Cowboy Caveat

by Vanessa Brooks

  Lucy looked at Amy arguing with her brother. She was a real beauty and she wasn’t even aware of the effect she had on men. Her sherry golden eyes were flashing and her shiny caramel hair was a long, tangled curling mass bouncing with every shake of her head. Oh my, she was wild that one. Lucy hoped her brother Ethan knew what he was taking on with Amy. Why couldn’t he be sweet on Jayne Littleton, the grocer’s daughter? Jayne had been after Ethan since they were all at school together, but Ethan had not shown any interest in the pretty blonde girl. He and Amy had formed a bond that involved horses and cattle and he’d only had eyes for Amy, especially once she had grown into a beautiful young woman. They argued and disagreed more than they agreed, but the friendship had stayed strong.

  Ethan mentioned marriage and then they had got engaged, but at some point Amy had closed herself off from Ethan and what she called his boring old lectures. Now she wouldn’t talk properly to Ethan or even stay around to see him when he visited. Lucy had invited her brother to dinner in the hope that the young couple would sort things out between them.

  Lucy banged a wooden spoon onto a pan and yelled into the escalating fight between her husband and his sister, “That’s enough, y’all! Amy get on up stairs and wash up, put on a dress and come and help me, NOW!” The siblings stopped their squabbling and turned to look at Lucy. Amy nodded tersely and ran to do as she was told.

  Ed looked sheepishly at his wife. “Sorry darlin’, what can I do?”

  “Go wash up an’ put on a clean shirt and stop goading your sister and let her be. She is Ethan’s problem now... not ours!”

  “Lucy, we don’t know that Amy will ever accept Ethan,” Ed said as he turned to go.

  But Lucy raised her voice so that her husband could hear her as he walked away. “Ethan is determined and Amy loves him. It will all work out just fine, you’ll see!”

  CHAPTER 2

  Dinner went well, chaotic but full of happy banter and laughter. Amy stole glances at Ethan when she thought he wasn’t looking. He was still the best-looking man around these parts and tonight he wore a soft blue shirt that Amy hadn’t seen before. She was touched that he had bought a new shirt for the occasion and she felt sad that she would be hurting him later when she would tell him she couldn’t marry him. Amy was sure Ethan intended to ask her to set a wedding date tonight because he had never brought her flowers before. The bright daisies sat in a pretty milk jug, which had been her mother’s, in the middle of the table.

  Amy fell in love with Ethan on the fateful day they had met. When Ed and Ethan had ridden up to the wagon, Ed had reached out to his youngest siblings first. They’d set up a wail as soon as they had seen Ed, whereas Ethan had taken one look at Amy’s white face and had jumped up onto the wagon seat beside her. He had prised the reins out of her tight grip and scooped her onto his lap, whereupon Amy had buried her face into his large comforting chest, gripping his solid and reassuring body, clinging to him like a limpet. They had never spoken of that day, but Amy had trailed around after Ethan from then on, learning everything she could from him about horses and cattle. Ethan taught her to shoot, too.

  Ethan coughed. “Amy darlin’, I’m fixin’ ta walk around the stables. Why don’t you join me? I reckon we need to discuss a few things.”

  Amy stood and nodded her assent. Okay, we’ll get this over with and then we can move on, she decided while heading toward the door that Ethan held open for her. Ed looked at Lucy and quirked an eyebrow at her. She cocked her head slightly to one side in silent reply; all was going well...so far.

  “Amy and Ethan sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” chanted Millie loudly.

  Ed pulled one of her braids lightly and glared at his little sister. She stuck out her tongue at him and ran away giggling from the table. Ed grinned and said, “Well at least Millie turned out to be a normal kid!”

  Lucy clucked her tongue and replied, “Amy is normal, Ed. She just shut down for a little while. I agree with Ethan; half the reason she’s so wild is because you let her do whatever she wants and she has had no boundaries at all!”

  Ed looked somberly at his wife. “You know how I feel about that. Amy saw things no kid, especially a young girl, should see, and she needed time to recover.”

  Lucy sighed. “Like I have said before, I agreed with you then but now ... come on, Ed, eight years!”

  “Let it alone, Lucy. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

  Ed left the table and called his sons to go with him. Lucy sighed again and began to clear the table of dishes.

  * * * * *

  Ethan and Amy leaned on the stock fence and gazed out over the prairie to the creek in the distance. “I spoke to the Reverend and he said we can be married this Sunday.” Ethan watched Amy’s face change, and sure enough, that cold, closed look settled across her features.

  “I told you already, Ethan. I don’t aim to marry yet.”

  Ethan took hold of her arm and turned her to face him. “Look at me, Amy,” he said quietly.

  Amy looked up into his strong beautiful face, so beloved and therefore so dangerous. She could lose him, too, and she just couldn’t let herself love him so much.

  “Amy, I‘m going nowhere and neither is your family. You have to start to live life, get married, have children and help me build our ranch and stock. I need you, honey! Amy, say yes, and I’ll do the rest.......just trust me, darlin’.”

  Amy tugged her arm free from Ethan’s hand and stalked away, throwing her answer over her shoulder, “I can’t marry you, Ethan, and that is that!”

  Ethan growled and strode after her, his six-foot-two frame easily catching up with Amy, who was slight and only five-feet-four. Gripping her elbow, he towed her toward the hay barn and no amount of pulling and struggling on Amy’s part could slow the man down.

  “Ethan, let go of me!” Amy fumed; Ethan didn’t bother to reply but shoved her inside the sweet-smelling barn and dragged her over to a low stack of grain sacks. He pushed Amy over the pile and flung up her skirts so that her shapely bottom was revealed, encased in a pair of pink pantaloons. Well now, that is a surprise after seeing her in britches all the time, thought Ethan with an appreciative grin.

  Ethan grabbed hold of her hands and held them behind her back, keeping her firmly in place. “Right, now that you’re in this position, perhaps you’ll listen and listen real good!” he barked.

  Amy hissed back, “Sometimes I just hate you, Ethan Walker!”

  Ethan gave a low chuckle. “You know darlin’, one of the things I love best about you is how brave you are....foolish....but brave.” He raised his hand and slapped his intended across her prettily clothed backside, hollering, “Now quiet down and listen!”

  Amy huffed in frustration and disbelief. Nobody had ever dared to spank her before; what was Ethan thinking? What the hell was wrong with him anyhow? First those embarrassing swats in town this morning.........and now this! Unfortunately, instead of listening, Amy chose to struggle, trying to free herself and vent her spleen on Ethan. “Jumping Jehoshaphat... Ethan, what is wrong with you?!” she bellowed.

  “Honey, when we’re married you jump when I say frog, got it? Girl, there are gonna be some rules set in stone for you, and rule number one is that you will obey me,” he said following this up with another swat, which elicited a squeal. “Rule two: my wife will not cuss at her husband, and another thing, she will definitely not blaspheme.” Ethan again landed a hard swat on Amy’s bottom.

  “Rule three: no lying or sassing me or your brother Ed.........nope, not ever again!” Ethan peppered Amy with a sizzling volley of spanks because he was sick of her jaw jackin and rudeness towards Ed.

  “Yow.....eee!” was all Amy had to say to that.

  “Rule four: no more bull riding or horse racing....EVER!!!” At that, he scalded Amy’s buttocks with a number of blistering spanks, and Amy’s screech of outrage satisfied Ethan mightily. He stopped spanking and rubbed Amy’s behind with a large hand; my, oh my, she felt warm, and she loo
ked so divine bent over the grain sacks with her shapely little ass up in the air!

  Ethan could see how pink her curved buttocks were through the thin covering of her pretty pink pantaloons. He itched to slide his hand inside the material and stroke her soft skin. Ethan felt his loins tighten and swell against the rough material of his trousers. He needed to marry Amy soon; he couldn’t take the strain for much longer. He had to have Amy because it was all he could think about and it was starting to interfere with his workload.

  Amy was relieved that the spanking seemed to be over, but she was surprised to find that she didn’t resent Ethan; his hand stroking her burning flesh felt divine. She stilled and waited, holding her breath to see where his hand would slide to next. But what did she want? Amy was more than somewhat confused by her feelings toward her intended.

  Ethan reluctantly removed his hand, but held Amy in place while he asked her the question, “Amy will you marry me Sunday? An’ you’d best say yes, lil’ girl......because I intend to spank on until you do!”

  “Gee, I guess that’s a yes then,” Amy said, fully intending to retract after he let her up.

  “Oh no. I want your solemn oath, Amelia Jane, that you will marry me this Sunday.” He gave her rump another scorching swat to emphasize his point.

  Amy ground her teeth. “Land sakes, Ethan Walker!” she spat furiously.

  “Have it your way then, darlin,’” Ethan drawled as he raised his hand and lit into Amy’s bottom with gusto; she had to say yes. He’d had enough of waiting. By God, she was stubborn! He could see Amy would spend a lot of time across his lap after they were wed and Ethan wasn’t complaining any about that!

  If Amy thought Ethan had spanked her hard the first time around, she realized now how mistaken she’d been. This time he took no prisoners and Amy found herself kicking and squirming, trying to avoid the hard spanking that burned and stung her bottom all at once. Surprised, she found tears leaking from her eyes and the first gasp of a sob starting in her throat. Amy realized that Ethan meant what he said -- he would carry out his threat to keep spanking until she said yes. After a particularly painful barrage of swats she yelled out the ‘YES!’ that Ethan wanted to hear.

  Ethan stopped, waiting for Amy to catch her breath and recover before he would pull her upright. He was so proud of her, she had taken all he had to give very well and he knew she was about to capitulate when she went limp over the grain sacks. “Okay I solemnly swear that I will marry you on Sunday...you snake!” Another couple of scalding whacks followed.

  “You learned not to sass me yet, little girl?” Ethan asked as his hand bounced off Amy’s quivering bottom. Amy gave in, slumped limply over the grain sacks. “Sure’nuff, Eth – I’m done,” she sniffled.

  “Well, now your ass is hotter than a burning stump!” Ethan said as he rubbed Amy’s flaming behind. He pulled her upright and into his embrace.

  “It’s all over, honey, go on now cry it out little darlin’,” he murmured, kissing the top of her head and holding her tight. Amy snivelled into Ethan’s chest because he seemed to expect it and then she snuggled into his arms. She was where she wanted to be.....nothing else mattered.

  Later, when the women and children were abed, Ed walked Ethan to his horse. He was still thunderstruck that Amy had agreed to a wedding on Sunday, only three days away!

  “I don’t know how you did it, Eth, but I am so relieved that Amy gave in!”

  Ethan chuckled. “I spanked your little sis’ good and hard until she agreed, but you know, Ed, I think she wanted to say yes ages ago. She’s just afraid to love anyone after what happened to your folks. Amy thinks it’ll happen again and she’ll lose me, too.”

  Ed frowned. He was not best pleased to hear that Ethan had spanked his sister. Ed was a non-confrontational man and he liked a happy, easy-go-lucky atmosphere in his home. He hadn’t ever spanked his siblings or his boys. He’d only ever spanked Lucy once and that was because she’d scared him half to death by staying over at her friend’s in Wichita Falls one night instead of coming home as she’d told him she would.

  “Sunday though, Eth? How are we supposed to get ready by then?” he said, shaking his head. “You heard Lucy: Amy can wear our mother’s wedding dress and she said that Millie can have a store-bought dress from Mac’s in town. Don’t fret, Ed, it’s going to be jus’ fine! Ed....butt out, okay?”

  “What d’ mean ‘butt out’?”

  “After Amy and I are hitched, there’ll be fireworks at some point, and I want your word you’ll let me handle things my way, no interference from you okay?” Ethan put his hand on his brother-in-law’s shoulder.

  “Yeah, okay, jus’ as long as you don’t hurt her none, Eth. She’s been to hell and back and I won’t stand by and let you hurt her. Got that?”

  “Christ, Ed, I ain’t gonna hurt Amy! I love your sister! The worst she’ll suffer from me is a sore backside and no one ever died from that. I told her my four rules tonight; they were Pa’s rules and they worked for Lucy and me, so I guess they’ll do fine for my wife and family.”

  Ethan’s neck flushed pink.

  “I also told her what she could expect if she breaks those rules. Amy needs protecting from herself and I’m jus’ the hombre for the job. Take today: did you know that she rode old Bellamy in to town with the steers for loading?”

  Ed looked surprised and shook his head.

  “Huh?”

  “Thought not....so do I have your word then you’ll keep out of it and send her back to me if’n she comes a runnin’ to you?”

  Ed grinned and nodded. “Sure’nuff,” he said.

  Ethan gestured out towards the range.

  “Old man Henderson asked again about your folks’ spread?”

  The Lazy Z belonged to Ethan’s and Lucy’s parents, who had died in the freak flood in 1886. Ed’s father owned a homestead on the land north of the Lazy Z, and north and east of that, Lawrence Henderson owned the Red River spread.

  Henderson had tried to buy out Daniel Campbell any number of times and had been turned down flat each time, but Elizabeth, Ed’s mother, didn’t recover from Amy’s birth and had died a short while afterwards. Daniel had gone to pieces and promised Henderson that he would sell his spread to him. When Elizabeth’s pretty blonde cousin Suzie had turned up for Elizabeth’s funeral, Daniel had fallen in love again and taken Suzie as his wife and as a mother for Ed and Amy. Ed had adored his stepmother and since he had only ever known Suzie as mother, he thought of her as such. Daniel retracted his offer to sell and Henderson had been livid.

  Over the following years, there had been a number of nasty incidents such as steers being butchered and horses mysteriously dying, which Daniel believed Henderson was behind. Ed and Ethan also believed Henderson to be responsible for the murders of Daniel and Suzie Campbell.

  Even though the Sheriff had ridden over with them to the Red River outfit to confront Henderson the day after the bodies were recovered, they couldn’t pin anything on the man. He told them he had visitors staying over at the time of the murders. When pressed, Henderson wheeled out his frightened, sweating, rotund little accountant, who confirmed to all listening that he had been with Henderson the whole time during the killings. The brothers-in-law knew that Henderson wouldn’t have killed Ed’s parents himself. Oh no, he would have paid someone else to do his dirty work; the trouble was proving it, and to date, they hadn’t.

  Ed and Ethan used Daniel’s old homestead as overnight accommodation for the hands that worked over that part of the range since it was a two-day ride away. They made no complaints when Red River steer wandered onto their land, but Henderson slaughtered any of their cattle that roamed onto his.

  Recently, Henderson had reverted to directly requesting to buy the land once again.

  In reply to Ethan’s question Ed shook his head. “I tell you, Eth, Henderson is like a stone in my boot.”

  The two men eyed one another, determination binding them together far deeper than their in-law ties. Neit
her man could forget the horror that they found at Spring Creek on that fateful day, nor the vow of vengeance that each man had silently made.

  CHAPTER 3

  Amy awoke to bright sunshine spilling over her face and she stretched and yawned; surprisingly, she had slept well. She smiled to herself, remembering Ethan and the spanking he had given her in the barn last night. Amy felt rather proud of him. She didn’t think he had it in him to stand up to her quite that way.

  Amy leapt out of bed, and pulling her nightdress up, she stared at her bottom in the mirror. What a shame the pinkness from last night had gone, she thought. Amy was keen to explore the interesting warmth and the heat that the spanking last evening had created between her legs. But she would wait until after their marriage before testing Ethan in that way again.

  As Amy washed and dressed, she thought about the implications of marrying Ethan. They would live at Aunt Peggy’s house, where Ethan and Lucy had lived after the death of their parents. Uncle Joe, Peggy’s husband, had perished in the flood of ’86. Ethan and Ed had enlarged the back of the house a couple of years back for Peggy so that she could be separate from the house as she aged. Peggy still did all the cooking, for which Amy was very grateful because that was not a role she intended to fill, no siree! Amy realised she would have to take on some domestic chores because of Aunt Peggy’s age, but she hoped that Peggy would still carry on with the kitchen duties.

  Amy bred horses; she had five beautiful, fast white horses, bred for their speed and temperament. The color white was to be her trademark. The horses were her life, her pride and joy, and she lived and breathed for them. Amy suddenly remembered that Ethan’s fourth rule was no more horse races. Well sonofabitch! He couldn’t expect her to back out of the Fourth of July race, no siree, not her! She just wouldn’t mention the subject; hopefully it wouldn’t come up again. She could just lit off, win the race and be back before Ethan knew anything about it. Ethan would find out eventually, but now she knew what a spanking was like, she’d deal with it. It was no big deal, hell it hurt more falling off a horse and she’d done that plenty o’ times!