Today I’m providing an excerpt from a serious punishment in the book. I always like to write heroes with a sweet side, but in this snippet, that side to Adam is nowhere to be found. Punishment is the only thing on the menu. I hope you enjoy this scene as much as Susannah hated it. 🙂
She wrapped a hand around each of the bench’s legs and squeezed her eyes shut as he bared her bottom for punishment. It felt humiliating. Though they were the only people in the barn, she felt like the horses and milk cows were watching her as entertainment. First, he lifted each skirt and positioned the fabric on her back. With a tug at the ribbon of her drawers, they loosened around her. His hand slid under her belly and lifted her hips up briefly so that he could slide the material down her legs. His touch on her stomach was gentle and reminded her of how he touched her when they made love. A tickle of strange pleasure intermingled with her growing anxiety. Her drawers remained on her legs, just above her knees, which somehow made her feel even more vulnerable and naughty.
The minute that followed was the longest of her life. Cool air wafted over her bare skin, and she could feel her thighs shaking. Adam retrieved a strip of leather used to fasten the stirrup to his saddle. The strap was the length of her forearm after he doubled it.
He dropped the leather over her quivering cheeks, letting the implement of punishment reside there while he spoke. “You’re getting fifteen licks. They’re going to hurt, and you’re not to move from this position until you feel every last one. Do you understand?”
“Oh, Adam, you’re scaring me,” she cried, hating how harsh he sounded. No sign of his love for her could be detected in his voice, and it made her feel miserable.
A lick of fire across her cheeks made her gasp with alarm. It hurt far worse than she ever could have imagined.
“Do you understand?” he repeated with a raised voice.
“Yes!”
“If you move from this position, I will repeat the lick. Is that also understood?”
She sniffled. “Yes, sir.”
About Handling Susannah
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?
Warning: Handling Susannah is an historical western romance containing sexual scenes and domestic discipline, including punishment spanking. If these themes offend you, please don’t buy this book.
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That’s all I’ve got for today! Want to read some more snippets from spanking books by other authors? Click here.
“I won’t hear you speak ill of yourself, Nalin. I’ll punish you. Is that what you want right now? To be punished?”
Christina Mandara (organizer)
Amelia Smarts 