around!”
“Answer me, Cait .”
“Only you,” she murmured quietly.
“Only me. So you know the rule, and yet decided to disrobe and go swimming anyway, just over the rise from a practice field full of sweaty, fighting men.”
“But the trees... They couldn’t see me.”
“Unless they chose to come up here and take a dip on the hottest day of the year.”
She blanched. “Did they?”
“No, not this time. But it makes me no less angry. I don’t know what possessed you to think you might come swim here naked as the day you were born, in front of your guard no less.”
“It wasn’t his fault—”
“No, it was your fault. But he should have dissuaded you all the same. It’s a little late now to have a worry for Lonnie. He’ll know better next time after cleaning the stables for a month. And you...I’ll have to make sure you won’t ever do this again.”
“Oh, I won’t,” she assured him quickly. “I won’t. I promise!”
He frowned down at her, unmoved by her pleading gaze.
“What happens when you disobey me, Cait ? Remind me.”
“You punish me, my lord.”
“And do you deserve to be punished for this infraction?”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered.
He crossed his arms over his chest. She knew that look well, and she didn’t like it. The look when he was considering exactly how he would belabor her tender hindquarters for breaking one of his rules. Sometimes the punishments were almost pleasurable, when she’d committed a smaller offense, when he’d hold her over his lap and give her spankings that playfully stung. From the look on his face, this would not be one of those punishments. This would be one of the punishments that made it hard to sit down for a while.
A few weeks ago, she would have tried to dissuade him, made excuses, begged for pity, but by now she knew it was pointless to waste her breath.
“Come,” he said. “Get dressed. Wait in your room for dinner. After dinner, we’ll settle this matter.”
Oh, no. It was so much worse to have to wait for it, to know it was coming and that it wasn’t going to feel good. But she knew it was pointless to try to escape it. She would have to prepare herself for the pain. She thought the swim had been worth it though. With a sigh, she climbed up out of the water and picked her way across the pebbles and rocks on the shore under the stern caress of his gaze.
He shielded her from the direction of the practice field with his tall, broad body while she dressed. She would have rather lain down on the warm, soft grass and let the sun dry her first. She thought that she would have liked to lie down with him , and felt his mouth and hands on her skin. She slid him a look, and she thought he was thinking the same thing from the intent, direct way he was looking at her.
“Dress now. I must return to work.”
“Someday, might we come swimming here? Alone? You and I? If I wear my shift to cover myself?”
He frowned. “Perhaps.”
“I would like to swim with you, Duncan. And then lie down next to you on the shore and let the sun dry our bodies—”
“Dress, Cait .” He seemed frightfully agitated all of a sudden. Well, she didn’t know why he should be the one all upset. She was the one who was going to worry all day about the punishment to come.
* * * * *
Duncan urged her back towards the keep with a firm hand at the small of her back. What he really wanted to do was lead her deeper into the woods, spank her silly, and thrust inside every part of her body that could take him, all in succession, again and again. When he’d seen her come dripping up out of the water like some forest nymph, bare as the day she was born, it had been all he could do not to take her down on the shore.
Sinful. Her body was sinful. He was not a religious man, but her body was sending him to hell every hour of every day. Worst of all, he still wanted, still ached for that which he did not dare enjoy, that welcoming, warm, slick passage that
“Answer me, Cait .”
“Only you,” she murmured quietly.
“Only me. So you know the rule, and yet decided to disrobe and go swimming anyway, just over the rise from a practice field full of sweaty, fighting men.”
“But the trees... They couldn’t see me.”
“Unless they chose to come up here and take a dip on the hottest day of the year.”
She blanched. “Did they?”
“No, not this time. But it makes me no less angry. I don’t know what possessed you to think you might come swim here naked as the day you were born, in front of your guard no less.”
“It wasn’t his fault—”
“No, it was your fault. But he should have dissuaded you all the same. It’s a little late now to have a worry for Lonnie. He’ll know better next time after cleaning the stables for a month. And you...I’ll have to make sure you won’t ever do this again.”
“Oh, I won’t,” she assured him quickly. “I won’t. I promise!”
He frowned down at her, unmoved by her pleading gaze.
“What happens when you disobey me, Cait ? Remind me.”
“You punish me, my lord.”
“And do you deserve to be punished for this infraction?”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered.
He crossed his arms over his chest. She knew that look well, and she didn’t like it. The look when he was considering exactly how he would belabor her tender hindquarters for breaking one of his rules. Sometimes the punishments were almost pleasurable, when she’d committed a smaller offense, when he’d hold her over his lap and give her spankings that playfully stung. From the look on his face, this would not be one of those punishments. This would be one of the punishments that made it hard to sit down for a while.
A few weeks ago, she would have tried to dissuade him, made excuses, begged for pity, but by now she knew it was pointless to waste her breath.
“Come,” he said. “Get dressed. Wait in your room for dinner. After dinner, we’ll settle this matter.”
Oh, no. It was so much worse to have to wait for it, to know it was coming and that it wasn’t going to feel good. But she knew it was pointless to try to escape it. She would have to prepare herself for the pain. She thought the swim had been worth it though. With a sigh, she climbed up out of the water and picked her way across the pebbles and rocks on the shore under the stern caress of his gaze.
He shielded her from the direction of the practice field with his tall, broad body while she dressed. She would have rather lain down on the warm, soft grass and let the sun dry her first. She thought that she would have liked to lie down with him , and felt his mouth and hands on her skin. She slid him a look, and she thought he was thinking the same thing from the intent, direct way he was looking at her.
“Dress now. I must return to work.”
“Someday, might we come swimming here? Alone? You and I? If I wear my shift to cover myself?”
He frowned. “Perhaps.”
“I would like to swim with you, Duncan. And then lie down next to you on the shore and let the sun dry our bodies—”
“Dress, Cait .” He seemed frightfully agitated all of a sudden. Well, she didn’t know why he should be the one all upset. She was the one who was going to worry all day about the punishment to come.
* * * * *
Duncan urged her back towards the keep with a firm hand at the small of her back. What he really wanted to do was lead her deeper into the woods, spank her silly, and thrust inside every part of her body that could take him, all in succession, again and again. When he’d seen her come dripping up out of the water like some forest nymph, bare as the day she was born, it had been all he could do not to take her down on the shore.
Sinful. Her body was sinful. He was not a religious man, but her body was sending him to hell every hour of every day. Worst of all, he still wanted, still ached for that which he did not dare enjoy, that welcoming, warm, slick passage that
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