Catching Betsy (Mail-Order Grooms Book 2) Read online

  He left the room and headed downstairs. As he strode outside toward a plant he’d noticed for weeks, the image of her naked and bent over the bed with her cheeks spread remained in his mind. His cock was engorged, tightening his trousers uncomfortably. He looked forward to burying his manhood deep inside of her later.

  But first things first. He reached down and pulled up the plant, exposing the thick, bulbous gingerroot. Yes, that would serve his purposes perfectly. He trimmed off the stems and leaves, leaving only the root, and walked back to the room.

  “Good girl,” he said, when he entered to find her obediently in the same position. He dunked the root in the basin of water in their room and cleaned off the dirt. He then sat down on a chair across the room, where he could do some whittling while staring at his wife in such a wonderfully exposed position.

  As he skinned and shaped the ginger, he prepared her for what was coming. “I’ve got a very special punishment in mind for my very special girl,” he explained. “In my hand is gingerroot. God created it to punish naughty girls’ bottoms.”

  “He did not!” she protested. “It’s to flavor food.”

  He bit back a laugh and continued. “I’m going to place it up your bottom hole, and you’re going to feel a great deal of burning for about ten minutes. Then it will slowly fade away.”

  She moaned, and her response came out in thick, aroused voice. “That sounds painful.”

  “It is. It’s a punishment that’s been used for a very long time on naughty females. It was first used on disobedient slaves on the other side of the world. Their masters would bend them over a bench and restrain their hands and legs so that they couldn’t move at all. Then they would slip the instrument of punishment into their bottoms and watch them writhe, listening to their moans of pain. You’ve been moaning for weeks about not forgiving yourself. After this, I think you’ll feel properly punished and able to.”

  “All right, Roderick,” she said breathlessly.

  He could hear the submission and trust in her voice, which pleased him greatly. “If the slaves were especially bad, they would get their bottoms whipped while the gingerroot plugged them.”

  She whimpered at the thought. “That was very mean of their masters.”

  “Mm hmm,” Roderick agreed. He held out the root in front of him, admiring its shape and size, and then stood and walked to Betsy.

  He pressed the tip of the bulb against her rosette, twisting it slightly. “Relax and open for me, take your punishment,” he said sternly.

  “I’m trying,” she whimpered, her pucker contracting nervously. He pressed the ginger forward, gently but insistently, and gradually her bottom opened and accepted the intrusion.

  “You may release your bottom cheeks now, darling.”

  She obeyed and folded her arms under her chin. “That feels cold, not hot,” she told him, wriggling her bottom in the air a little.

  “It’s going to heat up gradually and you’ll soon feel a nearly unbearable burn. It won’t harm you, though. It only hurts in the moment. And you should be grateful I am a kind master. In the past, if a slave had done something especially bad or was not silent during the punishment, her master would remove the gingerroot after the effect wore off, peel off another layer, and place it in her bottom again. And again and again for as long as it took for her to learn their lesson.”

  “Ohh,” she said, and then the pitch of her voice became higher. “Oh my god!”

  “I see it’s starting to work.” Roderick reached out and pinched her bottom cheeks together, bringing her bottom hole in close contact with the ginger for maximum burn.

  “OWWW!” she screeched. She reached back frantically to grasp the offending implement to yank it out.

  “No, that’s a bad girl,” Roderick said. He captured both of her wrists in one hand and pinned them against her lower back, while continuing to pinch her bottom cheeks together. Her only free body parts were her legs, which she kicked frantically. “Please, Roderick, take it out! I forgive myself!” She twisted, but to no avail, for he kept her firmly in place.

  “Relax and accept your discipline,” he said implacably. “While you are experiencing this burning, think about the pain you and I felt when someone came close to destroying our relationship. Imagine this is the last of it, and when it goes away, it’s gone for good. Nothing will come between us again.”

  She continued thrashing around for a few more seconds, and then something seemed to break inside of her as his words sunk in. She settled on the bed and burst into tears. Roderick could tell his words had hit just the right spot and that her cries were cleansing. He continued to hold her wrists in one hand but released his pinch so that he could stroke her bottom and thighs. “Good girl. Accept the pain and cry all you need to, darling.”

  She nodded and sobbed during the rest of the discipline. Roderick could see that as the pain from the ginger subsided, so too did the pain from her action. Minutes ticked by slowly, until finally her cried died down. She let out a sigh of contentment. “It doesn’t burn as much anymore.”

  Roderick released her wrists and removed the ginger plug from her bottom. “I’ve got to have you now,” he said, hearing the thick arousal in his voice. “You have no idea how aroused that made me, punishing your cute little bottom hole.” He undid the button of his trousers and dropped them to the floor, causing his erection to spring forward.

  Betsy turned around, reached out and unbuttoned his shirt. “I want you too,” she said breathily.

  Roderick tore the shirt off his shoulders after Betsy finished unbuttoning. He placed his hands on the backs of her soft, firm thighs and pushed her toward the center of the bed, where he climbed over her, straddling her hips.

  She tilted her pelvis forward, inviting his invasion into her core, and Roderick didn’t need a second invitation. He placed the head of his cock along her slick entrance and then buried himself fully inside her snug channel. Relishing the feeling for a moment, he leaned forward and captured her lips with his. He then began his movements, first slowly, a strong caress. He nibbled on her neck and growled in her ear. “Is your naughty bottom still a little warm?”

  “Yes!” she gasped, tilting her head back and giving him access to the center of her delicate neck. He wrapped his hand around her throat and applied slight pressure, pinning her on the bed. His cock claimed her body, becoming more insistent in its demand for pleasure from her as his pace quickened.

  Betsy dragged her nails down his chest before clutching his muscled arms and hanging on for the ride. His thrusts were hard and fast, driving her breasts up and down until he released her neck, took one of them in his hand and slapped the other lightly. She squealed from the sudden swat to her erect nipple and moaned when he bent down and caught it in between his lips before grazing it with his teeth.

  He disconnected from her briefly in order to turn her around and take her pussy from behind. Slowing his movements, he slapped her bottom hard as it bounced against his stomach. He slid his hand up her back, up her neck and finally around to her mouth. His fingers invaded her hot mouth. “Suck me,” he ordered in a low growl. She obeyed, obediently lapping at him and wetting his thumb sloppily with her saliva. His digit now properly lubricated, he touched her punished bottom hole.

  “Unngghhhh,” she cried unintelligibly as he pressed his thumb into her rosette until it was fully buried. Her cheeks flushed scarlet. “Roderick…” she gasped.

  He sped up his movements, fucking her hard while keeping her hot bottom filled with his thumb, and it wasn’t long before she arched her back and screamed out her orgasm. Her sex clenched around him, milking his cock and causing his pleasure to build rapidly.

  “I’m going to come, baby,” he groaned, right before he stiffened and erupted inside of her. He collapsed on top of her, using his arms to partially prop himself so that he didn’t land all of his weight on her. When he’d caught his breath, he kissed her temple. What a treasure she was, accepting his discipline and finding pleas
ure with him afterwards.

  Later, after they’d bathed and were still swimming in the afterglow of lovemaking, Roderick lay on his back in the bed and brought Betsy to his chest. “How are you feeling, little lamb?”

  She sighed, a contented look on her face. “I feel happy and loved.”

  “Not guilty any longer?”

  “No.” She wrapped her arm around him and snuggled against him.

  “I love you being here like this in my arms, allowing me to hold and possess you.”

  “You’ll always possess me. I’ll always be yours,” she told him.

  He kissed her forehead. “I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to chase and catch you, and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon. But you’re right, darling, even if you run a thousand more times, I’ll always catch you and get you back into my arms where you belong. The wolf always catches the lamb.”

  “Thank you, Roderick, but I won’t run again,” she whispered, her eyes half lidded.

  “Yes, you will.” He stroked her hair and held her as she drifted off to sleep.

  He smiled to himself, thinking about their time together. He had traveled across the country to catch her, and it had been the best decision of his life. He knew that, whatever their future held, whatever came their way, he’d always make the same decision. He’d forever and always be up to the task of catching Betsy.

  Epilogue

  On May 23, 1899, the marshal marched Johnny Miller to the jail in handcuffs. His crime: Bank robbery. His sentence: 23 years in federal prison.

  The brilliant idea of how to rid themselves of Johnny came from Susannah, and further discussion and planning allowed the four of them to concoct the perfect setup. With Mr. Taylor’s knowledge and the marshal’s oversight, they used Johnny’s penchant for making an easy buck to their advantage. Susannah and Adam had a conversation within Johnny’s range of hearing that went something like this:

  “I’m worried about the lack of security at the bank, Adam.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “I don’t like that anyone can walk right in there and open the safe now that the lock’s broke.”

  Susannah held the back of her hand to her forehead. “Land’s sake! How much money do you reckon is in the safe?”

  Adam whistled and rubbed his chin. “I’d guess a hundred thousand, easy. Maybe even more considering all the money Roderick Mason must have deposited.”

  “I hear Mr. Taylor hired the blacksmith to fix the safe next Monday, so that’s a relief at least.”

  Despite Susannah’s and Adam’s appalling lack of acting skills, Johnny’s greed was such that he believed the story they fed him. The marshal and his deputy took care of the rest. They staked out the bank around the clock and caught Johnny in the act of trying to rob it the Sunday before the lock was supposedly due to be fixed.

  Roderick and Betsy moved to Sacramento, feeling about a hundred sixty pounds lighter and excited to start their new life together. The bustling California city was the perfect location for them in both size and location. Roderick worked for Florence’s uncle for a year before branching out and establishing his own firm. Included in his many accomplishments was designing the Neoclassical structure of the California State Capitol at the west end of Capitol Park.

  Betsy and Roderick brought into the world four children. Their oldest decided at age eighteen that she didn’t want to be courted by any of the gentlemen in her circle of acquaintances. They were boring, she tearfully explained to her father, and she could guess exactly how the rest of her life would go if she married one of them. Her words resonated somewhere in the back of Roderick’s memory. With his blessing, she married a cowboy from out of town. That cowboy’s name was Caleb Harrington.

  The Harringtons and Masons didn’t need their children’s marriage as an excuse to stay in touch. The Masons returned to Virginia City often to visit the Harringtons and Betsy’s parents, a journey made more convenient when they purchased an automobile in 1915.

  No one can be right all the time, and Roderick ended up being very wrong about one thing. He’d predicted that Betsy would continue to run and he’d continue to have to chase her, but that wasn’t the case. The day they married was the day Roderick was successful in catching Betsy—forever.

  The End

  ***

  Dear Reader:

  I hope you enjoyed Catching Betsy, Book 2 in the Mail-Order Grooms series. Have you read Book 1, Handling Susannah? I’m currently offering it for free to everyone who signs up for my mailing list, so don’t miss this chance to grab your copy.

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  About Amelia Smarts

  Amelia Smarts is a #1 Amazon bestselling author who was named Best New Spanking Romance Author in the 2016 Spanking Romance Reviews Reader's Poll. She writes kinky romance novels containing domestic discipline, spanking, and Dominance/submission. Usually her stories involve a cowboy, and they always involve a man's firm hand connecting with a woman's naughty backside. She believes it's important to tell a good story in addition to portraying hot sex and discipline scenes. For each book, she endeavors to write complex, flawed heroes and heroines who struggle, but eventually succeed, in their journey to love and happiness. A longtime lover of the written word, Amelia holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in creative writing and English. She loves to read, which allows her writing to be influenced by many different genres in addition to romance, including mystery, adventure, history, and suspense.

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  More Books by Amelia Smarts

  Handling Susannah

  Mail-Order Grooms, Book 1

  Rancher Adam Harrington has long yearned to marry a diligent, virginal bride with a sweet disposition. When he reads a young woman's unusual advertisement requesting a mail-order cowboy as her groom, he thinks they might be a good match. He writes the woman a letter saying just that, and she pens a favorable response, accepting him as her future husband. Adam packs up his belongings and heads west to a bright new future.

  When Susannah Smith's father bequeathed his ranch to her, it was under one condition: She must be married. For Virginia City's fallen woman, finding a man to marry is no easy feat. The men in town who seek to court the hot-tempered, unwed mother are sluggards and drunks, not the kind of men capable of running a ranch. Desperate to find a suitable husband or else lose everything, she expands her search by listing an ad in the paper.

  When the two meet, Adam's commanding presence makes a startling but good impression on Susannah. The attraction between them is undeniable, but that is soon followed by wariness. Susannah had planned to marry a man who would do her bidding, not take over everything. It's her ranch, after all! Equally befuddled, Adam thought he'd be marrying a woman who knows her place, not a temperamental brat who could benefit from some time over his knee.

  Susannah feels outraged by Adam's authoritative ways, but his dominant handling in the bedroom leaves her trembling with desire. Will she learn to accept his firm leadership and expectations? And will Adam grow to love the woman who differs so drastically from the kind of wife he thought he wanted?

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  Her humiliation is complete when, after i
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