His expression softens. “I didn’t mean that. Look, we can’t stay. Sherman knows we’re in town.”
“Oh no,” I say, a flash of ice in my veins. My hand flies to my mouth. “What happened?”
“Don’t worry. I ain’t gonna let no harm come to you. And we’ll be just fine. ’Tween the fence and what I had tucked away, we’re sittin’ on enough to move on, start fresh someplace else. We ride first thing tomorrow.”
He proceeds to the leather bag under the desk where he’d hidden away his plunder. My mouth goes dry. I’d secured the cash box inside exactly the way I found it, but when he sits and opens it, a deep wrinkle settles into his brow, and I hold my breath.
“Somethin’ ain’t right,” he says. He turns to me, eyes narrowed. “You been in the cash box?”
“I-I may have taken twenty dollars.” The words near choke me.
Silence follows. Kodiak’s jaw flexes once, then he rises, looming tall, and the pit in my belly grows larger.
“May have?”
I clear my throat. “I did.”
He raises a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, and I flinch.
“You stole from me?”
“For the children. By the church. They sell flowers.”
“You stole from me to buy twenty dollars’ worth of weeds?”
“It wasn’t about the flowers, Kodiak. I—” My nerves flutter in my chest. “You seemed agreeable to it this morning.”
He scoffs. “I told you layin’ with me don’t give you a say over my business.”
“I know, but you had so much. I didn’t think you’d miss it.”
His fists squeeze hard, as if he’s crushing my words to powder. “You think I won’t notice when my own woman robs me? You think I’m some fool?”
“Of course not.” My breath snags. “I only wished?—”
He cuts me off with a shake of his head. “I don’t care if you wished, prayed, or cursed—you don’t ever take from me without permission, Alice.” His voice drops, dangerous. “Not if you aim to stay mine.”
My knees buckle and my heart pounds.Mine.
He straightens to his full height with a sigh and says, “You got two choices. Twenty licks ’cross your backside, hard as I can give ’em. Or four hours standin’ in that corner, nose to the wall.”
A strange fire licks at my insides, fierce and unbidden. I had to have known there would be consequences. If someone had taken cash out of my lockbox without permission, I’d not abide it. What wickedness compelled me to tempt the wrath of a bear knowing he may bite?
“You wouldn’t.” My reply straddles the line between a plea and a dare.
He steps close, towering over me. “Oh, lamb. I would. And you’ll choose.”
I can hardly breathe. Four hours seems unbearable. The pain would be over faster with a spanking. “Fine. Twenty.”
His hand clamps my wrist before I can take the words back. In a blink I’m across his knee, skirts shoved high, drawers yanked down. The cool air sweeps gently over my bare skin, shame hotter than fire.
“Kodiak. Please?—”
His palm swats down, connecting loud as a whip. I jolt, a cry ripping out of me. The sting like a brand across my backside.
“You’ll not steal from me,” he growls, another crack falling before the burn has faded. “I still ain’t heard an apology.”
“I’m sorry,” I cry.
