by Delta James
“I’m glad to hear that because I really don’t want to have to take my belt to you, but if that’s what I need to do to get through to you, I will.”
“You don’t. I won’t do it again.”
Chapter Eighteen
They spent the afternoon up in their room stretched out on their bed. They turned on one of the movie services and binge watched. Having lived in a small town in France, Ryder had missed a lot of the blockbuster movies and series of the past few years. As he had suspected she might, once Sierra was fed, had been laid again and was cuddled close to him and still, she fell into a deep and peaceful slumber.
Right around six o’clock, there was a discreet knock on the door. As Sierra was covered with a throw and Ryder had on his jeans, he quietly called for whomever it was to enter. Ruth stuck her head in. The picture before her made her smile. Ryder was stretched out in nothing but his jeans. He was a well-made man in Ruth’s opinion. Curled up next to him with her head on his shoulder and her arm thrown across his naked torso, Sierra was fast asleep. Ruth couldn’t remember the last time Sierra had seemed so serene.
“Do you want to come down for supper or should I bring up a tray?” Ruth asked very quietly.
Before Ryder could answer her, Sierra began to stir. Ryder leaned down, kissed the top of her head and then her lips when she tilted her head up seeking his kiss. Ruth watched the two of them and smiled. No doubt in her mind, Ryder was good for Sierra.
“What time is it?” she murmured.
“Six,” he said.
“In the morning? Ryder, you should have woke me…” she fussed.
“Evening, baby. And six in the morning isn’t late with this much snow on the ground. The snowfall should be over sometime tomorrow. Other than getting stock fed, there’s nothing that needs doing. No need to risk anyone slipping on ice or getting injured when we don’t have to.”
Sierra smiled and reached out to squeeze Ryder’s fly and the decidedly male parts it contained. He chuckled.
“Babe, you might want to know, Ruth is standing in the doorway watching you.”
Sierra’s eyes flew open as she looked at the doorway. “Jesus, Ryder,” she said, batting him. “You might have warned me.”
“Hey, you’re the one doing the inappropriate touching,” he said.
“That’s because you did all of yours earlier. And trust me, Ruthie, he did a lot of inappropriate touching. And I mean a whole lot.”
Ryder chuckled again. “I don’t remember you thinking that when I was doing it,” he teased.
Ruth laughed as well. “Well, when you two come down to supper, you should know there will be no inappropriate touching in my kitchen.”
She withdrew from the room, closing the door behind her—still laughing at them.
Sierra grabbed a pillow and began to hit Ryder over the head as he laughed at her.
“I can’t believe she saw me do that. God, is the humiliation ever going to end with you? You find my vibrator, you spank me, you put ginger up my ass, you make me stand in the corner with my ass bright red, you make me display my pussy to you so you can fuck me, and Ruth sees me grabbing your package. Do you see the common denominator here, Malone… you! It’s all your fault!” she said, giggling and still hitting him with the pillow.
He wrestled the pillow away from her. “That’s not how I see it. What I see is that I removed that instrument of sin from your bedroom, I gave you the benefit of my loving discipline, I introduced you to a new form of pleasure, and I allowed you to show me how much you desire me—you do know your pussy was dripping with need, right? You’re the one who groped me—that one’s on you.”
She pounced on him, knocking him flat on his back. “Loving discipline?” she snorted. “What a crock!”
She sat down on his pelvis to pin him to the bed and yowled as her welted backside made contact. Ryder couldn’t stop laughing at her.
“It’s not funny, Ryder, it hurts,” she said, clearly upset from the pain.
Ryder sat up and gathered her in his arms. He cradled her close and rocked her gently.
“I know, baby. But that’s what happens when you misbehave and earn yourself a spanking.”
“But it really hurts.”
“I’m sure it does. Next time you think to go running off on some lark where you could get hurt, you remember how much your ass hurts, and maybe make a different choice.” He kissed her again. “You want to go downstairs or do you want me to bring something up?”
She sighed. “I can go downstairs, but don’t you dare laugh at me when I have to sit down slowly.”
“Babe, why don’t we put a pillow on the chair?”
“No, I’ll skip that humiliation if you don’t mind.”
“I was thinking we could tell them you slipped while you were taking care of the mustangs and bruised your tailbone.”
“But that’s not the truth,” she said.
“No, but the only ones who need to know you got your bottom spanked and welted are you and me.”
“Okay.” She kissed him. “I love you.”
He grinned. “I love you too, Freckles, but you remember what I said.”
* * *
The next morning as Sierra went to leave Ryder’s embrace, his closed his fist around the handful of hair that he had and said, “And you’re going where?”
“To see what it looks like outside.” She disentangled his hand from her unruly mane. “I wasn’t going to leave our room.” Sierra grimaced as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and her seat made direct contact with the mattress. As she stood, she realized it wasn’t just her ass and girlie parts that were paying the price of her disobedience. Everything was stiff. She was sore in places she hadn’t known she could be sore.
She pulled back the curtains, looking over the hillside behind the house covered in a shroud of snow. She smiled. “And we don’t have to go outside?”
He chuckled. “No. In fact, why don’t you just plan to take it easy all day. I’ll go down with Charlie to check on things and see what’s happening at Crooked Creek.”
Sierra could hear the frown in his voice and turned to look at him.
“What?” she asked softly.
“My father,” he said. “I haven’t seen him in years. You’d think I’d be happy to see him, but all I can think about is how soon I can get him to leave. And that new Beamer? Jesus, Sierra, I actually thought we might make a profit this quarter. I can kiss that goodbye.”
“Can’t you isolate him from the ranch funds? Can you pull back your money?”
“I’ve been thinking about how I might do that. What would you think if I offered to let him have all of Crooked Creek except the original homestead and the land between it and the Flying M?”
“I think that’s not adequate compensation for all you’ve done, but I also think if it would allow you to walk away and not get caught up in your dad’s bullshit, it might be the right thing to do.”
Ryder got up and joined her at the window. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. His cock began to stir at her closeness. She snuggled back against him, flinching only slightly, as she sighed contentedly.
“I love you, Ryder Malone.”
“I love you too, Sierra Morgan. What do you say we go down for breakfast? Charlie and I will do whatever needs doing and you start putting a plan together for your ideas of a wedding and trail ride venue.”
She turned her head to look at him. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”
“I do. And that’s part of why I want Crooked Creek. We could center all of that kind of activity there and keep the main part of the working ranch here at the Flying M.”
“I was even thinking that we could do a kind of small dude ranch operation, but one where people actually got to drive cattle and be a real cowhand for a couple of days.”
“That’s not a bad idea at all. And here I thought I was just marrying you because you were such a hot piece of tail. Who knew you had a brain to go with
that body?”
Sierra elbowed him and he laughed. Ryder kissed her again and then moved away to pull on some clothes. Sierra grabbed a pair of leggings, a silk thermal Henley top, and the flannel shirt Ryder had on the day before. She put on a pair of fur-lined moccasins and pulled her hair back. She looked to see him watching her.
“What?”
“God, you’re beautiful… and you’re mine. I still can’t believe I have you back and keep asking myself how the hell I lived without you.”
She walked over and wrapped her arms around him.
“I missed you too,” she said quietly. “Even more than I thought I did.”
“You haven’t asked me much about the time we were apart.”
Sierra rolled her eyes. “And the humiliation continues,” she said, laughing. “At the risk of inflating your already oversized ego and in the interest of not being accused of keeping things from you, I offer the following,” she said as she knelt on the floor.
Sierra pulled out her keepsake box. She opened it and showed him all the articles, press releases, and snippets of information she had been able to glean from various sources. Ryder grinned—she was right, he liked that she had all that information on him.
“I know a lot of what you did. You know the one thing that struck me?”
Ryder shook his head.
She smiled. “There were never any pictures of you with a girl—no tidbits or gossip about you. I suppose I shouldn’t feel happy about that, but I do.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “Nice. But I think we ought to start collecting a lot more stories and pictures with the beautiful, freckle-faced girl I carried a torch for. The one I let get away until I figured out how to get her back.”
“So you think you have me back?” she teased.
“Were you not paying attention when I warned you about that ring coming off your finger?”
“No, I heard you, but you never said anything about what went with it except for a stone cottage in France.”
Ryder said nothing but kissed her and put his arm around her to go downstairs.
They joined Ruth and Charlie in the kitchen.
“I left the pillow in here in case you still needed it,” said Ruth solicitously.
Sierra blushed bright red, Charlie smiled and averted his eyes, and Ryder replied, “That was kind of you, Ruth.”
Realizing Charlie was all too aware of the truth behind why she needed the pillow, she chucked him upside the back of his head as she walked past. Charlie didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he had trouble covering his laughter with a spell of fake coughing.
After Ruth brought over a platter of eggs, country potatoes, and steak, they all sat down to enjoy their meal.
“So, Ruth,” Ryder started. “Freckles here seems to think that the ring she’s sporting on her left hand doesn’t come with certain societal obligations.”
“What?” she asked, not sure of his meaning.
“Upstairs she told me that she had no plans to take it off, but pointed out that I had failed to actually propose to her. So before we dig in, let me remedy that.”
“Ryder, no, I was just teasing you.”
Ryder knelt down on one knee by her chair and held out his hand. “Give me your left hand.”
“Babe, you don’t have to.”
“Oh, no, there will not be any way for you to wiggle out of this because you can claim I wasn’t clear. Give me your left hand.”
Smiling, trying to hold back her tears of happiness, she placed her hand in his.
“Sierra Morgan, love of my life, will you marry me?”
She removed her hand from his, placed a hand on either side of his face, and drew him in for a long, slow, passionate kiss. “I can’t think of anything that would make me happier.”
“Just so you know, Freckles… no tantrum you could throw is going to stop me from marrying you this time.”
“Even if I shoot your hat off and destroy your windshield?” she giggled.
“Even if you make me let that bunch of mangy mustangs winter in one of the closed-in pastures so you can keep an eye on them.”
“Really? We can keep them here on the Flying M?”
Ryder looked at Ruth and Charlie. “You know, I’m a bit concerned that she seems happier about that damn roan stallion than becoming my bride.”
“Why shouldn’t that stud have a nice place to breed whenever he wants… you do,” she said, batting her eyes at him.
“Sierra Morgan!” gasped Ruth.
Charlie spit his coffee before saying, “I think it’s going to take more than a ring to tame your cowgirl, Ryder.”
Ryder just shook his head. “Tame? Hell, Charlie, I’m going to be doing good if I can get her halter broke.”
“I don’t know,” she said with a mischievous grin, “you said I was the best ri—” Ryder cut her off with a kiss.
“And that’s enough out of you. Any idea about when you’d like to do this? After the Spring Roundup or this summer? Or we could get married in France at the rodeo there, fly Charlie and Ruth over?”
She shook her head. “Nope. My daddy married my mama on December thirty-first. Their plan had been that way they’d always have a party on their anniversary and the next day off to recover.”
“Babe, I don’t want to wait that long…”
“Ryder, it’s almost November… that’s like a little more than two months.”
Ryder’s smile could have melted all the snow outside. “Well, that’s a whole different kettle of fish. You think you can put a wedding together that quick?”
Ruth answered before Sierra did. “You bet we can.”
Sierra giggled. “Not that Ruthie is excited about this or anything. But I say we just invite people to a New Year’s Eve party and tell them we have an announcement. Believe me, the first time I leave this house with this ring back on, it’ll be all over town in a matter of seconds. They say the internet is the information super highway. It’s got nothing on the speed at which a juicy piece of gossip will spread in a small town. They’ll all come to hear us announce a date… and we will… that night.”
“December thirty-first it is. So, why don’t you and Ruth start spreading the word about a big to-do here at the Flying M and Charlie and I will check on the work that needs doing here and at Crooked Creek.”
Chapter Nineteen
The following day, Ryder took a few of the men up to the high pasture to move the herd down where they’d be easier to care for. Sierra had wanted to go, but he persuaded her that a long hard ride moving the mustangs was probably best done by those without a bottom that still sported three fairly vivid stripes across it.
“Just so you know, I’m not always going to be the good little wife who stays at home while you go out and get to do all the fun stuff.”
He nuzzled her neck. “Then you’re going to be much better behaved than you’ve been so far.”
She shoved him. “You are such a jerk,” she said, laughing.
He pulled her to him and captured his mouth with a toe-curling, knee-buckling kiss.
“I know, baby, but I’m your jerk and you love me.”
She grinned. “Yes, I do. Now you guys be safe and try not to upset the herd.”
Ryder shook his head. “Yes, ma’am. We should be back by midafternoon. See how I did that? Let you know where I was going and when I’d be back?”
“Go. Just go!” He kissed her again and headed down to the barn.
The ranch hands on both the Flying M and Crooked Creek had already learned of their engagement and Ryder was warmly greeted as he entered the barn.
Sierra watched him depart with the men and waved. She turned and saw Ruth smiling at her.
“Don’t you get any ideas, Ruthie, I am not going to be the little woman.”
She shook her head. “No, you aren’t. And that’s the best thing about Ryder… he doesn’t want you to be. He wants you to be you.”
Sierra smiled softly. “I know; he really does. So, we�
��ve got a wedding to plan. My mom’s dress is still up in the attic in one of those preservation boxes. There’s a place in Boise that has a gal who will take something like that and then make it into a whole new dress for you—so you have a kind of combination something old, something new, and something kind of borrowed. What do you think?”
Ruth smiled. “I think that would be a wonderful thing to do.”
* * *
The next two months were a whirlwind of activity. The fact that the New Year’s Eve party was actually going to be their wedding was a closely held secret. They’d hired a caterer, which they would have done for a big party and had ordered a cake telling the baker it was for a special party.
On more than one occasion, Sierra was glad they’d decided to hold the wedding at the ranch. She and Ruth had made the trip to Boise to have her mother’s dress altered. As her parents had gotten married at the courthouse in a simple, civil ceremony, her mother’s gown had been a rich ivory, knee-length sheath dress of exquisite silk with a raised and corded diamond pattern on it and a coat of the same length in the same fabric with antique rhinestone-encrusted buttons. Sierra was excited to be picking it up in another week or so.
Ryder had developed a keen interest in finding out what it looked like and both she and Ruth refused to tell him. Finally, Ruth had taken pity on him and alleviated his fears that it would be too risqué. Sierra had teased him about all those fancy French girls he must have dated and that he was worried she’d show too much skin.
He’d quickly pointed out that hers was the only skin he was marrying.
Ryder’s father had been a major source of irritation. He seemed bent on blowing through any and all profit that Ryder had been projecting for the year. In addition, his father seemed uninterested in selling the two sections of land that Ryder wanted unless Ryder could pay him an outrageous sum of money, which Ryder didn’t have. Sierra pointed out that they did if Ryder would consider using their money and not just what he’d had prior to their getting back together.
