Daisy Read online

  But I could do that to him. Time and again I’d made him feel that way.

  “Oh, Ethan,” I murmured, a hot tear slipping down my cheek. He’d had such ruthless control over his life until I came into it. I took away his choice for a bride. I’d forced him into a marriage to protect my virtue and his honor. I’d done rash things that threatened my life. The only way he’d been able to take control of those moments was to punish me, to hopefully teach me never to it again. But today, knowing—even for the shortest of times—that I was with a band of military men must have practically destroyed him.

  “Your service, Doctor, is impressive,” Captain Archer said. “I was climbing trees and pestering the girls at the same age. I had hoped to solicit your help with the wounded, but your wife and Mr. Lee were excellent replacements.”

  While Ethan acknowledged the man’s words, he only had eyes for me. “Since, as you’ve said, the injured have been tended, my wife and I will meet you in town. Captain Archer, Garrison, thank you for watching over my wife.”

  Garrison tipped his hat, but remained silent as he rode off into the darkness with the captain.

  The night was still but the air was bitter. Ethan’s jaw was clenched tightly and his back was stiff. Thick puffs of air escaped his mouth on a deep exhale and I watched as his shoulders relaxed.

  “Are you truly all right?” he asked.

  I nodded and I began to cry in earnest. When I was able to speak, I murmured, “Yes, quite. I… I didn’t leave a note. I was in a rush and I didn’t think and I’ve hurt you terribly. I’m sorry, Ethan.”

  “You went for Garrison to help?”

  I nodded as I pointed. “His ranch was on the way and I thought they could use an able-bodied man besides me.” I paused, let the stillness of the night settle around us. “I don’t know how you do it. When Captain Archer came to the door, all I wanted to do was help. I didn’t think of anything but tending to those who were injured. Then the scene… it was awful. Two men died.”

  I wiped my cheeks with my mittened hands and sniffled.

  “Sometimes no matter how hard you try, how fast you are to arrive at an accident, it’s often too late.” His voice was flat, neutral as any person who’d lived through such carnage and sadness before.

  “How do you handle such sorrow and pain day after day?”

  I saw him shrug. “I have become accustomed to sorrow.”

  I felt like I’d had the wind knocked from me. I did not want Ethan to be accustomed to sorrow. I didn’t want to add to that; instead I wanted to fill him up with joy.

  “We must get you out of the cold,” he murmured. “Come.”

  He turned his horse and we rode back to town in silence. Even after dealing with the Baker family, finding me gone without a note, learning I’d gone off for some mysterious reason with someone from the Army, he worried about my comfort. I didn’t blame him for any of his anger, fear or frustration. I didn’t blame him if he wished to punish me until the spring thaw. I just wanted to ease his burden, for it was invisible yet quite heavy.

  I had the very impressive power of hurting Ethan in a way he hadn’t most likely seen since the Civil War. I’d never considered myself to get much notice, to blend in with such a large family. With Ethan, I took all of his notice. I was the center of his attention. Even after only a few days of marriage, I was his world and I was just coming to understand that power.

  That was what scared Ethan so. That was what made him ride out to confront a band of Army men just to ensure my safety. I had the ability to give him inexorable sorrow that he could not control. As we entered through the front door of our house and he helped me off with my coat, there was one thing that I could do.

  I could give him his power back. It didn’t belong to me, for while I was his, so was all of my strength. Submitting to his dominance was powerful enough.

  ETHAN

  Coming upon the group of soldiers opened up all kinds of old mental wounds. I’d bandaged them again and again and would consider them healed, but a moment like this, when the past was repeated and Daisy could have been hurt or killed made me bleed.

  When I heard Garrison’s voice through the darkness reassuring me that she was well, I’d sagged with relief. Captain Archer seemed amenable enough, especially once given the reason for my intense feelings. Thankful my services were no longer needed, I’d been able to focus on Daisy.

  She was well, whole and decidedly beautiful. She, too, was distraught, realizing the extent of her carelessness. I had no doubt she had forgotten to leave me a note in her haste. I remembered the early days as a doctor when the spike in heart rate and the intense focus that an emergency brought about made one walk about as if wearing blinders. I’d gone into surgery in my pajamas one time, so concerned for the patient that I’d forgotten to dress. Another time I’d left my satchel behind on a house call.

  Over the years, I’d tempered this intense rush and could channel it and use it to my advantage. Fortunately, Daisy had enough forethought to enlist the support of Garrison, which had eased my mind immensely. I knew that he would have protected her with his life, just as I would for Dahlia or any of the Lenoxes.

  But the fear and the frustration simmered, lingered. I needed an outlet for this… visceral aggression. I removed Daisy’s coat and placed it on the hook beside the door. As I removed mine I watched her drop to her knees. I paused on my buttons and frowned at her.

  “Punish me,” she whispered.

  My heart skipped a beat at the sight of her before me, at her words. When I didn’t say anything, she repeated the words.

  “Punish me, Ethan. I need it. You need it.”

  “For what, darlin’?”

  I tried to remain calm, but all the emotions of the past several hours came to the fore. She was right. I needed to punish her.

  “For scaring you. For making you lose control. I understand now.”

  My eyebrow winged up. “Understand what?”

  “That when you are demanding, when you push me, punish me… dominate me, it’s because you care. With your hands on me, you know I’m safe, that I’m protected and cherished. When you spank me, it’s your way of holding on to me.”

  My wife was so smart, so intuitive. While I’d recognized her needs, she recognized mine. Reaching out, I stroked a hand over her dark hair. “God, you are so beautiful,” I murmured.

  She looked up at me and smiled, her hands gripping my forearm. “Please, Ethan.”

  “Why?” I asked, my fingers stroking over her cool cheek. Her skin was rosy from the bite of the wind.

  “It’s the only way you’ll be soothed. I’m the one who can give it to you. I see it in you, know that you need an outlet for it.”

  She was the one who could give it to me. While I could treat patients and know that I’d helped them through my care, it didn’t settle the restlessness inside me. Only she could beneath my hand, beneath my body.

  I ached to do as she bid, to relieve the tension, the fury, the anger that was boiling inside me. “I can’t be gentle.”

  She shook her head. “No. I don’t want you to be gentle. I need to know I can let go, to give myself to you and that you’ll take care of me.”

  Knowing she wouldn’t run scared by the intensity of my need for her, I removed my coat, looked down at her again, this time with that hard edge I used just for her.

  I tilted my chin. “Undo my pants and pull out my cock.”

  Her fingers fumbled eagerly to comply. She’d never been like this, on her knees before me, in a pose of true submission. I doubted she knew it was arousing as hell, but she would know momentarily.

  “You’re going to suck my cock, darlin’. You’re going to take me into your mouth and I’m going to come.”

  With the tip of her thumb, she wiped the fluid that seeped from the tip. I was so hard, so close to coming already and I hadn’t even felt the tight pull of her mouth or the hot slide of her tongue.

  Tentatively, she flicked over the broad head,
then took me deep. I dug my fingers into her hair, held on and began to shift her as I wanted. She was a natural, sliding her tongue up the length of me, then taking me deep. Her dark eyes were on mine, watching me.

  “This is going to be fast. Get ready for my seed, darlin’. Swallow it down.”

  My hips shifted of their own volition, eager for the desperate release. When she cupped my balls in one small hand, I let go. Pushing into her, I tensed, hissing out a breath as my pleasure washed over me, shot from me in pulse after hot pulse.

  I exhaled and relaxed, the sharp bite of my initial need diminished. As I pulled back, my cock was slick and half erect—I doubted it would ever go down entirely with Daisy nearby. I put my thumb to the corner of her mouth, wiping away a hint of seed that had escaped.

  “Go to the bedroom. I want you naked and ready for your punishment. You have two minutes.”

  After I helped her to stand, she turned and did as I commanded without question. I took the time to settle, to recognize that while I’d come, the need to dominate Daisy had not relented. With the first release out of the way, I could last all night, and I intended to do just that.

  When I entered the bedroom, Daisy was on the bed on all fours, head down and ass up. The soft lantern light made her skin glow and she looked at me with her cheek pressed against the blanket with something akin to love. Her gaze dipped to my cock, which jutted from the opening of my pants. When she saw the rope in my hands, it shifted to fear, but was quickly replaced with desire.

  “I would never hurt you,” I murmured, uncoiling the soft rope.

  “I know.”

  Tossing it onto the bed, I let it fall near her head so she could look at it and wonder as to my intentions as I stripped.

  Crawling onto the bed behind her, I had a delightful view of her pale ass and the treasure between: her virgin hole and her pussy that was slick with arousal. While I was ready to fuck her again, to play with her ass and stretch it open so I could fuck her there, she needed to be punished first.

  “Give me your hands.”

  Slowly, she moved them behind her back. Gripping her wrists, I used the rope to tie them together, then checked that it wasn’t too tight. The sight of her, tied up and on our bed, naked and ready for anything I would do to her, whether it was a spanking or stretching her ass or fucking her, settled me. When my hand came down on the soft swell of her ass and I watched my handprint rise in a bright pink rush, my world righted itself. When I heard her gasp, then watched as she softened, all of her muscles relaxing, I knew she’d found a peace that only I could give her.

  She’d been what I’d been missing, what I needed. I hadn’t been whole until I found her, until she followed me. She’d been what I’d been searching for my whole life but never knew I needed.

  “I love you, Daisy.”

  I leaned forward and kissed my way down her spine as I spanked her again.

  DAISY

  I was well and truly trapped. I couldn’t move, for my hands were tied behind my back and Ethan was above me. I knew I couldn’t do anything but take whatever he decided to do to me. I still tasted his seed on my tongue and knew that while I’d been on my knees and submitted to taking his cock in my mouth, he’d been in less control than me.

  I’d had the power in that moment and I’d relished giving him the pleasure his body ached for. His fingers had tightened in my hair and I was prepared for his release. It had been copious and I’d worked to swallow it all, but I knew that this was my place, my job to alleviate his burdens, to know I was with him and safe and at his mercy.

  Spank.

  It was this dominance now, with him kissing down my back, his hand striking my bottom, that had me crying out, making my pussy drip with need. But it had been his words that had tears slipping down my cheeks.

  I love you.

  I’d wanted to marry for love but had not anticipated it with Ethan. I had all but forced him into the marriage, but in a matter of days, he’d fallen for me. Just as I had for him.

  We were one. It was as if there had been a half of me out there and I’d been missing it. When I’d met him at the mercantile I’d caught a glimpse of it and craved it, but now I knew. He was mine as much as I was his.

  I gave him what he needed and I received the same in return. I needed to be spanked, to know that this love he had for me had a physical feeling as well as an emotional one. He was reminding me of his love with each strike of his palm, of the heat that rose to the surface and built my arousal and need.

  “Yes, Ethan. God, I love you, too.”

  “Good,” he growled as he paused and stroked gently over my tingling flesh. “Why are you being spanked, darlin’?”

  “Because I didn’t leave you a note of my whereabouts.”

  Spank.

  “Why else?”

  “Because I need your attention. Need to feel your love. Need to know you’ll take care of me. Need to let go and let you give me what I need. I need you, Ethan.”

  “Hell, yes,” he bit out, lining up his cock and sliding in with one hard stroke.

  “Ethan!” I cried. He was so big, so hard, so deep.

  “You’re not done with your spanking yet, darlin’. Get ready, it’s going to be a rough ride.”

  I could only groan when he pulled back and thrust deep just as he spanked me.

  “You can come, but only when I tell you. Your pleasure belongs to me.”

  He began to fuck me and I was quickly at the brink, my skin slick with sweat, my fingers clenching behind my back.

  “Ethan, I… I have to come.”

  Spank.

  “Do you feel lost? Out of control?”

  “Yes!” I cried, trying to shift my hips to take him deeper.

  “This is how I felt when I heard you’d gone off with the captain. I was desperate. Frantic.”

  Spank.

  “You will not put yourself in danger, Daisy. Ever. I can’t bear it.”

  “Ethan… I love you.”

  Spank.

  “Say it again,” he panted. His hips slapped against my bottom and I could hear his ragged breathing.

  “I love you.”

  Spank.

  “Come, darlin’. Come with me.”

  With those words, at his command, I came. I screamed my release, letting go with my very being, knowing that it was Ethan who made me feel so good, that Ethan would always do so, that he’d catch me and keep me safe.

  He roared his own release and I felt it deep inside me, his hot essence.

  After he untied my hands, he pulled me onto my side and tugged me close, like two spoons in a drawer. My skin was slick with sweat and I felt the frantic beat of his heart, the rise and fall of his chest.

  He took my wrists in his hands and checked that while they were red, he hadn’t hurt me.

  “We’re not done, darlin’,” he whispered in my ear. “We’ve got all night.”

  “The rest of our lives,” I added.

  He breathed against my neck and pulled me tightly to him, cupping my breast in his palm. I felt him relax, settle. I’d soothed the beast in him.

  “The rest of our lives,” he repeated, just before he rolled me onto my back and leaned over me, kissing me at first tenderly, but soon enough with his fierce and never-ending need.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  USA Today Bestseller

  Who doesn't love the romance of the old West? Vanessa Vale takes the sensual appeal of rugged cowboys a step further with her bestselling books set in the Montana Territory. They are much more than just sexy historical westerns. They're deliciously naughty reads that sometimes push the boundaries of fantasy. It's pure escapism with quite a few very hot, very alpha cowboys.

  When she's not writing, Vanessa savors the insanity of raising two boys, is figuring out how many meals she can make with a pressure cooker, and teaches a pretty mean karate class. She considers herself to be remarkably normal, exceedingly introverted and fairly vanilla, which does not explain her steamy stories a
nd her fascination with cowboys, preferably more than one at a time. If that weren't enough, she also writes under the pen name, Vanessa Dare.

  She lives in the Wild Wild West where there's an endless source of 'research' material.

  Vanessa loves to hear from fans. She is on Facebook and Twitter.

  Join Vanessa's mailing list!

  Want to join the super secret Wagon Train? Click here.

  VANESSA VALE BOOKS

  Montana Maidens Series

  Claiming Catherine

  Taming Tessa

  Dominating Devney

  Submitting Sarah

  Montana Men Series

  The Lawman

  The Cowboy

  The Outlaw

  Bridgewater Menage Series

  Their Kidnapped Bride

  Their Wayward Bride

  Their Captivated Bride

  Their Treasured Bride

  Their Christmas Bride

  Wildflowers Of Montana Series

  Rose

  Hyacinth

  Dahlia

  Daisy

  Unwrapped

  Western Widows

  Sweet Justice

  Mine To Take

  Relentless

  Naked Choke