Laying Down the Law (10 page)

“Ryan came to visit me.” She felt Tanner’s arms tighten. “It's okay,” she said quickly, feeling the leashed violence within him. “He just talked; he told me you visited him.” She looked up at him, waiting for an explanation.

“I won’t apologize for looking after you, Callie,” he replied with typical arrogance and she shook her head in exasperation, clucking she shook her head in exasperation, clucking her tongue.

“I didn’t think you would, you arrogant man. But I don’t want or need Ryan’s money; especially now that I’ve found out he’s not even my brother.”

“What?” Tanner looked down at her in shock.

Callie nodded her head, her forehead creased in thought. “Apparently, when my mom married dad she was pregnant with me.

Dad didn’t care, he adopted me, treated me as his own, his little princess, even left me part of the ranch. That’s why Ryan hated me so much; because he saw someone who wasn’t even his blood getting part of something that he loved that had been held in his family for generations.”

“Bet he also hated the fact that his dad loved you so much when you weren’t loved you so much when you weren’t technically his,” Tanner said.

“Yeah,” Callie said thoughtfully. “Dad really did love me, Tanner, I was his little girl and he doted on me. The boys must have resented me so much.”

Tanner shook his head. “Maybe Ryan did, but I don’t think that Tripp and Kane did. They were a bit younger and I was around them both a lot, remember. They just saw you as a typically annoying baby sister, not as an intruder.”

“An intruder,” she repeated, then felt him stiffen and pull her even closer.

“Sorry, baby, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You didn’t, in fact I feel better than I have in ages.” He looked down at her in disbelief and she nodded her head.

“It's true. I never understood why he

“It's true. I never understood why he hated me, now that I know it feels freeing, like I can let go of that part of me that was that little girl trying to work out how she could make her brother love her. No matter what I did, I would never have been able to make him love me.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“No,” she whispered. “It wasn’t.”

“He still owes you money. Your father wanted you to have that inheritance.” Callie shook her head. “I told him that I’d sign my part of the ranch over to him. I don’t want his money, Tanner.”

“Callie,” he said warningly, but she merely smiled up at him, unconcerned by his temper.

“I don’t want it, I don’t love the ranch and Ryan does. He deserves it, Tanner.”

“Well, I think I could argue that point but I won’t bother. However, you need that money, Callie. Unless you’re going to let me invest in the clinic?”

Callie shook her head. “No, you’ve no interest in this clinic. But I am going to let someone else invest.”

Tanner’s eyebrow rose.

“I’m going to get a partner.”

“What?” he asked in surprise.

Callie grinned up at him. “It’s the perfect solution. A partner can take off some of the load for me, will invest some much needed cash into the business and luckily for me, he has agreed to look after the financial side of things.”

“So you’ve already hired someone?” Tanner asked quietly.

Tanner asked quietly.

“Yep.” Callie nodded, proud of herself. “I put out some feelers and Cameron rang me up this afternoon. He’s coming out in a few day’s time to meet me, and all going well; I’ll have a new partner by the end of the month.” Tanner frowned, thinking. “I don’t like it.”

“What?” Callie sat up and tried to pull herself out of his hold, but he wasn’t ready to let her go. “It’s the perfect solution.”

“Oh, I think a partner is a good idea. But what do you know about this guy? If he’s going to take over the financial side of the business he could easily rip you off.”

“How? There’s nothing to rip off, remember?” She put her hands on her hips in exasperation.

“That’s another thing. How come he wants to move out here and buy into a business that isn’t making money?”

“That’s really none of our business. How about you just trust me? I’ve done some checking, he comes with great references, from people that I do know and trust. I’m doing this Tanner, and you have no say in it.” Tanner narrowed his eyes at her, obviously tossing up whether to continue the argument, but then he spotted the tears in her eyes.

“I’m an ass,” he muttered to himself as he gathered her close and stood. Here she was pale, shocky and tearful and he was arguing with her. He’d let this go, he decided. After all, it was a good idea.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be looking into this Cameron fellow. If there was anything fishy in his background, Tanner would find it.

would find it.

“Take me home, make love to me, please Tanner.”

“Callie, there is nothing I would like more.”

Callie lifted the last of the boxes out of her car and wearily carried it into Tanner's large two-storied house. It was going to get some getting used to, living in such a large house after she'd been cramped in her upstairs apartment for so long.

Tanner had managed to move the

heaviest of her stuff before he'd been called away to an emergency. Of course he'd still tried to boss her around as he'd raced off, telling her, no ordering her, to leave the rest of the boxes until he returned.

the boxes until he returned.

"As if," Callie huffed as she tiredly walked down the steps to retrieve Bruiser, Barkers and Bruce from her car. Her three B's consisted of a Jack Russell cross which was missing an eye, a bulldog/poodle cross with a bad temperament and Bruce, her black cat who only had three legs. Soon they were going to add Montana to the mix. Callie let a little smile slip as she remembered winning that argument.

Not that it had taken much arguing on her part; Tanner had already been halfway in love with the mutt. They were supposed to pick him up from the pound in a couple of days, after her lot had gotten used to their new home.

"Well, boys, what do you think of your new home?" Callie made certain that all the doors and windows were closed as she let her three pets out of their cages and watched them search their new residence. She'd leave them inside for a few days; help them get used to the inside for a few days; help them get used to the change. Now, if only it was that easy for her to get used to being here.

Callie flopped down on the sofa and closed her eyes, aware of just how exhausted she was now that her stuff was all moved. Not that Tanner had let her move much; he'd had others help him to move her larger stuff earlier in the morning. That had left her and Tanner with just some boxes of books and her clothes to move. Which was why Callie had disregarded Tanner's order to leave the boxes where they were until he got back. She was perfectly capable of moving them herself.

Besides, her new partner Cameron was moving in tonight and she didn't want him to move in to find boxes of her stuff everywhere, that wasn't fair.

A partner, she thought as she allowed her tired body to sink into the soft upholstery of the sofa. He was a few years older than her and the sofa. He was a few years older than her and came with some great references, and even better, a healthy bank account. Why he'd wanted to move here and join her little vet clinic Callie had no idea, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Tanner, of course, had been suspicious from the start, but after a back ground check and a serious conversation that she was excluded from, much to her fury, he'd come to accept Cameron. In fact, the two of them were a bit too similar for Callie's liking, but she figured she'd get over it.

The last month had certainly brought about a number of changes, including Callie's new living arrangements, and the ring she now wore of her finger. Allowing her mind to drift she thought about all that had happened during the past few weeks.

“Callie!” Callie drifted back into wakefulness as her name was yelled from the front of the house. “Damn it, Callie, where are you?”

“Here,” she called out and watched as Tanner stormed into the living room. She looked around in surprise to find that it was already early evening. She’d been drifting sleepily for at least a couple of hours.

“Hey,” she smiled up at him, sitting up.

“You’re back. Sorry, I must have drifted off.”

“Really? Possibly because you’re so exhausted from lifting all those heavy boxes!” Too late, she realised how much trouble she was in.

“Tanner, they weren’t heavy.”

“What did I tell you before I left?” Callie sighed. “You told me to leave those boxes alone.”

He nodded. “So what the hell were you He nodded. “So what the hell were you thinking? You are not supposed to lift heavy objects, Callie!”

“Tanner, you’re overreacting. I wanted to get them moved before Cameron moved in and they weren’t heavy. I easily managed it, so there’s no reason for you to be so mad.”

“Easily managed it? From the look of you, Callie, you collapsed as soon as you got inside.”

Callie admitted to herself that it did look bad.

“Take your pants off,” he ordered, looking over at her.

“Tanner,” she protested, not liking the look in his eyes.

“Take off your pants, Callie. You know the punishment for not following doctor’s orders. It’ll go worse for you if you make me do it. Now take your pants off and lie down on your back on the couch.”

Callie looked up at him in surprise at that order as she slowly moved to obey him.

She’d been bent over the couch before and had even knelt on the cushions and held onto the back as he spanked her bottom.

When she lay in just her t-shirt upon the wide leather couch he moved to the end where his feet rested.

“Pull your legs back towards your chest and hold them there.”

Callie was confused, but didn’t argue as she bent her knees and clasped them close to her chest.

“Now pull them apart.” Callie blushed as she pulled her legs apart, exposing herself to his gaze. This was the most humiliating position she’d ever been in and she knew that position she’d ever been in and she knew that was why he’d chosen it.

Tanner gulped, trying to keep his arousal under control as he stared down at Callie. This was a punishment he reminded himself, it wasn’t about pleasure. He’d chosen this position to spank her in as it was particularly humiliating. Tanner didn’t think that she was taking the doctor’s orders seriously enough and he wanted to impress the point that he wasn’t going to allow her to get away with that.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t realised just how arousing he would find this position. She was open, on display as he’d intended her to be, her round, soft cheeks were parted, allowing him a glimpse at the puckered rosette of her asshole. Her waxed mound allowed a full display of her plump, pink lips.

Truly beautiful.

“Hold that position, miss. If you move you’ll just add to your punishment.” He moved to sit below her raised bottom on the couch and grabbing one of cushions, placed it under her hips to raise her up even further.

His hand landed fast and heavy upon her exposed buttocks, quickly turning her cheeks from a pearly white to a light pink and then to a fiery red. Ignoring her inevitable pleading and apologies as the pain grew he couldn’t resist applying a few softer spanks to her soft pussy, surprised when these elicited soft moans of arousal from Callie. He peered closer and noticed that she was growing wet.

Tanner stopped the spanking; his arousal was out of control as he swiped a finger through her wetness, gathering up her juice to lubricate his finger’s entrance into her tight asshole. He hadn’t entered this little hole yet, but had played with it plenty, something they both thoroughly enjoyed.

both thoroughly enjoyed.

“Tanner,” she moaned, panting in arousal rather than pain.

“Remind me to give you a real spanking later,” he muttered as his face dropped to her creamy folds, his finger now moving in and out of her tight asshole as his tongue drove her higher. It was a bad idea, mixing a serious punishment with sex, but he just couldn’t resist as he proceeded to send her flying off into heaven before quickly following.

***

She stood and turned on the bedroom light and searched around for her cell phone light and searched around for her cell phone which had switched to answer phone.

Accessing her voice mail she cursed softly.

One of the local rancher’s horses was in trouble and he couldn’t get hold of Hendricks, not surprising, he was probably laying passed out drunk somewhere.

“Well, nothing for it I guess,” she said quietly to herself as she spotted a note from Tanner saying he’d been called out to an emergency. She must have been tired if she hadn’t heard him leave, of course he was probably a lot quieter than her.

He wouldn’t like her going out at night without him, but she couldn’t do anything else.

The horse was in trouble, its owner frantic, and Cameron wasn’t settled in yet so she couldn’t ask him.

No, it was up to Callie to go, and she just hoped like hell that she got home before hoped like hell that she got home before Tanner did.

***

“Damn it,” she muttered to herself as she grabbed her cell phone, she’d accidentally left it in the car which she’d been busy helping a mare give birth, and only now realised that there were a number of frantic voice messages from Tanner.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she cursed as she started the car, and breaking another of his rules, rang him while she was driving.

“Where are you?” He answered his phone on the first ring and she winced at the harsh concern in his voice.

“I got called out to Adam Johnson’s ranch; he had a mare in trouble.”

“Are you finished?” he asked, tensely.

“Yes,” she replied cautiously, not wanting to give away that she was calling and driving at the same time. But he obviously knew her too well.