When A Cowboy Asks (A Rancher's Bride Book 2)

by Chula Stone

  Treli turned a scowl on Shep. “But that’s probably how Bailey figured out who owned the building. He was in that courthouse after hours digging in places he had no business being.”

  “But it all could turn out for the best, if Aunt Mina consents to sell the building,” Shep asserted, bringing the topic back around to where they had started.

  “There are arrangements I’ve made that I’d have to change before I could make such a sale. I’d have to travel to Dallas, and that’s not as easy for me as it once was. I don’t like to be far from home anymore.”

  Shep sent a cheeky grin around the room. “That problem, we can take care of. Nobody will think a thing of it if we go to Dallas for some shopping for the house we’re building. While we’re there, I’ll act as your agent and then come home and look as surprised as anybody when Vince gets the letter saying he can buy the property.”

  With this satisfactory arrangement bubbling in her heart, Treli rode home at Shep’s side blissfully content. “What do you think Mr. Branson will do about his nephew? You never said if he believed you or not.”

  “Oh, he believed me all right. He told me that he had his suspicions for a while now and I was only confirming what he already knew. He was just trying to give Bailey the benefit of the doubt, but I think we’ve seen the last of that coyote.”

  “Since it’s so pretty out, why don’t we leave the buggy at the livery and take the path down to the house?” Treli suggested. “It’s so romantic. It reminds me of the times we used to sneak down there together.”

  “Reminds me of those days, too,” Shep groused, complying with his wife’s suggestion. Helping her down, he murmured in her ear, “And you can call it romantic if you want to, but when I think of those days, I get a little hot under the collar. You play merry hob with my peace of mind; do you know that?”

  She leaned into him and grinned. “That’s what I’m supposed to do.”

  He started to grab at her, but she escaped his hands and led the way down the path. They bantered all the way down to the cottage but when they arrived there, Treli was surprised to find that he didn’t chase her straight into the bedroom. Instead he stopped off in the kitchen.

  “What are you doing? Are you that hungry? You go wash up and I’ll heat up the stew.” She didn’t like that look in his eye.

  “No, I’ll be fine till later. It’s not food I’m after.”

  “What are you after?”

  “Cake batter.”

  Treli recalled Aunt Mina’s little joke. “Now, Shep, you don’t want to do that, do you?” Since he had already caught her, there was no harm in trying to cuddle up even closer and turn on the charm. “We were having so much fun.”

  “And I’ll finish what you started, but let’s get this out of the way first. Will you quit squirming and get over my lap?”

  “Oh, Shep, why?” she wailed.

  “Because I asked you to.” Shep plunked himself down on the bench at the kitchen table and pulled her over his knees.

  “But all I did was help my cousin.”

  “And I told you not to.” Shep pulled her skirts up over her waist and when she tried to push it back down again, he caught her hand in his. “I won’t have you tiring yourself out with overwork like Pinkie did this summer.”

  “I’m not! I promise,” she cried, but she knew it was futile. He wouldn’t listen no matter what she said and in fact, fighting too hard would make it worse. He usually seemed to spank her until she quit struggling, then sometimes he would go on even longer. Apparently this was going to be one of those times. Quick and hard the swats fell, from the fullest part of her buttock to the tender crease where thigh met bottom. She squealed when a swat fell even lower. Those stung like fire.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Shep replied calmly. “I plan to make sure you remember it.”

  “I will. I don’t say yes to everything anymore,” she protested.

  He paused, the spoon on her rump accentuating the throb she felt with every beat of her heart. “Name one thing you’ve said no to.” After a silent pause, he lit into her again. “That’s what I thought.”

  “Wait! Wait! I can’t think of anything with you treating my backside like an old rug with fleas in it.”

  “Think of anything or think up anything? I’m on to your ways now, little bit. With your day dreaming skills, you’re more than able to dream up some excuse to tell me. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

  And with that, he had her. He did notice everything and that was what she loved about him. “I’m sorry. At least I don’t lie to you.”

  He stopped and rubbed her tender seat. “And I notice that, too. I appreciate it. Nothing worse than being flat out lied to, but still… you’ve got to be a little more upfront with me from now on.”

  “I will.”

  “Then there’s the matter of you disobeying me,” Shep reminded her. He paused in his punishment and waited for his words to sink in.

  Treli had hoped that in all the excitement of stopping Bailey, Shep had forgotten about her unauthorized trip to Aunt Mina’s house. “What would you say if I reminded you that I needed to move the buggy from in front of the lawyer’s office? And then I might recall to your attention the fact that we needed to stop Bailey from cheating Aunt Mina.”

  “Are you finished inventing stories?” he queried ironically.

  “What stories? That’s all true,” Treli protested.

  Shep gave her backside a slow squeeze. “Where are the papers you were supposed to get for Drina?”

  Treli froze, her excuses crumpling on her lips. “Please tell me you have them.”

  “I do. I picked them up when you were helping Aunt Drina in the kitchen.”

  “Oh, thank goodness,” Treli sighed.

  “But you’ve got a lot to answer for. You knew you had left those papers on Aunt Mina’s desk twice. And you knew I wanted you to wait for me in that buggy. But no, off you go, not admitting to me what you meant to do and crashing in to Aunt Mina’s house like a cowboy at a saloon on payday. Isn’t that right?”

  Treli nodded her head.

  “Even if it did turn out all right, I can’t let that pass.” Again, he applied the wooden spoon, harder than before. She knew he had every right to spank her bare bottom until it resembled the red door on their cottage, but that didn’t help her endure the sting and burn. She kicked her legs and grabbed at the bench as he whacked away at her rump. At last, he stopped, resting the bowl of the spoon on her burning backside. “Are you going to obey me from now on?”

  When she got her breath back enough to speak, she said, “Yes, I will! I promise!”

  “Good then. Do you want to be done?”

  What kind of a question was that? This wasn’t one of those incredible moments like they sometimes experienced, when they were so deeply in the throes of passion that she moaned for him to go on. This was a punishment and it hurt! Still, she didn’t feel inclined to give him sass. A wooden spoon to the backside tended to bake all the sass right out of her. “Yes, I do.”

  “How much?”

  “How much what?”

  “How much do you want to be done? What will you do in order to get me to stop?”

  He’d never asked her this before. She hesitated, wondering what he could want. “What are my choices?”

  “Obey me or disobey me.”

  “That’s not exactly a choice,” Treli groused. “I know I’ll wind up obeying you in the end.”

  “That’s true, but I just want you to know why I’m telling you to do this. It’s because I think you’re ready to make a fresh start and act right for a while. I just need to see some proof.”

  “All right. What do you want me to do?”

  “Go stand in the corner.”

  She thought about objecting, but this was some sort of a test. The best way to pass it would be to obey. She did as she was told, facing the corner as she assumed he wanted. “For how long?”

  “Until I tell you that you can go.” Sh
ep came up behind her and rubbed her aching backside through the skirts that had fallen back into place when he let her up. “I’m going to give you ten more swats. Take them like a good girl and you’ll be done.”

  He counted out hard slow swats. About half way through she couldn’t stop herself from reaching back and giving a good stiff rub between spanks. He just clicked his tongue and started his count again. This time she endured eight before the pain overwhelmed her, but just as she reached back, he caught her hands and held them loosely at the small of her back while he finished. Then she was in his arms and gasping while he rubbed her bottom for her. Soon his caresses moved on to other sensitive places and she started gasping again, this time for very different reasons.

  The next day, Treli and Pinkie worked side by side in the café, replenishing the supplies of colorful sweets for the jars out front. They had replaced the one that Shep had smashed with a tall cake stand that now stood as the centerpiece of the counter, filled with the best and brightest confections the shop had to offer. Treli always took special care with whatever was on display there as a kind of private monument to that day.

  Late in the afternoon, Pinkie looked at the watch hanging on her lapel. “We’d better hurry if we don’t want to miss waving the train out of the station.”

  Treli started out gingerly, her legs and bottom still sore from her spanking the day before. As she walked, the pain eased and she sped up. “Not on your life! Let’s go!”

  Pinkie gave her a mischievous grin. “Would you like to take the buggy?”

  The thought of riding even such a short way on that hard seat made Treli wince. “Oh, hush. You be nice or next time it happens to you, I’ll be sure to order something from Green’s in Louden that you’ll have to go get.”

  It wasn’t far to the train station and they soon joined the rest of the crowd. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Bailey Branson was the most popular man in town. Look at all the folks who have come to see him off!” Pinkie cried.

  “When Drina brings the kids, that’s an instant crowd right there,” Treli returned gaily. “And I’m not surprised to see Aunt Mina and Betty here. They’ll want to make sure he’s really gone.”

  “And here come the men.” Pinkie pointed to the rather sober looking group that was advancing towards them. “Shep doesn’t mind you being here, does he?”

  “No, not at all. In fact, I think he wanted to meet me here so we could enjoy the spectacle together.” Treli welcomed her husband with a quick kiss on the cheek as he put one arm around her waist.

  “That’ll be us next week,” Shep reminded her. “We’ll be off to Dallas in high style.”

  “Though you probably won’t have exactly the same sort of sendoff or the same sort of passengers going with you,” Pinkie suggested. “Then again, you wouldn’t mind nearly as much.”

  Vince took his wife’s hand. “Everything’s all arranged. Has anyone seen Branson?”

  “He was already on the train when we got here,” Pinkie told him. “The conductor pointed out his carriage to me.”

  “Did he? When? And why?” Treli wondered. In all the chaos at the station, she hadn’t noticed any signal.

  “Just now when we first got here. Yesterday I asked him to let me know where Bailey was sitting,” Pinkie replied. She then gave a wave of her hand and watched as the doors of the cargo car nearest the first class carriage were drawn apart and three crates were quickly passed inside.

  The doors were hardly closed when the train pulled off with the loud hissing of the steam engine and the whistling of the breaks almost drowning out a noise that was as familiar as it was piercing. “Yeaoh! Yeaoh!”

  Treli turned to stare at Pinkie. “What was that? What’s going on?”

  “A friend of mine in Dallas has been after me for years to sell her some of our peacocks, but I could never bear to part with them… until now. The thought of Bailey Branson riding to Dallas with those birds shrieking all the way was just too delicious to resist.”

  Treli couldn’t suppress her chuckles. “But they won’t shriek the whole trip, will they? They’ll settle down.”

  “I’ve paid Eli to ride with them and feed them a little bit of sweet feed every hour or so.” Pinkie grinned as she waved at the receding train while the children ran behind it, shouting and cheering for no reason in particular. “They get so excited when they see the can come out, I thought it would make the journey easier for them.”

  At this, even Shep’s serious mood lightened. He grinned approvingly and set a hand on Treli’s shoulder. “So, what will you be feeding me by way of a celebration?”

  “Why should I feed you anything,” Treli teased, inviting his usual, cocky answer.

  “Because I asked you to.” Holding Treli close, Shep followed Vince and Pinkie as they left the platform. “And because I’m hungry!”

  What A Pip

  By

  Chula Stone

  Book Three of A Rancher's Bride

  - Available Spring 2017 -

  Texas, 1881

  Eerie shadows cast by her tiny lantern flickered around the shelter she had built for herself by the stream. Her petite frame hadn’t allowed her to build anything high up in a tree but her small cloak blocked the chilly night breeze and gave her the illusion of privacy. With her back to the water, she felt safe… or safe enough… most of the time. When the first faint footfalls had heralded the arrival of a visitor, her senses had gone on high alert, but as the weasel-like tread reminded her of an overgrown ferret investigating a particularly interesting rabbit warren, she identified the newcomer. “Bo? Is that you?”

  “Pip? It’s me,” he called back softly. “Don’t shoot.”

  “I haven’t got a gun, as you’ve got good reason to know,” she replied. He knew it because he had refused to get her a gun when she asked, but that was Bo all over. He had a heart of gold and shared her adventurous spirit, but he wasn’t as easy to bend to her will as she would have liked. He only indulged her detours from proper behavior when it suited him.

  “You also haven’t got much sense, and I have good reason to know that, too.”

  “I wouldn’t shoot you even if I did. I knew you were coming, remember? I asked you to go and bring me something to eat.”

  “That’s right, and I think you’ll find I’ve done well. A delicacy fit for a queen.” He held out a small brown paper bag. “A pip is a seed,” Bo commented unnecessarily. “Isn’t it funny that I’m giving you yourself?”

  Priscilla Sloan pushed a lock of her red-gold hair away from her face and accepted the small bag of toasted pumpkin seeds gratefully. “That it is, Bo.” Her stomach gave a loud burble and she covered it with her hands.

  “But could be you need something a little more substantial than seeds, I suppose. I should get you a plate.” Bo gestured toward the string of brightly colored caravans nestled comfortably in a large grove of oaks.

  “Not right now, Bo,” she admonished him in patient tones. “Not if anyone will see you and wonder why you’re so hungry all of a sudden.”

  “I don’t see why you have to keep to yourself out here in the bushes when you’d be as welcome as a cool breeze in June if you told Mr. Gabor you were here.” Bo sat on his heels in a boneless, unself-conscious sort of way, his dark blue trousers and shirt blending into the darkness until he almost disappeared. In contrast to the rest of his clan, he made no more mark than a shell on the shore.

  “But if I make myself known, there’ll be no going back. What if he’s angry and wants to send me home? I don’t want to go, Bo. I have to make a point.”

  He shook his head and let his arms hang lax in surrender. “This point you want to make, my dear little gadje, is one of the sillier things I’ve ever heard of you people doing, and that’s saying something.”

  “You’ve known I was not one of your people since I was a little girl. That never stopped us from having fun together and being friends even though there will always be things about me that you don’t
understand and things about you that I don’t understand. But you’re not going to tell him, are you? He might think he has to tell my family where I am.”

  “Don’t you want them to know? They’ll be worried sick about you.”

  “But they shouldn’t be! I can take care of myself! That’s what I have to prove.”

  “That you can sleep under a cloak and get pneumonia and starve?” Bo rolled his eyes in a dramatic gesture that reminded Pip forcibly of her Aunt Drina. She was a distant relation to Mr. Gabor’s clan and had grown up traveling with their show. She retained the dark dramatic beauty common among her people, but she had left the traveling life decades earlier without regret. “Great point there, cousin.” He honored her by using the name all the members of the clan called each other. In truth, there was no relation between them other than the affection between two kindred spirits who had grown up together.

  “It’s summer. I don’t think there’s much danger of my expiring from frostbite. From hunger, however…”

  “If you stay in the shadows, you can come into camp. No one will notice you in the dark and you can eat by the fire.”

  “With this hair? I might fit in if everyone suddenly goes blind, but without that happening, I think I’d better stay out here where its safe.”

  Bo pulled a face. “There’s such a thing as a scarf to cover up your hair, you know. And there are plenty of strangers in the camp tonight. No one will notice you.”

  “Strangers?” Mr. Gabor and his people could be trusted. None of them would hurt her, but strangers?

  “Mr. Gabor has taken on three new acts this season. That means three new wagons to hide behind and all those extra people milling around.” Bo grinned at her. “But like always, he’s checked them out thoroughly beforehand. Anyone who will be traveling near the clan will have to pass inspection.”

  “Still, I never thought about… this is definitely turning out to be harder than I thought.”

  “Ready to give over? You proved your point. You’re on your own, just like your mother and aunt.”