by Marie Hall
“Mia,” Devin shouted grabbing her arm and giving it a shake. “Enough, enough. We’ll discuss this more in private. For now, join the officers and give them my pardon for the delay. I’ll be right along.”
“Devin?”
“Now, Mrs. Winthrop,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Aye Captain,” Mia said and spun away. Why he was so annoyed, she didn’t know. It wasn’t like he was for the slavers. Maybe because she, a woman, could do more than he, the big naval man? It didn’t matter. One less slave ship on the sea, at least a hundred men free again and that Captain Gillmore—Mia almost laughed thinking about it. A belaying pin? What a clever way to use it.
Mia entered the officer’s area and all the men stood until she was seated. They chatted pleasantly until Devin arrived and conversation turned more to military topics. From across the table, Smithe grinned at her and Mia worked not to stick the knife in his eye.
He was the exact opposite of her papa. He never cared if she was happy, though she’d trust him with her life without thought. He was dull, no fun. Like Devin telling her not to jump from the cliffs. But Mia learned a lot from Smithe. He was a good captain when not being first to Papa, and he was an excellent judge of character. Today he was a little too pleased with himself and more pleased with how Devin kept casting hard looks in her direction.
It might have been wiser to inform Devin that she’d taken care of the matter herself before he was surprised this way, but he wanted more done to end Gillmore. She didn’t think it mattered what she did. He’d agree with her actions. As long as they had an accord, they’d sail on well enough.
Chapter 14
Devin rubbed his brow and leaned against the rail. The sun was setting and only now was the other ship shoving off. That the unexpected visit ended without anyone more or less aware of who or what was aboard didn’t ease the throbbing in his head.
Three pirates were on his ship. Three, and one of them his own wife. Have mercy, what she’d done was nearly impossible to comprehend. She never even left the damn ship. Mr. Smithe was correct. Mia needed better watching.
Devin was matter-of-factly informed this by the man once Mia left them. He was supposed to be keeping the woman out of trouble, taking the wind from her sails. The commodore wasn’t pleased. Though Smithe admitted most every sailor in these waters was glad to have Gillmore done for. Devin was informed his employer and Governor Ravoix were both facing charges. Mia’s action rid the Caribbean of some awful men, probably saved lives in the process. Did more for the cause against slavery in a few days than most did in a lifetime. Little pirate she was she did work for good and he was glad to know this.
“Damn,” he muttered. He needed not to think of it like that. She’d committed piracy or at least she condoned the act of it. If someone found out, she’d hang whether or not she had been at the helm. Smithe’s reassurances that none of it could lead back to her didn’t make it any less wrong. As distasteful as it would be, Devin knew he’d need to do more to strongly dissuade her from committing such activities. He’d had no choice but to put his foot down and forbid it completely. Refusing to hand over her allowance, one of a few things Smithe handed him before he left the ship, wasn’t going to be enough. He didn’t even think telling her the commodore threatened to take one of her ships and sell her sloop would dissuade her. He promised he’d handle the matter directly, that there was no need to take away her ships. Still, he might tell her he’d send word to her papa to take all her ships if she didn’t behave.
“Something bothering you captain?” Mr. Asher asked, coming to stand next to the rail.
“This day is bothering me,” Devin said, wishing it had never happened and that he didn’t know what he knew.
“Really? I’d think with the award you received it would be a good day.” Asher faded off then turned to face out to sea. “Mrs. Winthrop had some part in that? It wasn’t your keen ability to spot fraud that took down that lot?” Devin only nodded. “Was her play less than above board?”
Devin snorted at that, “It was well in the bilge,” he said causing the man to chuckle.
“Ah, well, any part she may have played, anything she did, I’m sure it was with good intent.”
“That doesn’t make it right.” Devin straightened and pushed off the rail, turning to look out to sea as well. “It doesn’t make it right and as satisfied as I am with her choices and the end results, it wasn’t right.”
“Thinking of dropping anchor on her?”
“She can’t be a navy wife and act like—” Damn he almost called her a pirate right to his officer’s face.
“Pirate? Sea witch? Rebel? Spoiled brat?” Asher supplied, laughing as he did. “I think pirate suits her. I thought it odd when you brought her on board calling her that, but she’s a little bit of a renegade, if I might be so forward, sir.”
Devin breathed a sigh of relief when he figured out Asher thought pirate to be some term of endearment or teasing. “Aye, she’s a bit more than a bit of,” Devin said, also able to chuckle. He wondered what it would be like to be married to another woman, one who simpered and swooned and never got down on her knees to take a cock in her mouth.
“The course needs to be set for less a rebel,” Asher said sadly.
“Aye, and yet it’s hard to want to set course when I can’t honestly say the current heading is wrong.” How was it all he wanted to do when he first met her was spank her stern red as the sunset and keep it that way, but now the idea of needing to do it made his gut twist? He could. He would. It was the plan from the minute he’d been informed of her actions, but here he was delaying it. Why? He knew why. Mia wouldn’t be happy.
“Well sir, if I may. It may not be a wrong heading, but it’s her heading. And if you’re going to remain captain it must be your heading. A ship can only have one captain.”
“Indeed, Mr. Asher. Indeed.” And with that Devin turned and headed to his quarters. The ship could only have one captain and it wasn’t going to be a pirate captain.
He stepped into the cabin he shared with Mia and her welcoming smile hit him broadside. Damn him, she smiled like that every night they made ready for bed. And most nights it led to a very satisfying bout of bed sport. Tonight though, that wouldn’t be the case.
He fixed his features into a stern grim countenance and waited for Mia to take note. As soon as she did, he stepped forward, closed the door behind him, and began removing his jacket. He made each move sharply and saw Mia grow wary almost instantly. He set his coat over the back of the chair then began rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. He rolled them back past his elbows like a man ready to undertake a hard task. And that was what he was.
“Captain?” Mia squeaked and eyed him as he moved to the wall and rifled through several lengths of leather that hung on a peg. He selected one then turned and stepped over to the built-in bench along the starboard wall.
“Come here, Mia,” he said, taking a seat and holding out his hand to her.
“No,” was her automatic answer, and he didn’t count it as resistance or defiance given the fear in her tone. “No. Why?”
“Come here, Mrs. Winthrop. We’ve things to discuss.”
“Discuss? Is that all?” She took one step, then stopped.
“No. You’ll also receive a spanking.” He said the words and watched Mia’s reaction to them. Complete surprise seemed most pronounced. Then fear and following that anger.
“No, I don’t want a spanking. You can’t spank me. Why would you want to?”
“I don’t want to, but want or not I will and you’ll take it. Now come here, that we might discuss it first. Else I can come get you, soundly spank you, and simply tell you the facts and not discuss them with you.” Again he held out his hand to her. She took a step forward, then a half step back and finally one more forward and put her fingers in his grasp. He pulled her around to his right side and pulled her down to the bench.
“Devin, I…”
Gritting his teeth agai
nst the sound of fear in her voice, Devin took a deep breath and blew it out. “You had no business acting behind my back Mia.”
“Something had to be done.”
“Agreed, but not what you did, and not the way you did it. I’ll not have acts of piracy committed from my ship.”
“It was hardly piracy.”
“A ship was blown out of the water. You had a crew commandeer a ship, a ship you didn’t own or have rights to. You had the rightful crew stranded, nearly killed, and you displaced the cargo. That is the very definition of piracy. I’ll not have it on my ship.”
“Something had to be done and everyone lived and you even got—”
“Nothing I deserved, Mia.”
“Well if you think you married someone who’ll stand by and allow evil to happen, you’d do well to think more on it. I won’t. That vile man needed to be dealt with. You didn’t or couldn’t, so I did. Because I can.” Her boldness was coming back and it was reinforcing Devin’s will to set her down.
“You can’t. And you won’t because you’re the wife of a navy captain on a Royal Navy vessel and as such you’ll obey the laws of the sea as well as the laws of the nations which control the seas. And when you don’t—”
“Your laws are impotent,” she snapped and made to stand.
“And when you don’t,” Devin continued on, pulling her back down, “you’ll be punished.” He watched now as tears welled in her eyes. She couldn’t even take a scolding without crying. How she was going to get through the spanking he planned?
“What I did was just, moral. That you’d think to hurt me for it? Perhaps I should reconsider the kind of man you are.”
“Mia,” Devin started then stopped and reached for her chin when she looked away. He turned her towards him and shifted so he also sat more intimately with her. “Mia, what you did was moral, but it was against the laws.”
“Well the laws are stupid,” she pouted.
“No, laws are fair, just,” he said and held up a finger to hold her from speaking. “Laws trail morality, society. Social morals need to float out a bit, test the waters before laws can go out. Morals lead, laws trail in their wake. We follow laws because they’re already tested for soundness. We follow the laws and when we don’t we are punished. I promise you a pirate hangs no matter crime, age, or sex. You won’t act the pirate again on this ship, Mia. I’m going to see to that.”
“My way is faster,” she said with a pleading look.
“Faster and I’ll admit more satisfying, but that doesn’t make them or you right. If you don’t stand on the laws, you don’t have the high ground. You broke the laws the same as Gillmore’s bunch did.” She recoiled at that. “You punished them. I’ll punish you.”
Her eyes dropped to the strap in his hand then back to his. “You’ll whip me for this?” The fear back in her voice made him wonder if she was accepting his decree.
“For your acts of piracy I’m going to spank you. Soundly, properly, but only with my hand. For all that stomping of your foot, you’ll get three with the strap on top of the spanking. I counted four stomps, so twelve.” He sat back and stretched trying to prepare for what came next. “If twelve doesn’t break you of the habit, I’ll increase it next time.”
“But, I didn’t stomp my foot at you,” Mia said as Devin took a firm hold on her arm and started bending her forward over his knee. “I didn’t stomp at you.”
“No stomping is acceptable,” Devin told her as he put more effort into pulling her across his lap.
“You said don’t stomp at you,” Mia wailed as she landed hard over his thighs. Devin adjusted her forward.
She kicked and twisted. Swinging her fists wildly, she managed to strike his leg, his ribs and his arm. “Mia,” he snapped, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to still her fight.
“I don’t want this. I don’t,” Mia screamed.
“Mia, do you want me to take a batten to you? Stop.” He could understand her want to fight, having never been punished before she might fear the reality of it. But he felt there was something more. “Stop Mia, or I’ll punish you a second time.”
“I don’t want this,” she wailed.
“Then you shouldn’t have acted behind my back and condoned an illegal act. You did both and now you must be held accountable.” Devin felt the winds spilling out. She didn’t kick her legs as wildly any longer, she was wearing out, tiring.
“I did the right thing,” she sniffed, looking over her shoulder at him.
“You did the righteous thing, the wrong way. And if you were so sure it was right, why didn’t you tell me what you did?” As he suspected, she didn’t think she should be punished because she didn’t think she had done anything wrong. He knew from experience that if he punished her and she didn’t know why, she’d only learn to resent him. Certainly, even a child needed to know what he did wrong to deserve chastisement or he came to hate his tormenter.
Devin watched the emotions play in her features. She was trying hard to find another justification for what she did other than she didn’t like that it didn’t end to her satisfaction. He didn’t want to steal from her the victory she’d gained, not just for herself but for this particular cause, but he couldn’t condone how she went about it. Yes, his way was limited, yes more often the men who acted contrary to the laws prevailed, but as he’d told his officers, laws were all they had to keep the world from burning.
“Don’t hurt me, please,” Mia begged and squirmed over his lap.
“Mia,” Devin sighed. “I’ve told you, spankings hurt. And this will hurt as I intend it to make an impression.”
“No, don’t,” she whined and tried again to twist off his lap.
“Enough.” Devin took a deep breath and reached for the hem of her dress. As soon as he lifted it, she squealed and kicked her legs. He put his arms round her waist and lifted enough to pull the skirts up to her back, before reaching for the ribbons that held her drawers closed. The cut of the drawers exposed a good portion of her sweet ass, but exposing her like this was part of the punishment. A sharp tug and the sides fell away. Again, Mia squealed and she nearly kicked him in the head when her right leg came up. Devin lifted her and moved her forward so she lay over only his left knee. Pushing her legs down, he put his right over both of hers. “You won’t act behind my back, Mia, not ever,” Devin said before lifting his right arm and landing the first hard volley of blows to her quivering flanks.
Mia cried out in surprise that quickly turned to distress as he continued to bring his palm down. She tried once to put her hand back to block him but he aimed lower until he captured her hand and pinned it at her side. “Stop,” she cried squirming first forward then back.
“You’ve earned this Mia,” Devin said putting more force and speed into each swing of his arm. The sound of his hand cracking down on her flesh rang out. He placed five spanks on her right cheek all in the same spot then five to her left one right on top of the last.
“Stop, Captain. Stop.” Mia screamed, sobs starting to choke out her words.
“You won’t act behind my back again.” Devin’s emphasis on the worst of her crimes again. Had she only come to him, suggested she might be able to stop Gillmore, he could have at least praised her ideas although he couldn’t have condoned them.
The skin on her ass was starting to turn a rather nasty shade of red over the fullest portion. Mia pleaded with him to end this, but she’d stopped struggling. Devin dropped his eyes to the place between her legs. The pouting, hairless lips covered her sex completely. No signs told of any arousal on her part. Though he suspected she’d not find any pleasure in this, he’d not been certain. He was now. It was time though to make an indelible point and bring this to an end. He still had to make her know he wouldn’t tolerate her stomping her foot like a child. She might enjoy pain as part of sexual pleasure, but she’d little real tolerance for it.
Devin dropped his aim to the lower curve of her ass and landed several hard smacks there, bringing up co
lor, but not trying to bruise as the paddle had. Mia’s wails were refreshed with his new onslaught and he continued until she again slumped down sobbing. He added a few random spanks then reached for the strip of leather.
“You’re correct Mia, I did say to not stomp at me, but I also said that you’re too much a lady to stomp at all.” He took a good hold on the strap, about center so the end he would use was short and controlled. “You stomped at least four times which at three each should mean twelve, but I was not clear so you’ll get only six.” He waited to see if she’d acknowledge his words. All she did was shake her head no and cry. “Six then,” Devin said and aimed carefully as he flipped the strap back and brought it down on the back of her thighs with nothing more than a flip of his wrist.
Mia screeched as the red line came up on her skin. It faded almost as quickly and Devin landed the second. Again Mia yelled. Devin let those lines fade then gave her the third stroke. She now sobbed so hard she made it difficult to take aim. The fourth line bloomed and Mia went limp, crying and choking. Devin made fast work of delivering the last two, glad now he’d reconsidered his original decree of twelve. Mia couldn’t have taken them and he didn’t know if he could’ve delivered. Despite not putting much strength into the punishment, the back of her thighs were far tenderer and easily more vulnerable than her ass. He promised it would hurt, but he didn’t want to harm her.
He set the strap aside then lifted his leg. She slipped back a bit before he lifted her to lie securely over his lap. Running his hand over the tortured flesh he was struck by both the heat and the less than smooth feel beneath his fingers. Just his hand caused damage. It was clear she would be bruised come morning. “Mia,” he called pulling her closer to his body as her tears seemed to be coming in torrents and she continued to gasp and choke. She had hold of his leg, was now using his pants’ leg to wipe her face. “Mia?” He knew she heard him. He didn’t know if she would listen. “Mia?”
