“Oh…” It was nearly too much for her. Her mind and heart raced, unable to understand what was happening to her body.
She would have lost her maidenhood that night if Wyatt hadn’t pulled away suddenly. He stood, bringing her to her feet as well, and took two steps back.
“I’m sorry,” he said, breathing hard. “Forgive me.”
“Don’t be sorry, Wyatt,” she said pleadingly. “I liked it.” She took a step toward him, but he held out his hand to stop her approach.
“No.”
It was spoken so firmly and without compromise that it caused Elsie to feel a sharp pang of rejection. Humiliated, she bit her lip and struggled not to allow tears to make an appearance.
“It’s not that I don’t want to, Elsie,” Wyatt said quickly. “Please don’t cry.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, feeling her lower lip trembling and her eyes filling with tears.
“I would be taking advantage of you.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Not if I want it too. Do you not find me attractive?” She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. How desperate she sounded, begging for his affection.
“I do find you attractive. And I would like nothing more than to continue what we were doing, but it wouldn’t be right.”
She didn’t believe him. What a fool she was, dressing up in her prettiest dress, inviting him to dinner, even asking him to spank her! Clearly, he was turned off by her forwardness, which she knew to be unbecoming of a lady. She’d been spending too much time around men, assuming their way of behaving. That, combined with her lack of experience courting, had caused her to do everything wrong.
She shook her head and blinked at the ground, wishing she could be anywhere but there. Struggling to keep her voice from wavering, she said, “It’s all right, Wyatt. I know I have been very forward.”
An awful silence filled the room. She couldn’t even look at him and wished that he would leave so she could nurse her hurt pride in solitude. She could feel his gaze on her and the longer he stayed silent, the more humiliated she felt.
He walked to her suddenly, grabbed her wrist, and pressed her hand against the front of his trousers. “Feel that?” he growled. “That’s how much I want you. Don’t you dare think otherwise.”
She gasped and stared at him with wide eyes. His cock was rock hard. She knew a man became hard when he was filled with desire, so she felt her earlier fear of him not finding her attractive fading, leaving total confusion in its wake.
“Now do you believe I want you?” he said, and clenched his jaw. He seemed almost angry, but it was more intense than anger.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Good.” He released her wrist and strode to the front door, where he grabbed his hat hanging over a hook and clapped it on his head. “Forgive me, Elsie.” Without waiting for her to respond, he walked out and slammed the door behind him.
Chapter 5
Elsie spent the next few weeks often aroused and always confused, but one thing was for certain. She wouldn’t ever be so forward with Wyatt again. She couldn’t bear the rejection a second time, no matter the reason. She tried to figure out what had caused him to put a stop to their passion, but no explanation she came up with in her mind seemed to match reality.
At first, she thought he might not respect her, but as the days went by, she realized that wasn’t the case. He always treated her with the utmost respect in their conversations, praising her for her ideas and complimenting the way she ran the ranch. He valued her opinion and asked for it often. Next, she thought perhaps he didn’t find her ladylike enough, but that proved to be false as well. He behaved gently and gallantly, removing his hat, standing in her presence, and opening doors for her.
She told herself to stop thinking about Wyatt Parker, but she couldn’t put him out of her mind, nor did she really want to. He intrigued her. There was something different about him, something mysterious, and she longed to be in his presence. After learning about how his former boss and girl had treated him, plus seeing how much physical pain he had suffered, she felt protective and compassionate toward him, and she found herself often staying behind at the barn and cabin to spend time with him, giving her other hands free rein to carry out the branding operation without her.
Her feelings of protectiveness toward Wyatt grew to alarming proportions when she heard the nasally voice of Mark Xavier engaged in a heated conversation with him. The voice came from the other side of the barn out of her sight, but she heard the words clearly.
“You’re going to tell me what you know, boy, if you value your life,” Xavier snarled.
Wyatt responded in an even tone, sounding annoyed. “Don’t rightly know what you’re talkin’ about, and I reckon you should take a step back, sir.”
“Oh, I think you do know. You’re either with the law or against it. You’d better decide which side you’re on right smart, or you’re going to find yourself in a barred box.”
Anger surged through Elsie. She withdrew her revolver and quickened her steps. Wyatt had no knowledge of her branding theft, and Xavier had no proof of it. She wanted to keep it that way, and she didn’t want Wyatt to be in any kind of danger. She wouldn’t put it past Xavier to hurt him to try to get the truth, and she couldn’t bear the thought of Wyatt in his injured state engaging in a fight against her worst enemy.
She rounded the corner to see Xavier holding a threatening fist in front of Wyatt’s face. Wyatt’s left fist rested against his hip. His right arm was still recovering and helplessly cradled in a sling. He didn’t appear afraid, though. He regarded Xavier with a bored expression.
“Get away from him or I’ll shoot!” Elsie yelled at Xavier, pointing her gun to the back of his head.
Mark Xavier’s response was quick. He sidestepped away from Wyatt, spun around, and drew his weapon. Elsie suddenly found herself face to face with Xavier’s Colt revolver before she could decide whether or not to shoot him.
“Now hold on just a cotton-pickin’ minute,” Wyatt said with a raised voice. He stood straighter into a less-relaxed pose and tilted his hat up so that his entire face was unshaded from the sun. “There’s no need for weapons in this discussion.”
“The harebrained trollop started it,” Xavier growled. He spat on the ground without removing his gaze from Elsie’s face. “Typical Fin, always trying to one-up me and always losing.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Elsie said with a sneer. “Seems to me I’ve been on the winning side as of late. My grasses are green, my cattle are fat, and my gun is loaded.”
“Elsie, put the gun away,” Wyatt said, his voice taut. “You too, Xavier. Ain’t no reason to talk with irons when our mouths were workin’ just fine.”
Neither made any move to holster their weapons, but they didn’t argue either. “On three, you both stand down,” Wyatt insisted. “One… two… three.”
With matching sighs of exasperation, Elsie and Xavier lowered their guns. “Get off my property, Xavier,” Elsie growled. “And don’t be bothering my cowhands. You got something to say, say it to me.”
Xavier’s face twisted into a contemptuous scowl. “One of these days, you’re gonna get caught. I look forward to the day the marshal takes you away in handcuffs.”
Wyatt stepped toward him. Though obviously injured, he still looked intimidating as he loomed over Xavier. “You’ve got some nerve making threats against the lady on her own land. You heard her, she wants you gone, so get yourself going.”
After spitting on the ground once again, Xavier departed on his horse, cantering away and leaving dust in his wake. Elsie stared after him, her heart thumping painfully in her chest. She wasn’t sure that her original concern that Xavier would hurt Wyatt had been a valid one when she finally looked at Wyatt’s foreboding figure. He was glaring at her, his eyes flashing with anger and his lips set in a firm line. A tick in his jaw indicated he was gritting his teeth, and the scar that tracked his face seemed especially pronounced. She’d never seen a man loo
king as fierce as Wyatt appeared in that moment. She found it hard to believe he was the same gentle, soft-spoken man she’d gotten to know.
Her heart continued to pound, now anxious over Wyatt’s obvious displeasure. She wasn’t sure what had angered him until he spoke. He strode the few steps to her and grasped her arm. “You have a death wish, woman?” When she didn’t respond, he asked, “What were you thinking, drawing your gun on a man having words with me? He could have killed you!”
“I-I wanted to protect you,” she stammered, trying to wrench her arm free, to no avail. His grip wasn’t tight enough to inflict anything more than discomfort, but it was unyielding. Wyatt was a powerful man, much more powerful than she’d realized, even with only one good arm.
“I don’t need you to protect me, Elsie,” he bellowed. “I don’t need any woman coming in the middle of my argument with another man, putting herself in danger on my behalf.” He gave her a shake. “You listening to me, woman?”
She’d never seen this severe, chastising side to Wyatt, and she felt desperate for him to understand her motivation. “But it’s not your fight, it’s mine. And you’re injured! I didn’t want him to hurt you.”
“I would much prefer for me to lose a fistfight than for you to lose a gunfight… or win one, for that matter, and end up in prison!” He walked with purpose toward the front of the barn, hauling her along with him.
“What are you doing?” she squeaked, though she had a strong suspicion of his intention when he dragged her in the direction of the bench.
He sat down and hauled her over his knee, then wrapped his other leg over hers, pinning her in place. His left hand fell in such a hard swat on her clothed bottom that she gasped and arched upward.
“Teaching you a lesson about safety,” he growled. He grasped the waist of her trousers and tugged them down, while she squirmed helplessly between his legs pinning her in place.
She felt mortified when the cool morning air wafted over her bare bottom. Before, when she’d begged him for a spanking, she’d felt some measure of control. Now she felt like a bad little girl, helpless to prevent her punishment, especially when he proceeded with giving her naked backside a proper, no-nonsense tanning. Sharp swats peppered her bottom and the tops of her thighs, causing such a sting that tears flooded her eyes nearly immediately. “Stop this, Wyatt! I’m ordering you to stop.”
“Not until I’m sure I’ve gotten through to you,” he responded, smacking even harder. Her whole bottom blazed, with each spank igniting a new fire on her poor unprotected cheeks.
“Ow!” she sobbed. “Wyatt, please. I was trying to help you, I don’t deserve this!”
“Ha!” he responded. “I don’t know of anyone who deserves this more. Would your pa have let you go and do something so dangerous without consequences?”
His mention of her father brought forth a new wave of grief and pain. She’d acted recklessly ever since her father’s death, a result of hatred for her neighbor and grief over how her pa had died before his time. No one had ever bothered to notice or care. “No, he would want me safe. Please, it hurts…”
He stopped spanking and rested his hand on her hot bottom. “I want you safe too, Elsie. I care about you. That’s the only reason I’m blistering your backside.”
She sobbed, feeling regretful and in a great deal of pain. In the recesses of her mind and heart, she also felt like she was right where she deserved to be, getting the spanking of her life.
And boy did he give her a hiding. She felt like she’d sat on a stove by the time he finally released her. As soon as his leg loosened its grip over the backs of hers, she stumbled away from him, her hands frantically clutching her cheeks and rubbing to relieve the sting. Her bottom hurt so much that she didn’t even care about her modesty for several moments after the punishment, when she suddenly realized that her trousers were pooled at her ankles. With a shriek, she grabbed them up over her hips, hissing with pain as the wool scraped against her punished skin.
She covered her face with her hands. She couldn’t bear to look at him, and she felt overcome with emotions. He cared about her and he’d made it very clear he didn’t want harm to come to her. Amidst the pain of the spanking, she felt good about that. She also felt incredibly foolish for pulling a gun. “I’m sorry I thought I needed to protect you from Xavier,” she whimpered behind her hands. “I should have known you could take care of yourself.”
He didn’t respond right away. Finally, he stood and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his chest. He sighed. “You’re so good, darlin’. I appreciate that you care.”
“It sure doesn’t seem like you do,” she said in a small voice.
He chuckled softly. “Well, let’s just say I’d appreciate you staying out of harm’s way more.” She kept her head buried against his chest for some time and cried, not only from the spanking, but also from the strong emotions it brought forth. Wyatt rubbed her back and didn’t loosen his hold on her. “Everything’s going to be all right, Elsie,” he murmured.
Somehow, even though she knew Wyatt wasn’t privy to all her problems and sins, she believed him. The punishment had been humiliating, but it cemented the intimacy between them and she felt like he would go to great lengths to protect her. For this reason, she decided that as soon as his arm healed, she would tell him about her theft of the Xaviers’ cattle.
Her bottom throbbed as he held her against him, but the ache soon bloomed into desire. Wyatt smelled so good, like leather, dust, and apples. She wrapped her arms around him and enjoyed the feeling of his comfort for as long as possible, wishing he would kiss her again. But he only held her and stroked her hair and back until her sniffles disappeared.
Chapter 6
It was a pleasant, warm morning, the kind that was neither too hot nor too cold. Wyatt turned his horse in the direction of a clearing on the far side of the Infinity Ranch. Elsie had asked him to meet her there to brand cattle, a place he’d never been before, and he had no doubt it was where the illegal branding took place. Birds chirped cheerfully around him, and he felt in matching good spirits. Thanks to Elsie, his arm was now fully healed, so he felt more able and stronger than ever. Plus, he always looked forward to spending time with the lady of the ranch. They had spent hours together over the last few weeks, learning just about everything there was to know about each other.
He doubted that a lovelier creature had ever existed. He kept his attraction toward her in check, but it required a great deal of self-control not to take her into his arms and ignite the desire that perpetually burned in her eyes. With every day that passed, Wyatt liked Elsie more, and eventually he realized he was in love with her and would be devastated if she was taken into custody.
That was why, despite the wonderful company he’d been keeping, he carried a large burden of unease about the situation at the Infinity Ranch. The marshal was impatient to make an arrest. Once a week since joining the ranch, Wyatt had ridden to town to give his report. It was the same report each time: no sign of rebranding. The reports were true. Elsie had never once hinted at her theft, and he’d never witnessed a single nefarious deed. She was smitten with him, but her feelings toward him weren’t enough to make her abandon caution, until today.
His horse’s hooves clipped along the narrow, hard-dirt path around a bend. He arrived at the slow-trickling stream and guided his horse across it as Elsie had explained he should do to get to the location. Two elm trees on either side of the path created an arc above him, which he ducked through, and a whiff of cow manure reached him. He entered a dense thicket, and upon exiting discovered an expanse of flat, green land. A wooden corral containing five cows filled the opposite side of the meadow from him. In the center, a crudely built forge roared with fire. Through the flames, he saw Elsie, her forehead creased into lines of concentration.
Wyatt directed his horse around the fire and dismounted. His horse immediately dipped his head to graze on the lush grass as Elsie approached him. “Hello, Wyatt.”
Like usual, her eyes lit up upon seeing him, but this time Wyatt saw worry in them as well.
“Howdy, Elsie. Just you and me today? I thought the other hands would be around.”
“I gave them the day off. They’re in town, enjoying some well-deserved rest. I want to speak with you privately about something. Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” His heartbeat quickened. This was what he’d been waiting weeks for, but now that the time had arrived, he felt nervous. There were many ways her confession and his subsequent response could go wrong.
He followed Elsie to a couple of tree stumps, and they sat down next to each other. Wyatt couldn’t help but notice how the light from the sun made her blonde hair shine nearly as brightly as her eyes. As per usual, she wore men’s clothing, but her shirt was a soft green color that made her look demure and feminine. Being in her presence always made Wyatt feel like more of a man. Her feminine curves and sweet face differed sharply from his angles and scars. In every way that he was tough, she was soft.
How Elsie treated him had a lot to do with why he felt a few inches taller around her. She’d always gazed at him with admiration, even after learning about his injury. Being acquainted with a woman who admired him at his worst, when he was nothing but a poor, hurt cowboy, caused Wyatt to feel great affection for her, in addition to great desire.
Elsie folded her hands in her lap and stared down at them. “There’s something I’m going to tell you, Wyatt, and I pray you do not think less of me. I trust you, and I want you to know everything that’s going on at the ranch.”
“Go on.” Wyatt’s voice conveyed no emotion, though he felt plenty.
She avoided looking at him and reached down to pick up the branding iron next to her. “I told you about what Mark Xavier did to me and my pa.”
Hero Undercover: 25 Breathtaking Bad Boys Page 97
