03 Cutler Brides (8 page)

Oh God, this had been a really bad idea, Shayna thought. Madoc and Cade had been right; she and Riley should have minded their own business. But of course they hadn’t, and now they were going to pay for that stupidity. She glanced frantically at Riley and Rosie to see that though both girls looked as frightened as she felt, they also seemed as determined as she was not to give in without a fight.

“You can’t do this to us!” Shayna shouted, trying to jerk free as the man holding her began dragging her closer to the edge of the hole.

“She’s right!” Riley added. “People know we’re here!”

“They’ve probably already called the sheriff!” Rosie said. “He’ll probably be here any minute!”

The men all laughed, obviously finding the whole thing amusing.

“If they called the sheriff, he would have been here by now, bitch,” the man who was holding on to Rosie snarled. “Which means you girls are on your own.”

“And about to become fertilizer,” the man holding Riley sneered.

Shayna was dangerously close to the edge of the hole now. All it would take was one shove from her captor and she’d be in it, she thought. If that happened, she’d never be able to escape. Desperate, she began to fight more wildly, as did the other two girls.

Suddenly, Shayna heard police sirens. Jerking her head around, she saw not only two sheriff vehicles, but also a familiar dark SUV speeding down the dirt road toward them.

Madoc!

Thank God, she thought.

The man holding her tightened his grip, and for one fearful moment, she thought he was going to throw her in the hole anyway, but to her relief, he released her. Barking an order to the other two men to get the hell out of there, he and his companions took off at a run toward their one of the trucks. They weren’t fast enough. though, and within moments, Madoc, Cade and the sheriff’s men were out of their trucks and holding them at gunpoint.

Shayna’s first impulse was to run over to her husband and throw herself into his arms, but she forced herself to stand beside him while he and Cade kept their weapons trained on Bill Bingham and his men so that the sheriff’s deputies could handcuff them. Once that was done, Madoc immediately turned to her. Resting his rifle against the SUV, he took her in his arms.

Shayna leaned against his chest, hugging him tightly as she let the warmth of his body envelop her. All too soon, however, Madoc pulled away to gaze down at her.

“Are you all right?” he asked. “Did those men hurt you?”

She shook her head. “No,” she said. “I’m fine. We’re all fine. But thank God you got here in time.”

Though Madoc clearly looked relieved that she and the other girls hadn’t been harmed, his jaw tightened anyway. “What the hell were you girls doing up here? You promised you wouldn’t get involved!”

Shayna bit her lip and looked away to find Riley getting the same lecture from Cade.

Several feet away, Rosie was obviously hearing the same thing from her boyfriend.

She lifted her gaze to look up at Madoc. “I know, and we really had every intention of keeping that promise, but then Rosie had a hunch something was going on up here. Riley and I couldn’t talk her out of it, but we couldn’t just let her investigate on her own, either, so we came with her. We only meant to take some pictures, so that we could prove to you that there was something illegal going on, but then we got caught.”

Shayna went on to tell him what she and the other girls had discovered, including the fact that they’d been right about the body floating in the stream that day.

Madoc scowled at her. “We are definitely going to talk more about this when we get back to the ranch.”

Shayna suspected she would be over his knee for a good portion of that conversation, but she supposed she couldn’t really say she didn’t deserve it. If Madoc and the other men had gotten there even a couple of minutes later, then she, Riley, and Rosie would be dead right now.

The thought made her shiver. She was so happy that she and the other girls were safe that she’d gladly submit to any spanking Madoc gave her.

Madoc’s gaze kept drifting over to where Shayna and the other girls were giving their statements to the federal investigators who had arrived. While he was angry with his wife for putting herself in danger once again, he was also immensely relieved he, Cade, and the sheriff’s deputies had gotten there in time. If they’d just been a couple of minutes later...he didn’t even want to think about it.

With a sigh, Madoc turned his attention back to his brother and Clay to find them wearing the same grim expressions as they stood regarding their significant others.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with Rosie,” Clay said, shaking his head. “Not only did she get involved in this whole thing when I told her to stay out of it, but then I find out that she stole my computer password so she could run a license plate check on the guy from the pharmaceutical company.”

Beside him, Cade’s mouth tightened. “Well, if she were my girlfriend, I’d put her over my knee and give her a spanking.”

Clay’s eyes went wide. “A spanking? You’re kidding, right?”

Madoc had to admit that it was the same kind of advice he would give, thought he was definitely surprised to hear those words come out of his brother’s mouth. Maybe his brother wasn’t as conservative as he’d thought.

But Cade only shook his head. “No, I’m serious. In fact, when I get Riley back to the ranch, that’s exactly what I plan on doing.”

Clay looked even more surprised at that. “Really?” he said, his gaze going to his girlfriend. “A spanking...I don’t know.”

Cade shrugged. “It might sound old-fashioned, but believe me, it’ll make Rosie think twice before she does something this foolish again.”

“Cade’s right,” Madoc put in. “Though in Shayna’s case, sometimes it takes several trips over my knee before she finally learns her lesson.”

At his words, both men looked at him in surprise, but it was Clay who spoke first.

“You spank your wife, too?” he asked, then looked from Madoc to Cade. “What is it, some sort of family tradition or something?”

Madoc couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “I don’t know about it being tradition, since I didn’t know Cade spanked Riley until he just mentioned it a few seconds ago. But I do know that it works.”

The sheriff’s deputy was silent for a moment as he considered the idea, but before he could say more, the girls walked over to them. While Madoc didn’t know Clay that well, he had the feeling Rosie would be sitting a little gingerly that evening.

After the ordeal she and Shayna had been through, Riley wanted nothing more than to take a shower and curl up in her husband’s arms, but when they got back to the ranch, Cade surprised her by taking her hand and leading her in the direction on the barn instead. He couldn’t mean to spank her, could he? she wondered. As much as she knew she deserved to have her bottom reddened, she didn’t think he’d put her over his knee the moment the got back to the ranch. But glancing over her shoulder to see Shayna and Madoc heading to the barn as well, Riley relaxed as she realized Cade wouldn’t spank her in front of the other couple. More likely, the brothers were going to give them a stern lecture, she thought.

Once in the barn, Cade and Madoc stood before the two girls with their arms folded across their broad chests, scowls on their handsome faces.

“You girls could have been killed up there this afternoon, you know,” Cade said. “If Madoc and I hadn’t gotten there when we did, you would have been.”

She and Shayna didn’t really need a reminder of how stupid they had been to go up there, Riley thought, but she said nothing as Cade continued.

“And if you’ve ever deserved to get a spanking for something, this would definitely be it,” he said.

Riley blinked in surprise. She must have heard him wrong, she told herself, because Cade could not just have said the word “spanking” in front of Shayna and Madoc. But when she darted a quick look at the other girl, Riley saw that her friend was staring at them opened-mouth.

Riley swung her gaze back to Cade. “You’re can’t seriously be saying that you’re going to spank me in front of them, are you?

It was Madoc who answered. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Shayna is going to be getting a spanking, too.”

Stunned, Riley glanced at her friend to find the other girl blushing furiously and looking at Madoc in disbelief.

But Madoc merely shrugged. “Cade and I figured since you girls got into trouble together, it’s only right you should get spanked together, too.”

The barn was filled with stunned silence for a moment while Riley and Shayna both gaped at the men.

Riley couldn’t believe Cade and Madoc were actually going to spank her and Shayna in front of each other. But apparently that was exactly what they intended to do because Cade took Riley’s hand and led her over to one of the hay bales while Madoc led Shayna over to another one.

Standing before Madoc as he sat down on the hay bale, Shayna couldn’t help but glance over at Riley and Cade. While the idea of getting spanked in front of her friend was a little embarrassing, strangely enough, the thought of getting her bottom reddened alongside the other girl was also kind of thrilling.

“Push down your shorts and climb over my knee.”

Madoc’s deep voice brought Shayna’s head around. “Wh-what?” she stammered.

Her husband regarded her patiently. “Push down your shorts and climb over my knee.”

Shayna’s gaze went to the other couple for a moment before she turned her attention back to Madoc.

Getting a spanking in front of the other couple was one thing, but getting a bare-bottom spanking was quite another. “But...”

Madoc lifted a brow, but said nothing. Clearly, he wasn’t going to change his mind, Shayna thought.

Reluctantly, her hands went to the buttons of her shorts. Undoing them, she glanced over at Riley and Cade before pushing them down, only to see the other girl pushing down her own shorts to reveal a tiny pair of lavender-colored bikini panties. Well, at least Riley was getting a bare-bottom spanking too, Shayna thought.

With a sigh, Shayna wiggled her shorts down over her hips and obediently draped herself over Madoc’s knee. Though she knew from experience that his strong hand on her back would hold her in place, she automatically put her hands down on the hay-covered floor to steady herself.

Even though she was focused on the spanking she was soon going to be getting, Shayna couldn’t resist taking a peek at the other couple. She’d never seen another girl get spanked before and for some reason, she found herself watching in fascination as Cade guided Riley over his knee and settled his hand on her back. He placed his other hand on Riley’s panty-covered bottom.

Shayna had been so caught up in watching the other couple that when Madoc rested his hand on her panty-covered bottom, she actually jumped a little. She turned her attention back to the floor, waiting for the lecture she was sure she would be getting, but Madoc surprised her by suddenly lifting his hand and bringing it down on her bottom in a sharp smack.

“Owwwww!” she yelped, then immediately bit her lip in embarrassment as she remembered the other couple.

She heard Riley let out a yelp of her own a moment later as Cade delivered a loud smack to his wife’s upturned bottom. At least she wasn’t the only one, Shayna thought even as Madoc brought his hand down on her other cheek.

Soon, the barn was filled with rhythmic smacking as both Madoc and Cade set to work reddening the girls’ bottoms. While Shayna was grateful that Madoc had allowed her to keep her panties on, they didn’t offer much protection, especially since they rode higher up on her asscheeks with every smack of his hand. Soon, her entire bottom was suffused with heat, and she couldn’t keep herself from squirming.

“Honey, please,” she begged. “That really stings!”

Madoc’s hand didn’t even pause as he answered. “Well, it’s going to sting a lot more because I’m just getting started.”

With a groan, Shayna darted a quick look at the other couple to see that Cade had stopped spanking Riley to pull down her panties. Shayna’s own spanking forgotten for the moment, she gazed at the other girl’s bare bottom, mesmerized by how red her friend’s asscheeks were. Was her own bottom that red?

Shayna wondered.

Shayna felt her pulse quicken in anticipation as she watched Cade lift his hand. It didn’t seem right to want to see her friend get spanked, but Shayna couldn’t seem to help herself. In fact, she was so captivated by it that she was barely aware of Madoc lowering her own panties.

As if sensing Shayna’s eyes on her, Riley lifted her head to look over at her and Madoc.

Embarrassed to be caught staring, Shayna started to look away, but then stopped when she realized that Riley was gazing at her ass with the same fascination.

Shayna felt her pulse skip a beat, but before she could even begin to think what it meant, Madoc lifted his hand and brought it down on her bare bottom. The smack seemed to echo throughout the barn and Shayna saw Riley’s blue eyes go wide. A moment later, however, it was Shayna who was wide-eyed as Cade’s hand connected with Riley’s ass. She didn’t think she’d ever seen anything so provocative before.

But even as captivated as she was by watching Riley get spanked, Shayna couldn’t ignore the hard smacks Madoc was administering to her own bottom. He was concentrating on her sit-spots now, his hand coming down over and over on them with impeccable aim.

Ouch!

The force of the smacks soon had Shayna kicking and squirming wildly, and she let out a squeak of protest after each one. When she had said she would gladly submit to whatever spanking Madoc gave her, she hadn’t been thinking that it would be one quite this hard. Madoc must be really determined to teach her a lesson!

Amazingly, though, even while she was kicking and squealing, Shayna still found her gaze drawn repeatedly to the spanking Riley was getting. The other girl was putting up quite a fuss herself, kicking and wiggling so vigorously that her husband was forced to put a lot of effort into holding her still.

Oooh, Riley’s bottom was so red, she thought. Shayna was sure her own bottom never got that red!