if he was making it better or worse. 

"Count them out for me
Nell."

"One," she said immediately, not
wanting him to repeat a blow just because she hadn't counted it.
 

SMACK!

"Two."

SMACK!" 

She gasped.  "Three."

Part of the reason that Edwin wanted
to hear her count was because otherwise she wouldn't make much
noise at the beginning.  Eleanor had the kind of pride that
made her hold in the soft gasps, the little cries that made his
cock throb.  But it was much harder for her to do so when she
had to open her mouth and speak immediately after instead of
clenching her jaw against her natural reaction.