Chapter One
Vince heard the sound
again… like a scraping on the bottom of the door. The first time he
heard it, he attributed the noise to a branch blowing against the door due
to the raging blizzard outside and didn’t pay much attention, but
the sound was too insistent to ignore any longer. Hoping and praying that
it wasn’t a creature of the human variety, he went to check. People
dumped puppies and dogs in the remote area all the time, and he couldn’t
leave a poor animal outside to die in the cold. Vince cautiously opened
the door, hoping there wasn’t a bear on the other side. To his shock,
and utter dismay, there was a woman lying face down in the eighteen inches
of snow that had collected since the storm started earlier! She was wearing
a bright blue hat and matching scarf and gloves, and the short white coat
she was wearing wasn’t at all suitable for winter in this area!
Cursing under his breath, and wondering how in hell she’d found him,
Vince picked her up and carried her inside his snug little cabin. He dumped
her on the sofa, mindless of the snow caked on her clothing, and pulled
off the soaking wet garments covering her. The hat was soggy with snow,
as was her short jacket and gloves and scarf. Her jeans were plastered against
her body… and Vince decided the best way to help her was to completely
undress her, and wrap her in a warm blanket. Once the decision was made,
he didn’t hesitate to strip her down. Her panties and bra were damp,
too, and her feet felt like ice cubes. Thankfully there was no sign of frostbite,
and based on the way she was dressed, he was amazed she’d had the
good God sense to wear a decent pair of lined boots and heavy socks. If
he were attached to the female in any way, he would turn her over his knee
and spank the everlasting daylights out of her for being out in weather
like this without the proper clothing to protect herself! And wouldn’t
that make the tabloids sit up and take notice, he grimaced.
Vince took out a blanket, and wrapped it snuggly around her petite body,
reminding himself firmly that he was administering aid, and not supposed
to be getting a hard-on at the sight of her rosy-tipped nipples. The woman’s
hair was long, a gorgeous red, and completely natural as evidenced by the
curly hair covering her pubic area. In this day and age when women shaved
that area religiously, Vince was pleased to see a woman who preferred the
natural look. Not that it mattered, he reminded himself. He didn’t
want a woman. He wasn’t looking… and damn it all to hell, what
was she doing up here? He hadn’t seen another soul in three months…
unless he drove down to the village twenty miles away for supplies, and
he liked it that way. He was sick to death of people, and he sure as hell
didn’t want to deal with this slip of a woman who’d come nosing!
He took out another blanket and put it on top of the still woman, praying
she would come around soon. Grumbling under his breath, he put a teakettle
on the stove to heat water. She would need something hot to drink just
as soon as he could get her awake enough to drink it without choking. While
the kettle was heating, Vince went through the woman’s pockets, trying
to find some sort of identification. If she was carrying a purse or a backpack,
she’d lost it outside somewhere. Her jeans turned up nothing, but
since they fit her like a glove, he didn’t imagine she could stuff
much of anything in the pockets. He finally found a small purse, zipped
inside a pocket of her jacket. Her driver’s license stated her name
as Adelaide J. Parker, and she was twenty-six years old, which was six years
younger than him. He found a couple of credit cards, and a card that identified
her as a member of the press! He cursed fluently in three separate languages.
How in hell had she found him? He was sick of people and just wanted to
be alone. Why couldn’t anyone respect that? And, what was he going
to do with the little witch? He couldn’t very well toss her ass out
in the blizzard. The little fool would die out there, and he couldn’t
bear to have another death on his hands…
Shaking his head angrily, and dreading the moment she woke up and started
asking him all sorts of questions he wouldn’t answer, he put his mind
into reviving her. He rubbed her cold feet and then her hands. She was so
cold he was beginning to worry that his ministrations weren’t going
to help. He patted her cheeks, and saw her eyes flutter just a bit. She
mumbled something that sounded like, “Keep walking. Have to keep walking.”
Vince went to the small kitchen area, and poured boiling water over the
tea bag in the mug. By the time the tea was ready, the female was stirring
a bit more.
Vince was relieved when she finally started coming around. He went to stand
beside her, and noticed that she seemed to be fighting waking up. “You’re
safe now, Adelaide.” It was important to him that she not feel frightened.
He wanted her to get her bearings quickly, and then he was going to raise
twelve kinds of hell all over her for getting herself in such a predicament!
What if he’d gone to the village so that he wouldn’t get trapped
up here? She would have died, right there on the front stoop of the cabin.
It was a miracle she’d made enough noise to alert him to her presence.
“Addy,” she murmured. “I’m Addy.”
“Okay,” he smiled in spite of his anger toward her. “Addy,
it is. You’re safe now; don’t be afraid. I’m taking care
of you.” He let her absorb that, and then asked, “Do you think
you could manage some tea? It will help warm you, and you need to get warm…”
“Don’t like tea.”
“Too bad. It’s what I drink. I’ll put some sugar in it
for you,” he offered as one might placate a petulant child. He realized
that she wasn’t completely herself at the moment, but he’d been
raised to be polite by his mother. Miss Addy could use a lesson or two in
that department as well, he decided, and if she wasn’t mighty careful,
she’d be getting that lesson at his hand.
Vince went to the kitchen to get the tea, added some sugar, and then came
back to the sofa. Her blue eyes were open and she studied him seriously
for a moment or two, but there was no spark of recognition. Apparently
the beard, and letting his hair grow out, had done more to hide his face
than he’d realized. He was thankful. “I want you to sip this tea.
I’ll put some on a spoon for you,” he offered.
“I don’t like tea,” she stated, her voice little more
than a whisper.
“Too bad. You need to get warm, and this is what I have. Open up,”
he put some on a spoon and held it to her lips. She shut her lips tightly,
just like his three year old niece would do, and shook her head ‘no’.
“The only alternative you have to drinking this tea, young lady, is
to find yourself turned over my knee and soundly spanked. That will also
warm you significantly!” When she glared at him, outrage in her pretty
blue eyes, he added, “Considering you aren’t wearing a stitch
beneath those blankets, I would imagine that would make your face warm a
bit with embarrassment!” Her mouth fell open in shock, and he quickly
put the warm tea inside her mouth.
Addy swallowed the tea, and had to admit it didn’t taste nearly as
bad as she remembered from her childhood. This tea tasted fruity, and sweet!
“You undressed me?” she demanded of him, too shocked at that
information to be angry that he’d threatened to spank her like a
naughty little girl.
Vince wasn’t about to apologize. “Your clothes were soaked through,
Addy. I had no choice.” He spooned more tea, and this time she accepted
it without a fuss. “How did you find me?” he asked in a terse
tone of voice.
Addy couldn’t miss the simmering anger in his dark eyes. “I
slipped off the road, and tried to walk on the road until I saw the light
here… and just kept walking and walking and walking. I didn’t
think I was going to make it,” her pretty eyes filled with tears.
“I was so cold, and so scared. I was trying to keep going, but all
I wanted to do was lie down and rest. It was the most overwhelming feeling,
and I knew I had to keep fighting, or I would die.” Her lips trembled
again. “Thank you for helping me,” she was sincere.
“You didn’t give me much choice in the matter,” he scolded,
giving her more tea. “How did you find me?” he demanded once
more. “I told no one where I would be. No one at all.” Not even
his sister, and Jenny was probably worried sick by now, which made him a
rotten human being considering what she’d already been through.
“I just answered you, Mr…? I don’t know your name,”
she appeared confused.
“Addy,” he said in a low, dangerous voice, “Don’t
play games with me. I’m not happy you’re here, and you won’t
win. I guarantee it.” Her eyes continued to look at him, baffled.
“I’m not playing games… If you’ll call a tow truck
so I can get my car back on the road, I’ll leave… If you give
me something to wear,” she amended when she started to get up and
was reminded of her state of undress.
“Oh, I’m sure your car is in the ditch… and you planned
this very carefully. You’d better take this mug from me and help yourself.
I’m angry and if you keep this up, you’re going to get the spanking
of your life,” Vince abruptly announced and got to his feet, thrusting
the mug at her.
Addy had no choice but to reach out and take the mug, and her fingers were
still cold and she was shaking. It didn’t help matters any that the
man was so obviously angry with her, and she didn’t have a clue as
to why! If anything, she was the injured party here… Her eyes filled
with tears, and she turned her face away so he couldn’t see. She’d
followed the directions exactly… into the worst blizzard she could
recall in her lifetime! And here she was, stranded in the middle of nowhere
with a man who resented her presence. Addy looked at him suspiciously.
Was he a part of this cover-up? Was he the one who called her and now was
having second thoughts?
Vince hated that he’d made her cry. “I’m not going to
toss you out in the snow, Addy. Don’t cry now. I’m sure you
are just trying to do your job, but I came up here to get my head on straight,
and I don’t want reporters hounding me.”
“I am a reporter, but I truly don’t know you, and I certainly
didn’t come here to hound you,” Addy denied with a flash of
spirit.
“That is an unlikely story, young lady. I can’t abide lies.”
His dark eyes gave her to understand that he was perfectly serious. “I’m
not going to give you an interview, but I am going to paddle your bare rump
if you don’t stop pretending with me. Last warning.”
“I’m not pretending!” Addy announced, and just that quick,
the mug was sitting on the end table, and she was flipping through the air
to land over his bent knee as he knelt with one foot braced on the floor
to provide a place to bend her over for a damn good spanking! The blankets
fell away, and it was short work for him to push the blanket around her
body up to her waist to reveal her vulnerable bottom. “No, don’t!
Please don’t! I wasn’t lying to you… I swear I wasn’t!”
Addy couldn’t believe this was happening to her! She didn’t
even know the man, and he was going to spank her bare backside! It was unthinkable!
“I did NOT lie to you!” she pleaded with him to listen to her.
It was humiliating to have a complete stranger flipping her over in this
manner and looking at her naked butt!
Vince didn’t believe the pretty brunette, and he decided to let her
know it right here and now. His hand landed with a crisp smack on flesh
that was still very cold. He decided he would warm her up… and started
spanking her rounded bottom. “I don’t like lies, Addy! I warned
you what to expect, and I am a man of my word. Maybe a hot seat will teach
you not to lie… and not to scheme!” He reined spank after spank
all over her lovely white bottom, and found that it was fun to watch her
skin turn pink, then bright pink, and finally red. He managed to keep her
right where he wanted her, in spite of the way she kicked her legs and tried
to twist away to avoid his spanking hand. “You aren’t going
anywhere, young lady, not until I’m convinced you’ve learned
not to lie to me!”
“I swear I wasn’t lying! I don’t know you at all!”
Addy wailed. The spanks on her cold skin burned furiously. “Owwwww…
This is hurting too much… Owwwwww!” He kept right on smacking.
“I’m not lying!” she insisted. “You’re making
a big mistake! Please listen to me!”
Vince stopped whacking her backside. “Okay, Miss Innocent Reporter!
What are you doing out here if it isn’t to invade my privacy?”
“I’m following a lead. The caller promised to meet me out here…”
“In the middle of a blizzard?” he snorted in disbelief, giving
her red bottom another hearty spank to show her what he thought of the idea.
“Owwww! I didn’t know it was going to snow…!” Addy
declared. “I take it you didn’t call me?” she asked hopefully,
praying this was all some horrible mistake, and her worst fears weren’t
coming to fruition. She was positive that someone wanted her out here all
alone, and it wasn’t to pass off sensitive information!
“No, I didn’t call you,” he responded, wondering if she
was serious.
“I think I was set up,” Addy said in a thoughtful, frightened
tone of voice. “I’m getting too close, just like Alex did…”
“Who is Alex?” Vince demanded.
“She was my twin,” Addy’s voice cracked, and she was unable
to say any more.
“Damn you… Just stop this right now!” Vince roared angrily.
How dare she pull that card? How dare she!!? The little witch was shameless,
and he was going to make her regret taking this tact with him! He wasn’t
going to stop spanking her until his right hand fell off and there was
nothing left of her butt to spank!
The spanking started again, and Abby cried out in pain. His hand was hard,
and he meant to punish. She was going to be bruised by the time he stopped,
and she was beginning to think he was insane! “Please stop! Please…
I don’t know why you’re doing this! Alex is dead! Why would
you ask if you didn’t want to know?” Addy started sobbing,
and it was a mixture of physical and emotional pain so strong that she
wondered if she would ever recover from the grief.
Something in Addy’s raw grief touched Vince, and he suddenly knew
with certainly that even though it was highly unlikely that she didn’t
know him and had come up here with the intention of getting an interview,
it was only too obvious that her grief was real. It was as real as the grief
he felt for his own twin, Lance. He gently lifted Addy and sat on the sofa,
with her on his lap. She buried her face in his sweater, and cried as if
her heart was breaking. He found himself tearing up again, and the tears
ran down his cheeks and caught in his beard. He wondered if there would
ever come a day that he didn’t miss his twin, and didn’t blame
himself for Lance’s death. Lance was home for a visit… and took
a bullet meant for him! Dead because he had the misfortune to look like
him. How could he live with that? It was a question he asked himself on
a daily basis. Vince couldn’t bear to look in a mirror!
Addy cried until she was totally spent. It wasn’t like her to give
in to grief in front of a stranger, but she’d had help from the hard
spanking; she’d needed the cry, and the spanking pushed her over the
edge. Her poor bottom was on fire, and her head was all stuffy from crying
so hard. She finally forced herself to sit up and look at the man holding
her and comforting her, and was shocked to see that he’d been crying,
too. She reached out to wipe the tears from the skin between his eyes and
his beard. “I’m so sorry!” She didn’t know why
she felt sorry for him, but she did. She recognized the pain in his dark
eyes, and understood it only too well.
“I recently lost my twin, too… I thought you were playing on
that, until you started sobbing your heart out. Grief that raw can’t
be faked. I’m sorry I was so quick to judge,” Vince apologized.
“I needed to cry,” Addy confessed. “The spanking helped
me let go, and I’m grateful.” It was embarrassing to admit to
something like that, but she had to be honest. “I still don’t
have a clue as to who you are,” she whispered, apprehension in her
blue eyes. She didn’t want him to spank her again.
“I apologize for being rude… and egotistical. I’m Vince
Cantrell,” he stated simply, and watched her blue eyes widen in surprise
that was genuine.
“Oh my gosh! You don’t look like you…!” Addy declared,
and then blushed furiously! “I’m sorry, that was so rude, but…
I’m flustered right now!” She was sitting on Vince Cantrell’s
lap, wearing nothing but a blanket! How many women would give anything to
be in her position…! And he’d spanked her! Literally spanked
her! She was looking at him in awe, and it was easy to picture him without
the beard… and with the short hair he normally wore in films and on
television! “Do you realize that you’ve been reported missing?
The entertainment shows are speculating that you committed suicide…”
she put a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry! I’m blathering
because I’m amazed to be in the same room with someone so famous…
and not to recognize you! I’m not normally so dimwitted!” She
wasn’t… but Alex’s death had taken its toll on her, and
she was barely muddling through each day. “I’m so sorry about
your twin brother… Alex and I heard the reports on the news, and we
both were shocked that someone would…” she swallowed hard, and
made herself continue… “and then it happened to us.” Addy’s
face crumpled and she shook her head sadly. “It hurts so much!”
“Yes, it does,” Vince agreed, giving her another hug. They were
quiet for a few minutes, each reflecting on their loss. Vince found his
voice first and said, “I imagine my manager reported me missing, and
the reporters decided I offed myself…?” He looked at her for
corroboration.
“Your manager has been on all the shows telling everyone that you
blame yourself for your brother’s death.”
“I do,” he said quietly.
“I know how that feels,” she proclaimed, then abruptly changed
the subject, sensing that Vince didn’t want to talk about it any longer,
by asking, “Do you have a shirt or something I can borrow…?
I feel extremely self-conscious sitting here with nothing on.”
“I’ll find something for you,” Vince agreed, relieved
to have something to do. He lifted her to her feet, rose, and then went
into the bedroom, and got into his dresser. He dug out a pair of heavy socks
for her feet, and a pair of flannel pj’s that he never wore. They
would be miles too big on Addy, but she could roll up the sleeves and the
legs. “Here you go, Addy,” he said as he went back to the main
room of the cabin. The socks are clean, and the pajamas are brand new. My
sister gave them to me a few years ago, and I’ve never worn them.
They’ll be big on you, but until your clothes dry out, they’ll
keep you warm.
“Where can I dress?” she asked.
“Right here in front of the fire. The bedroom is chilly, and so is
the bathroom. I spend most of my time out here for that reason. I’ll
go and put some soup on and give you some privacy,” he promised with
a smile. He went over to the kitchen area, and was careful to keep his eyes
away from the living area. While it was true that he’d already seen
everything she had to offer, and thought she had a lovely body, the circumstances
were different now, and it wouldn’t be right to take advantage.
Addy considered herself a good judge of character… Vince might be
a big movie star, but he had principles, and he wasn’t going to peek
at her. The fact that he’d already seen her didn’t matter; he’d
been taking care of her then, and she was thankful for that. It wasn’t
a time to be prudish. She quickly pulled on the soft flannel pajamas, and
the heavy socks, and was grateful for them. She also wrapped the blanket
around her, and immediately felt better… except for her smarting backside.
“I cannot believe you spanked me!” she stated aloud as she
reached under the blanket to rub the tender flesh over the pajama bottoms.
“I happen to believe in spanking… especially grown women,”
Vince said with conviction.
“I believe in spanking when it is warranted,” she pouted, clearly
telling him by her tone of voice that she didn’t believe the one he’d
given her was warranted.
“I’m glad to hear that because you have another one coming to
you,” he announced, and refrained from smiling when her jaw dropped.
“What…? Why…?” her voice was little more than a
nervous squeek.
“For one thing, because you went out into a blizzard on a wild goose
chase; no story is worth putting your life at risk. For another, because
that jacket you were wearing is not suitable for winter around here. I’m
just surprised you had sense enough to wear proper boots and heavy socks…
and put a scarf, hat, and gloves on! Do you know how close you came to dying
out there? This cabin hasn’t been used in over ten years, young lady.
No one else lives within twenty miles of here.” At her shocked expression,
he continued, “I fully intend to paddle the daylights out of you…
when the time is right. Now, you are going to sit down and have some hot
soup, some more tea, and make sure your body is warmed up inside and out.”
“Are you serious?” Addy asked in a strained voice.
He looked at her. “This isn’t the time to tell me you don’t
like soup or tea, Miss Addy.”
“I’m not talking about that,” she waved a hand impatiently.
“Yes, I am seriously going to spank you for risking your life,”
he stated firmly.
“No… About there not being another cabin within twenty miles…?”
she looked sick.
“I’m serious,” he told her. “Didn’t you bother
to look at a map?” he asked.
“No… The caller said he would meet me on this road between Morgansville
and his place…” She appeared confused.
“Addy, this road is barely a path, and in this weather, even in a
four wheel drive, not passable!”
“They’re trying to kill me… just like they did Alex!”
she announced, her blue eyes filling with tears.
