A Wanton Woman (Mail Order Bride of Slate Springs 1)

“No!”

“You decide how long you’re spanked, doll. Tell me about the man in Denver and we’ll be done.”

A sharp tug on my drawers and the string broke and Walker slid them down to my thighs. “I punish on the bare, doll.”

Spank.

Spank.

Spank.

“I’m too old to be spanked!” I cried.

Walker didn’t relent, spanking me consistently, his palm landing in different places on my bottom and the tops of my thighs. “You’re too old for lies, as well.”

I winced as he spanked where my bottom met my thighs. A tender spot, I cried out. He was not going to stop. I thought of Carl Norman and how he’d made my life hell in Texas and then he’d followed me. He wasn’t going to go away. He was the one following me, pestering me, and I was the one being spanked. It was unfair. All of it. I cried then, for the pain was enough to push me over.

Tears coursed down my cheeks as Walker continued.

“What the hell?” Luke’s voice boomed in the kitchen. I felt the cold air come in behind him just before he shut the back door. He stomped his feet on the mat there and I could see his boots and lower legs from my upturned position.

Spank.

Spank.

“Celia’s been a naughty girl and lying to us.”

His tone held disappointment and that had my tears falling even faster.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

Slowly, Walker lifted me to my feet, holding onto my hips as I settled. With him sitting, we were the same height and I looked into his dark eyes. They held infinite amounts of patience, but also concern.

“We are very possessive and I will not have a man following you, watching you like that.”

I wasn’t going to be able to escape. The truth would have to come forth. There would be no more running, at least from my husbands.

“His name is Carl Norman.”

Walker’s hand came up and he wiped the tears from my cheeks with his thumb. “That wasn’t so hard, was it? Why was he on the street in Denver watching you?”

The corner of his mouth tipped up.

Luke went around the table so he could see me. “Who the hell is Carl Norman? A lover?”

My gaze met and held Luke’s. “No! Of course not. The idea of that man touching me makes my skin crawl.”

Walker pulled me into him so I stood between his parted knees. “Has he touched you before? Hurt you?” His voice was a dark growl.

I shook my head and bit my lip. “No. It’s not like that.”

“Explain. Now. Or you’ll go over my knee,” Luke warned.

“I told you my husband was shot. That he was in bed with his mistress. The woman’s husband found them together and killed them both.” I remembered what happened, shivered. “What I didn’t tell you was that I saw the whole thing.”

Neither man spoke, but Walker squeezed my waist to urge me on.

I sniffed, then continued. “I’d come in while they were… fucking and went into the room next door. I peeked through the partially open doorway and watched them. I’d been stunned to see my husband be so vigorous, so wild in bed. He’d never been like that with me. But then the woman’s husband came storming in the house, up the steps and shot them. He never knew I was there. As the only witness to the crime, it was my testimony that sealed his conviction. He was hung soon after.”