The Lawman (Montana Men Book 1) (5 page)

He opened the door, walked through, then kicked it shut with one booted foot. I slid down his body as he lowered me to the ground and I felt every hard inch of him. "Ryder, I - "

Holding up one finger, he closed his eyes and took a moment. Took a breath. Tension and unleashed power radiated off him like heat from a fire. He was holding back...for me, yet I was still fearful of his intentions.
Punishment?

"Turn around and lean over the table."

I glanced over my shoulder at the wooden table where meals were served, where I'd placed the small package from Mrs. Bidwell. Lean over the...?

It was my turn to take a breath. "You want me to what? But...why?"

"So I can spank you. You need to learn a lesson about who obeys who and that starts now."

I backed up a step, held up a hand to stop him. As if that would be a deterrent. "The man had a gun!"

He stepped closer. "Exactly. You should not be anywhere near a situation like that. The man's a murderer."

I backed up a little more, the blood leaching from my face. "Murderer?"

"He held up a stage, killed a driver. Baxter deserved to die."

I gulped down the bile that had crept up into my mouth. Oh God. If I hadn't guessed it before, now I knew his stance on murderers. Yet he was married to one. What would he do when he found out? "You...you told me to come to the jail." My voice lost a little of my conviction.

One large hand ran over his hair, cupped the back of his neck, clearly in frustration. "Yes, baby, but when I told you to leave, you didn't."

And just leave him there? "He was going to shoot you!"

He closed the distance a little more so that he loomed over me. "Your eagerness to keep me safe is touching, and I'll reward you for it. Later. For now, you will take your punishment like a good girl."

I retreated, my bottom bumping against the table. There was nowhere else to go and I could see he'd planned this, letting me think I was getting away, when in fact I was exactly where he wanted me.

"I promise to run the next time."

His jaw clamped down and I was surprised his teeth didn't crack. "There won't be a next time. A good spanking will ensure that. Now, turn around and bend over."

My gaze darted left and right, considering my escape.

"Now, Ellie." His words were full of conviction and authority. His patience had run out. I'd only known him a few hours, but of this I was certain. I had to endure his punishment. I had no choice.

Slowly, I turned to face the table, placed my palms on the cool wood.

"Bend over." He hadn't moved away, but stayed directly behind me.

Sucking in a lungful of air, I bent over, letting my upper body rest upon the smooth surface, my fingers gripping the far edge.

I felt cool air on my thighs as he lifted the hem of my dress, pushing the material up so that it rested on my lower back. A shiver ran through my tense body.

His hands moved around my waist, tugged at the string of my drawers and felt them slip down my legs.

"Step out," he said, his voice low.

I did as told and lifted one foot, then the other.

"Spread your legs."

I could only imagine the sight I made and I refused. If I opened my legs he'd see...everything. "Ryder, please!"

I heard the shift in the air and heard the loud crack before I felt the sting on my bottom. I jerked upright in surprise and anger. "Ow, that hurt!"

A big hand pressed against my back, forcing me to lay upon the table once again. His palm remained, ensuring I wasn't going anywhere. "Spread your legs, Ellie."

His strike stung, but it hadn't been as bad as I'd made it out to be. I was more shocked than injured.  I did as he bid, moving my legs apart.

Once accomplished, he didn't hold back, not waiting. He spanked me, hard, alternating sides until I started to thrash and cry out. "Ryder, stop. Please! I've learned my lesson." My entire backside stung, burned, yet he kept going, finding a new place to enflame with each smack of his palm.

"You haven't yet, but you will. It is my job to protect you."

Smack.

"I'm the sheriff. It's my job to deal with the likes of Baxter."

Smack.

"You."
Smack.
"Will."
Smack.
"Not."
Smack.
"Endanger."
Smack.
"Yourself."
Smack.
"Again."

I started to cry. I couldn't help it. I'd never been spanked before and it was really intense! I'd tried to wiggle, tried to shimmy away from it, but his hand at my back kept me firmly in place. All at once, I gave up. I slumped into the table, taking what he meted. I couldn't do anything but endure it. I'd been wrong. I hadn't listened to him, hadn't left when he'd demanded. In turn, I'd caused him to concentrate not solely on the gun-wielding man, but on me. I'd endangered
him.
And with that realization, I cried harder.

After a duration I couldn't estimate, he stopped, rubbed his palm over my heated, sore flesh. "Ah, Ellie, you took your punishment well."

I continued to sniffle.

"You will obey me, Ellie." His voice had lost its sternness, its anger. Now it was filled with husbandly worry.

"Yes, Ryder."

He moved his hand from my lower back so both palms caressed my bottom. I was too worn down, too done in to move. And he knew it.

Before I could comprehend, one hand slid between my spread thighs to touch me intimately.

"Your pussy's all wet, baby."

After the fiery spanking, the slightest brush of his fingers
there
had my knuckles turning white as I gripped the edge of the table. It was an entirely different kind of heat that this simple touch elicited.

I heard the buckle of his belt, fumbling, then felt his cock pressed against my opening, nudging in just the tiniest fraction. My inner muscles clamped down involuntarily, as if my body knew exactly what it wanted.

"It hasn't even been a day and my wife defends me. Such loyalty. My little tiger. For that, you get a reward." He didn't say more, just slid his entire length inside in one long, smooth stroke until I was completely filled.

He was so large I felt stuffed, crammed full. Reaching beneath me, he adjusted my hip ever so slightly and he slid in even more.

"Oh God," I moaned. I had no idea he could take me this way.

Placing a palm on the table by my head, he leaned down and kissed my nape. Tenderly. Then he began to move, without an ounce of tenderness.

"I love fucking you. Love seeing you like this, skirts tossed up, spread wide." Ryder's voice was husky and deep as he pummeled into me, the air escaping my lungs with every thrust. He hadn't removed his pants, only opened them enough to free himself. As he fucked me, the rough fabric brushed the tender, enflamed skin of my backside.

I felt his fingers part the cheeks of my bottom, felt his finger slide down, soft as a butterfly wing, to touch me in the darkest of places. I jolted at the carnality of it, the illicitness. "Ryder!"

"Like that, do you?" He didn't stop the motion of his hips and I climbed higher and higher with each stroke of his cock over these amazing places deep inside. "I'm going to fuck you here, baby. I'm going to claim you in every way. Soon."

His finger circled, then pressed in, yet my body resisted, clenching down tightly to keep him out.

"Let me in. Just a little, Ellie. It's going to feel like heaven on earth."

That, I was going to disagree with, but he slowed his strokes, which had me sighing, relaxing into the table. Sweat dotted my brow, my skin felt overheated.

The moment he felt me loosen my muscles, he pushed in, his finger slipping into my back passage just a little bit. I felt stretched, open, yet the sensations that little finger brought about had me crying out, had Ryder moving fast once again.

"See, baby. Take your reward. Come for me."

His words, the touch of his finger, his cock filling me coalesced and set me off like a firecracker.

When I came from the touch of my own fingers, it had felt good. When Ryder had taken me earlier and I'd come, it had been incredible. This time, it was so amazing that I saw stars behind my closed eyelids, I lost my breath and I may have lost consciousness for a moment. I vaguely heard Ryder call out my name, felt his seed filling me hotly, his body slump over mine on the table. A sound filtered through my hazy brain before I slipped into nothingness.
Mine.

CHAPTER FOUR

Ryder

I awoke with the sun, as usual. What was unusual was the woman beside me. I wasn't a monk; I'd fucked enough women to satisfy my needs. But I'd never had a woman in my bed before. Having Ellie's lush, sated body pressed against me all night long had been heaven and hell commingled into one. Just the feel of her body next to mine was incredible, making me hard with wanting, but knowing she was most likely too sore to take me again had me lying awake most of the night, trying to sleep, but failing. Eventually, I'd fallen into restless dreams with thoughts of Baxter shooting her.

The woman was reckless! She'd deliberately ignored my command, wanting to protect me from the murderer. Protect me! A little slip of a thing. I extracted myself from her tangle of arms and legs and dressed for the day, all the while watching her sleep. Finding the package with my name in clear handwriting on it, I knew it was from Mrs. Bidwell. As Ellie slept, I opened it to find some things the older woman thought would be useful - and pleasurable - for my new bride. I grinned. The woman had been very astute in her impression of Ellie and what she'd like to do – and to have me do to her - in bed. I picked up one of the series of plugs for her ass, tossed it back into the box next to a glass jar of ointment and carried all of it back into the bedroom with me, watching Ellie as she slept.

Her pale skin was a striking contrast to her red hair, all loose and wild across her pillow. Her plump lips were open and I imagined what it would feel like having them around my cock.

"Shit," I whispered to myself, realizing I had it bad, especially with the ass plugs on the bedside table. Turning, I fled the very sight of her. This was for no other reason than to protect the woman from my powerful lust. Once she told me she was no longer sore, she was to learn all that I wanted from her. And more.

Avoiding Myrna Flanders' clutches had been my primary concern behind finding a wife via Mrs. Bidwell. The young woman was like a raptor, watching and circling her prey, waiting for the moment to stick her sharp talons in, never to let go. It had
almost
happened to me once, caught alone during a hail storm. I'd pulled her into the jail to keep her safe, then quickly realized she'd placed herself in the compromising and life-threatening position on purpose. Fortunately, my friend Finn had come by quickly thereafter and had been our chaperone, helping me to barely avoid the parson's noose.

That moment had been the deciding factor in mail order brides, and for me, it appeared to have been the right decision. Based on the brief glimpses of the other two women in the stage yesterday, my friend and lucky stranger would most likely be similarly pleased. We had agreed to give the women several weeks to settle in, then we'd meet. But in the matter of a half a day, I'd become possessive, protective and insatiable when it came to Ellie.

Having banked the fire in the stove, and set the coffee pot on the burner to brew, I returned to the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed. My weight made the mattress shift, and Ellie stirred. Slowly, she opened her eyes. For a moment, her green gaze was lost, then recollection set in. She smiled shyly as her fingers tugged the sheet up her body.

"Morning," I murmured, enjoying her belated modesty.

"What time did you return?" Her voice was husky with sleep, her hair a wild tangle about her face.

She was so lovely, I couldn't help but touch her, running a finger down her silky cheek. "Late."

Murphy had brought the undertaker as I'd requested and the shot fired brought the town. The commotion caused by Baxter's attempted escape had kept me busy for hours.

"I'm sorry I fell asleep." Ellie propped herself up on one elbow.

So sweet.

"It's all right. You were tired." She blushed prettily. I was referring to her long journey, but if her first thought was how I'd taken her on our kitchen table, then again in bed, I wasn't going to dissuade her. "Baxter will be buried today, so my life's easier not holding him for the circuit judge. However, the town has learned I have a bride and I think we will have some callers."

A slight hint of panic showed in her eyes, but quickly squelched. "You didn't tell them you sent for a bride?"

I tugged at the sheet, lowering it a bit to expose one pert breast. I spoke as I watched the pink nipple harden. "No. If I had, Myrna Flanders and her mother would have known my time as a bachelor was short and trapped me."

Unable to resist, I lowered my head and sucked the ripe tip into my mouth.

"Oh," she gasped, falling back onto her pillow. "You didn't want...to...oh Ryder. I can't speak when--"

I lifted my head only far enough to say, "Good." I had no interest in talking - or thinking - about Myrna when I had Ellie's nipple in my mouth. "I'm not ready to share you yet with the town. I know nothing about you other than that your nipples and your pussy both taste like peaches." The very idea of her being cornered and questioned by some of the more aggressive busybodies had me frowning.

"How can we avoid them? The town's only so big. They'll come calling once it is a reasonable hour." Her voice was soft and breathless and my cock pulsed at the sound.

"We run away."

"Can we just do that?" she asked, surprised I'd mentioned it.

"Of course we can. Since Baxter is in a pine box and not my jail, it seems I have the day free." I reached and grabbed the parcel, placed it on the quilt between us.

"That's what Mrs. Bidwell wanted me to give to you."

Reaching inside, I nodded. "Yes. She gave me some things I think you might like."