by Reece Butler
She could set up the account incorrectly so that the wrong type of woman would apply, but that wasn’t her way. She’d had enough of passive aggression from her family. She would not impose it on people she cared about. It was just as well that she’d be fired. She could not go back to working with her shoulders hunched, waiting for a blow. Not a physical one. They healed far faster than the verbal attacks and silent looks snubbing her.
She turned on the computer. While it warmed up she thought of potential ad titles for Sam. A good one was required to hook the right person.
Have Tractor, Need Plowing.
She snorted a laugh. Actually, it wasn’t that bad. If they wanted an intelligent wife who enjoyed their sense of humor it could work. Trey had that humor, but she wasn’t sure about Sam. If all he wanted was to plow someone, he already had that with her. A bitter arrow pierced her heart. That’s all it is, just a temporary fling to ease their mutual lust. Nothing else is intended by it.
“Cowboy duo seeks tolerant wife. Must enjoy ranching and lots of kinky sex.”
The old desktop computer finally opened the Internet window. She logged into her e-mail, hoping for something from Gran. There was one message.
I’m sorry I stole your pack.
“I’m sorry, too, buddy-boy!” Her fury rose as she hid the key to show the message.
I’m not a thief, but you talked like a smart woman who could find a job easy. I’ve never taken nothing before. I was on the road with your pack over my arm and the bus pulling away before I realized I had it. That is not a lie. I don’t know why I did it, but I did.
Your granola bars were the first food I ate in days. I’m not telling a sob story. It’s true. My wife and children thank you because they’re not hungry now. After the harvest I’ll send you a check to wherever you want the money. I’m going to put my name and address in here. You can call the police and have me arrested but I hope you don’t. I never done nothing like this before. I’d go without, but I couldn’t face my little girl being hungry. I used my last dollar to buy a lottery ticket. It wasn’t enough for a coffee. If I win something I’ll give you half. Thank you for saving us. I’m using the library computer so won’t be able to check for messages. May God bless. Bill Saunders.
Katie dropped her head back, slumping in the chair. Tears leaked onto her cheeks. Oh, God, that poor man! Her hand dropped to her belly. If she ever was blessed with a child she would do anything to save her baby. Knowing she’d helped them, even inadvertently, made her heart ache.
“Well, Bill Saunders, I won’t be setting the police on you. If you hadn’t stolen my pack I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near Climax.” She hoped to get the money back, but he was right. Five hundred dollars would not make or break her, not with her salary accumulating in her bank account back home.
She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. She clicked out of the e-mail program and searched for dating sites aimed at rural folk. It didn’t take long to find Farm And Ranch Matrimony.
“At least they’re saying it’s aimed at weddings, not booty calls.”
Photos showed happy couples in jeans with their arms around each other and land in the background. None of the women wore obvious makeup. Their teeth were not capped to be even and bright white, and they were dressed to work. They looked far more relaxed than any of her aunts and uncles. In fact, they reminded her of Sam’s relatives, laughing and joking while they worked hard.
And that was another thing. While the valley women had joked about their husbands and sons they did it without catty comments. There was a lot of friendly affection and love shown, with more laughs at themselves and each other.
No wonder Sam wanted to use this site. He’d find a wife who cared more about him than what the neighbors thought of her new hairdo. She took another look at the pictures, clicking through. The ads were honest and the pictures blunt. According to city standards, many of them could lose weight. But would it make them happy? She doubted it.
She set to work with a new appreciation. She would find Sam and Trey a caring woman who would love working hard under an open blue sky and love being married to such wonderful men. Finding such a woman would be her gift to them.
She filled out an application in Sam’s name and printed it out. She’d have him go over it to make sure she got it right. Just in case, she checked on her e-mail again. She didn’t recognize the name but the subject line was, Don’t worry, I’m safe.
“Oh, thank God!”
Have borrowed a friend’s computer to say all is well. Yes, I’m gone, but I’m certainly not dead! Some years back, working through a private company, I purchased the excess inventory that your Mr. Adams is interested in. I own a few portions of the company that Walter considers part of his kingdom.
“No wonder Gran told me to keep my results to myself. ”
I need someone to manage this company. It won’t take much of your time as it’s so small and you are so very well organized. Are you interested? I assume you will not be going back to work for Walter. Think about it for a few weeks. Am I right to assume you’ll be safe where you are until you find other employment? Please don’t reply to this e-mail as I just wanted to let you know I was fine. I’ll set up a new account once I’m settled. The doctor was right. I feel twenty years younger away from the office. Will be in touch, much love, Gran.
She slumped back in the chair. The clock said it was ten past nine.
“One down, one to go.”
Katie phoned in again. This time the receptionist sent her call to Walter’s new assistant, her cousin Matilda. There was no hiding the glee in Matilda’s voice when she refused to put Katie through to her father. The word had already been spread about Katie not making her appointment.
“I regret to inform you that, as you did not complete your assignment as instructed, your contract has been terminated, effective January first of this year.”
Katie choked. “Excuse me? You backdated my termination?”
“Any salary that has been deposited in your account has been recovered. As you were not an employee during the last six months, and the house belongs to the Winterbourne Company, you will be charged six months’ rent.”
Katie rubbed her suddenly pounding head with her free hand.
“Rent, Matilda? I was forced to live with my parents in that compound and never paid rent.”
“Your father chose to cover the cost of your room. He stopped that in January. Now that you have been notified, I will be removing the rent payments from your bank account.”
The keyboard clicking was a death knell to her plans. She’d counted on living on her wages and letting her salary, small that it was, accumulate while she was gone to give her a cushion on her return. With no income, plus the cost of rent, that stolen five hundred dollars meant far more to her. Everyone in the family had company bank accounts rather than using an outside bank. It was required. You were not supposed to take the money out and put it somewhere else. All part of the unwritten rules.
“Would you perhaps have my bank account information in front of you?” she asked so sweetly it made her teeth hurt.
“Let’s see. You have one thousand, four hundred and twenty-three dollars and seven cents. That’s before any bank fees. And, of course, you will continue to pay rent until your room is emptied. Will you be cleaning out the room in person, or paying someone to pack and ship whatever is there?”
“This is ridiculous! There are four empty bedrooms in that house. Whatever is in my closet does not affect the company in any way.”
“This was all spelled out in the contract, Katherine. If you’d read it, you would be aware.”
“What contract? I was given verbal instructions by the CEO.”
“Which you did not confirm with Mr. Walter Winterbourne. Nor did you provide a forwarding address, which is a strict company policy.”
“My assignment required me to move from town to town. I did not have a forwarding address.”
Matilda gave a scornful sniff.
“Ignorance of the information contained within a contract is not an excuse.”
Katie was not a violent person. At least, she hadn’t been until this moment. If Matilda was in front of her Katie might have done something horrid, such as thrown the items on her cousin’s neatly organized desk all over the room. Instead, she counted to ten and put a wide crocodile smile on her face. Walter had been a nasty bully and had grown into an arrogant troll who now had the power he’d been craving all his life. Matilda was far taller than herself, and loved to wear heels and stare down her nose. Katie had never been one to lick Walter’s boots—or her cousin’s four-inch red stilettos— and she was not going to start now.
“Congratulations, Matilda. You are now free of me. I don’t know what you had against me but I won’t stand in your way. I hope you enjoy your life as a spiteful, cold, lonely, bitter woman.”
Her cousin sputtered in outrage but Katie wasn’t finished. She wasn’t the only one who’d kept track of comments overheard when no one knew she was there. Matilda had often bemoaned the lack of tall, physically strong men in town. She had a thing for working men, especially cowboys and oilfield roughnecks. Katie had heard whispers that Matilda wanted to try more than one man at a time.
“Well, I’d best let you go, Matilda. My lovers, both six-foot-plus, muscular, handsome cowboys, will be home soon. They gave me so many orgasms last night that I lost count. It makes me so hot when one of them crooks his finger at me while the other whispers what they’re going to do with me next.”
She paused while Matilda gasped and squawked.
“Oh, is that TMI? So sorry.” Katie giggled. “I won’t need those stuffy suits. My men like me in loose dresses without panties. That way they can easily lift me, spread my legs and—”
Matilda gave a growl before slamming the phone down.
Katie’s satisfaction from infuriating her cousin didn’t last long. Though she’d made light of not needing her career suits, she couldn’t look for a management position without appropriate clothing. Either she had to get home and face them while she packed her things, or she had to arrange for a service to do it.
It had been her dream to have responsibility for her own department, some small corner of the company where she could make a difference. She’d have to start over somewhere else and hope she would one day have an opportunity. Managing Gran’s company might take a day a week, max. She needed full-time employment.
She’d lost her home and family, and had few material goods. Yet, what had she really lost?
Other than her grandmother, her family hadn’t cared for her. The company house was a place she’d avoided as much as possible, getting far more return by helping people to learn to read, or find a job and a place to live in dignity. They cared about her. So did the injured vets she’d guided through stacks of confusing, contradicting paperwork to get benefits to re-establish their lives. The sense of satisfaction she’d found by using the system to help good people in need helped her survive the toxic atmosphere she had to return to each night.
Having seen how the people in Climax behaved, she realized the people she’d grown up next to weren’t her family. They were just people to whom she was related by blood. She’d received far more caring and concern from strangers since punching Sam Elliott in the nose, than she had in the entire time she lived with her parents.
Matilda had made it clear Uncle Walter did not want her back. Except for Gran, the Winterbournes were now part of her past. It was up to her to craft her future. She took a couple of nuggets from the jar on the desk and lined them up. There was likely enough gold to send her on her way in style. Not that she would take any. They felt heavy and cool in her hand, though warmed quickly. Sam had been cool as well, though he’d warmed to her. Even a heart of gold was still a rock. Could Sam ever love freely? And if so, could he love her?
She wanted a family who loved, laughed, chastised, and interfered, all with positive intentions. She wanted a community that cared. Madison, a very pregnant teenager staying with the MacDougals, told her how her own parents wanted her to keep her baby so they could use her as their housekeeper and maid. Jet, Lila’s fiancé, had helped Madison find a couple to adopt her baby. She would go back to school, and to college. Madison had told her about another girl named Savannah and her genius siblings who, thanks to Jane’s husband Houston starting a scholarship program, would finally receive opportunities matching their abilities. When Madison was ready for college, she would get the benefit as well.
Katie wanted to live in Climax, sharing her life with people who cared. She wanted Sam and Trey Elliott to be part of her life, but unless they wanted her the same way, it didn’t matter. Considering she’d just prepared an online advertisement so Sam could attract a wife, it was not likely he wanted her to stay.
Trey did, but not Sam. Could she stay here and watch them marry another? None of the other sets of bachelors interested her as more than friends. Should she slink away, losing her friends in the town because Sam Elliott was too stubborn to open his heart? The man didn’t even have a dog in case he got too attached and it died.
“Sam is not going to get rid of me that easily!”
Ms. Katherine Winterbourne would have ducked her head and slipped away in her expensive boring skirt suit and silk blouse, not wishing to be a nuisance. Rough, tough Katie would stay and fight for what she wanted. And that meant Sam and Trey Elliott in her arms, her heart, and her bed.
“And bent over the table, up on the counter, and everywhere else!”
Her pussy purred in reply. She couldn’t sit still, not feeling like this. She needed to do some hard physical work. She’d cleaned the house, except for one room. After being locked for a decade it needed a lot of work.
The thought of going into that room made her heart thud. She wiped damp hands on her jeans. The room, and the things in it, both frightened and aroused her. What she’d told Matilda had come from her fantasies, not reality. Sam had told her not to clean it until he’d checked it out thoroughly. It was ridiculous to think she’d get hurt washing floors or dusting furniture.
Sam said they’d be gone for hours, and would get lunch elsewhere. She’d clean it now, while they were out. That way they wouldn’t be looking over her shoulder while she worked. She could also take time to investigate everything. After all, Keith Adams wanted to make this type of furniture. They couldn’t complain if it was all clean, and she was safe, when they returned. The worst they could do would be to spank her.
A delicious shiver made her pussy spasm at the thought.
She collected a bucket of water with oil soap, as well as dusting cloths and polishing rags. She set the bucket down inside the door and looked around, eyes wide. Where to start?
The big wooden cross looked scary, so she went there first. It wasn’t just an X. It had a shield-like middle with a padded place to put her face. She did so, discovering it rested against the edges of her forehead and cheeks, leaving her nose and mouth free so she could breathe. The metal rings at the top could be used to tie her hands up. There was also one in the middle. For her neck? She reached as high as she could with the dusting cloth. The top ends of the X, beyond her reach, had large cup hooks on them. Something was to hang from them. Floggers and paddles? She wouldn’t be able to easily reach them, but Sam and Trey could.
What would it be like to be tied here, naked? She shivered in anticipation before turning to the red padded bench. It had two parts, one lower than the other. She washed down the padded surface then dried it. It wouldn’t be a chair, since the guys would want her butt in the air. A spanking bench?
The thought made her pussy twitch. Since no one was home and they’d never know, she knelt on the lower part. The top was the perfect height to lie her torso across. She lifted her shirt, revealing her swollen breasts. She leaned forward, dragging her erect nipples across the chilly surface. She stretched her arms out, pretending she was naked, legs spread, her men behind her. One of them could kneel on the bench between her
legs and thrust into her.
Katie groaned at the shock of pleasure that hit at the thought. She knelt and played with her breasts, squeezing them and pinching her nipples.
“Work first, pleasure second,” she said, copying Sam.
She wiped the sides of the bench with her damp cloth, discovering lots of rings to tie ropes to. Some had double-ended connectors hanging from them, ready to have things clipped to them.
When she finished the room she was hot and sweaty, and needed a shower. She decided if they found her here they’d order her to strip. She took her time with the fantasy, pretending she teased them. She dropped her clothes in a heap and, swishing her hips so her thighs rubbed against her pussy, started her shower.
The soap slipped over her skin as if it was their fingers. She groaned. How long before they would come home and she could jump their bones? Did she have to wait? They hadn’t said she shouldn’t come without them, though that was common in Marci’s books.
They weren’t here, and she was so horny…
Chapter 25
Sam twisted the steering wheel to the right. It felt strange to do so at the end of the lane. He hadn’t driven to the RB Connected in a long while. It was faster to ride. He and Trey took care of the RB cattle because both ranches belonged to the Elliotts. No one had lived there for years, or even visited, since his aunt and uncle died. Not even Princess Ashley. He opened the windows to let in fresh air, hoping it would clear his head.
“Damn that Trey!”
He didn’t want to lose Katie. Not now, and not in ten years. But unless he accepted her now he’d not get ten more days with her. If she didn’t have a job in Oregon he could offer her accommodation until she found a new one. Maybe in a few more weeks he’d feel confident enough to show he cared for her.
What if she left, just like that?
