Jessica’s lip immediately stuck out. “Me no cheat!” she pouted, as she folded her little arms across her chest and scowled at Shelley. “No, of course not,” smiled Clara. “Silly Shelley doesn’t know how to play, does she?”
Jessica brightened up instantly and giggled. “Silly Shelley,” she squealed excitedly. Jessica jumped up and ran around the deck, clearly tired of her game and eager to find something else to do.
Shelley was pulling herself up from the floor and dusting her clothes down when Henry joined them. She smiled shyly at him. “Shelley, have you cleaned the bathroom as I asked?” He walked across the room and picked up his daughter, kissed her lovingly on the cheek and turned back to face Shelley.
“No.” Shelley shook her head. She suddenly felt slightly queasy and wondered if she was suffering from seasickness. “It’s spotlessly clean already,” she explained.
Henry handed his daughter to Clara and stared at Shelley. She shuddered as his stern gaze made her feel very uneasy. “When I ask you to do something, I expect you to do it immediately. I shouldn’t have to ask you twice,” he told her firmly. Shelley’s cheeks reddened. She felt like a small child being scolded by her father.
“But it’s clean,” she frowned, her seasickness and tiredness elevating her irritability. She gulped nervously when his eyes widened and he stepped menacingly towards her. He suddenly stopped and changed direction, and Shelley felt instant relief. She watched carefully as he walked across to Clara, who quickly scrambled to her feet with his young daughter in her arms. “Take Jessica for a walk. Come back in half an hour,” he barked.
“Yes, sir.” Clara nodded obediently and rushed towards the door with Jessica. Shelley looked at her new friend anxiously. She hoped she wasn’t about to be fired before they had even left British waters! Clara gave her a sympathetic smile before she left the room and closed the door, leaving Shelley with a very angry Henry. Shelley glanced back at him and once more shuddered involuntarily.
“Shelley, go and clean the bathroom,” he ordered, his arms crossed over his broad chest as his cool eyes bored into her. “This is your last chance,” he warned. “Do I have to remind you of the contract you signed?”
Shelley sighed deeply, and foolishly ignored the warning signs. She had signed his contract when she met him, but hadn’t read it. It was only a contract of employment!
She guessed she probably should do as he asked, but failed to understand why he would demand she carry out an unnecessary chore. Very tired and desperately needing to lie down, it seemed apparent to Shelley that she would have to clean his stupid bathroom first, but she intended to make her opinion clear. “But it’s clean,” she tutted with exasperation. “It’s never been used before. It’s a waste of time cleaning it again.”
Her views conveyed, Shelley turned on her heel and stamped off in the direction of the bathroom. She would clean it, if he demanded it, but she wanted him to know she was unhappy with the situation.
Shelley gasped when Henry suddenly grabbed her wrist and halted her retreat from the room. He pulled her back towards him and marched her through to the sitting area of his suite. Shelley immediately started to panic as Henry muttered under his breath and dragged a straight-backed chair across to the centre of the room. Shelley’s mouth dropped open when he sat down, shook his head angrily, and tugged her effortlessly across his lap.
“No,” she shrieked, immediately trying to push up from such a humiliating position. She barely knew the man, yet he was taking such liberties. “I’ll do it now if it’s so important to you.” Shelley was outraged that Henry saw fit to treat her like a common servant. She had witnessed her father physically chastising the maids when dissatisfied with their work, and she could barely believe this man felt he could handle her in a similar manner. It didn’t occur to Shelley that she was now one of Henry’s staff, and he was dealing with her as he would any other disobedient maid.
“Miss Ellis,” he snapped, punctuating his words with a hard smack that took Shelley’s breath away. Her behind was still tender from her mother’s chastisement, and the sharp slap instantly burned. “I have high standards of cleanliness, and if I say something is not clean enough, you clean it. You do not argue with me. You do not offer your opinion. You do as you’re told. I pay you to clean, not to debate with me. And when I’m paying your wages, your time is mine to waste as I see fit.” As Henry lectured her, he landed several stinging smacks to her upturned bottom.
“I demand respect from my employees, and if I do not get it I will simply spank you until you learn, as is outlined in the contract that you signed. Do you understand?” he asked sternly, landing six hard smacks in rapid succession to the centre of her squirming backside.
Shelley’s heart sunk at the realisation that she had signed a contract giving him permission to spank her. That would teach her to read things. Her father had always told her to check the small print, and now she wished she had listened to him.
Shelley had been holding her breath, hardly able to believe what was happening to her and how painful it was on her already bruised bum. When Henry started to lift her dress, she finally found her voice. “No, stop, you can’t do this to me!”
“Oh, I think you’ll find that I can, young lady.” Henry swept Shelley’s dress up onto her back and rested his hand against her bloomers. “Learn how to behave and this won’t be necessary again, but if you continue to question my decisions you’ll find yourself once more across my knee, getting a spanking on your bare bottom.”
Shelley’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t bare me,” she yelled. She instantly shrieked in distress when he decided to prove her wrong, took a firm grip on her bloomers and tugged them down. Shelley kicked her legs frantically, and clawed at the floor when Henry’s palm pressed down against her bare flesh. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment and she closed her eyes, her mind unwilling to process what was happening.
“Well, well. No wonder you’re kicking up such a fuss. Your bottom is quite bruised,” he observed. Shelley froze and remained silent.
“Who did this to you? And what did you do to deserve it?” Shelley again declined to respond as his hand gently caressed her tender cheeks.
“Such a wilful, naughty girl,” Henry sighed. “Your attitude certainly isn’t helping you. I’d watch your manners, especially given the position you’re in,” he warned. “Are you going to answer me?”
Shelley clenched her buttocks and closed her eyes. She certainly would not tell Henry that her mother had spanked her, and she did not intend for him to know that she had run away from home. He would likely send her straight back, and she wasn’t about to risk that happening.
“Fine, have it your way. I’ll add ignorance to your list of crimes,” Henry announced, as he patted her tensed buns. “As you have nothing to say, we’ll get on with your spanking, then you can get back to work.”
“Noooooooo,” Shelley cried out, breaking her silence. She kicked and struggled in desperation. She had hoped he had decided not to spank her when he saw her bruised backside. She was distraught that he intended to go ahead, and she fought hard to escape. Going home to face her angry parents was almost a more appealing option than submitting to a bare-bottom spanking at the hands of her new boss. It didn’t help that he was so attractive. She continued to kick and squirm across his lap for a minute or so. When she got no reaction, she shouted and demanded he release her immediately. Again he did not respond and she yelled in frustration and scissored her legs.
Henry waited patiently, and when Shelley eventually tired herself out and lay prone across his lap, she wailed as her spanking suddenly resumed with a sharp smack to the centre of her behind.
Henry spanked her again and Shelley writhed across his lap. She fought back tears of humiliation as his hand rapidly heated her tender bottom, and after a few more sharp smacks she begged “no more,”
Henry sighed. “Shelley, if you’re unhappy with the way I deal with a naughty girl, I can put you off the ship when w
e reach Ireland. The choice is yours.” He rubbed her stinging buttocks, and Shelley tried to squirm away from his hand. “This is your last chance to co-operate. If you choose not to, we’ll forget it and you can leave. I have no doubt Clara can manage your work along with her own. Now there’s a girl who isn’t afraid of hard work, despite the cards life has dealt her,” he noted, with a hint of admiration.
“I’m sorry,” Shelley whispered, truly repentant. “I don’t want to get off the ship.”
Shelley’s face flushed scarlet and she clenched her butt cheeks when Henry’s palm patted them gently. She was still sore after her mother’s chastisement the previous day. As he ran his soft fingers along the under curve of her cheeks, Shelley cringed, certain this area must still bear evidence of her recent punishment.
This is too humiliating, she thought, but before she had time to consider her predicament further, Henry tightened his grip around her waist and smacked his hand down hard. Shelley shrieked in pain as he delivered a stinging spanking to her quivering behind. She was distraught that he concentrated most of his efforts on her sit spots, where she was already very tender. Shelley kicked her legs constantly as she unsuccessfully tried to escape from her agonising punishment.
Henry’s spanking was hard and fast, and he quickly covered every inch of her ass, which was reddening under the rapid flurry of smacks. Shelley shrieked in pain as her spanking continued unabated.
“We’re almost finished,” Henry told a sobbing Shelley, as he stopped spanking and gently patted her burning backside. Feeling Henry lean sideways, she lifted her head and glanced anxiously over her shoulder. Observing him pick up a wooden clothes brush, she swallowed nervously and reached down to grip the chair legs tightly.
“I’m sorry,” she yelled, seconds later when the brush cracked down onto her left buttock. She howled in distress when Henry landed the implement on her right cheek, equally as hard.
“You have been a very naughty girl,” Henry told her sternly, cracking the brush down several times on each ass cheek. Tears spilled from Shelley’s eyes, her distress mounting.
“I expect you to do as instructed, even if you don’t agree with what I’m asking. Any nonsense and you will find yourself once again bare-bottomed across my lap, receiving a sound spanking with my hand and this brush,” he told her. He emphasised his point by cracking the brush against her sit spots. Shelley yelled in pain and humiliation, dismayed to find that no matter how much she wriggled, she could not move her tender behind away from the harsh bite of the brush.
“The bruises on your backside prove you’re not unused to such treatment, and I can only surmise that whoever spanked you recently didn’t do a thorough enough job. I won’t make the same mistake,” he promised, continuing to crack the brush against her writhing butt.
Finally Shelley could take no more and she screamed in distress. Reaching back in an attempt to shield her bottom, she was distraught when Henry simply caught her wrist in his hand, twisted her arm up her back, and held her firmly as he delivered more stinging spanking to her sit spots. Shelley howled, her legs kicked frantically, and her scarlet behind squirmed from side to side in a desperate, but unsuccessful, attempt to avoid the harsh implement.
After a few more solid smacks, each of which was greeted with hysterical sobbing, Henry finally released Shelley. She immediately dropped to her knees, turned away from him, and wept loudly. Slumping forward, she massaged her butt in an attempt to ease the awful sting, probably giving Henry an unexpected eyeful when her frantic rubbing pulled her buttocks apart.
Henry moved quickly to the sofa and sat down. “Shelley, come here.”
Keeping her head low, not daring to disobey him, she shuffled across the room on her knees. Too embarrassed to look at him, she laid her head on his lap and sobbed pitifully as she continued to rub her behind.
“Shhh, calm down, it’s all over. Good girl. I want you to get up and replace your clothing,” Henry told her calmly, caressing her cheek gently.
Reluctantly, Shelley rose from the floor and immediately blushed as she pulled her bloomers up and lowered her dress. She lifted her head and looked at Henry, surprised to find him smiling at her, with his arms open wide. She immediately threw herself into his embrace, carefully eased her bottom down onto his lap, and clung tightly to him as she whimpered, “I’m sorry, please don’t make me get off in Ireland.”
Her body trembled as he held her close and her crying continued. All the stresses of the past weeks dissolved along with her tears and Shelley gripped him tightly, feeling no shame as she literally sobbed her heart out.
“I won’t make you leave, as long as you learn to do as you’re told. I’m sorry I had to be so harsh with you,” Henry soothed, when she finally started to calm down. “I really do not want to have to do that again. I made it as horrible as I could in the hope you might behave yourself. If you can manage that, we won’t find ourselves in this unfortunate position again.” Henry stroked her hair as she clung to him, and Shelley meekly nodded in understanding.
Finally Shelley stopped crying and released her tight grip on Henry. As she sat back and looked at him, Henry dried her tears with his handkerchief, smiled, and helped her to her feet. Standing in front of her, he held her face in his hands. “As far as I’m concerned, we have a clean slate. Now please go and clean my bathroom.”
Shelley nodded and glanced away, unable to meet his gaze. She shuffled into the bathroom, gave her stinging backside another quick rub, and quickly got on with her task. She winced often as twinges of pain shot through her behind, but she continued to meticulously scrub every inch of the bathroom, fearful that if it wasn’t sparkling she’d find herself once more across Henry’s lap. The thought filled her with dread, but she was confused by the twinge of pleasure as she recalled being held in his arms afterwards. The hands that had caused her such pain one minute had surprised her when they also soothed and brought comfort.
A short time later, when Shelley was admiring a job well done, she heard Clara return with Jessica. She could hear Clara talking quietly to Henry, and after taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, Shelley walked into the living area.
“I’m finished,” she whispered. She immediately lowered her head, well aware that her eyes were still red from crying.
“Very good,” praised Henry. “If you could run me a bath while I put this little one to bed, then you can both go to your room and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Shelley nodded and quickly returned to the bathroom. She perched precariously on the side of the bath, leaned into the tub, and tested the water with her hand. Once it was full, she turned off the taps and returned to the living area, where she found Henry sitting by the fire, smoking a cigar. When he saw Shelley, he stubbed his cigar out and approached her. “I’m sorry I had to spank you, but it was for your own good,” he said with a hint of regret, as he stroked her hair comfortingly.
Shelley’s cheeks flushed and she glanced across at Clara, who stared open-mouthed.
“Now you know the standards of behaviour I expect, you know how to avoid finding yourself bare-bottomed across my lap again, don’t you?” Henry smiled as he waited for Shelley to respond.
Shelley blushed scarlet and she nodded. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, averting her eyes to avoid Clara’s inquisitive stare.
“Go and wash your face and you can go back to your room,” he said gently. Shelley was relieved when he guided her into the bathroom and gave her a quick hug. She couldn’t believe he had let Clara know what had happened. She thought he had sent her away to give them privacy.
When Henry left her alone in the bathroom, she looked at her reddened eyes and tear-stained cheeks in the mirror, and she reached back to rub her sore bottom. Shelley sighed and leaned over the sink, splashed her eyes with cold water for a few minutes, then checked her reflection once more. She was still dissatisfied with her red-rimmed eyes, but as she couldn’t stay in Henry’s bathroom all night, she reluctantly returned to t
he living area where he waited patiently.
Shelley gazed at Henry and he smiled kindly. “No more tears. It’s over and done with. I’ll see you in the morning,” he whispered. Shelley squeezed her eyes shut as Henry put his hands on her shoulders, leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. “We’ll say no more about it. Can we be friends again now?” Henry smiled brightly when Shelley meekly nodded and her cheeks flushed pink again.
When Henry turned away and headed into the bathroom. Clara walked up behind Shelley and took her hand. “Come on, let’s go,” she whispered, pulling her towards the door.
“Goodnight, Mr Kendall,” shouted Clara.
“Goodnight, girls,” he responded. “See you in the morning.”
“Goodnight,” whispered Shelley, her voice trembling.
Clara gripped Shelley’s hand and guided her friend along the corridors. They walked in silence, and when they finally reached their room and stepped inside, Shelley threw herself face down on the bed, reached back to rub her still hot butt cheeks and whimpered.
Shelley felt the bed shift as Clara sat down beside her. She screeched as Clara pried her dress from her hands, lifted it up, and grasped the waistband of her bloomers. “Noooo,” Shelley whimpered, trying to stop her, but Clara easily overpowered her and the garment was tugged down, exposing Shelley’s reddened behind.
Shelley glanced over her shoulder at Clara, who gaped open-mouthed. “Oh, Mr Kendall really did spank your bottom hard!” she exclaimed.
Shelley nodded miserably.
“Ouch,” Clara exclaimed dramatically. “That must really hurt.”
Shelley nodded. “It does.”
“Oh, dear,” said Clara. “That’ll teach you not to question Mr Kendall. You were very cheeky, and can’t deny you deserved a spanking. If I spoke to my mother with such disrespect, she’d take her slipper to my bare bum.”
Shelley scowled and nodded. She knew her friend was right, she had deserved it. Quickly getting up from her bed, Shelley redressed, before the other girls returned. It was bad enough Clara knowing what had happened to her, but Shelley would not be quite so calm if anyone else saw her bottom and realised what Mr Kendall had done.
The Delinquent Bride Page 5
