Punished by Passion Read online

  Punished by Passion

  By Cara Nottingham

  Text Copyright © 2013 Cara Nottingham

  All Rights Reserved

  Madison was in trouble. She knew it, the entire town knew, and she had exactly one hour before U.S. Marshal Nate Marcus knew it. That was the one person she had hoped to hide it from, but now that the whole town knew what she had done, there was no hope.

  It wouldn’t matter that she was only trying to keep her twin brother from getting himself killed. That always seemed to be the justification for whatever scheme she fell into. Nate had told her time and again to come to him the next. But Foster was her problem, her responsibility. She didn’t know how to let anyone in to help when it had been so long since she’d taken full responsibility for him.

  He started out with small enough pranks, ones that she could always sweet talk people into forgiving him for. Once she had set right whatever wrongdoing he had done. Now here they were, almost 24 years old, Foster amassing a huge fortune in gambling debt and Madison practically a spinster. She’d had proposals, but Lord knew once she’d first laid eyes on the sexy marshal, she could never settle for a good natured dependable rancher. Nate was danger personified, with an ice cold demeanor that kept in level headed in the stickiest of situations. Hardened criminals were known to flinch under his crystal stare.

  She should have just left town, yes, that probably would have been the easiest course. But she knew, deep down, that she could never run away from Nate. Even if she wanted to, his tracking skills were known throughout the territory. It was said that he always got his man. In her case, he’d catch her and she have hell to pay once he did.

  No, it was better to face her fears and take whatever Nate dished out. Not that he’d ever really hurt her, though Lord knew she’d pushed him to the brink enough times. But he had a way of making her squirm while he calmly explained each and every detail of her punishment. He was always in control. She was the one with the raging emotions.

  “Here comes the marshal,” her brother Foster announced from the doorway of the saloon. “He looks mad enough to peel paint off the walls.”

  “You needn’t enjoy this so much,” Madison responded. “This is as much your fault as mine. He’s probably going to arrest you before he even begins to look in my direction.” Her stomach was instantly filled with butterflies at the anticipation of being under Nate’s scrutiny. Maybe that was why she always fell for Foster’s schemes. She figured Nate’s cold fury was better than what she received from him any other time. Indifference. That was one thing Madison could not withstand from the marshal.

  Foster laughed. “Oh Maddie, you’re damn fool is you believe that. Nate Marcus has been in love with you since the day we came to town. Why else would he spend every spare moment trying to keep you out of trouble?”

  “Well, it is his job,” Madison said. Her eyes grew large as the marshal burst through the swinging saloon doors, causing both to crack loudly against the walls. His eyes sought and found her in the dim light of the saloon. His jaw clenched and unclenched, giving her a true indication of his rage. His typical nonchalant demeanor had all but disappeared.

  “Foster, get outta here.” He never took his eyes off Madison, fully expecting Foster to obey. When Foster took a step toward him, Nate’s fist clenched tightly and he put his other hand on the butt of his gun. “For the love of God Foster, run away from here before I put a bullet in your fool head. And I will kill you if you ever drag your sister into another hare-brained scheme again.”

  “See Foster, I told you this was your fault,” Madison inched away from Nate, trying to position herself so a table, or maybe two, stood between them.

  “Madison, I suggest you shut your pretty little mouth and head up to your room. Now!” Nate roared the last word and both Madison and Foster whirled and ran in unison, hightailing it away from the one man who had any power to frighten either of them.

  “Really Madison, did you think I wouldn’t find out?” The marshal said through a clenched jaw.

  Madison tossed her copper curls over her shoulder and gave the marshal her haughtiest stare. “In all actuality, marshal, I never gave a thought one way or another about your knowledge regarding whom I spend my time with. I can’t imagine why it would be any of your concern.”

  “Everything you do is my concern,” he practically growled as he grabbed her by the shoulders. “From the minute you rolled into town until the day you draw your last breath, your safety is my primary concern. And since you continue to play these childish games, you will find yourself treated as child.”

  Madison struggled, but his large hands were clamped around her like a vise. He placed her in a dining chair without any effort.

  “Sit.” He ordered and turned his back, walking, or more like stalking to her door.

  “If you dare to think, sir, that I will be ordered about and then have you leave me here to consider my actions, you are sadly mistaken.”

  “Oh Madison,” he replied so softly she barely heard. “The time for thoughtful consideration has long past.” He reached for the doorknob, but instead of opening the door, he turned the key in the lock. The click of the tumbler locking into place seemed louder than the hammering of her heart. When he slid the key into his front pocket, she jumped up from her chair.

  “What the…? You can’t lock me in. I am a free citizen of this town. I will call for help and my brother will alert the sheriff…”

  In less than three strides, the marshal was directly in front of her. Madison tried to step back, but fell back into the chair.

  “Your brother is in just as much trouble as you are. Maybe more. I can probably keep you out of jail, but I doubt I can convince any judge that your brother is just as senseless as you. If you thought to spite me by taking up with train robbers, you thought wrong. Now I know just how much freedom to allow you. None. As for the sheriff, he has already turned you over to federal custody so it can be decided whether you should be charged as an accessory to both the bank robberies. That means for the forseeable future you pretty little hide belongs to me.”

  Madison paled as she considered the position she had put both the marshal and her brother in. All she had wanted was to help her Foster pay off his gambling debts, but instead she had turned the entire town on its ear by allowing an entire gang of train robbers access to the town’s businesses.

  “Now, you have two choices,” the marshal continued. “Face up to your punishment like the mature woman you should be or continue your childish charades and put up a struggle. Myself, I’m hoping for the struggle. I have a lot of frustration to get out of my system.”

  “Why would I struggle? If you are going to hold me captive, I am hardly a match for a strong, wily lawman as yourself.”

  “You’ve had my mind going in circles since the moment you arrived in town. If I would have just thrown you and your dimwitted brother in jail the first time you’d broken the law, I could have saved myself and half the town a lot of sleepless nights.”

  “I never asked you to come to my rescue. Not then and certainly not now. I would have found a resolution to my dilemma eventually.” Madison crossed her arms and huffed. If the marshal didn’t leave, she was never going to be able to hide the bag of money she’d pilfered form the train robbers as they were packing to leave town. If he knew what she’d really been up to, he’d implode with rage. She tried to stand, but the marshal shoved her back down in her seat.

  “Sorry darlin’ but I’m callin the shots now. And I specifically recall telling you to sit.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “And I’d enjoy it for now, because it’s the last time you’ll be able to do so for the next week.”

  Before she knew it, he was across the room, removi
ng his coat and draping it on the back of her chair. He had a seat opposite her and slowly removed his boots, letting each one fall to the floor with a loud thud. He pulled a thin cigar out of his inside coat pocket and tugged a flint lighter from his front trouser pocket.

  When he lit it, Madison jumped up in protest. “Please extinguish your cigar. The smoke does not agree with me.”

  The marshal raised one eyebrow and pointed at her with the lit cigar. “Sit. We have business to take care of, but first I am going to enjoy my cigar and have a glass of whiskey. I’m going to need both to calm down enough to keep from breaking you in two.”

  Madison plopped back into her seat. She was getting nowhere with getting rid of the marshal. She had no idea what he had planned, but she knew it wasn’t good. He was madder than mad at her and she knew he had good reason. But then, being nervous always had an extremely loosening effect on her tongue.

  “You know, there is strong evidence that smoking shortens one’s lifespan. I would hate to see you unable to hasten after the criminals and ne’er-do-wells of the territory due to a sudden bout of asthma.”

  “Shut up, Madison.” He blew a series of smoke rings toward the ceiling, each one forming concentric haloes above his hat.

  “I was merely trying to be helpful.” She tossed a pouty look in his direction.

  “That’s it!” The marshal threw the cigar into his whiskey glass and slammed the glass on the dining table. He was back in front of her in less time than it took her to blink once.

  “Up.” He ordered.

  “But I though you wanted me to…” she was yanked unceremoniously from the chair. He then sat down and roughly pulled her face down across his lap. “What are you….oh, oh, noooooo!” Madison howled as his hand made contact with her behind. The many layers of clothing kept it from being too painful, but the humiliation was just as painful for her.

  His forearm held her tight against his upper thighs, making escape impossible. A few more swats and she hoped he’d have that out of his system. As if in confirmation, his hand stopped and rested on her bottom, giving it a rough knead.

  “Well that was a bit uncalled for,” Madison tried to get up, but was still pinned by his iron grip.

  “Oh it was completely called for. You have been begging for it and we’ve only gotten started. I don’t think you’ve felt nearly enough of my wrath through all of these fancy layers.” The marshal peeled her floor length skirt up, flinging it over her the back of her head.

  Madison gasped. In the shrouded darkness created by her upside down skirt, Madison felt a very real shudder of fear. The marshal was a keg of gunpowder ready to blow and she’d been foolish enough to light his fuse. Instead of the candlelight seduction she’d long been dreaming of, he was about to beat her bloody.

  His hand at the waist of her petticoat had her jumping again. He slowly pulled the tie of first one side and then the other. His hand brushed against her bottom softly as he went from one side to the other, tugging the waistband further down with each turn. In several agonizing minutes, her petticoats were bunched around her knees and her thin underpants were all that separated her bottom from the marshal’s view. They were very expensive, very transparent underpinnings ordered from France. Oh how she wished she was wearing some rough homespun version right now. Her French panties were open at the bottom, allegedly to allow more healthy air flow.

  The marshal’s hand was stroking the thin fabric that barely covered her, inching slowly closer to the center. Madison clenched in worried anticipation as he found the slit.

  “Ah, ah, ah.” He admonished. “You have to hold very very still.” His voice was rougher; his breathing had grown more rapid and much shallower. “Now, you’ve not been behaving very ladylike and I’m guessing your daddy never put you over his knee to teach you any lessons. It’s a real shame that I’ll be the one to take care of his business now.”

  “But you’ve already administered a good number of swats,” Madison protested. “I’m quite certain that I’m cured of any future delinquent behavior.”

  “No darlin’ that was just a warm-up. When I’m finished with you, your bottom will be as rosy as a summer sunset across the desert. The next ten swats will give you a better idea of what you’re in for.”

  The next smack forced a scream from Madison. She tried to clench her jaws together for the next few, but the pain was too startling. After nine swats, the marshal stopped. Madison tensed, anticipating something worse than before. The waiting continued and she squirmed, silently urging him to finish. When she heard the rustle of his shirt sleeve as he swung his arm back, she became aware of her anticipation. Rather than avoiding his hand, she relished the moment when he would touch her again. The fire across her ass had spread into her pussy and she needed more. Much, much more.

  Finally, the marshal connected with her raw flesh. But instead of a hit, he landed light as silk, brushing gently across first one cheek, then the other. When he stopped, Madison whimpered.

  “Hush, the worst of its over,” he whispered before flipping her over to cradle her in his arms. When he stood up, Madison threw her arms around his neck to keep from falling. She looked up into his whisky brown eyes, knowing hers were red-rimmed and tear-stained. All guile was washed away by those tears.

  “Please,” she croaked, not completely aware of what she needed, but knowing this man held the key to everything in her universe at that moment.

  “You’ve been a very bad girl,” he told her. “We need to make sure this is one lesson you’ll never forget.”

  Madison shook with need. She always knew that this man would be her undoing. No one else could make her feel so completely out of control She’d spent her whole life being the good girl and doing the right thing until her parents had shipped Foster and her out west to stay with their grandparents during the war. She would have remained a good girl if Nate Marcus hadn’t ignored her so completely all these years.

  Finally the man of her dreams, the subject of every delicious fantasy she’d ever had, was bringing all that to life and more. When he laid her on the bed, she tried to pull him down with her, but he removed her hands as easily as if she were a small child.

  “You don’t get to call the shots this time, honey,” Nate whispered hoarsely as he stood back and looked at her. He slid her bunched up petticoat over her feet and tossed them out the open window.

  “Nate!” Madison was shocked. Now the whole town would know what he was doing to her. In spite of the humiliation, Madison didn’t care. She still wanted him. Now more than ever. He had unleashed a passion within her that made her previous crush pale in comparison.

  Next he sat on the bed next to her. “Undo your dress,” he commanded. Meghan nodded and started to undo the dozens of tiny buttons. Her fingers trembled, making the task go even slower.

  “Hurry up,” Nate chided. “I haven’t got all day. If you can’t obey a simple command, then we’ll have to start the punishment all over.”

  Meghan smiled as she realized his threat. She purposely slowed her fingers, taking a minute to undo each button and pausing in between to look up at him expectantly.

  Nate eyed her for a moment. Then he stood up and removed his hunting knife from its sheath on his thigh. “You had a chance to save the dress. Now, we’ll have to do this my way.”

  He grabbed the neck of her dress and pulled it away from her neck. Holding the fabric taut, he slit through her dress with the very tip of his knife. The sharp point grazed her corset as well, ripping the white satin along the way.

  Nate smiled smugly as he leaned back to survey the damage done to both her dress and the corset. He reached down and pulled the corset open to fully reveal Madison’s full breasts. He slid the knife slowly back into its sheath and continued to watch her like a wild cat waiting for its prey to make a move before it was pounce on.

  Madison was holding her breath as she waited for him to make the next move. When Nate finally reached out and cupped her breast, she sighed, a long ex
hale on pent up frustration and waiting.

  No words were needed. Madison knew that Nate wanted her. His erection pressed against his trousers like a white flag of proof. She reached out a hand to touch him, but Nate roughly grabbed her wrist.

  “Sorry darlin’, but you’ve got a whole lot more punishment before you’ve earned a piece of that.” He flipped her onto her stomach and stood back to survey his handiwork. “Such a nice ass. But not quite as rosy as they should be.”

  He sat on the edge of the bed and spread Madison’s legs so he was nestled between them. Her wet slit pressed against his hip. She wiggled against him, trying to extinguish the fire he’d started in her almost five years earlier.

  A hard slap instantly stilled her. The next one made her jump again. “Hold still, young lady. Squirming around will only make this take much, much longer.” He scooted back, leaving a bit of space between her hot pussy and his leg. He slid his hand in between them and traced her outer lips with his thumb, avoiding any contact with her clit.

  “Oh Nate, please,” Madison begged for more. “This is too much. I’m about to expire.”

  Suddenly, Nate moved his hand and slid further down the bed. When his tongue replaced his thumb, Meghan screamed out. “Ooooh! Oh Marshal!”

  His hands massaged the still tender globes of her ass, stopping for an occasional slap when she squirmed too much. Desperate now, Meghan slid down the bed, pressing her cunt against Nate’s face.

  Giving her one more slap on the ass, Nate sat up and tuned her over. She barely registered the fact that he had somehow removed his gun belt and trousers while he had been tormenting her pussy with his mouth. Marshal Nate Marcus was certainly proving to be a man of many talents.

  “Please Nate, finish this. “I’ve been waiting so long.”

  “Madison, I’ve been avoiding you for five years. Now that we’ve started it, I plan to take my good sweet time finishing with you. I’m going take until you have nothing left. You’ll be so limp when I’m done, you won’t have the strength to find any trouble for a good long time.”