She heard soft moans coming from somewhere and realized they were from her. Will cradled her head in his big hands, pressing her face against his. Queenie gasped when his mouth left hers and began to travel over her chin, the plane of her jaw, to her ear and down her neck.
There was nothing between her ear and the strap of her sundress. Nothing but skin and a million eager nerve endings. Another moan soughed from her throat.
"You're so beautiful," he told her. It wasn't an original idea, but Queenie felt like no one had ever said it before, like no one had ever meant it so much as Will did.
She felt the heat of his hands against her back, and then he encouraged her to lie back against the cushy arm of the sofa. His body covered hers and he snaked a hand down her side and up to cup her breast.
"Oh, honey." His mouth drew down her chest and he uncovered her breast for his lips to caress.
She said his name, though it was more of a sigh. Excitement raced over her skin and an urgent pulse beat low in her belly. Will suckled at her breast and she arched her back, encouraging him. His hair was soft in her fingers.
As he teased her nipple, he released the other breast from her dress and kneaded it firmly.
Queenie felt like she couldn't get enough, couldn't be close enough to him, needed to be with him, be a part of him. She needed to feel him inside her.
Wrapping her knees around him, she rubbed her pelvis against his, reveling in the welcome feel of his thick erection against her. She snaked a hand between them and grabbed him, not very gently. He made a deep-throated sound, and nipped at her breast. But it didn't seem like discouragement, exactly the opposite, in fact.
"Squeeze me harder and I'll take you over my knee, Queenie," he whispered in her ear.
A frisson of remembered longing spidered through her body. That first spanking had made her so wet. It exposed her intimately, and her rear had been hot as though he was behind her, mounting her.
She squeezed his dick harder.
He growled and, practically before she realized what was going on, he'd turned her and yanked her pelvis up, putting her effectively on her hands and knees there on the couch. Cool air flowed over her ass as he tossed her skirt up, and there was a popping sound as he ripped the tiny elastic sides from her thong, throwing the scrap on the floor. His hand came down on her rump firmly several times, and the urgency in her loins grew intense.
The leather sofa cushion was cool against her face. She gasped out, "Yes!"
He smacked her again and again, and she felt the wetness between her legs spill over, making a tiny trail down her inner thigh. Will continued to spank her and she moaned into the arm of the sofa. It was as if the surge of pain coincided with the surge of need in her womb. She wanted him deep. She needed him in her, now!
"Will," she cried, and it became a litany of longing.
Hot and provocative, his hand continued coming down on her, and then it stopped. She craned her neck, peeking behind her. He was unfastening his belt, his pants. When his dick sprang free, she licked her lips and pressed her butt back toward him, encouraging him to do it, to join her, to take her.
He parted her lower lips with his fingers, and made a pleased sound as he found her wet and ready for him. She could smell her own excitement and imagined briefly how that would change once they'd orgasmed together. "Do it! Now, now, now!" she urged.
Will smacked her rump with his wet fingers but went back to her pussy, plunging inside with his fingers until she could barely stand it anymore. "Please…oh God…Will!"
Without warning, his dick slammed into her, filling her. She shuddered and pressed back, driving him deeper still.
"Yeah, honey," he moaned. "That's it. Yeah."
She wanted to scream her need, but the tide of pleasure was rising. No coherent words could form and she could do nothing but meet his thrusts as they came faster and faster.
The finish line was before her, and leap by strenuous leap she got closer, until it broke against her, in her. Her cry came from deep within and she wriggled her bottom against his pelvis, demanding one more thrust, one more moment of bliss.
He groaned as he rammed her, holding onto her hips as if she was his life preserver. She could feel his prick pulsing and knew he was coming.
And then realization hit her. She'd made it with Will Mazie. And they hadn't used a condom. And she hadn't been on birth control for a year.
"Oh God!"
He relaxed behind her, oblivious to her rising panic. "Mmm. Yeah."
She pulled forward, and he slid out of her, still hard and wet. "Get away from me!"
He released her hips immediately. "What's wrong?"
"I can't. We can't. I have to go!" Queenie turned on the couch, grabbing her torn thong off the floor. Her pussy was soaked, and she had a moment of pleasure at the lingering smell of sex in the room and on her body. But she had to get away. This hadn't happened. She hadn't been so stupid. Panic made her movements jerky as she straightened and grabbed her purse, running a trembling hand through her mussed hair quickly.
"Where are you going? Damn it, Queenie!" His fingers wrapped around her wrist and he halted her as she made to leave. "Talk to me, woman!"
"No!" Shaking off his hand, she ran through the house to the front door. "I'm sorry," she mumbled as she yanked the door open. "I'm sorry."
* * *
By the time Will buttoned up his pants and made it to the front door, she was peeling out of the driveway in a shower of gravel. Maybe she needed some time to think things through.
When she didn't call or come by the next day, he tried to reach her on her cellphone. There was one ring and then her voicemail. After three of these unsuccessful attempts over the course of the next two days, he left her a voicemail.
"Queenie, we need to talk. You need to tell me what got into you, honey. What made you bolt away like that? I don't like the way things sit. Call me."
She didn't reply. He tried again the next day and the next, but she didn't pick up and he didn't leave her another message.
It looked like he'd have to do something more active to find out what was going on with the temperamental woman, but construction was finishing up in the southwest corner of his ranch, where the pipe was being laid for getting river water to his bass pond.
He gave the project a final inspection, finally signing off on the work. Water was flowing smoothly into the dug-out basin. By the following week, he could start a bass seeding program that would yield him some mighty good dinners in a reasonably short period of time.
As he stood by the pond site, watching the water pour in, he thought about the animal killings on his ranch and wondered at the fact that they'd stopped suddenly. Maybe the culprit had lost interest, as the sheriff seemed to assume, or maybe not. Will still wanted to find the person or persons who did the damage, but it had been given lower priority over getting his ranch projects moving along and trying to reach Queenie.
While he was thinking of it, he tried to reach her again, but got her voicemail. He resolved to go over to Journey's End the next day and confront her. If she didn't want to see him anymore—which seemed likely—Will wanted to know. It was only right and fair for her to tell him directly and put a reason to it. Over the phone was a cowardly way, but he'd have accepted that much better than no information at all.
It hurt his pride that she was rejecting him, but there was also an emotional ache related to it that was unwelcome. If they couldn't work things out, then he wanted it over, finally and without doubt. Ending things would not have been his choice. He would have liked to continue on building a relationship, enjoying each other's company and spirited banter. Maybe they could have found something durable together.
That she was being so difficult made him want to spank her silly. But, of course, he couldn't make her want him. It would be unreasonable to try to force her into that mold; the kind of behavior Leo Journey had warned him about. Queenie should not be broken.
Maybe he could deal with what
ever her issue was, though, and they could start over again. He had to try.
* * *
Will was about to close the front door behind him when a big, black pickup truck came down his driveway. He didn't recognize the man behind the wheel, but he was obviously a Journey. The resemblance to Leo was unmistakable.
The fellow fitted a buff-colored cowboy hat on his head as he exited the truck and crunched up the driveway and to the front steps of the house, where Will stood waiting.
Unsmiling, Journey offered his hand. "Ace Journey."
Will had to look up a couple of inches, but he wasn't intimidated by the broad and rangy rancher. He looked to be nearing forty, and, while that made him older than Will by five or so years, Will thought the man was aging well. He looked rugged rather than old.
He shook Ace's hand. "Will Mazie. Nice to meet you."
"We have a problem."
Immediately, Will's mind turned to Queenie. He'd been about to go over to Journey's End and see her, but this visit had forestalled him.
He gave the man a tight-lipped smile. "Come in, Ace. We'll talk."
The older man nodded, and followed Will into the house.
They settled in Will's sitting room, taking chairs across from each other. Ace had removed his hat, and it sat in his lap, slightly worn and well broken in.
"How can I help you, Ace? Is this about Queenie?"
A frown formed on Ace's face. "Queenie?"
"Er…I guess not. What's the problem?"
Ace squinted at him, assessing, and Will thought a lesser man would have been intimidated. He wasn't, though. He was worried. This man was his neighbor and problems between them had to be dealt with carefully.
"It's about that easement. We're fixin' to revoke it."
Will's temper flared. "You're what? Why?"
"Pollution. Somethin' you're doin' to the water is poisonin' our cattle."
Stomach acid burned in Will's belly. "I'm not doing anything. I'm taking water out, not putting anything in."
"I don't rightly know what you're up to, but I can tell you that since you put in that pond, the water downstream from your ranch has been glistenin' with oil and non-potable for the livestock."
"Oil?"
"Or gasoline. Can't say."
"But that's impossible!"
"The timin' makes it obvious. And we went and looked at the river to the east of your easement. Nothin' wrong there. We're havin' our water tested to find out what the pollution is."
Injustice made Will's hands fist. He wasn't doing anything. Things had been fine before, during and after the contractors had done their job. He'd have noticed if the water was an issue in his bass pond. He'd have liked to throw the revocation back in Ace's face, but the fact was that the Journey's had the right to revoke the agreement on the grounds of compromised environmental conditions. Will had an obligation to keep his leased piece of property, where the pipe was situated, clear of contaminants and dangerous conditions. Failing that, the easement could be revoked.
"Let me check into it before you revoke the agreement."
Ace eyed him for several beats, and Will found keen intelligence in the brown eyes regarding him. This was no country hick to be outfoxed by a city sophisticate. He rather liked that about the man.
"Yeah, okay. I'll give you three days to find the problem and start on fixin' it." He rose and offered his hand again. "Don't make me regret it."
Will bristled at Ace's tone, but he shook his hand. "I'll find out what the problem is."
Ace nodded and made his way out of the house and off the property.
Will came back to his sitting room and sat near a window for a while. The morning sunlight was bright and cheerful, but his thoughts were dark and churning. Maybe the ranching business was too much for him. Maybe he wasn't going to make it and would have to chalk this up to be the first massive failure of his life. It galled him.
No. No, he wasn't going to give up. He'd find out what was polluting the river water downstream and take care of it. He could do this.
* * *
Chapter 5
Queenie looked at the test stick in her hand, then up at the bathroom mirror. She didn't look particularly different. Maybe a little tired. But she'd been working her butt off with the Boot Camp groups, and Ace had been too busy dealing with a backlog of ranching stuff to help much.
Her eyes dropped back to the test stick. It had only been seven days since she'd been such a fool. Maybe if she did the test twice?
A few minutes later, she got the same result. Pregnant. She was pregnant. Knocked up. In the family way. Got a bun in the oven. Going to have a baby.
She'd been stupid and grossly irresponsible. Her family would be so disappointed in her.
Of course, this early in the process, the test could still be wrong. The box said it was only about 60% effective. But, if you thought about the way the test worked, testing for the presence of a particular hormone, it seemed unlikely that the test would give a false positive. False negative, yes, but false positive was much less likely.
So…now what was she to do?
She looked up in the mirror again and saw tears streaming down her face. Where had those come from? Queenie wanted to be calm, cool. Able to handle this. She wasn't a teenager or a rape victim. She'd done this to herself. Well…with help from Will. It was his fault, too. They'd both been stupid.
The first person to tell would be Consuela. She'd been like a second mother to Queenie for the last twenty years. She'd understand and be sympathetic, even though Queenie had truly screwed up this time.
Queenie wiped her face and squared her shoulders, making her way through the house as she looked for the older woman. She finally found her in the family room, dusting off the fireplace mantle.
"Good morning, Connie."
Consuela's smile was genuine and she paused for a moment to share it with Queenie. "Queenie. Good morning! How are you today?"
"Oh, okay. Pregnant."
A lock of gray hair fell over Consuela's brow, she straightened up so fast. "Qué? What did you say?"
Queenie felt guilty for the worried crinkles around Consuela's eyes. "That was abrupt. I'm sorry. I'm not sure how to tell folks, though. Maybe I should have asked y'all to sit down or somethin'. Isn't that what they do in the movies?"
"Sit down, Queenie." She took a seat on the sofa and patted the spot next to her, putting her dust rag down nearby.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Are you really pregnant?"
"Yeah."
"Dios!" Consuela's lips tightened. "Who is the father?"
Compelled to tell the truth, Queenie squirmed with discomfort. "Will Mazie."
"My, my, my. He works fast, I'll say that for him."
"It's my fault as well as his. I'm a grown-up."
Consuela patted her hand, her face softening. "You are, si."
"Daddy's gonna kill me."
Leo walked into the room. "Why would I kill you?"
Queenie nearly leapt off the sofa. "Daddy!"
"Buenos dias," Consuela said smoothly.
They exchanged a few considerate words in Spanish.
"Sit down, Leo," Consuela told him at the end of their exchange.
He eyed his housekeeper and then Queenie. "I'm not gonna like this, am I?"
Consuela shook her head, and Queenie sank down in the cushions, trying to make herself as small as possible.
Leo sighed and sat in a leather wing-back chair. "What's got y'all riled up?"
The women exchanged a look, and Queenie knew it was now or never. "I'm pregnant, Daddy."
His shoulders relaxed as relief spread on his face. "Well, this is hardly the way I expected my first grandbaby, but I'll take it."
"Daddy? You're not mad?"
Leo shook his head. "Other kinds of difficult news would have been much worse, so, although I'm disappointed in you, Queenie, I'm not mad."
She hurried over to him and bent to hug him. "Thank you, Daddy."
H
e squeezed her back. "I ain't gonna endorse this behavior, young lady. You'll be getting' married."
"I haven't even told Will yet! And I don't want to get married!"
"Will Mazie, you mean?"
"Yeah. I uh…it was…"
He held up a hand. "I don't want the details, thank you. So long as the father ain't Harry Tatum, nearly anyone else would do. But I'm not too happy with Will right now. We have some issues to work out."
"About the baby? I'm fully capable of workin' this out myself."
He gave her a direct stare that said, yeah, just like you did so far. But he didn't say it aloud. Instead, he said, "There's more to it than that, daughter." He rose from his chair. "Leave it to me."
"No, Daddy! I want to come to grips with this first. I'm not sure I even want Will to know."
Leo scowled.
"I mean, maybe I should go to Nashville, or somewhere else. Maybe Aunt Pearl's in Cincinnati. I could start over. Make a life for my baby and me."
"Runnin' away is never the right answer, Q, and the baby will need a father."
"But Will didn't ask for this. And, he's so high-handed. He's sure to want to run my life once he knows."
Consuela added her opinion. "Seems to me that maybe your life could use a little structure. And, he has a right to know. He also has to live up to his responsibilities."
Queenie looked between the two of them. They were probably right, but she wasn't ready for this. Wasn't ready to tell him. She needed a little while, maybe a week…maybe longer. She dreaded the look on his face. He was gonna be madder than a half-drowned cat.
"Let me handle it. Please."
Leo nodded slowly. "For a time, Queenie. Then I'll do it for you. Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
Standing, Consuela gave them both a gentle smile. "I think it's about time we had a new Journey around here. Seemed like it was never gonna happen."
Spanking Her Highness Page 6
