by Renee Rose
Lara laughed, her face as serene as her Varusian friend’s. “We’re a family now.”
Something in his chest burst open. A family. Something he never thought he’d have again.
“What should we name her?”
“How about Tarin?”
He choked on a breath, overcome. “Yes,” he managed to croak. “Thank you.” His eyes burned as he pressed his lips to the top of his wife’s head and gazed down at their precious infant who would bear his sister’s name. Yes, they were a family, and he couldn’t be happier.
“How about Tarin Justice?”
Goose bumps raised on his arms. “Justice has been served,” he murmured, his throat closing with emotion.
“The hand of Vengeance can rest.” Lara beamed at him before returning her smile to their daughter, who would live in freedom and democracy on Jesel.
Thank you for reading The Hand of Vengeance! If you enjoyed it, I would really appreciate if you would leave a review. Your reviews are invaluable to indie authors in marketing books so we can keep book prices down.
Coming December 2015…
Stepbrother’s Rules
LuAnn’s had a crush on her older, rebellious stepbrother since the year he lived with them—his last year of high school. Now, four weeks before graduating from Sarah Wharton Women’s College, she’s been kicked out for having boys in her dormitory, and he’s the one who shows up to collect her. With her parents away in Europe, he brings her to his place, because leaving a young woman unchaperoned isn’t done in 1957.
Brad makes it clear she is not to emulate the wild behavior of his youth, and he starts things out with a long, bare-bottomed punishment. Soon, though, he discovers his stepsister is all grown up, and having her under his authority makes her a temptation too delicious to resist. Before long, he’s strayed way past what is acceptable, turning her into his little girl and bringing her to the peaks of pleasure during her numerous punishments.
LuAnn brings out the dominant side of him, but with it comes the desire to take care of her and nurture the sweet innocence she’s been trying to cover up. He wants her for keeps, which means risking their parents’ disapproval and leaving his rebellious side behind forever.
Publisher’s Note: The book contains spanking, elements of ageplay and graphic sexual scenes. If such content offends you, please do not buy this book.
1957
Sarah Wharton College for Women
Janet Post Dormitory
Chapter One
LuAnn Walters had sobered up at least an hour ago and now she found herself fighting back tears. Mrs. McCormick, their dorm mother had ordered her and her three roommates to pack up and evacuate their dorm room at Sarah Wharton Women’s College. She sat in the parlor of the dormitory and drew her knees up to her chest, the remaining liquor in her stomach churning. The words of the new hit Everly Brothers’ song “Wake Up, Little Susie” kept running through her head. Yep, she was definitely in “trouble deep.”
“Remove your feet from the chair,” Mrs. McCormick snapped, her thick brows lowering over beady eyes. “A young lady does not sit like a six-year-old.”
LuAnn dropped her feet back to the floor and shifted. Her eyes burned from crying and her tongue had dried up in her mouth. Just a month from graduating, she’d really blown it this time. Her father would kill her.
Mary, a first-year student, still sniffled next to her, her handkerchief wound tightly in her fingers, her blond pin curls hanging limp. The door swung open and a short, portly man came in.
“Daddy!” Mary jumped to her feet.
“Not one word,” the man boomed, his expensive tweed jacket straining at the shoulders. He smelled of pipe smoke, which turned LuAnn’s stomach. He looked at Mrs. McCormick. “Where are her things?”
“They are already packed and standing in the hallway, Mr. Anderson.” Mrs. McCormick sounded pleased with herself.
“I am deeply ashamed that a daughter of mine has been expelled from Sarah Wharton College,” he said.
“As I said on the phone, Mr. Anderson, the girls have not been expelled from school, only evicted from the dormitories, since they have repeatedly broken the rules here. They will, however, be on probation.”
“Same thing.” Mary’s father took his daughter by the upper arm and tugged her roughly toward the door. “She won’t be coming back. Obviously, she doesn’t take the education I’m spending a fortune on seriously. I knew letting a girl go to college was a mistake. Good night, Mrs. McCormick.” He pulled Mary out after him.
Mary cast a panicked glance over her shoulder at LuAnn, who shrank down further in her seat. She was the only one left now. Who would pick her up? Her father and stepmother were in Europe and Mrs. McCormick wouldn’t say who she had contacted in their place. Her Aunt Betsy and Uncle Roger? She couldn’t remember who had been listed as her emergency contacts on her application and registration forms. Would they have listed her oldest stepbrother, Brian? He lived and worked nearby in Hanover as an attorney. She chewed her lip. What would her parents do when they found out? Surely they wouldn’t pull her from school when she only had a month until graduation. But she could hardly commute from home, which was two hours away.
The sound of a motorcycle roaring into the parking lot made Mrs. McCormick glare out the window. LuAnn’s heart jumped. Could it be—?
A tap sounded on the door and it swung open. She looked up and caught her breath.
Her stepbrother appeared, but not the one she’d expected. Brad, Brian’s younger brother, the rebel of the family and the object of all her teen fantasies, walked through the door in his leather motorcycle jacket. His motorcycle helmet had tousled his wavy, dark hair. He scanned the room, his gaze arriving on her face. “Hey, mouse.”
The pet name he’d given her when she was in middle school made something flutter in her belly. She stood up on wobbly legs. “Hi Brad,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Mrs. McCormick, I presume?” he asked, turning on his easygoing smile.
The housemother narrowed her eyes to scrutinize Brad. LuAnn imagined he looked a bit too much like the young men Mrs. McCormick had caught in their dorm room and not enough like a responsible adult here to claim his kin. “Yes...” She drew it out so it sounded more like a question than a response.
He held out his hand. “Brad Stanford, LuAnn’s brother.”
“Stepbrother?” Mrs. McCormick asked. “Or brother-in-law?” Clearly the different last name was taxing her brain.
“Stepbrother. You called our older brother, Brian, but he’s working through the night on a legal case and couldn’t get away. He sent me instead.” Turning to LuAnn, he asked, “What happened?”
She stared into Brad’s ocean blue eyes, her breath catching in her chest, as it always did when he was around. She’d had a paralyzing crush on him since the day he’d moved in with them when she was thirteen years old.
Brad raised an eyebrow, shifting subtly from the carefree rebel to the authority figure he represented.
LuAnn swallowed. “I broke some dormitory rules.”
Brad said nothing, as if waiting for her to elaborate.
“We were, uh, drinking. And smoking. And we sneaked boys into our room.”
Brad’s face grew serious. “I see.”
“It was not her first violation of rules, either. She’s been written up a few times already for smoking, sneaking out after hours and missing curfew,” Mrs. McCormick was happy to interject.
LuAnn pressed her lips together.
Turning to the older woman, Brad said, “I’m sorry for the trouble she’s caused.” He beckoned to LuAnn with a quick curl of his index finger. “Let’s go.”
She stumbled forward, still shaky from both the liquor and the disastrous evening.
The moment they stepped out of the office, Brad shocked her by smacking her backside, hard.
She jumped and scooted forward, out of his reach.
“You’re in big trouble, mouse,” he said.
She looked over her shoulder to see if he was serious. He had a way of teasing that always confused her.
He didn’t appear angry. In fact, he wore the same nonplussed expression as always, but her bottom sure stung.
“I know.” It was a safe enough answer. She’d be in big trouble with their parents when they showed up. But did he mean she was in big trouble with him? Her bottom tingled where he’d spanked her, heat flowing not only to the smarting skin, but to her sex as well. She didn’t know what to expect from her stepbrother. Worse, Brad’s stern demeanor embarrassed her more than if it had come from some other family member. Even though he’d never thought of her as more than a silly little girl, she’d spent years tongue-tied in his presence, trying to show him she could be as cool as he. To be treated like a child by him in this situation stung more than the slap to her bottom, which she reached back now to rub.
“Where are your things?”
“Over here.” She led him down the corridor to what used to be her dorm room. Her trunk and three suitcases stood packed outside the door, the stuffed bear Brad had given her for Christmas when she was thirteen sitting on top.
He picked it up and looked at her, cocking a brow.
She snatched it away, bending to pick up a suitcase to hide her flushing face.
Brad lifted the trunk as if it weighed nothing and marched down the hallway and out the front door, passing Mrs. McCormick without comment.
“Will LuAnn still be attending Sarah Wharton?” Mrs. McCormick asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, without turning back. “That’s up to her dad, I guess.”
LuAnn picked up the smallest suitcase and followed him as he marched through the parking lot, straight to her light blue Thunderbird. Her father had bought it brand new for her when she went off to Sarah Wharton so that she’d be able to drive home on weekends to visit. He’d always been generous with money—not so much with his time or approval.
“Keys, mouse.” He set the trunk down and held out his hand.
She lowered the suitcase and fished in her purse, pulling out the keys and promptly dropping them at his feet. “Sorry,” she said, breathless again as she stooped to pick them up. She bumped his arm with her head as she came up. “Oh.” She staggered back. “Oops.”
The corner of his mouth twitched, but otherwise he ignored her antics, still holding out his open palm for the keys.
She dropped them into it. “Brad—”
He hefted her trunk into the backseat of the T-bird, then placed her suitcase in on top of it. “What?”
“What are you...where are you taking me?”
“I’m taking you home to Surry, I guess. Wait here,” he said, turning to head back to the dorm.
She watched his back as he walked away, his wide shoulders strong and sturdy, the leather jacket giving him bad boy appeal. Brad had always been a ladies’ man. He’d had one year of high school left when he moved in with them, and he’d gone dancing with a new girl on his arm every other weekend.
While Brian had lived with them to attend a local college and all through law school, Brad had moved out right after high school, preferring to work his way through an architecture degree, living on his own. She’d overheard their parents conjecture that he wanted his own place to bring girls home, which had only enhanced his mystique in her eyes.
She looked around the parking lot until her eyes fell on his Ducati parked near the door. What was his plan? To drive her the two hours home and come back for his motorcycle? And did he plan to just drop her off to stay at her parents’ house unchaperoned for the duration of their vacation? She wouldn’t be able to attend her classes, and she was so close to finishing her two-year Associate’s Degree with a teaching certificate.
Brad returned with the last two suitcases and fit them in the trunk.
“Get in.” He lifted his chin toward the passenger side door.
“Wait, Brad,” she said, turning her best puppy dog eyes on him. “Let’s just discuss this for a minute. You can’t very well take me home and leave me there unchaperoned until my dad and your mom return.”
He pursed his lips, considering.
“And you know my father’s health isn’t good. The doctor told him to take a vacation before he has another heart attack. He will go ape over this. Do you really want to worry him?” Her father was owner of a chain of appliance stores across New England. While the business had made him wealthy, it required long hours and constant supervision.
Brad raised an eyebrow. “You should’ve thought of that before you got yourself kicked out.”
“I agree. I really messed up. I’m sorry. But please... please reconsider taking me home. We only have a month left of classes. I could stay here, finish out the year, and head home when my parents return.”
“Stay here, where?”
She winced and lifted her shoulders. “May I stay with you?”
Brad gestured impatiently toward the passenger side door. “Get in.”
***
His adorable little sister probably thought living with him would give her a free pass to continue the partying and bad behavior. Her memories of him in high school must include his numerous missed curfews and long lectures from their parents about leaving fast girls, fast cars and motorcycles behind and getting serious about a career.
Still, her concern over her father’s health was legitimate. And there was only a month left until she graduated. But if she thought he’d let her get away with drinking, smoking and cutting classes while staying with him, she’d be sorely disappointed. He could wield a paddle just as readily as her father. In fact, he was rather fond of spanking a girl when she acted up. Not that this would be the same. LuAnn may be drop-dead gorgeous, but she was a sister, not a girlfriend. Too bad his cock couldn’t remember that. He’d been avoiding his sweet sis for years because she provided too much of a temptation. Her rather obvious crush on him hadn’t helped matters.
She picked her nails as she sat in the passenger seat. “I’m really sorry you had to come and get me,” she said in a small voice.
Brad regretted being gruff. Despite all her efforts at acting cool and joining the fast girls, her underlying nature was cherry-sweet. Reaching over, he cupped her face.
Her full, berry lips parted. Sensual lips that made his pulse quicken. He realized he was stroking her cheek with his thumb in a rather un-brotherly way, and he dropped his hand, starting the car. “So who were these boys you invited into your room?” he asked, in a voice tinged with authority.
LuAnn drew in her breath. “They’re from Battleton College. My friend Mary invited them.”
“Are you seeing one of them?” The thought of little mouse being sexually active made him want to take her home and lock her up for the next five years.
“No.”
He frowned. “Then why were they in your room?”
She turned to gaze out the window. “It was a mistake, okay?” Her voice cracked on the words.
“Hey,” Brad murmured. Had something happened? His blood began to heat on her behalf. “Look at me.” He glanced back and forth from the road to her face as he drove. “Did something happen?”
She blinked rapidly and her hand slid to her breast, as if she remembered someone pawing at it. “No,” she said, her voice tight.
Brad pulled over and switched off the ignition. When she didn’t turn to face him, he cupped her chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “Something happened, didn’t it? Were you...violated?”
More tears spilled, but she shook her head quickly. “No...no. One of the boys was getting handsy with Mary and she didn’t like it so I—I kicked up a fuss. That’s why we got caught.” She dragged in a stuttered breath as the sobs broke free.
“I see,” he said. “So it was trouble with the boys or eviction from the dormitories.”
“Well, I didn’t know we’d be kicked out.”
“I know, mouse.” Brad handed her a handkerchief, wanting to kill the boys from Battleton. “Yo
u made the right choice.”
“Did I? I’m not so sure. I got all three of my friends kicked out, too, and Mary may never be able to return to Sarah Wharton. She had another year to go for her Associate’s Degree. Maybe I should’ve just let things happen.”
His jaw tightened. “No,” he cut in. “Your mistake was inviting them in to begin with. After that, you made the best choice you had.”
She pulled her face away and buried it in her hands.
Brad watched LuAnn cry for a moment, his fingers flexing into fists. “What are their names?”
“W-what are you going to do?”
He shrugged. “Have a little talk with them about their manners.”
“I, um, I’m not sure.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Honest. One was called Derek and the other John. I never heard the other two guys’ name and I didn’t get any last names.”
“Hmm.” He didn’t fully believe her. Starting the car, he drove to his place.
LuAnn looked out the window when they arrived. “Where are we?”
“My abode.” He stepped out of the car and grabbed two of her suitcases, leading her up the stairs to his little apartment, which sat over the garage of his landlady’s house.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” she said in a small voice.
She seemed so diminished, he wanted to wrap her up in his arms and make her forget her rough night. But if he was going to let her stay with him, he needed to play stern.
She’d been right. He couldn’t very well drop her off in Connecticut and leave her unattended for several weeks until her parents returned. His brother Brian would make a far better chaperone than he, but Brian was so wrapped up in his big case, he might not see the outside of his office for weeks. Besides, after what had happened with the Battleton boys, Brad needed to know she was safe.
