Read Online Over the Barrel by Breanna Hayse - Free Book Online Page B

your memory."
    "OW!   Dear Lord, please …"
    "Keep
up your prayers, girl."   Sloan
strapped her twice more.   "You
are gonna need them to help you sit."
    He swung
three more times, splaying the heavy belt over the lighter portions of her
trembling bottom.   He paused,
running his hand over her dark red skin.   "These welts are going to be with you for a few days.   Do I need to continue, or have you
learned something here?"
    "No,
Sloan," Blair wept, sagging limply over the rough barrel.   "Please forgive me.   It was a foolish thing I did.   I am so sorry."
    "Forgive
you?" Sloan repeated, patting her bottom before he slipped his belt back
into the loops of his trousers and buckled it closed.   "This is not a matter of me
forgiving you.   It is about you
taking care to protect yourself.   Better the pain comes from me than from someone who doesn't care.   Keep your hands off that bottom.   I want you to feel that strapping for a
while."
    "You
care?" Blair sniffed as he pulled her to her wobbly feet.   "Why would you care about me?   I am nobody to you.   A nothing."
    Sloan sat on
the barrel and pulled her to stand between his knees.   He handed her his neckerchief.   "Wipe your eyes.   Yeah, I care.   You've grown on me the last few
weeks.   Pretty soon you will be with
your grandfather, and I am already finding myself fretting about the type of
mischief you are gonna get yourself into.   I also worry about who is going to get you out of it."
    Blair looked
at the ground, "I'm sorry.   You
had no reason to protect me.   Any of
them could have pulled a gun on you."
    "Look
at me, Squirrel.   Do I look like the
kind of man who does something for no reason?   Has anything I have said or done shown
you that I am any less than protective?"
    "No."
    "No is
right.   Get your eyes back up here
and look at me," Sloan ordered firmly.   "Do you think, being the type of
man that I am, that I would not have been willing to take a bullet to protect
my woman?"
    "Your
woman?"
    "I said
a woman," he quickly corrected.
    "No,
you didn't.   You said 'my'
woman."   Blair blinked.
    "You
heard wrong," Sloan said, gruffly.   "Answer me."
    "You
have proven yourself to be honorable in most areas.   I cannot say the same for your
disciplinary methods."
    "My
methods ensure that my point is made and remembered.   Do you agree?"
    Blair evaded
the question by softly asking, "You're going to be around town for a while
after we arrive, aren't you?"
    "I have
a job to do there, including keeping an eye out for a particular gang of
outlaws that are said to be hiding out in these parts," Sloan answered,
running his hand over her wet cheek.   "I only have rough sketches of what they look like, so it could be
anybody.   You can't rely on me to
keep you safe once we are apart.   You must start to be watchful of yourself."
    "I
know.   I am truly sorry for my
words.   And for my
disobedience.   I did not consider it
would put you in danger as well."
    "Come
here."   Sloan pulled her into
his arms and hugged her tightly.   He
breathed deeply into her hair and stroked the heavy braid that fell down the
center of her back.   With a loud
sigh, Blair relaxed in his hold.   "I am going to miss you, Squirrel.   Just take care of yourself, and mind
your grandfather.   You don't want me
to have to ride back just to spank you again, do you?"
    "No!   Of course not.   You sound as though you are leaving
me.   I thought a stagecoach was
coming, and we would ride to Manitou together.   I don't want to travel unattended.   Not after today."   Blair felt genuine panic at the thought
of being left alone.
    "Stop
your worrying.   I'll be with you
until we reach the ranch.   I just
wanted to be certain I got my say-so in while I'm feeling a bit tender-hearted.   I also did not want you completely
hating me for the entire trip, since you will be feeling my belt while you are
sitting for a while."
    Blair buried
her face in his shirt and