The Cutthroat by Clive Cussler (audio ebook reader .TXT) 📕

the spanking itself. If it had been Meg on the receiving end, it would have been the exact opposite.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it,” Meg said soothingly, but that only seemed to agitate her further.

Mandy pulled away from Meg. “Oh, no. Barrett means what he says. He was deadly serious. He always is about punishments.” She sighed, rubbing away tears with the backs of her hands in a way that made her seem very little girlish. “I think the worst part is having Barrett mad at me, though. He didn’t even hug me when he was done; he just told me to go take a nap. He must be really angry.”

After a short cry on Meagan’s shoulder, Mandy decided to do as her brother ordered, exhausted not only physically from the punishment but emotionally, as well. It was as if Barrett had known that. He probably did from years of experience paddling butts. Meg tucked her in, then decided to continue reading on the veranda. As she set the dog on her lap, and picked up her book, she mulled over what she’d learned about Mandy and her relationship with her older brother. Obviously, Mandy loved her brother, and Meagan had known that. They were an extremely close family.

But Meg wondered if it Barrett could really love Amanda as much as he said he did and still punish her so severely? Wasn’t that a dichotomy? To love someone but cause them physical pain?

It was too much for her to answer without asking either of them a whole lot of embarrassing questions, so she applied herself to the novel in her hands. She became so lost in the sexy plot about a dashing, dark haired, brawny pirate and a red-haired, saucy maiden that he was standing next to her, blocking the sun and glowering down at her before she noticed he was there.

- 33 -

BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

“You wanna learn about horses?” Short and not so sweet.

Meg nodded, not very sure of her reception when he was in this dark mood. He didn’t say another word, just walked away.

She hurriedly trotted after him, and got to spend most of the afternoon with him around her favorite animals, in a clean, open barn that smelled of horses and leather. Surly and sullen as he was, he was an excellent teacher, firm and kind with both her and the horse. But conversational, he wasn’t.

“When do I get to ride?” Meg piped up, while helping him groom the beautiful palomino.

“You don’t.” He was putting away some of the horses’

tack.

“Huh? Then why am I out here?”

The look he gave her made her truly wish she hadn’t asked.

“You’ll get into the saddle when you know how to take care of the horse properly before and after the ride, as well as saddle and bridle him yourself, and not before.”

“Ok.” He stared at her for a moment as if expecting her to argue with him or throw some sort of tantrum, but she simply continued to work on the snarls in Sugar’s mane. Never one to know when to shut up, though, she asked, “I’m going to ask you the same question I asked your sister, are you all right?”

Barrett hesitated just as he was hefting a big Western saddle onto a sawhorse. “All right?”

“Yeah. Are you ok?”

- 34 -

BacksideOfLove.com

Embraced

“I’m fine. Has Mandy been crying on your shoulder?” he asked abruptly eyeing her with that piercing, dominant he-man gaze.

“I just made sure she was ok.”

“She got what she deserved. A warm fanny is a small price to pay when she could really have been hurt if she’d had an accident coming home.”

“Mmmmm.”

“What does that mean?” He took the currycomb out of her hand and faced her.

“It means just what it says, ‘mmmmmm’.”

“Uh-huh. I don’t particularly care what you think of my disciplinary methods, Ms. O’Reilly. They work. All three of my siblings are basically responsible, hard working, educated people.

And that’s because I occasionally reminded them of their responsibilities, their chores, and their education by applying my hand to their butts. It worked, and I make no apologies for it.”

“I never asked you to. I have no right to demand explanations from you. I’m your sister’s best friend, and practically the hired help.” Speaking of which, Meg thought of the meatloaf in the fridge. “Am I done here? I need to get dinner started.”

“Yes,” came the curt reply.

“Thank

you.”

- 35 -

BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

Barrett watched her go as he rechecked her work grooming the horse. She’d done a good job. And he’d let his unhappiness at having to punish Mandy overflow into showing her some attitude she really hadn’t asked for. “Huh,” he mused. It’d been a long time since someone had asked him how he was. Kinda startled him. He was usually the one asking how his family was.

Interesting, and nice, he decided.

He entered the kitchen just as she was popping the food into the pre-heated oven, and it was at that moment that a sleepy-eyed Amanda appeared, yawning. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Barrett, hesitating, but then a warm smiled melted over his face and he held his arms out to his younger sister. “C’mere, baby,” he coaxed, and Mandy practically ran into his embrace.

Barrett lifted his not-so-little-girl off the ground with a bear hug, rocking her gently in his arms, and Mandy soaked up the attention like a moth to flame. “I love you, Manda-Panda,” he said gruffly, not caring who heard.

“I love you, too,