Because he felt so high after seeing Nathan's face, he had a long way to fall when he saw the next one. It sent him spiraling down to earth at a startling rate and left him dizzy. He stared at the blurry black-and-white photograph for some time before reading the words below it.
PROCLAMATION
of the
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS
REWARD
($1500)
for the capture, alive, of
Mrs. ELIZABETH ANN MATTHEWS
Age, 25. Height, 5 feet 2 inches. Weight, 110 lbs. Light hair, blue eyes and even features.
Most likely travelling with infant daughter.
WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH BANK ROBBERY
Grover leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He remained seated there for a good hour, considering what to do. "Worst bank robber ever," he muttered, conjuring up the pathetic image of her scanty rags in lieu of being able to afford a real dress. He dragged his metal trash bin to where he sat, making a loud scraping sound. He opened his desk drawer, picked up a matchbox, and lit a match. He stared at the flame, knowing that what he planned to do next would change the course of his life.
Collecting the first of Elizabeth Matthews' wanted posters, he held the match to the bottom right corner and observed the paper as it smoldered into ashes that floated into the bin. He repeated the action for each piece of paper until only one poster remained. That he folded and placed in the back pocket of his trousers. Exiting, he locked the door of the jail behind him and walked the two blocks to his house.
Grover stepped into the living room, and Missy looked up from where she sat on the sofa reading a newspaper. She wore his white shirt, which fell to just above her knees, giving him an eyeful of her bare, crossed legs. Her long hair laid in a single neat braid draped over her shoulder down her front. Damn, she was beautiful. She was beautiful, and she was trouble, and he was a fool in love. This he knew and accepted.
"Where's Lou?" he asked.
"She's asleep on the bed. Is everything okay? I thought you wouldn't be back until much later."
Grover walked to the kitchen, removed Elizabeth Matthews' wanted poster from his back pocket, unfolded it, and placed it on the table. He walked to the woman on the other side of the room, took her hand in his, and led her to the kitchen. He gently pushed her into a bent position over the table so that her face appeared above the piece of paper. She gasped when she saw its contents.
Grover lifted his shirt off her otherwise bare bottom and gave her a mild swat. "Did you think this not worth mentioning to me this morning?" He landed another gentle spank.
She wailed her response. "I didn't know what to say. I'm sorry. I'll tell you everything. Please have mercy, Marshal."
He swatted her again, a little harder. "My name is Grover."
"Grover," she repeated.
He walked to the sofa and sat where she'd been sitting previously. She remained in the same bent position, waiting for his next words and giving him a full view of her blushing bottom and lady bits peeking through her thighs. He swallowed. The way she remained over the table submissively, waiting for his permission to act, moved him.
"Come here when you're ready to face the consequences of your deception, Missy."
She straightened and rushed to him. Falling to her knees, she buried her face against his thigh. "Please don't arrest me, Grover. Don't turn me in."
"You'd best get yourself over my lap in a jiffy, young lady. Seems I need to repeat a few things I said only hours ago. It's clear I didn't get through to you."
Missy scrambled to her feet and over his lap as fast as she could.
He settled his hand on her thigh. "Good girl," he murmured. "That was quick. You want to obey me, don't you?" He rubbed and inspected her bottom, still pink from the earlier spanking.
"I do so much, Grover. I want to please you."
"I'm glad to hear that, but I'm not pleased with you at the moment. What did I tell you this morning about the law in relation to you?"
"You said you wouldn't use it against me. But I didn't know if you'd think differently if you knew I was an outlaw."
Grover flattened her left cheek with a swat that made her yelp. "I don't think differently about it. I also don't think differently about you lying to me and keeping information hidden. That's what raises my bristles." He landed a hard swat on her right cheek.
She winced, and then looked back and caught his eye. "You're not going to arrest me?"
"No."
"Thank you, Grover." She exhaled and hung limply over his lap. "I wish—" Her voice trailed off.
"You wish what?"
She sniffled and said in a faltering voice. "I wish I had married a kind man like you."
He felt happy to hear those words, though she wasn't to know why just yet. "Well, Missy. I'm kind to those I care for. But I don't tolerate lies or withholding important information, especially from someone I'm trying to help. I thought I already made that clear." He gathered her wrist in his hand and pinned it against her side. He brought her body into a snug fit against his torso. "Is there anything else you'd like to tell me before I give you a painful reminder of that? Like what happened at the bank, perhaps?"
"I, I was the lookout," she stammered. "I watched by the door while Nathan and his partner robbed the drawers and safe. I saw a lawman coming, and I warned Nathan by knocking four times on the door."
"Did they get away with much money?"
"About $100,000, and they shot the banker dead in the process."
Grover whistled. "That's worse than I thought. You could go to prison for a long while for that. You could even be charged with felony murder."
"I know. I'm so afraid of going to prison or hanging, mostly because of what would happen to Lou." Her voice cracked, and he felt her body tremble. "I didn't want the money and I didn't try to take any of it when I ran away from Nathan."
"I know, honey."
"Grover, I don't expect sympathy, but I want you to know that Nathan threatened to drown Lou over the course of hours if I didn't help with the robbery. He said he would dunk her in and out of a bucket of water to torture her for as long as possible until she died. I didn't know what else to do. At the time, I thought helping Nathan was the only way to protect my daughter."
Grover felt deep sadness for Missy upon learning the motivation behind her involvement in the crime. He figured Nathan used real or threatened violence to ensure her participation, but threatening to torture his own daughter was a low he didn't expect.
He sighed. "Missy, I'm a lawman. I respect and uphold the law in most instances, but here's where the law fails. It fails people like you who are abused by the real criminals and forced, whether by threats or actual violence, into doing things they wouldn't otherwise. I hope someday that the law will protect people like you and see you as a victim and not a criminal. Until then, I find myself ignoring certain crimes, not just with you, but with other people too. I can't begin to imagine how that must have torn you up hearing Nathan say what he planned to do to your daughter."
"It did tear me up," she said, her voice cracking. "It still does. I still hear the words in my head every time I look at her sweet face. If I go to prison, what if he gets to Lou and kills her out of sheer spite because I ran away from him?"
"That's not going to happen. He won't hurt Lou, and you won't go to prison. You have two other choices besides prison."
"What are they, Grover? Tell me. I feel completely without choices."
"I'll tell you, but I'm going to punish you too. Not for the robbery, but for not telling me about it. It's important that you never keep something like that from me again. If I hadn't seen that poster today, I would have gotten the ball rolling on your divorce because I thought your marriage to Nathan was your biggest problem. I would have wired the court in Dallas, thereby leading my boss, the sheriff, straight to you. Do you see how devastating hiding information from me could be in the future?"
"Yes, Grover."
"Are you ev
er going to do it again?"
"No. I promise I won't."
"Let's make sure of that." He cracked his hand down on her bottom and repeated the motions for some time. The swats weren't too hard, but he could see they built up a good sting as they layered on top of each other. She began squirming as her bottom blushed pinker.
"No wiggling, young lady. I expect you to stand the gaff this time. You've earned this punishment, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir," she said, and settled to accept his punishing hand as it connected with her tender skin.
"Your first choice is I buy you a train ticket to a place back east. You disappear into the crowds. No one will be looking for you in New York, say."
He landed swat after swat, his strokes becoming harder, painting her bottom a light shade of red.
Missy didn't respond. He paused. "Well? How does that sound?"
"I don't like that choice," she said sadly.
"I didn't think you would. I'll tell you your other choice then. But first, I'll have your word you won't lie or withhold information from me again. If you do, you'll be putting not only yourself at risk, but also me from here on out."
"Oh no, Grover. I wouldn't want that, not at all. I won't lie to you again."
He brought his hand down in rapid succession over the same spot five times, then repeated the same action on her other cheek. She cried out and kicked her legs.
"The other choice involves marrying me. What do you think of that?"
She let out squeaks and began squirming again under his hand.
His voice took on a warning tone. "Stop shifting, Missy."
She wailed. "This spanking hurts! I can't take anymore."
"You can and you will. Settle yourself, or I'll spank you with a wooden spoon, and that will hurt a lot worse than my hand. Do you understand?"
She grabbed his trouser leg with the hand not trapped in his grip against her waist. "Yes, Grover."
He continued spanking, focusing on her lower bottom and thighs.
She spoke in a small voice. "Did you just ask me to marry you?"
"Yes, Missy."
"You asked me to marry you while spanking me, Grover?" Her small voice grew louder with outrage, and she spoke his name at the end in a high-pitched squeal.
Grover paused and laughed, causing him to loosen his grip on her waist. Missy used the opportunity to push off of him in an attempt to escape, but he caught her and planted her back over his thighs. Holding her in place, he continued the spanking.
"This is how naughty girls who lie to the marshal get proposed to, Missy. Good girls get a proposal from a man on bent knee along with a ring. Naughty girls get a proposal over a man's bent knee along with a burning backside. What's your answer, young lady?"
After a few more smacks, she responded in tight voice, "I'll marry you."
He settled his hand on her hot bottom and caressed it in circles. She remained stiff over his lap. "Hey." He brushed her hair to one side and turned her head so he could look at her face, which betrayed her hurt feelings. "Aw, honey. I'll get you a ring too. Okay?"
She sniffled and gave him a watery-eyed smile. "'Okay. Thank you."
He felt her relax over his lap and he smiled. "I'll be a good husband to you, Missy, and a good father to Lou. It won't make any difference that she's Nathan's daughter."
Her body stiffened again and she burst into loud sobs. He rubbed her back. Instead of his touch calming her down, her cries grew louder.
Grover gathered her into a hug on his lap. "What is it, Missy? What's wrong?"
She cried into her hands. "Grover, you said you don't want me to hide anything from you. I want to obey, but I'm so afraid. I'm afraid you'll reject me, and I don't think I could bear it now."
He squeezed her tight. "I won't reject you. I understand who you are. Look, honey. I know how to figure out two things—guns and people. And I've figured you for a good person. Whatever you think is too horrible to tell me, it won't be. Let me prove it to you."
Missy wiped away some of her tears. "When I traveled with Nathan and his gang, I was the only woman. I thought Nathan would protect my honor. But he and his three men played poker one night around the campfire, and Nathan ran out of money. So he bet me, his wife. He lost, and that night he allowed the winner to be alone with me."
Grover's hands froze in place around her. He wasn't expecting that. He felt horrified with each new piece of information Missy gave him about Nathan.
"It didn't happen only once. It happened more than once and with more than one man. I don't know who Lou's real father is." Missy cried in earnest. "You can take back the proposal, Grover. I'll understand."
Grover remained quiet, trying to understand how a man could pass his wife around to other men. It didn't register as possible for a man to do. He knew Nathan was a scourge on society, but some of the most evil men he knew still protected their family. Nathan was a monster, he realized, and far more evil than he ever thought.
Missy's sobs grew louder, and he became aware that he needed to comfort her. He tightened his arms around her. "Shhh. It wasn't your fault, honey. It doesn't change how I feel, and unlike your first husband, I'll always respect and protect you. That much I can promise."
She sniffled and wiped the tears off her cheek. "You still want to marry me, Grover?"
He stroked her arms clad in his shirt, which was much too big for her. The sleeves were longer than her arms, and her hands weren't visible. He chuckled. "You look so cute and little in my shirt." He pushed up a sleeve, caught her hand, and pressed his lips against it, looking into her eyes as he did. He gave her hand three more quick kisses, then said, "Yeah, Missy, I want to marry you. You sure you want to marry me?"
A smile crept in through her tears. "Yes. But when I'm your wife, are you still going to spank me?"
He leaned back, pulling her with him to rest against his chest. "Mm hmm. Of course, darlin'. But only when you give me cause."
She smiled and sighed, and he kissed her forehead.
"How's this going to work, Grover? What's your plan?"
Chapter 5 - Grover's Plan
Grover knew his plan might be difficult to carry out, not to mention life-changing and potentially dangerous for the both of them. Among other things, it required help from a friend. He saddled his sorrel mustang and set out in the late afternoon for the Barnes' ranch. The day's heat and humidity brought a flush to his skin and caused his horse to break into a sweat, though the journey was no longer than two miles and he rode the mare at a walk.
"Hulloo, the house!" Grover called as he approached the cabin. He hoped to find both Carter and Carter's wife there.
He was in luck. Anna opened the door and walked to the porch holding her infant daughter. "Howdy, Marshal."
Anna Barnes was a strapping farmer's daughter who rose to the height of most men, but not her husband, who stood a few inches taller. Anna had a pragmatic, openhearted way about her. A person always knew where he stood with her, as she was utterly devoid of guile. She also showed disregard for consequence or danger, which was why Grover knew she'd be willing to help him. Her husband, however, was not so flippant about potential danger. Grover knew he'd have to convince him to allow her to help, and it promised to be anything but an easy task.
Carter followed Anna to the porch with their two-year-old boy toddling behind him, while his older son Paddy rushed to greet Grover as he dismounted his horse.
"Marshal, did you arrest any bad guys today?" Paddy asked.
"Not yet, son."
"I want to be your deputy when I grow up. Can I?"
Grover tied his mare to the hitching post, leaving enough slack for her to take a long drink of water from the trough next to it. "Deputy, you say? I might be dragged out by then. Maybe you should be marshal."
The boy's face broke into a wide smile. "You reckon? Will you teach me how to—"
Carter cleared his throat. "Patrick, give the man a minute to rest before you yammer his ear off. Come inside, Grover
."
Grover followed Carter, Anna, and their three children into the cabin. He removed his hat and hung it on a hook next to the door. The cabin felt small and cluttered with five people living in it, but Grover could see that the family was happy, if a bit disorganized. Children's blocks and handmade carved animals laid piled in a corner on the hardware floor. The smell of freshly baked bread filled the room, and the sounds of children's cooing and fussing added a pleasant, homey feeling.
Carter settled in a wingback chair across from the sofa and motioned for Grover to sit down too. "What brings you out here, Grover?" He picked up his steaming pipe from the table next to the chair and puffed at it.
Grover sat on the sofa, and Paddy sat next to him and resumed chattering before he could answer Carter's question. "I'm learning how to whittle. Pa got me a knife and showed me how, but now I'm better than he is. I made all those animals." He pointed to the carved wood in the corner.
"Patrick, come here." Carter sounded exasperated.
Paddy sighed and trudged to his father, who frowned at him. "I said to stop talking the marshal's ear off, didn't I?"
"Yeah."
"And did you stop?"
"I guess not." Paddy sighed again.
"Why don't you go to the room for a bit and do some of your figures. You can come out in fifteen minutes."
"Oh, all right." The boy sauntered to the bedroom, his shoulders slumped.
Grover felt a bit sorry for the lad, though Carter hadn't been harsh. He knew his friend, and though the rancher didn't suffer much folly, he was as kindhearted as Anna when it came to his family.
"I'll make some coffee," Anna said. "Mind holding the baby, Grover?"
"Not at all."
Anna settled her daughter into his arms. The baby stared and him and made babbling noises while waving her tiny fists in the air. Anna smiled. "You're a natural, Marshal."
"Believe it or not, this is the second time today I've held a baby girl about this age. I've got a story for you both, which I trust won't leave this room. I need your help. Especially yours, Anna."
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Missy Meets the Marshal (Lone Star Love Book 2) Page 4
