Chapter One
Boring! Absolutely boring! Anne Jeffries tapped her toe on the floor of the stage coach. She couldn’t believe her Mother was forcing her to make a trip all the way out here to live with an Uncle she’d seen maybe three times in all her twenty years! She didn’t want to be here, and she was positive that it wouldn’t take her long to convince her Uncle Clay to send her back to Cincinnati. She’d managed to convince her guardian, one Miss Elizabetta Snow, that she would surely perish if she didn’t remain behind in St. Louis, and a dose of laudanum in her bedtime hot cocoa insured the odious woman wouldn’t succumb to duty by morning when it was time for Annie to catch the stage. Annie infinitely preferred traveling alone to listening to the spinster complain and whimper all day long, and if, by chance, a handsome young cowboy wanted to flirt with her, the impossible Miss Snow would discourage him with her sour disposition and expression to match. Annie felt no guilt whatsoever for leaving the woman behind and making her way alone. She wanted adventure and she certainly wouldn’t find it with her along!
“Miss, please. I’m trying to take a nap and your toe tapping is annoying.” The other passenger made a moue of his lips, and then covered his eyes with his hat once more.
Annie gave the middle aged man a dirty look, but she stopped tapping her toe. It was hot and dusty, and traveling in the small coach was not a bit pleasant. She hadn’t had a thing to eat all day, and the driver told them they wouldn’t reach a station until after dark. She should have packed something to eat, like the man traveling with her thought to do. He didn’t offer to share, either, and it was going to be hours before she had the opportunity to eat, not that the food would be what she was used to, she grumbled to herself.
So far she hadn’t seen any Indians, or any cowboys, like in the dime store novels she loved to read. In fact, nothing of the west pleased her in any way. She wanted adventure, but she wasn’t going to find it here in this dusty, god-forsaken place! There weren’t even any houses to look at along the way, just mile after boring mile, and a companion who was snoring disgustedly. She wanted to ask the driver how much longer it would be before they reached the station, but he would just frown at her and tell her not to be so darned impatient. That the horses could only go so fast, and she should have brought a book or should take a nap. Annie was bored out of her mind and as much as she hated needlework, even some embroidery or knitting would be preferable to being alone with nothing but her thoughts for company.
All of a sudden the driver let out a wild yell and used his whip on the horses to send them into a gallop. Anne let out a little yelp as she flew across the seat, but she quickly righted herself and looked out the window to see what was going on. From that angle she couldn’t see a thing!
“Miss, get down! Do you want to be shot?” the other passenger demanded, fright in his eyes as he tried to right his hat.
“I can’t see a darned thing!” Annie slid across the seat and looked out the window. She felt a surge of fear as she realized masked men were chasing them. “Don’t you have a gun?” she asked the man across from her.”
“No! Of course not! I cannot abide guns!” his face crumbled, and she was shocked to see tears running down his fat cheek and collecting in his handlebar moustache.
“Damn,” Annie cursed, then yelled at the driver. “Driver, do you have a rifle you can pass down?”
“Girl, get your head down before they shoot it off!” the grumpy man yelled at her, insulting her.
“I can shoot!” she declared, then stomped her foot when the driver simply ignored her. She suddenly wished for the boredom she’d experienced earlier.
It was inevitable that the riders would overtake the stage, and the driver wasn’t about to get himself killed by trying to be a hero. He didn’t get paid enough to do that. He decided to bring the tired horses to a stop and hope that none of them were killed. Once they stopped, he put his hands in the air. “Don’t shoot,” he said. “Nothing much on this stage worth taking.”
The door to the coach was suddenly jerked open by one of the men on horseback, and Annie felt a shiver run through her when the glittering dark eyes above his mask settled on her. “Miss Jeffries?” he asked.
“You certainly don’t think I’m going to tell you who I am?” she demanded sharply, shocked that the man knew her name. This was obviously not a random stage coach robbery!
The man grabbed her handbag, and rifled through the contents until he found a letter addressed to her. “Just what I thought. You’re coming with me, Miss Jeffries,” he said, offering her his hand. “Be sensible and I’ll treat you well. Defy me, and you won’t find this so pleasant.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, you ignorant buffoon. Get out of here before I tell my Uncle what you’ve done!” she threatened, having been assured by her Mother that Uncle Clay was a powerful person in this part of the country.
“I warned you, little girl. You want to act like a sassy brat, then I’ll treat you like one.” Before Anne could guess his intention, he grabbed her arm and jerked her out of the coach to land face down across his saddle. Annie started kicking in indignation, and the masked man’s black stallion started prancing, startled by her behavior. “Settle down, Annie!” he warned, and then brought his gloved hand down on her rounded bottom.
“Let me go, you son of a bitch!” she screamed, trying with all her might to slide off the animal. “I’ll have my Uncle Clay castrate you!” she threatened. “Better yet, I’ll do it myself!” she dared to threaten without once considering she wasn’t in the best of positions to be making threats of any kind. In the next second his hand landed on her backside again, causing her to cry out in pain. “Stop it!” she screeched, furious with him for striking her person.
“Someone needs to take a bar of soap to your mouth,” the man stated, wishing he had the soap and the time to do just that. “Now shut up or I’m going to toss up your skirts and spank you proper.”
“I don’t have to shut up, and you’ll do no such thing!” Annie argued, her temper raging free.
“Don’t push me, little girl. You have no idea what kind of situation you are in, and antagonizing me at this point is not smart.”
“Driver, you give this letter to Clay Morgan. If he wants to see his precious niece alive again, he’ll follow the instructions to the letter!”
“My Uncle doesn’t care about me! What is wrong with you??” Annie demanded in shock. “He won’t give a dime for my return. He’s only seen me perhaps three times in my life, and the last time was well over ten years ago! He’s not going to pay you anything; let me go!”
“Do you understand me, Driver?” the masked man demanded once again.
“I’ll give Clay the letter myself,” the driver promised, not about to get himself shot for that smart-mouthed little redhead. As far as he was concerned, the masked men could take her and keep her, and the folks in Morganville would be better off!
“You see you don’t forget. The condition Clay Morgan receives his niece in is up to him and how quick he is to make amends.”
Annie gasped when the man whirled his stallion and took off at a gallop, the other three men following close behind. Her stomach soon rebelled at the bouncing and she was afraid she was going to be sick. She panicked, and tried to rise up, but the masked man quickly spanked her again! “Stay put!”
“I’m going to be sick!” she cried out desperately.
“Sassy brats ride this way,” he was unrelenting, and swatted her again for good measure. “Joe, ride back and make sure the coach is headed on. Don’t think that old guy is going to try and play hero, and the one in the coach was crying like a girl, but best to make damn sure.”
“Sure, Ben,” Joe whirled his mount and took off to do as he was told.
Although the pace was slower now, Annie’s stomach was hurting, and she had a headache from the blood rushing to her head, which was hanging down. She wanted to cry, but wouldn’t give in to the temptation and give the outlaws the satisfaction of seeing her so upset. Finally, Joe caught up to them and said that the coach was hurrying toward town.
“Hope your Uncle decides to be reasonable, Sassy.”
“He doesn’t even know me,” Annie wailed. “Please let me go!”
“I can’t do that. You’d die out here on your own without a horse and no water.”
“I’d rather take my chances than stay with you!” she countered angrily. Again his hard hand found her bottom and she cried out in pain. “Stop that! It hurts!”
“That’s the whole point, darlin’.”
“Well, I don’t like it! I haven’t done anything to you; I don’t even know who you are!”
“You don’t need to know who I am, Annie,” he said softly. “If you can behave like a good little girl now, I will sit you up and let you ride with some dignity. Curse me or try to get away, and I will make you wish you hadn’t. Clear?”
Annie wanted to tell him to go to hell, but her midsection really hurt. “Clear,” she replied. His strong arms lifted her as easily as a small child and sat her in front of him. He kept his arms around her and Annie was relieved to be upright again. “What are you going to do with me?” she demanded.
“Keep you with us until your Uncle does as he’s instructed.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“You’d better hope that he does.”
“He won’t.”
“You’re his niece.”
“As if that matters!” she scoffed. “He didn’t want me to come out here. Mother insisted and that was that.”
“Why did she want you to come if Clay didn’t want you here?”
“Because she wanted to be rid of me,” Annie said, shamed to admit such a thing to a perfect stranger, and a kidnapper at that. Her Mother’s words still hurt and she couldn’t help but think back to a few weeks ago, to what her mother called ‘the final straw’!
“Anne Elizabeth Jeffries! I am so upset with you I simply do not know what to say!” Sophie Jeffries leveled her blue eyes on her daughter and they were filled with sheer frustration and anger at what she considered the latest of Annie’s pranks.
“Mother, it is very early, and I can’t believe you had Mabel wake me. At least let me get some coffee before you start telling me how terrible I am!” she smiled to take the sting from her words.
“I am not one bit amused, Anne. I do not know where I went wrong with you. Your sister behaved in a most conventional and acceptable manner, but you seem to delight in shocking people. Gloria would never have dared to do half the things you do!”
“A pity I’m not more like my sister,” Annie frowned. She hated being compared to her Mother’s favorite all the time. It wasn’t fair to either of them. Gloria was shy and timid, and more than willing to permit their mother to plan her life, including picking a man for her to marry, and helping them to choose a house to live in that was only three houses down the street. Gloria seemed very happy, but Annie wasn’t about to settle for a life of boredom. She didn’t want to get married, and couldn’t see why her Mother considered her practically an old maid! She’d just turned twenty the week before, and she had no desire to rush into a marriage. She wanted to be in love before she gave her heart and her promise to any man.
“Yes, it is a pity you are not more like your sister!” Sophie declared, banging her cup on her saucer. “Gloria did not give me one-fourth of the aggravation you do. Your father spoiled you when you were little and now you think you can have everything your way. It might have been a bit humorous when you were little to see you do shocking things, but you are a grown woman now, and no man will ever offer for you as long as you behave like a hoyden.”
“Mother, I do not wish for any man to offer for me!” Why couldn’t her mother understand that?
“A man would have to be willing to beat you daily if he were to hope of a decent marriage! You would ruin him in society within a week’s time with all the stunts you pull!”
“Okay, Mother. You keep referring to my latest ‘stunt’, but I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about.” She was serious. She hadn’t done anything that should shame her mother, but only the Lord knew what the gossips had reported to her this time.
“Enough, Anne Elizabeth. I know you have disgraced yourself completely with that horrid Abe Price.”
“What? What do you think I’ve done?” ‘Disgrace’ in her mother’s eyes meant going to a dance without gloves to cover her hands, or wearing her hair down when she went horseback riding, or refusing to use a parasol to keep the sun off her fair skin and getting freckles in the process.
“Eugenia Smith saw you kissing Abe Price!” Sophie spat the words at her. “Your conduct is shameful.”
“But, Mother, it isn’t what you think!” Annie attempted to explain, but Sophie wouldn’t hear of it.
“It is precisely what I think, behavior that is totally unbecoming to a young woman your age. People are whispering about you everywhere I go. I cannot hold my head up any more and pretend it doesn’t matter, Anne Elizabeth. I am going to send you to your Uncle Clay and see if he can mend your manners.”
“What?” Annie was shocked.
“You heard me. You need a father figure in your life, one who will thrash you when you misbehave, and I am positive Clay will be up to the task of turning you into a respectable young woman. As it is, you have ruined any chance you might have of making a suitable marriage here. Clay will have to do his best by you. I can no longer tolerate the shame of having you in my home. Go to your room and start packing. We will ship most of your belongings, and you will take a simple valise with you on the train and stagecoach to Morganville. I have arranged for Miss Elizabetta Snow to accompany you and act as your chaperone. Please do not make her job difficult.”
“Mother, you are overreacting and not giving me a chance to explain what happened! I was trying…”
“I told you, Anne, I do not wish to hear another word from you. Go and pack your belongings. You will be leaving soon. I have sent you to the best schools I could afford; I have introduced you to the right people; I have given you countless advice and instruction, but all to no avail. I am finished with you. You are a disgrace to this family, and I pray your Uncle Clay can deal with you as you deserve!”
Sophie did not relent, and now Annie found herself in the hands of a kidnapper!
“Why would she want to be rid of you?” Ben asked, shocked.
“It’s none of your damned business!” Annie spat the words at him, not about to share that her Mother was ashamed of her own daughter, or that she was hurt to the very core of her being.
“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings,” he startled her with his words. “Let’s just hope your Uncle is willing to see reason and that he thinks more of you than you believe he does. I don’t want you to suffer for his crimes.”
“What crimes?” Annie was shocked. Her Mother hadn’t mentioned anything about Uncle Clay being in any sort of trouble. He was supposed to be upstanding and moral, and Jessamine thought her elder brother would be just the influence her daughter needed in her life.
“Don’t trouble your pretty head with all that, Annie. If you didn’t grow up around here you wouldn’t understand.”
“Since you have kidnapped me and are going to hang for doing so, I would think I have every right to know why!” she insisted.
“You are one very sassy brat, little girl. It’s obvious that you are in need of having your manners mended.” Ben cautioned himself to calm down.
“Not by a kidnapper.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” he growled. “We’re getting close to camp. You need to be quiet now and stay that way. Looking scared and a few tears just might help to keep you safe. No sass!”
“I didn’t know there was proper etiquette for kidnap victims!” Annie scoffed.
“Do I need to flip you over and wallop you?” he demanded in an icy tone, giving her to understand that he was perfectly serious.
“You’d better not!” Annie warned, prepared to fight him if he tried.
“Then shut up and keep your mouth shut.”
The hard edge in his voice left Annie feeling raw and for once she decided to be prudent.
She didn’t know what she expected, but the camp was disgusting. There was refuse everywhere, and a few fires with pots hanging over them. Five tents were spaced a few feet apart from each other, and there was one small cabin. Annie was shocked to see a couple of women, and it didn’t take more than a glance to realize that the women were not ladies! They wore colorful flared skirts and their ankles were bare; even more shocking were the peasant blouses that left most of their bosoms exposed. There were even a couple of young boys wearing guns and holsters strapped low over their hips. A group of men got up as they approached and Annie instinctively leaned back against Ben.
“That Morgan’s citified niece?” one man called out, his face red with anger.
“I say we teach her a good lesson,” another added. “She don’t deserve no better.”
“She’s not responsible for Clay Morgan’s actions,” Ben said firmly. “She has no clue of what he’s really like.”
“Get her out of our sight, Sayers, and keep her there. She’s your responsibility, and if you forget it for even one minute, I’ll let the men have their way with her.”
“Understood.”
Annie was alarmed, and she was furious. She wanted to wade into the group of men and start swinging her fists! She started to open her mouth and Ben clamped one hand over her mouth. Without giving it conscious thought, she bit him, hard.
Ben hissed but didn’t cry out. He didn’t dare. Not if he wanted to keep the little hellion alive. “You are going to get the spanking of your life, little girl,” he promised, pulling her down off his stallion as he dismounted. He hurried her right inside the cabin and carried her into a second room in the back. “I warned you to keep quiet, well now you can holler all you want, sassy! In fact, I insist on it!”
Annie knew she was in serious trouble when he took a seat on the narrow bed and hauled her facedown over his lap. “No, don’t!” she cried out, quickly surmising what he was about.
“You bit me, you little witch!” his hand fell on her bottom and he cursed under his breath. Despite the warm weather, she was wearing a heavy traveling skirt, and probably several petticoats, a shift, and drawers, too. He wasn’t going to kill his hand while she could barely feel a thing. He turned up her skirt and then her three petticoats.
“No, no, NO!” Annie panicked and tried to roll off his lap. “Noooooo! Don’t you dare!” she fought hard, but Ben was determined to bare her and it took mere seconds for him to slide her drawers down and bare her creamy white bottom.
“Just as I thought; you aren’t even pink where I’ve spanked you before! I’ll make up for that oversight right now.”
“No!” Annie was horrified. How dare this man, this kidnapper, how dare he put his hand to her like a naughty little girl! It was simply too awful to contemplate, and she wasn’t going to have it. Not at all! “Owwwww!” she cried out in shock when Ben’s hand connected with her bare flesh. “Owwwww!” it happened again. “You can’t do this!” she shrieked. “Owwwww!”
“It appears I can do it since I am doing it,” Ben chuckled, continuing the punishment. Her fair skin was quickly turning red, but he was far from finished. This little hellion needed a damn good lesson, and he was going to enjoy administering it.
Annie couldn’t believe how much the spanking hurt. Her bottom cheeks were burning and each spank hurt more than the one before. “Stop, please!” she hated to plead with him, but she didn’t think she could take much more without crying, and she was not going to do that, just simply would not permit herself to do that! Anne Jeffries didn’t cry in front of anyone! “Owww. You are hurting me. Please stop! Owwwwww!” He was ignoring her, and Annie tried even harder to escape, and when that didn’t work, she reached around and dug her finger nails into his side, pinching him as hard as she could. The spanking stopped immediately, and she was more relieved than she cared to admit.
“Yeeeowwwwwch!” Ben yelled. “That tears it, brat. You have no sense whatsoever!”
“You were hurting me!! I just wanted you to stop!” Annie begged as he spanked her again and then again. “You need to stop now!” She was frantic and close to begging.
“I wouldn’t think of it after that stunt,” Ben told her and took the time to gather her hands and pin them at the middle of her back so she couldn’t pinch him again. Once he was positive she couldn’t do him harm, he commenced the spanking again, letting her know that he was not pleased with her behavior. “When you are being punished, little girl, you do not attack the man spanking you… unless you want the spanking to last a whole lot longer!”
“Stop!” Annie screamed angrily. “I can’t stand this! You have no right to be treating me this way! I haven’t done anything wrong… You are the one who kidnapped ME! Damn you, let me go!” she yelled at him, and then, to her utter shock and complete dismay, she burst into tears. The last thing she wanted to do was start crying, but her poor bottom burned furiously, and she couldn’t tolerate any more of the painful punishment. “Please, stop!” she managed to say the words, and then added, “I’m sorry!”
To her surprise, those words did what all her threats and demands couldn’t accomplish. Ben stopped the spanking, but didn’t help her up. “Annie, I want you to listen to me now. The men here hate your Uncle and if you give them an opportunity, they’ll take that hate out on you. They’ll throw you down and use you until you’ll wish you were dead. I’m sorry if that shocks you, but your safety depends on staying inside this cabin and keeping out of sight. You need to keep the door locked from this side and I am the only one you should let inside. I’ll do my best to keep you safe, but I won’t be able to do that if you don’t do what I tell you. Is that clear, or do I need to take off my belt and stripe you six ways to Sunday?” Ben demanded.
To be continued…
