"I see." The way he said it suggested that he thought she was procrastinating and it made her bristle.
"No you don't."
"Oh yes I do."
"You have no idea."
"I think I do."
"No you don't!"
Gabby walked over and smiled. "Bickering?"
Will smiled. "No, of course not. Congratulations on your engagement, by the way."
"I need to go talk to my father," Queenie said, her body tense. What she wanted was a nice cold beer, but she couldn't have that. Not for a long time. "Excuse me."
"Wait," Gabby said, holding up a camera. "I want a picture of you two."
Queenie felt her brows draw together. "What for?"
"My memory album."
Will laughed. "Oh, it'll be memorable, alright."
Queenie confronted him, hands on her hips. "Just what do you mean by that, Will Mazie?"
"Your frown will remind Gabby exactly how…delightful…you can be. It's a common expression for you, isn't it?"
Eyes narrowing, Queenie, got in his face. "You were going to say 'bitchy', weren't you?"
Now he was annoyed. Queenie saw his face darken. "If the shoe fits…"
"Oh! You are such an ass…big jerk!"
Gabby's head swiveled between them, her eyes big and round, but Queenie barely spared her a glance.
"Don't take that tone with me, Queenie Journey!"
Gabby let out a little 'oh!' when Queenie swung her arm to slap him. Will easily caught her wrist before she could connect. They struggled for a minute, and Queenie felt her blood boiling, completely incensed by his smug expression. As she stomped on his instep with her high-heeled dressy cowboy boot, he grunted and released her, hopping around before he grabbed her up by the waist and hauled her over his shoulder. The way he controlled settling her in place so carefully would have been tender if she hadn't been so mad.
Everyone in the yard stood and stared. The DJ had barely finished setting up, but Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" played like a warning to Queenie.
Queenie screamed invectives at Will, totally embarrassed by her ignominious position.
"Hey! Don't y'all just stand there," she hollered. "Somebody help me!" One of her dogs barked, but it sounded like enthusiasm. Even the dogs were against her!
Maybe her father was going to help; his posture changed. But all he did was take a puff on his cigarette. "You gonna do her harm, son?"
"No, sir. We're going to have a little…conversation."
Deuce, the only Journey with his mother's pale blue eyes, nodded and chuckled. "I love a good chat myself."
Queenie wasn't making it easy. She squirmed and beat on his back with her fists. How dare he do this to her in front of her whole family. And why wasn't anybody coming to her rescue? "Let me go!"
Ace turned and gave his fiancé a stern stare that said she'd been caught trying to meddle.
Gabby looked from Queenie to Ace, shaking her head. "I didn't do it!"
Angrier than ever, Queenie flailed and wailed. "I hate you, Will Mazie!"
He started toward the house. "Fine with me." Both of the terriers trotted alongside them as they went into the cool interior and toward the stairs.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To your room where we can have this talk in private." They'd come to the landing. "Which one is it?"
"I'm not telling!"
"Never mind. Lucy and Ethel are standing in the doorway."
"Oh!" She struggled hard again. Her arms were getting tired and yet he didn't seem in the least bit affected by her blows. She knew they'd entered her room when the carpet color changed and Lucy and Ethel trotted in as though they belonged there.
He dumped her on the bed and she let out a little oof, quickly squirming away from where he stood.
Watching him start to undo his suspenders, her heart skipped a beat. A part of her wanted to sit there, passive, enjoying the sight of him stripping down. She'd never actually seen him naked. Queenie moistened her lips. Was he planning on making love to her again? Her nipples tingled.
But he took off his suspenders and nothing else. Queenie tried to stomp on the niggling disappointment she felt, but wasn't particularly successful.
"W-what are you going to do?"
He folded the suspenders carefully over his hand, tucking the metal parts in his fist and leaving a short tail out. "I'm going to spank your rear until you can't sit."
"No! I won't let you!" Her bottom heated in anticipation as she scrambled toward the headboard.
"Don't make me chase you down, Queenie."
"You can't do this!"
"Oh really? Your whole family seems to think I can."
And a bunch of turncoats they were, too. There weren't very many ways she could get out of this, but she had to try. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Yes, you did."
Well, actually, she most certainly had meant to hurt him. But admitting that wouldn't help her cause. "I'm sorry. I was angry. You make me so angry sometimes."
He grinned. "I'm glad I bring out the passion in you."
"Passion! Why you…" She knelt up, intent on smacking him in the chest, but he grabbed her and turned her, pulling up her pelvis until she was kneeling on the bed with her butt facing him. "Hey!"
"Hey yourself," he said, throwing her skirt upon her back as he pressed her shoulders down. "Hold still!"
"Like hell I will!" Lucy and Ethel began to bark and dance around the bed, adding to the mayhem happening on it.
He brought the strap down on her butt hard, then, while she was slightly stunned with the sharp pain, he yanked down her thong. "I'm going to enjoy making your butt red, you little brat."
"Ow!" He was peppering her rear and upper things mercilessly, each staccato blow harder than the one before. Quickly, her butt went from discomfort to raging fire, and it kept getting worse.
"I will not tolerate such out-of-control behavior from my wife!"
"I'm not your goddamned wife!"
"Not yet, and watch your language!"
Her butt felt like it was being flayed. The sharp smacking assaulted her ears a microsecond before a new, painful welt was added. "Ow! Okay, I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"
"I don't believe you." His spanking continued apace, and she began to beg.
"Please stop. Please stop, Will. I promise! I promise!"
He paused and bent to peer into her face. She figured the tears streaming over her cheeks were probably making her look pitiful. It hurt so badly, though. And, really, she felt kind of bad about stomping him. He made her angry, yes, but there was no call for her to get violent with him.
"I'm sorry," she whispered as he stared at her.
"Okay. Now I believe you."
He gave her a tiny shove and she let herself fall on her chest on the bed, her bottom one big flaming nerve ending, throbbing and stinging fiercely.
"Now go stand in the corner."
"What?"
He spoke patiently, as though she was a child. "Go stand in the corner."
"You mean like a kid?"
"Exactly. Naughty girls stand in the corner."
"But I'm not a girl, Will! I'm a grown woman!"
"Maybe you ought to learn to act like one. Go on! Stand in the corner!"
Grumbling, she got off the bed and moved to pull up her thong, but his command to stop made her pause. "What?" she snapped.
"Panties down. I want you to stand there, holding your skirt up with your panties down."
Oh the humiliation! Was there no end to this punishment? "Come on, Will…"
"Do it."
Hobbled by her panties, she moved to the one empty corner of her room and stood facing it. Slowly, she pulled her skirt up to her waist and held it at the small of her back. A flush stole over her whole body. It was, by far, the most embarrassing thing she could remember ever doing.
"How long do I have to stand here?"
"Until I believe you've learned your lesson.
"
"How long will that be?"
"Hush."
"But, Will-"
"Hush! I want to ponder your red butt in silence."
"Oh!" A froth of anger burbled through her brain.
His chuckle didn't help matters.
She opened her mouth to curse at him, but he said, "Uh-uh-uh," and she closed it with a snap. He was the most infuriating man alive.
* * *
Chapter 7
Gabby watched as Queenie and Will came back to the party. All the guests had arrived by that time, and the barbeque was in full swing. Ace had given her more than few dark looks and she knew she was in for it. It had been stupid of her to think that the early invitation ruse would slip by Ace. But he hadn't done anything to keep them apart either! None of the Journeys had. The photo had cinched it, though. Gabby thought that maybe having them cuddle up close together, smiling, would make them feel all gushy and happy together. She'd never anticipated that they'd get into another shouting match, especially with the whole family around them.
As she watched Queenie quickly snatch away her hand after subtly rubbing her rump, Gabby's own bottom ached in response. Her eyes moved over her fiancé. How mad was he really? And could she worm her way out of the punishment?
Toward the end of the evening, she thought she saw Will and Queenie sharing a secret kiss under the wisteria trellis in the darkest corner of the yard. But maybe she was wrong. They certainly hadn't seemed kindly disposed to each other earlier.
Still, Gabby had a little hope for her scheme. And if Ace had seen the kiss, too, that might make him less inclined to whale away on her behind. Maybe.
As the party broke up, Gabby did her best to stall. She helped Consuela with the clean-up and took down most of the decorations as Ace paid the DJ and helped him load his things in his truck.
She was thinking that maybe she'd got away with her misbehavior and sought to sit with the rest of the family, where they were enjoying the end-of-day rehash. They all looked up at her and smiled as she approached, and she couldn't help but smile back. They were a beautiful family. So tall and good looking, with their dark hair and strong features. Both Queenie and Jackie were feminine complements to the Journey men, giving the family the softening it needed. They'd accepted her with open arms, and their affection made her feel loved as no other people had.
Even Leo, old-fashioned though he could be, had been okay with Gabby moving right into Ace's suite, cohabiting with him while they worked out their wedding details. The coordination of the dates had everyone wrapped up in spaghetti, though, so Gabby was leaning toward having the smallest ceremony possible at the church, maybe right in the priest's office. Ace didn't seem to care, so long as it was, "quicker than a snakebite."
The barbeque crackled softly as the family joked and relaxed. Even her mother sat with them, her swollen feet propped up on a lawn chair. She was laughing—laughing!—when Gabby bent to sit. A strong hand took her arm before she settled. She didn't have to turn and peer at him to know who it was.
"You're comin' with me, li'l girl," Ace told her, his baritone voice resolute. "Night all."
There was a friendly chorus of good-nights in return.
Gabby didn't try to get away, but that didn't stop her from trying to talk her way out of it. "But, Ace, it's so late. Aren't you tired? I feel like I've been slaving away at this party all day. I'm totally pooped!" If she could get him to put things off until tomorrow, maybe he'd be more lenient with her. Not terribly likely, but it was worth a try. And, after all, her intentions had been good, even if the results had been dubious.
He pulled her along and snagged a wooden spatula out of the basket of cooking tools near the barbeque as they passed it. "Don't try to persuade me, Gabby. You did wrong and you know it."
"But…but it worked out! I saw them kissing later!"
They went through the moonlit backyard to the rear gate that led to the barnyard and sheds.
"I saw it, too. Don't matter much. You disobeyed me and caused a big ruckus."
"Ace, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start a fight."
He pulled her along toward the tractor shed and as they got closer, she resisted feebly.
"Come on, Gabby. Let's get to this. I told you no matchmakin'. I told you that it was none of our business."
Pouting, she let him lead her into the big shed. He flipped on the overhead fluorescent lights and the tractors came into view. This was where the smaller tractors lived and where other machinery got fixed and tinkered with. There were two tractors in residence at the moment, and a long row of cabinets and tables, some with a variety of parts laid out for the mechanic—in this case, Ace, since he did much of the equipment repairs.
The place smelled like motor oil and grease, metallic and a little acrid, and Gabby got a faint whiff of manure from the manure-spreader in the corner. It wasn't a building she'd been in before, and it wouldn't have been her choice for their encounter tonight.
He stopped them slightly beyond the farthest tractor and before the row of counters and tables. As she waited, nervous and miffed, despite knowing that she'd been disobedient, he got two sawhorses out of a dim corner and pulled them near where Gabby stood. He separated them by about three feet and grabbed a rubber mat off the open engine compartment of the closest tractor. Ace folded the rubber mat in two and draped it over the center of one of the sawhorses. Done, he turned to Gabby, his arms crossed over his chest.
Gabby got more and more nervous as he stood and stared at her. She couldn't understand why he wasn't getting it over with. As much as she hated the thought of a spanking, anticipating it was much, much worse.
"Take off your clothes," he told her, his dark eyes hard to read in the bluish light.
"M-my clothes? All of them?"
"Yep. All of 'em."
"But…but…I'll be naked." His answer was a nod. "But, Ace… we're here in a barn. Anyone could come in. I'd be naked!"
"I know what it means to be without your clothes, li'l girl. And ain't no one gonna come in after midnight. All the hands are in the bunkhouse or home with their families."
"I don't want to!"
He arched an eyebrow.
Gabby bit her lip. He'd make it worse if she got stubborn. Slowly, she reached for the back of her dress and pulled the zipper down. The summer night was warm, and as she pulled off her bra and panties, and slipped off her sandals, she was glad for the small comfort. Her nipples hardened despite the warmth, however, and she felt a frisson, not unlike a shiver.
He continued to stare at her as she stood there, naked as could be, until she started shifting her weight on the concrete floor. It was cool on her toes, but her body heated up with a flush.
Finally, he nodded toward the rubber-draped sawhorse. "Lean over that and stretch out your arms to hold onto the farther one. Put your belly on the rubber."
Dragging her feet, she took the position he described. Her butt was toward him, perfectly presented, while her heavy breasts dangled toward the floor. It was an uncomfortable position, but the rubber cushioned her pelvis.
"Ace, please. We don't have to do this. I will mind my own business next time. I promise." She turned her head and glimpsed him pull the wooden spatula out of his breast pocket. It was small in his big hand, and the veins on his thick forearms stood out eerily in the fluorescent light. "What are you going to do with that?"
"Spank you."
"But it's wood!"
"So was the hairbrush I used on you a week ago."
"But…"
"Hush now and be a big girl." Without further warnings, he smacked the wide end of the spatula on her rear.
It wasn't too hard, so her reaction was minor. Maybe it wasn't going to be as bad as she'd anticipated. Ace didn't like her to be mischievous, though, so Gabby knew he was going to make a point.
Once again he swatted her butt, this time on the other cheek. It was harder than the last time and she squirmed. "Ow!"
"When I tell you somethin', Gabby
, I expect you to mind me. I'm not tossin' out orders just to hear the sound of my own voice."
Gabby rose on her tiptoes as he punctuated every word with a spank of the spatula on her butt. The pain was dull and sharp at the same time. Her skin smarted and got hot.
"Ace! That hurts! Ow!"
More swats, and as the pain grew, Gabby gripped the sawhorse in front of her with white-knuckled intensity. She wondered if bruises were forming. Each swat was a jolt that made her flinch.
"Don't you go meddlin' in other people's business, Gabriella. No one likes a busybody."
"Yes, sir! I'm sorry!"
This time, the spatula traveled down over the tops of her thighs and she wriggled and came off her tiptoes, balancing on the sawhorse as she scissored her legs.
"Put them feet down," he told her, swatting at her ankles with a bare hand. "I'm fixin' to make sure you don't forget."
Tears formed in her eyes and dripped on the floor. "Please, Ace. Please! I'm sorry."
"I want you to tell Queenie and Will you're sorry, too, Gabby. The big ruckus b'tween the two of them didn't have to happen tonight, and wouldn't have if you hadn't pushed it."
"Yes, sir! I'll tell them tomorrow. I promise!"
The swats were concentrated on her sit spots and she wailed with the pain. Her rear was screaming like she was, crying out for mercy.
"You gonna mind me in the future, li'l girl?"
"Yes, sir! Please, please stop!"
"Two more." The last two were the hardest of all and Gabby sobbed loudly. Finally, it was over. There were no more whistling warnings from the spatula. Ace didn't say anything. Her gasps and soft sobs were all that met her ears. She lay there across the sawhorse, trying to catch her breath as wildfire burned along her bottom, her thoughts chaotic.
"Your fanny is so red, Gabby," he said softly. "Like a heart-shaped Valentine." Ace leaned over her and slid his hands down her ribs until he cupped her breasts. The heat from his body made her rear feel even hotter as he pressed against her from behind. His fingers found her hard nipples and squeezed gently, then increased the pressure. She moaned softly as gentle tendrils of excitement stole over her.
She didn't understand how he could excite her after blistering her rear so thoroughly, but it wasn't the first time. Her body wanted the spankings, somehow. Or maybe she wanted the cuddles and touching afterward, although he was available to her for hugs and love anytime. He was generous with his affection, and although he was sometimes irritated with her, he was rarely full-on angry. He had a patient way about him that helped her be less of a trouble-maker, though she slipped up now and then.
Spanking Her Highness Page 9
