Taming Texanna (3 page)

What was she going to do? She guessed she’d have to consider her thoughts of taking off more intently now because she was not going to take another whipping. She was a grown woman and was tired of being whipped like a child just because her pa was unreasonable. She was through with people thinking she was younger because her stature was on the smaller side. She had allowed it without protest until now. Now she would claim her right as a full-grown woman. Her pa was just getting meaner and she was old enough to say no.

Mandy’s ma had offered her to stay with them because even she had noticed it getting worse and Texanna might have to consider it. It should have been her own ma standing up for her, not Mandy’s ma. She wasn’t going to run to Mandy’s mother for the rest of her life. Now, just to decide what that alternative might be. She could get married to one of those men her pa occasionally brought home. She knew how to do the right thing to entice him even if she didn’t want to.

Well, she would give it some good thought as soon as she got out of the fix she was in at present. Why was she in this mess anyway? She was not the one who had started this peeking into a hole; it was Mandy. Texanna had never even known anything about it before today, but Mandy seemed to be well aware of it. Texanna was embarrassed that she had even considered doing what she had agreed to do. She should have backed out of peeking in that hole but she had gone ahead and done it. She should have had a house of her own by now and trying to make babies not catch a glimpse of a man in his underwear or worse.

Texanna was petite for her age. She was nearly five foot three but slight in build and people were mistaking her for a boy all the time with her hair tucked under her cowboy hat that she never went anywhere without. Her dark auburn hair was mesmerizing with the fire it held and attracted many unsolicited responses. She avoided the unsavories looking at her when she wore the boy’s garb from her brother’s much younger days. Unfortunately, she avoided all men’s consideration at that point. Even the ones she wanted to pay her some attention, like Colton McFadden. Equally unfortunate was the fact that it covered
all
of her attributes of which she only laid claim to a few.

Ever since she became of age to marry, she was the center of attention if her hair was down. She had learned that to stop ogling cowhands and cattle handlers, not to mention the errant cowboy, she kept it hidden up under the hat. She had also noticed her pa treated her better when she didn’t look too feminine. Lately, he hadn’t wanted her to hide any attributes. Besides, keeping her persona hidden was hard when you needed to have a dress on for propriety most days and a hat didn’t work in all situations, like church socials. Besides, she wanted Colt to see her attributes.

Texanna had been inching away as Colt continued to lecture his cousin and was nearly out of sight. Relieved, she turned to walk away, having gotten far enough to do so without being seen when Tommy Jenkins called out to her in greeting, waving his arm energetically.

“Anna. Hey, Texanna, over here.” Damn that boy to... well, to the next county anyway.

She took off running with the intent on trying to duck inside the relatively dark interior of the saloon. At this time of day, the sun was not beaming in and she could stay there or run out the back door without too much trouble.

“Texanna Rae!”

She stopped cold with her hand on the spring-loaded saloon door. Colt was one of the few people of her acquaintance who called her by her full Christian name and the deep grumbling sound of his voice melted her insides shamefully. She bit her lip hard hoping to stop the moan associated with the weeping of her womanly core in response to his stern delivery of her name. She needed to slip her hand down into her channel to press hard just to ease the ache, just a little. The notion of doing it right in front of him released more of her feminine fluids.

Escape to the anonymity of the saloon would have been fine if she slid inside unnoticed. Now, however, if someone she knew saw her go in since her full name had been called twice, it would be all over but the words read perched above her grave after she paid the ultimate price for that stunt. Public denouncement and shame would be her only reward. Her feet froze, but her mind still weighted the less than remote odds of slipping away without penalty when that ended as well. Colt called again.

“Texanna, get your behind back here. Don’t test me, sweetheart.” Colton McFadden’s words could sure carry. God she loved his voice. It sent the wrong kind of shiver up her spine and the thought of disobedience held a delicious forbidden response, one that affected every part of her now trembling body.

She debated for a few seconds longer. Would he really come after her? Could she really risk it?  She had better not give him reason to talk to her pa. How had she gotten herself into this mess? It had gone from just taking a walk after baking pies with Mandy to this. Her sinfully wanton body influenced her refusal to respond quickly and she immediately wondered how Colton punished. She pondered if the feel of his hard hand would be better than her imagination on her upturned, needy bottom. Texanna thought she knew that answer. Did she dare risk it?

“Do not make me say that again. This is the last time I’ll warn you,” he drawled. No anger or yelling and the man was a damn clairvoyant. Interestingly enough, he acted as though she not only had heard him but would also respond as he requested. Damn it, he was right.

She turned her recalcitrant behind around reluctantly and slowly made her way back to the scene of the crime. If she were married, no man would speak to her that way, except her husband and he wouldn’t have a reason to do so because she wouldn’t give him cause. He would love her and want to keep her safe and happy. She would darn well look at
his
underthings all she wanted. It was something she suddenly wanted very badly. Texanna had begun to have these yearnings that she couldn’t control, and what was worse, was that she didn’t want to control them.

If she were starkly honest, she wanted to appease those yearnings. She felt them most when she thought on Colton McFadden. It was when she had been thinking of Colton one night, imagining his hands on her and his lips touching hers that she realized she had gone wet in her hidden place. At first, she had thought her monthly had started but that wasn’t it. Then while verifying that it was not blood, she felt an uncontrollable twinge of excitement in her secret place. She had not gone further because somehow, in her mind she thought it was wanton. Surprisingly, she wanted to be wanton, she was just too afraid to do it.

When she got close, Colton slid his hand gently behind her neck running his fingers through her hair gliding them under the rim of her hat. Texanna was drawn in by his warm, firm touch, melting into his embrace. His move confused her. That intimate touch communicated ownership. She knew this because she had spent plenty of time examining couples and their responses to each other. What else could she do at a church social, anyway but watch others? The boys bothered her and the men ignored her thinking she was too young or immature, or small or something, to her ultimate humiliation. She wanted to know, first hand, what a good man did with his woman. How he treated her because she intended on getting a good husband and needed to know these tells.

A good husband expressed loving dominance. A friend who had been married for two years had told her. That and another of her friends who had recently married said her husband told her he put his hand on her in public so no other man thought to approach her and to let her know that she belonged to him. She also told Texanna in quiet tones that when he held her by the neck, it was her sign that he was reining her back and she had better heed it.

She only wished and dreamed that Colton wanted to show ownership and to rein her in. She sighed knowing he most likely thought of her as younger than her years because Mandy was her friend. Texanna’s other friends had already married and didn’t have time for her in the same way as Mandy did. Besides, Texanna wanted a husband; she just couldn’t see giving all of her autonomy to a man.

She reveled in the fantasy though that Colt allowed his thumb to rub the side of her throat in an almost absentminded way because she was his. That he was guiding her back to Mandy because he had that right or, at least, wanted to have the right. Lost in her dream world, she was certain he left his hand for longer than was necessary as the caress continued.

That ignited a not surprising but pleasant tingling sensation that she experienced in her lower belly and a curiously painful aching sensation in her female parts. Even her breasts tingled and ached so much that she wrung her fingers to keep from rubbing them. Earlier she had been aroused, now, she wanted to explode with need and desire. She naughtily thought of what the minister would say if he knew of her thoughts. Would Colton want to spank her because of her unladylike desires? She wiggled and felt like rubbing her rump across his leg like a cat in heat. She needed to get away from him.

When he released her, there was a feeling of bereavement, not freedom. The throbbing that his departing hand left surprised her as well as confused her. She whimpered at the loss. Colt looked at her with a slightly understanding expression on his face, as though he knew how his touch affected her. She banked it for later scrutiny because try as she might to be irritated at his riposte, she couldn’t gather the momentum. At this moment, she was too busy worrying about his reaction when he looked through the hole to give it much attention. She didn’t wait long, for he squatted down on his haunches and took a gander. Mandy gnawed on her lower lip and glanced over at Texanna, who wrung her hands in defeat, her shoulders tight in expectation.

“Huh, now that is something else.” Standing, Colt dusted his hands against his thighs. “I wonder about you girls. There wasn’t a thing in there that wasn’t something I hadn’t seen already. Now I know that I might have had more things come across my sight before, but really, ordinary things most girls wouldn’t look through a peephole to see.”

“What?” asked Mandy with incredulity.

Whew,
they were off the hook
. Texanna relaxed physically losing the stiffness that had held her rigid. She turned to go quickly since he didn’t think there was a problem.

“Stop where you are, sweet thing.” God, it’s unnatural the way he just
knew.
He wasn’t even looking at her. She stopped because he told her to for the second time in a few moments.

“Oh, well, of course.” Mandy huffed. “It is nothing you haven’t seen before, you’re a man.”

Texanna released a moan, closed her eyes and leaned her head on the wall behind her. Colton coughed, causing Texanna to look up quick enough to see the slight upward twist of his lips and his eyes, filled with mirth, on her. He winked at Texanna causing her to sigh and slightly roll her eyes before she slid her back down the wall and dipped her head, meeting chin to chest.

Mandy didn’t always seem to catch on to things, as she ought. Texanna was confident that the blunder his cousin had made was the final nail in their coffin today. She was also quite sure, given how he was responding, that Marshal Colton McFadden was quite entertained. However, Texanna believed it was the least entertaining thing since this whole fiasco began.

Colton straightened up and seemed to have made a decision. He gripped his cousin’s upper arm. “Mandy Sue Coffey, I’m going to tell you this only one time.” The words he spoke no longer showed any amusement. “What you’re trying to see is for a man and woman privately, after they are married. Sitting and trying to catch a glimpse of a man is wrong outside of the state of matrimony. It will cause all kinds of trouble. You might even find yourself forced to marry someone you had no intention of being tied to if you aren’t careful.”

He turned his chastisement toward Texanna. “And you, Miss Texanna, are old enough to know better.” Her bowed head shot up as she slid back up the wall to stand, with her head slightly bowed, in front of the marshal. “Yes, sir, I know but I honestly didn’t have a clue what I was going to see until I looked in. I stepped back quickly and didn’t get a glimpse of anything untoward, but you’re right, I shouldn’t have looked at all.”

“So this wasn’t your idea?”

“What? No, absolutely not. I didn’t even know it was there until just a bit ago.” At his look of skepticism, she defiantly returned his look with her own challenging glare. “It’s the truth.”

He nodded as though he could divine that she was telling the truth, before turning to his cousin.

Mandy was obviously confused. “What are you looking at me for? What is the matter, Anna? Why are you looking so worried?”

Colton did not give Texanna time to respond as he turned to Mandy. “So this was your idea?”

“Well, yes, but, Colt, there was no harm, really. No one got hurt.”

“Yet, now you need to get yourself home and I’ll come by to attend to your disobedient bottom and have a talk with your mother. Mandy, on your way you can gather a switch or have your hairbrush ready when I get there. The one I got you for Christmas.”

Mandy’s cheeks reddened, and she covered her embarrassment with spite-filled words. “You’re such a prude.” She stomped a foot. “You are worse than an old spinster.” She stomped her foot again and if Texanna could have warned her friend she would have advised against any displays of childish behaviors. However, she couldn’t devise a way to do that because she was too busy wondering if Mandy would choose a switch or the hairbrush. Unfortunately, her friend sassed again with expected results. Texanna expected them anyway.

Colton smacked Mandy’s fanny. “Well, we will see about that. You get yourself home and wait for me. You hear?”

Mandy gasped. “Yes, I hear. I hear very well.”

That young woman twirled around and as she lifted her leg again, this time, to stomp off, she was assisted by another ball of fire across the seat of her borrowed trousers that sent her racing home without any further attitude. Texanna wondered what Mandy’s mother would say to this immodest example of her increasingly undisciplined daughter. Texanna had tried, as her friend, to rein Mandy in over the last few months, but it was working abysmally if this was the results of that restraining influence. Mandy was a friend of the highest quality and she did not want any harm to come to her.