The Demure Bride (2 page)

Amanda felt like crying, but she held her head up and marched out of the barn and up to the house. She ignored her Father when he called out to her and ran on up the steps and down the hallway to her bedroom. Once inside she shut and locked the door; she was not going to speak to her Father, especially while she was at such a disadvantage. She wanted out of the ruined riding habit, and she never wanted to see it again. She removed her ruined gloves and tossed them on the floor and was shrugging out of the fitted jacket when there was pounding on her bedroom door mere seconds before the doorknob rattled.

"Go away!" she snapped.

"Amanda, you open this door right now," Matt ordered.

"I'm undressing,
Father
," she exaggerated the word out of pure defiance. "Leave me alone. I've nothing to say to you at present!"

"Girl, I've had enough of your sass for one day. Goldie will have lunch on the table in less than an hour. I expect you at the table, and after we eat, you and I are going to sit down and have a talk. If your temper ain't cooled by then, I'll cool it myself."

Amanda heard him stomp down the hallway and she finally gave in to the tears that had threatened her since Robert Thorne came upon her while she was on her ride. What had she done to deserve her Father's ire? Robert Thorne was the one who caused all of the trouble, and if her Father loved her, he would have dealt with the man as he deserved for daring to use her own riding whip on her backside. The pretty redhead managed to take off her boots and threw them into the pile of things she was going to throw away.

Finally, she was stripped to her skin, and she walked over to her mirror to look at her abused bottom. To her surprise, she had a few red marks, but nothing at all to indicate the severity of the punishment she had received! She'd expected to be covered with all sorts of bruises and welts, and, in truth, she was more bruised from the fall off of Glimmer than she was from the whipping Robert Thorne administered. Even if she wasn't black and blue and covered with welts, her Father should have shot the aggravating man for daring to treat her so abominably.

Amanda washed the mud from her body, and then dried off and dressed in one of her favorite dresses. She took the time to unbraid her hair and brush it until it was shining, and then she pinned it up on top of her head, allowing a few curls to escape to soften the look. She wanted to look pretty... and most of all, she wanted to appear grown up when she faced her Father. She wanted him to feel guilty for treating her like a ranch hand. She shouldn't have tried to force the little mare to make the jump, but she didn't deserve to be punished by their neighbor, and she didn't deserve to be forced to clean stalls, either. Her Mother would have a proper fit if she knew how much she was suffering on her Father's ranch. That thought brought tears to her eyes once again. She missed her Mother... and sometimes she missed Boston.

Amanda waited until it was noon to go downstairs and into the dining room. Her Father was already seated at the table, as was Ted Fox, his foreman for the past five years. Amanda intensely disliked the man, and she made no bones about it. "Since you apparently have business to discuss, Father, I will eat in the kitchen with Goldie."

"You will sit down at your place right now, Mandy, and stop acting so highfalutin'," Matthew Chambers was clearly out of patience.

Amanda wasn't about to argue with her parent in front of Ted Fox. She quietly took her seat and helped herself of the dishes their housekeeper placed on the table. "This looks wonderful, Goldie," she smiled at the older woman, who merely nodded and said nothing. Goldie did not speak unless asked a direct question that required an answer.

Amanda ate quickly, pointedly ignoring her Father and Ted Fox as they discussed ranch business. When she was finished, she excused herself and got to her feet, picking up her plate and heading for the kitchen. She always helped Goldie with the dishes.

"Don't you go too far, daughter. We're still going to have a talk," Matt warned.

She fumed as she heard Ted saying, "Now, Boss, don't be so hard on Miss Mandy. She just needs a husband to settle her down."

"That will
never
be
you
, Mr. Fox," Amanda said in an icy tone, and then left the dining room. She stayed in the kitchen and let Goldie bring in the rest of the plates and serving bowls and silverware while she dipped water from the reservoir on the stove into the dishpan and started washing the dirty dishes. It didn't take long to finish the task, and the kitchen was soon spotless. Amanda decided to pour another cup of coffee for herself and sit in the kitchen to enjoy it until her Father was through talking to the slimy Ted Fox. She wasn't doing one thing to encourage the man. He'd managed to corner her a few times during the last two years, and each time she felt he was just waiting for the right time to try and attack her. He truly frightened her with his slippery smile and the evil glint in her eyes. She felt he was a bully, and even the men on the ranch avoided sparking his quick temper. They'd seen other men fired for little or no reason, and working on the Chambers Ranch was a good job for a top hand.

"Mandy, come on in here!" Matt bellowed.

Amanda jumped, and thought she caught a sympathetic look in Goldie's eyes. She got up, but took her coffee with her as she went to find her father standing by the doorway to the hallway. "Come to my study, girl. I don't want to be interrupted." He motioned for her to precede him, and followed behind her, shutting the door once she was inside his office. "Sit down, Mandy. We need to have us an understanding," Matt stated, sitting behind his desk and leaning back in his chair to look at her as she sat cautiously on one of the leather chairs in front of his desk. "Are you over your temper?" he asked in an abrupt tone of voice.

"I still don't think you were fair," Amanda refused to lie. "You permitted Mr. Thorne to get away with beating me!" she accused.

"Mandy, you struck the man across his face with that damned foolish little whip you carry. I can't fault him for doing what I would have done in his place," he stated. "It's time for some plain talk right now, and maybe I shouldn't have waited this long, but I knew you were grieving for your Mama, and I didn't want to speak ill of her." He paused, reflecting, and then reached for his pipe and filled it with a fragrant tobacco before lighting it. "Mandy, I don't know what your Mama told you about me. I can imagine, but I want you to know that I loved her and it darn near killed me when she left and took you with her. I should of come after her, turned her over my knee, and brought her back here where she belonged, but I had more pride back then and decided she would come back on her own. She didn't."

"Why did she leave in the first place, Father?" Amanda was curious, in spite of her anger with him. Her Mama would never discuss the situation with her.

"Isabel left because I put my foot down. Back in them days, it was even wilder out here than it is now. I was working hard to make a go of this place; couldn't afford more than a couple of hands to help out, and we sure as shootin' didn't live in this fancy house. I didn't build it until about ten years after your Mama left."

He shook his head as if to remind himself he was telling a story, and then continued, "Isabel didn't think I was paying her enough attention. She missed having other women to talk to, and was mad as hell at me because I wouldn't take off workin' in the middle of the day to haul her into town for some silly women's meeting at the church. She waited until I was out of sight and then she loaded you into the wagon and took off alone for town. My horse threw a shoe, or I wouldn't of known until it was too late to stop the Comanche from carryin' the two of you off. Once I rescued the two of you and got you back here, I turned your Mama over my knee and paddled her proper for risking your lives. It made her furious with me, and she said she wouldn't live where it wasn't safe to leave her house alone. She packed bags for the two of you, and the first chance she got, she left a note for me and said she'd gone home to her parents. Told me if I came to my senses and was willing to live in Boston, to come for her. I wasn't about to give up this ranch, and I wrote and told her so. She refused to come back, and then she died before I realized I was a fool not to swallow my pride and go and bring her back, kicking and screaming if need be. I hate that, Mandy. I hate that I kept thinking I had time to make this place something she would love. It's why I built this house... for Isabel... but she wanted nothing to do with it. As much as I loved her, she was snooty and highfalutin', and I ain't about to let you be that way, girl. You're my girl as much as your Mama's, and it's time for you to forget all about those silly society rules your Mama thought was so darn important. The truth is, I am your Papa... I don't want you calling me 'Father' as if you don't care a thing for me. I don't want to see you wearing one of those silly riding suits out here any more, either. It's been nearly two years now, and you need to adapt, Mandy. You live in Texas now, not Boston. And, you need to take responsibility for your mare's care, and listen to folks when they tell you something for your own good." He paused, and then added firmly, well aware of her mutinous expression, "And, honey, you are going to say sorry to Rob Thorne for hitting him. He's our neighbor, and I don't want bad feelings between him and us... especially when you were in the wrong."

Chapter Two

"No, I am
not
going to apologize to that horrid man!" Amanda jumped to her feet. "Robert Thorne treated me despicably, and if anyone apologizes, it should be him! He beat me! I struck him twice, and he used my whip to hit me considerably more than two times. I have welts on my posterior!"

"You couldn't feel a darn thing through those heavy skirts you was wearin', girl!" Matt scolded. "If you did you wouldn't be standin' there sassing me." He glared at her, "I'm fed up with your uppity ways, Mandy. You struck our neighbor when he was tryin' to help you from your spill. You made a fool mistake in tryin' to jump that mare, and then you made it worse by gettin' mad at Rob. You are goin' to take yourself over to his place tomorrow and apologize, even if I have to tan your hide and haul you over there myself."

"Why are you so determined to humiliate me, Father? Why do you persist in failing to see my side of this situation?" She stomped her foot, clearly irate. "I will
never
apologize to that man!
Never!
" She turned on her heel to stomp from the room, but she didn't make it to the door. She didn't even hear Matt move, but he caught her by the elbow and pulled her right back to his desk. "What do you think you are you doing...? No! Father, no!" she cried out in dismay, but it was too late. His work toughened hand landed on the rounded part of her skirt. "Don't you
dare
treat me like this! I am fully grown!" Amanda's temper was blazing as she struggled to get free of the ignoble position in which she found herself.

"All I see is a spoiled brat who needs to mend her ways, and I should have done
this
two years ago instead of waitin' to see if you'd settle down," Matt said as he spanked her again.

"I will never forgive you for this!" Amanda was humiliated beyond belief.

"We'll see about that," Matt Chambers said solemnly, and to her horror he flipped up her skirt and then her petticoats until all that was covering her bottom was her lace and ribbon trimmed cotton drawers.

"No! You cannot do this, Father! I am a grown woman! What if someone walks in and sees me like this?"

"If it is anyone who's had to put up with your snotty tantrums lately they'll probably applaud and want to shake my hand when I'm done, and I ain't gonna be done for a long while," he added in an ominous tone of voice as he continued to spank her rounded bottom.

"Father! Stop!" Amanda was already in pain... from her fall, and from the spanking she had endured at Robert Thorne's hand. "You are truly hurting me!" Tears filled her eyes.

"I ain't hurting you, girl. I'm tryin' to get your attention. You were out of line this mornin'. You treated your mare bad, and you treated Rob Thorne like it was his fault you got throwed. All the sass in the world ain't gonna change that. It's time I started acting like your Papa and settle you down. No man is gonna give you a second look if you keep actin' so high and mighty!"

Amanda burst into tears. The spanking really hurt! Her father was a very strong man and used to physical work. Her poor bottom was on fire and she felt like a naughty little girl! She didn't like being treated like a bratty child! "Please stop! Please!"

"Who are you talkin' to, Mandy?" Matt demanded, continuing to apply his hand in hard spanks meant to chastise.

"To you!" she answered sharply, and then gasped when he spanked lower, in an area that was especially tender from the earlier spanking with her riding whip! "Please, Papa, not there!" she begged. "Stop!"

"Now, was it so hard to call me Papa?" Matt asked quietly, giving her one more hard slap on her bottom.

"No," she admitted.

"I like it when you call me Papa," he admitted without a bit of shame. "Makes me feel like you like me a little."

"Of course I like you, Papa!" She tried to turn and look at him, but he was still holding her in place with one strong arm around her waist. "I love you," she said tearfully.

"I love you, too, Mandy, girl," Matt said emotionally. "And I don't like havin' to do this, but I love you too much not to tan you when you need tanning." He gave her three more sound spanks, causing her to cry out each time. "Are you going to obey your Papa and say 'sorry' to Rob?"

Amanda simply could not agree to do that. She just couldn't! That man had no right to thrash her with her own whip! Matt took her silence for stubbornness, and he started spanking again, in earnest. "Nooooo! Please stop, Papa! I am in pain!" she screeched.

"I'll stop when you agree to tell the man you're sorry for striking him with your whip, girl, and not one second before." He was a strong man, and even though his hand was on fire, he would keep this up as long as necessary to make his point. Mandy was always stubborn, even as a small child. She'd needed her Papa's guidance, and now he was going to have to be very firm.