He sliced the crop through the air three times quickly, making her clamp her mouth closed on a scream. Without thinking, she started to scramble away, onto the bed.
“Daisy,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Back in position.”
“Four, five, and six, sir,” she said as soon as she had caught her breath. Reluctantly, she pushed her legs back down to present her bottom for his chastisement. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“We’re almost finished,” he said, applying the cruel leather rod on a diagonal across her buttocks.
“Seven! Seven, sir.”
“One more.” He caught her on the underside of her buttocks, right where cheek met thigh.
She lifted to her toes again, sucking in her breath. It was three long beats before she could speak. “Eight, sir.”
“Thank you, Daisy,” he said, his voice soft and gentle.
She didn’t wish to remain bent over with her naked, striped arse on display, nor did any part of her want to move.
Barrett appeared behind her and she tensed. He began to rub her buttocksfirmly, spreading the localized pain of her welts to the whole of her bottom. Her flesh blazed with stinging heat and though she had disliked his touch at first, it began to ease the intensity of the whipping. It also caused those strange spiraling sensations to swirl in her stomach and a pulsing to begin in her sex. She hated to admit it, but some part of her might actually like the overbearing way he handled her. Had she wanted to be spanked? Impossible.
He lifted her to stand, tossing her skirts down and brushing her hair away from her face. “Eight licks and not a tear. I knew you were brave,” he said, although he sounded a bit sad, as though it had pained him to whip her. “I can lock you in my chamber for the day or you can come outside with me, but I can’t allow you free rein to roam about the castle on your own.”
“I’ll come outside with you,” she said immediately. The idea of being locked alone in his chamber all day frightened her.
He looked surprised, but pleased. Picking up her cloak, he wrapped it around her shoulders, fastening it at the throat. “You will have to behave or you’ll get the crop again, and I don’t imagine your poor bottom could take that,” he said, reaching behind her and giving her throbbing backside a squeeze that pulled her body against his.
She meant to push him away, except her legs did not hold her and she fell against him. He wrapped strong arms around her and held her close. She should not cling to him like a child who needed reassurance, except she did, actually, crave something from him. She lifted her face, not knowing what she would say, and to her dismay, her eyes filled with tears.
One spilled and he brushed it away, peering down at her with kindness. “My intent is not to break you, Lady Daisy. Only to gain your cooperation.”
More tears spilled. She had never cried so much in front of another person, at least, not that she could remember. Not even after she’d fled to Hohenzollern. And yet, he did not seem alarmed by her weeping. Rather, he seemed to accept the tears as his tribute and wiped them away with his thumbs.
“Do you need to stay here and have a cry? I can come back for you in a little while.”
She shook her head, shamelessly pressing herself closer.
* * *
He pulled her against his chest and kissed the top of her head. How insensitive of him. Just because she hadn’t cried during her thrashing, didn’t mean she was ready to be paraded out through the castle moments later. He embraced her, rubbing her bottom to minimize bruising.
She moaned, and he became alert. Desire or pain? Mayhap a bit of both. He cradled her head and lifted her face, brushing his lips softly over hers. She responded and he kissed harder, claiming her mouth with the authorityprovided him as her husband. When he broke away, she looked dazed.
“Ready?” he asked softly.
Her head wobbled as she nodded.
He smiled to reassure her. Escorting her out in the bailey, he found the back wall that had been wrecked in an attack in late autumn. Repairs had to wait for one thing and another, but Erik was wise to have the men work on it now, even in the cold of winter. Facing spring raids without a proper defense could be the end of a small kingdom like theirs.
The men stood waiting for him, some lounging about, sprawled on their arses. They scrambled up when he arrived, lifting their chins and chests in the fashion of the Roman army.
“Couldn’t get started without me?” he groused.
The higher ranking men looked flustered. “Prince Erik said you’d be out to direct us, sir.”
He grinned to show he hadn’t been serious. “And so I am,” he proclaimed. He attempted to push thoughts of ravishing his lovely bride from his mind and took in the scope of the project.
“Hans and Adam, set about collecting what we need to mix a mortar. The rest of you get busy hauling rock. I want it sorted into piles of small, medium, and large. We’ll need more than what’s here, too. So Fritz, Andreas, and Herbil, bring the wheelbarrow outside of the wall to bring more stone in. That’s it, men. Get busy.”
“Did you bring your new wife to haul stones as penance for that bite she gave you this morning?” Adam asked with a lewd grin.
