Emily

by Paige Mallory

  Henry started scolding, pausing for her to answer him. The belt landed a total of ten times for the window and fifteen more times for her disobedience and defiance. Lucy’s bottom was welted and on fire by the time he finished the punishment, and she was sobbing from the pain. He dropped the belt on the bed beside her, and then sat down to offer comfort. He gently rubbed and caressed her back, but when she tried to reach back to soothe the sting from her bottom, he grabbed her hands and held them at her waist. He gave her ten more spanks with his hand, and then asked, “Do you think you can control your urge to rub now, Mrs. Zabarski? You will wear this spanking until it eases itself naturally.”

  “It hurts so much, Henry! I can’t stand it!” she wailed. If she expected sympathy, she received none. In fact, Henry reminded her that her spending money for the next few weeks was all going toward repairing the window she broke in a fit of temper. Lucy didn’t like that punishment, either, but there was simply nothing she could do. She did break the darn window!

  Henry told her she was forgiven, and when he was confident she would leave her reddened posterior alone, he pulled her up and onto his lap and hugged her tightly. “I love you, Lucy, even when you are an impossible minx.”

  “Truly?” she asked.

  “Truly,” he stated firmly.

  “My intentions were good,” she finally told him. “But you know Mac, and you know how easily he sets off my temper… I shouldn’t have gone to see him, Henry. I should have realized I would get angry and say terrible things.”

  “Mac will survive, honey. I would appreciate it, however, if you apologized to him tonight. For me, if for no other reason.”

  “I would do anything for you, my darling,” Lucy answered, kissing him passionately.

  Henry returned her kiss, and then stood her on her feet. “None of that until at least bedtime, Mrs. Z. I shouldn’t reward you then, but if you behave yourself tonight, I just might make an exception,” he said teasingly, giving her another toe-curling kiss.

  Mac showed up on time, freshly bathed and shaven, and he’d had his hair cut, too! The change was remarkable considering how he’d looked and smelled earlier. Lucy wanted so badly to comment, but she swallowed all of the sarcastic comments she could have made and was the perfect hostess. She knew for a fact that Henry wouldn’t hesitate to take her from the kitchen and into their bedroom and pepper her sore backside all over again if she was rude in any way to their guest. Lucy did not want another spanking!

  “So, you heard from the Sheriff in Twin Creeks?” Henry asked as he looked at Mac in surprise.

  “He said that Emily was there, all right. He promised to keep her there for me, too. I’m riding out after supper, and I’m going to do my best to convince Emily she needs to come back with me. I can’t believe it’s possible to fall in love so fast, but I did. I needed the lecture from the two of you to remind me that I’m not helpless. I need to make my feelings clear to the girl and see if she feels the same about me.” He looked at Henry, then at Lucinda, daring either of them to make fun of him.

  “It was that way for us, Mac,” Lucy said gently. “I didn’t want to love Henry because I thought he killed Philip, but the attraction was so strong. And then, I was afraid he was only trying to protect me… It took a while for our real feelings for each other to surface, and, Mac, I do not regret marrying Henry so quickly. It might take you a while to convince Emily, but I saw the way she looked at you… She’ll come around.”

  “I agree with Lucy, Mac. You need to tell Emily how you feel, and bring her home with you.”

  Mac smiled. “Thanks for being good friends.” He even included the impossible Lucy in his smile and was pleased when she didn’t take any more jabs at him while they ate.

  ********************

  “Sheriff, you got no right to hold me here!” Emily fumed at the man.

  “Girl, you stop your complaining or so help me I’m gonna forget I’m a peaceable man and tan your hide!” the elderly Sheriff promised, his mustache wobbling with indignation.

  “As if I would allow you to do that!” Emily said with a snort.

  “I had me three wives and six daughters and seven sons, and I tanned every last one of them when they got on my short nerve. Now, if you think I can’t still handle a little bitty gal like you, just open that sassy mouth of yours again in the next hour. I want me some quiet to take a nap!”

  Emily sat down on her bunk, and then flipped around so that her face was buried in the pillow. All the cantankerous old man had said when he slipped up behind her and quick as a snake took her gun from her holster was that he’d had a telegram telling her she was wanted and asking him to hold her until this other lawman arrived. Emily hadn’t broken any laws, and it irked her to be tossed in a cell next to the wanted man she’d brought in for the bounty. She’d argued with the Sheriff that she wouldn’t be going anywhere until she received the reward money, but he said he wasn’t taking any chances and hauled her to jail and locked her up! It was downright insulting!

  The Sheriff woke up about an hour later, looked at his prisoners, and then left the jail, locking the door behind him so no one could get inside.

  “I’m goin’ to bust out of here and take you with me, bitch, and you’re gonna pay for bringin’ me in!” the man in the next jail cell threatened her.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Emily wasn’t concerned. “You try breaking out of here and that Sheriff is going to put a bullet between your eyes, which is what I should have done when I found you.”

  He kept on cursing her and telling her all the disgusting things he intended to do to her later while she just maintained silence and ignored him. Dove always said that it did more good to ignore a blowhard than to give them the time of day, and she knew he was right.

  The Sheriff finally returned, carrying a tray of food that smelled delicious. He pulled out his gun, picked up a plate and approached the cell the man was in. “Get your ass back against the wall if you want to eat.” Once the prisoner complied, the elderly Sheriff unlocked the door and sat the prisoner’s food inside the door on the floor. He relocked the door and then went to get Emily’s plate. “You too, gal. I won’t take chances just because you’re a little gal.” Emily did as she was told since she was starving and the food smelled good.

  “Hey, old man! How’s come she got fried chicken and I got beans?” the angry man demanded.

  “Cause you’re guilty of something, and this little gal is innocent until I know otherwise,” the Sheriff replied. “Now eat your supper or do without. Makes no difference to me.” He kept an eye on his prisoners, and when they were finished eating, he took their dishes and utensils out of the cells.

  “I don’t normally have female prisoners, so my girl is coming by to give you some privacy before I turn off the lights for the night. I want your word you won’t give her no trouble.”

  Chapter Three

  Sheriff Mac Forrester rode into Twin Creeks a couple of days after he received the telegram from the Sheriff there telling him that Emily was in his town. He took the time to register at the one and only hotel, and he bathed and shaved and donned clean clothes. He wanted to look his very best when he went to see Emily. With her temper she was sure to be angry with him, and he was going to have to settle her down before he could talk her into marrying him.

  Mac was nervous as he opened the door to the Sheriff's office. Sheriff Dan Stanton got to his feet and said, "About time you got here, Mac!"

  "I got away as soon as I could, Dan," Mac replied, looking down at the elderly man who was made of pure grit. "Where is Emily?" he asked, looking at the jail cells and seeing only one man. He recognized him immediately from the wanted posters in his own office. "You got Zane Crabtree, Dan!" he exclaimed, the awe in his voice genuine.

  "Nope, 'tweren't me, son. It was that gal you had me lock up."

  "What?" Mac's shock was evident.

  "She done caught him and brought him in. I got her reward right here; but we was waitin' for you to c
ome and see if she was the gal you're lookin' for. I can't figure her for a bad one, though."

  "She's not bad, Dan."

  "You said she's wanted." The other Sheriff looked at him suspiciously.

  "She is wanted… by me."

  "Boy, you ain't makin' no sense a'tall."

  "I'm in love with her, Dan, and I want to marry her… if she'll have me." He explained the situation, and then said, "I had no idea she was looking for bounties!"

  "She needs a good tanning," Dan stated with conviction.

  "She's going to get one to remember, if I can find her, that is," he amended. "Where is she, Dan?" he asked.

  "My girl took her home so she could bathe and get some clean clothes. You cain't treat female prisoners like men. Emily give her word not to give my girl trouble, and since Eva Jo outweighs her by a hundred pounds, I figured she could handle her if need be."

  "Where does Eva Jo live and I'll go and get Emily from her. I'd just as soon not have to take her from a jail cell," he admitted with a sheepish grin.

  "I wouldn't of locked her up in the first place if you'd told me the truth, Mac. She could of stayed at Eva Jo's house the whole time." He pointed at the prisoner and said, "That one has been muttering at her the whole time until I gave him a fat lip. Once they hang him, I'll feel a whole lot better. He's threatening that gal with torture and death for bringing him in."

  "He'll have to get through me first," Mac said quietly, and anyone who knew him knew that he was at his most dangerous when he was quiet. His dark eyes were deadly calm as he looked at the other man.

  "I'll come with you to Eva Jo's," Dan stated matter-of-factly. "My girl might shoot you if you try to take Emily without my say-so." He walked to the door and looked out on the street, and then called out, "Wilbur, get your tail in here and watch this prisoner for me."

  Wilbur, who wore a deputy's badge, came right away. "What's up, Pa?" he asked respectfully.

  "Just going to take Mac here over to Eva Jo's."

  "Don't want him shot full of buckshot, huh?" Wilbur asked with a grin.

  "You know your big sister."

  "I sure do. Shoot first, ask questions later! Stay behind Pa, Sheriff, if you value your hide. Eva Jo don't get to be a deputy often, so she makes the most of it when she can." He chuckled and Dan joined in.

  "If that one gives you any trouble, shoot him," Dan told Wilbur and then he and Mac left to walk to Eva Jo's house a couple of streets over.

  ********************

  The bathwater felt heavenly after spending hours in that jail cell, and Emily decided to soak as long as the Sheriff's daughter's patience permitted. It was kind of Eva Jo to make the offer, and kinder still of the Sheriff to trust her with his daughter. All in all, the gruff Sheriff had treated her very well, making sure her meals were the best, and that she had privacy to tend to her personal needs, and this bath was simply wonderful. Emily might dress like a man most of the time, but she truly hated being dirty. The bathing room in Eva Jo's home was brand new and she felt privileged to have the luxury of a nice warm bath in a large tub. It would be perfect if she wasn't so worried about the predicament in which she found herself.

  Emily still did not know what she'd done to earn the wrath of the law in another town. Since leaving Snowfall, she'd been careful to stay out of trouble, and she'd paid her bill in every last hotel or boarding house she'd stayed in. She knew for a fact that Dove did not die owing anyone for anything. He always paid his bills. If they didn't have money for two rooms in a hotel, they slept under the stars until they found work of some kind. Bounty hunting was a last resort, but since it was the one thing that did not require a boss to hire her, it was what she'd turned to in order to support herself. Emily honestly did not know what she'd done, but she would be damned before she went to prison for someone else's misdeed!

  She'd thought of sending a wire to Sheriff Mac Forrester and asking him to come and help her with the situation, but just because the man kissed her until her toes tingled did not mean he cared as much for her as she did for him! In a perfect world, she would have been able to find a female type job, wear dresses all the time, and look pretty. Maybe things would have been different then, and the man would have asked her to be his wife. She knew the attraction was there… but what man would want to marry a woman who went after bounties? No, it was for the best not to contact Mac… He couldn't help her at all.

  She'd given her word to the Sheriff that she wouldn't try to escape from Eva Jo, and she would honor her word today. The next time, however, she would give the hefty woman the slip and be out of town before Eva Jo could tell her Papa she was gone! She simply had no choice. If she went to trial the judge would demand her full name, and once she gave it her life would no longer be her own! She would never go back. Never!

  ********************

  Mac remembered Wilbur's advice and didn't step one foot on the porch until Dan called through the screen door, "Eva Jo, it's Papa. I'm comin' in with a friend… Don't you dare shoot at us or I'll take a switch to you!"

  "Papa, I'm forty-three years old!" Eva Jo protested, blushing to the roots of her graying brown hair as she came to the door, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

  "You're still my little girl, honey," Dan said with a smile and a hug for his daughter, who was nearly a head taller than he was.

  "I'm a grandmother!" she reminded him.

  "And my little girl," he insisted.

  "Always, Papa," she said with a loving smile.

  "Where's Emily?" he asked.

  "In the necessary, taking her bath. Did he come for her?" she asked in disapproval giving Mac a hard look.

  "Now, don't be angry, Eva Jo. It's not what I thought. Sheriff Mac said she was 'wanted', but he meant she was wanted by him for marrying purposes." He raised his hand when Eva Jo started to protest. "He ain't gonna force the girl, honey. Would your Papa allow that to happen?"

  "No, of course not," she agreed, mollified.

  "Please don't tell Emily that I'm here, Eva Jo. I want to surprise her."

  "She'll be plenty surprised," Eva Jo commented dryly, but she gave Mac a smile and said, "Papa and I will give you some privacy. Emily shouldn't be much longer…"

  "Thanks, Eva Jo," Mac answered politely.

  "No need to worry. I'll be gone at least an hour, maybe longer. My daughter is expecting, and I'm going over to her house and watch the little ones so she can lie down and rest a few minutes. Papa, will you come and visit a bit, too? Jenny is so down in the dumps right now, and you are the one person who can put a stop to that."

  "Harold needs to wallop that gal."

  "Not while she is so far along, Papa!" Eva Jo was adamant.

  "No, not right now," he agreed. "Come on, honey. Let's see if Grandpa can make her feel better. How much longer has she got?"

  "Any day now…"

  "Good. She'll get back to normal soon. Don't you worry, honey."

  Once they were gone, Mac decided that it would be safer if he confronted Emily while she was still in the bath. He went upstairs and passed by the doors that opened into bedrooms. He found the room he wanted at the end of the hallway, and he heard splashing sounds from within. He quietly opened the door and felt his heart beat faster when he got a look at Emily's creamy white shoulders as she raised her arms to drip water over herself. She had her long red hair pinned up on top of her head, and even from the backside, she presented a beautiful picture!

  "Eva Jo, could you hand me a towel, please?" Emily asked as she stood in the tub and held out her hand.

  Mac was speechless as he quickly grabbed a towel from the chair beside the door and held it out to her outstretched hand. To his dismay, Emily took the towel and wrapped it around her perfect body before gracefully stepping from the tub. She reached down to pull the plug so the tub could drain, and then she turned, a smile on her face.

  The smile grew even bigger when she saw Mac standing there! How on earth had he known she needed help? "Mac! You're here!" she excl
aimed, more than a little happy to see him, and then her face flooded with color. "You!" she sputtered. "YOU handed me that towel!"

  "It seemed the thing to do at the moment, but I truly regretted doing it," he admitted, grinning. "You are one beautiful woman, Emily, and I can't say I regret stepping in here at just the right time."

  "I didn't know it was you or I would have screamed for Eva Jo!" she retorted, the blush on her cheeks genuine. "What are you doing in here?" she demanded.

  "I wanted to talk to you and I figured this would be the best place to do it."

  "Wrong! I won't listen to a thing you got to say until you get out of here and let me get dressed!" she stubbornly insisted.

  "I like you just like this," he stated, his dark eyes brimming with desire. The buttons on his pants were straining, too, and he wanted Emily in his bed in the worst way! "Emily, I came here to ask you to marry me."

  "What?" She was shocked.

  "You heard me, honey. I've been miserable and lonely ever since you left town. Finally, Lucy and Doc Z had enough of my moping and told me to do something. So, I sent out wires to find you and Sheriff Dan said you were here."

  "You had me arrested!" Emily's temper took control at the moment of realization. She picked up a wet sponge and threw it at him. Mac ducked.

  "Don't have a tantrum, Emily, or I'll be forced to take you over my knee, and you've already got one spanking coming to you for chasing after bounties! What the hell kind of work is that for a girl to be doing?" He ducked again as the soap went sailing through the air in his direction. "Em, I am serious. Settle down, or I'll take you over my knee, and I would really hate to spank you right now."