Page 20 of Chance (Wild River Ranch #3)

T he clatter and chatter of women talking from the kitchen let him know the three of them were fixing supper. He didn't have time to tell them that neither he nor Gypsy would feel much like sitting at the table by the time he was finished with her.

He gritted his teeth and did everything he could not to strangle her on the way up the stairs.

He had to hold her legs, which she was kicking, with a tight grip before she toppled them both back down the stairs.

Entering the bedroom, he tossed her on the bed before crossing back to slam the door shut.

Not trusting himself to come any closer to her, he leaned his back against the door, crossing his arms and ankles. "Would you like to explain to me what you were thinking?"

She stared at him from the bed, all wide-eyed and innocent.

Worrying her hands in her lap, she looked at anything and everything in the room.

Everything except him, not that he blamed her.

If the angry heat burning his face was anything to go by, he looked like a fear-crazed, wild man. He felt like one, too .

Primarily because he was a fear crazed, crazy man. Trying to banish the visions of Joy in the holding pen with a spooked bull, he decided to file the picture away in his brain in the same file that housed the picture from the Friendsgiving celebration.

He gave her a minute to answer his question before he couldn't take the silence any longer. "Why?" he bit out, fighting with all he had in him to stay relaxed against the door.

Gypsy nibbled her bottom lip, a decidedly worried look passing over her face when he took one step toward her. Holding up one hand like a traffic cop holding cars back so children could cross the street, she said, "I said I can explain."

He narrowed his gaze on her. "If you have an explanation, you'd best go ahead and tell me what it is. And if I detect any fibs in what you say, the amount of trouble you're already in doubles."

Joy winced and scooted a little further back on the bed. He let her have that move because it wouldn't help. Then again, with the stunt she had pulled, there was nothing much that would. "I, well, I stayed inside just like you said, ninety-nine percent of the day."

"You already said that," he growled.

"I know, but really, you should see everything I got done.

I learned how to make homemade biscuits.

I love Ruby. She's amazing. I wish working with my mom in the kitchen growing up had been that pleasant.

" She stared at her knees briefly, then her head snapped up, startled.

"That's not to say Kenzie and Tildi weren't nice, too.

They were. I already know I'm going to love them.

If I stay. Which I know you said you wanted, but I think now you may have changed your mind. "

Chance drew in a slow breath and took even longer pushing the air back out.

He had no desire to frighten her, but she wasn't half as scared as he had been when he saw her in that fucking holding pen. "I have not now, nor will I ever, change my mind about you staying here. I want you here as long as you want. But that can only happen if I can trust you to mind me. That’s the only way for you to stay safe and in one piece. You had a rule. Don’t go outside without one of my brothers.

The only reason for you to bring up Ruby, Kenzie, and Tildi is if one of them forced you into your coat and tossed you out the door. Is that what happened?"

He'd never doubted his gypsy was a Little, but her words and actions today solidified that in his mind. Wide-eyed, she shook her head. “Um, no, they didn't do that. The opposite, actually. Ruby reminded me of what you said. Kenzie and Tildi warned me you might be upset."

"That’s what I figured. So why didn’t you listen to them?"

She dropped her gaze back to her knees. “I was worried about Bullwinkle.”

“Ironside.”

She stared at him for a minute, and who could blame her?

She had him talking like a lunatic. “Right, Ironside. Who has been alone since I’ve been back, so at least a week.

I only went to the holding pen. It was right there, close to the lodge.

People could look through the window and see me. I didn’t think you’d find out.”

She stiffened as soon as the words left her mouth, clapping her hand over her lips and staring at him in horror. Then she went into damage control. “That wasn’t… I mean, I didn’t…”

He fought to hold back the grin fighting for a place on his face. The last thing he needed to do was encourage her. “Thank you for being honest.”

She shook her head. "I wasn’t trying to be bad.”

“Naughty,” he corrected. She wasn’t going to think she was bad because she wasn’t. She was too thoughtful, if anything. Even about two thousand pound, ornery bulls.

She nodded. “Okay, but I just wanted you to know, I didn't sit around all day, trying to think of ways to disobey you. "

"You went outside," he growled. "Alone. Without your hat and mittens."

"But… I had to. I told you. Bull?—"

“Ironside,” he corrected the same time she corrected herself.

“Ironside.” She grinned. “Jinx,” she said. “Anyway, Ironside was lonely.”

"Yes, you said that. And how exactly did you know he was lonely?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I just did."

"So you decided to go outside, by yourself, without your mittens and hat. To play fetch with a bull bison!" He was shouting by the time he finished speaking. He never shouted. He was the calm, cool, collected one.

"What you did was very dangerous. Bullwinkle?—"

"Ironside," she corrected.

He glared at her. "Bullwinkle could have killed you. He is not a pet. And you damn sure don't play ball with him."

Her lip trembled, but he couldn't let that sway him. This was too important. “There’s only one question that matters. Where is the holding pen? Inside or outside?”

Her shoulders slumped. "Outside, Daddy. I’m sorry." Her voice wobbled when she spoke.

"You aren't half as sorry as you're about to be, little girl. What did I tell you would happen if I came home and found out you had not minded me?"

"You said I'd get a spanking on top of the one I was already owed." Her gaze found his again as she added, "But I forgot about that in the moment."

Well, that was good to know. At least she hadn't completely blown him off. Not that he'd ever thought that's what happened. She wasn't a naughty girl. She just let her heart get ahead of her brain sometimes .

She attempted a smile but couldn't pull it off. "I said I was sorry, Daddy. I was afraid Ironside?—"

"Bullwinkle," he corrected without thinking.

She nodded her head. "Right, Bullwinkle. I was afraid that if Bullwinkle was lonely, he might do something desperate. Or he might get heart sick. I didn't know if bulls could get heart sick. But I figured, if there was ever a bull who could, it would be sweet, lovable, Ironside, Bullwinkle."

"That's good to know," he growled, making no effort to match his expression to his words. You see something in Bullwinkle the rest of us have yet to find."

“I try to see the good in people,” she said. “Even if the people is a bull.”

She did, too. She always found the beauty in everyone. Frankly, that scared the shit out of him. The woman had no radar for the bad in people. She needed to develop one. It would help keep her safe.

"You disobeyed, daddy, little gypsy. You broke damn near every one of your rules. All of them."

She cringed. "When you put it that way, it sounds really bad."

"It is really bad," he practically roared. “You could have been seriously hurt, young lady. That's why we have rules. Rules keep you safe. And speakin’ about safety, we have to talk about Dodger. But not right now.”

"What about Dodger? I can't believe you found him. I didn't even know you were looking for him, Daddy. But you did it. You found him!"

She was going to be very disappointed with their discussion. But he could not have a wolfdog wandering the ranch. It was too dangerous. "We'll talk about it later."

Nodding, she returned her gaze to her knees. "I really am sorry, Daddy. "

"You're sorry," he repeated. He wasn't sure she even knew what that meant. But she was about to find out. “Time to make sure.”

He stalked across the room, not slowing until he stood beside her at the bed. Wrapping his hands around her arms, he stood her in front of him. Turning so he was closest to the bed, he sat down and pulled her face down over his thigh.

Joy let out a squeal of surprise.

He didn't waste a second, lifting his arm high, then bringing his hand crashing down on her backside.

He smacked her bottom without holding anything back. It didn't take him many swats to realize that spanking her over her jeans, and probably her thermal long johns, was hurting his hand more than her bottom.

Fortunately, he had a remedy for that. Pinning her hands behind her back, he grasped the top of her pants and panties and yanked them down past her knees.

Her bottom bared before him, he took a second to appreciate the pale pink canvas of her ass. Perfect curves in all the right places. He was so focused on her blushing bottom she was able to wrench one hand out of his grasp.

Reaching a hand behind her, fingers sprayed wide to cover the very same bottom he wanted to sink his teeth into, she let out a startled, "Don't. Wait."

"Don't wait? Your wish is my command, Gypsy."

"No, wait. That's not what I meant. Ouch!" She cried. She fluttered her feet and smacked her hands against the mattress. "Please, owie. Stop, I said I was sorry!"

He placed a hand in the small of her back, holding her firmly in place. After the next two smacks, she went completely rigid.

"Wow! Stop! I don't like this! Ouch!" This time her voice came out as a shout. She tried to reach back again, but this time he caught her hand, pinning it to her back.

"I'll stop when I'm finished. And that won't be until I think you've learned your lesson." The room was soundproof, and no one was around his suite anyway. Chance clapped his hand down on her bottom, flattening her cheeks with the impact.

Joy cried out over and over again. Chance paid no attention. He didn't even blame her. He focused on spanking her long and hard. He wasn't angry, but damn it felt good to deliver a few just desserts.

Slowly but surely, smack after smack, he felt his sense of control return. He smacked her curvy bottom, enjoying every jiggle and bounce, painting the pale curves of her thrashing backside a firecracker red, a color of which he was particularly fond.

He probably should feel guilty about the way his cock swelled as she wiggled her bottom up and down, back-and-forth, anything to avoid his hand. But he did not feel bad at all. His gypsy had a great ass.

Before he finished, her bottom darkened from firecracker to ripe cherry red. He left no spot from the top of her bottom to the middle of her thighs unscathed, despite all her kicking and scissoring and waggling.

Soon she was sobbing over his lap. "Please. Please! Oh, please, Daddy! Please! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I promise, I'm sorry!"

Only when at last her struggles ceased, and she lay limp and crying over his lap, did he decide he was done. Setting her on her feet, he was not surprised when her hands immediately reached behind her to cup her red-hot bottom.

He reached for her again, pulling her back on his lap. This time facing forward, sitting on his thighs so he could hold her tight and tell her what a good girl she was as she calmed. "This may not be the right time to say it, baby girl, but I love you."

He worried when the pause lasted, and she did not answer him. Had her punishment changed her mind about being his Little girl? He didn’t regret spanking her. She deserved every swat he’d given her. But he did regret the ill-timed declaration of love .

His heart eased when, with a sniffle, she said, "I-I love you, too, Daddy. But you spank really, really hard.”

“Keep that in mind, Gypsy, and you’ll never have to get another one.”

Well, not one for punishment, anyway. She’d said she loved him, too. Simple as that even with a burning ass, she loved him. He hoped she knew what she was saying. He was never letting her take it back.