Page 3 of Keeping His Brat

He stepped out and tossed her a towel. “C’mon, let’s get dried off and into some warm clothes.”

“Really? You’re not going to spank me?” She tilted her head, staring at him in surprise as she held the towel in front of her. She was still shivering a little and so was he now that the steamy water was off of them.

He rubbed himself dry briskly as he answered her, “Oh, I am definitely going to spank your ass. But I’m more worried about making sure we’re both warm and dry so we don’t get sick. I’m going to feed you and put you in front of the fire until the last of the chill is gone.”

She sighed, “That sounds wonderful actually.” Then she paused, frowning. “The food and warm part I mean. You really could just skip the spanking. I mean I think the cold and rain probably punished me enough.” She flashed him a grin to let him know that she wasn’t entirely serious, but he noted the hopeful tone.

“Yeah, good luck with that one.”

She grabbed pair of fleece pajamas and slid into them while he got dressed and then started the fire. He was an old hand at getting a blaze going and it didn’t take long even though the wind was whipping down the chimney and making it hard to get the kindling started. By the time it was blazing she was curled up behind him on the battered old sofa, watching with a soft smile on her face.

“That makes me feel better,” she commented as she rested her chin on her knees. They were drawn up under the quilt she’d burrowed in. She looked young, innocent, and not like the hellion he knew she could be.

He glanced over her and grinned. “Really? Somehow, I must have missed that fact over the years,” The teasing tone made her laugh.

The way a nice crackling fire soothed her was well known to him, which was why he’d gone through more firewood since they’d gotten back together than he’d used in all the time she’d been gone. It was well worth the work of chopping and hauling just to see her relaxed and content.

As she stared into the flames the light danced across her face and she shook her head. “You know me too well. I guess if you ever suggest a fire and I say no you’ll know I’m a pod person or possessed or something.”

“Or something.” He laughed and headed into the kitchen to fix dinner. He decided she needed something hot and comforting; they both did. As far as cooking skills went, he was an amateur but that made the choice of what to make easier. He fell back on an old childhood favorite.

Fifteen minutes later they were cuddled together on the couch with grilled cheese sandwiches and steaming mugs of tomato soup. The soup was straight from the can, but at least it was hot. He had good memories of this same meal as a kid. It was something his father had fixed for them on cold, dreary days.

She leaned into him, and her body seemed to melt as the stress went out of her. The combination of the fire and the comfort meal had done a lot to relax him as well. Which didn’t mean she was out of trouble and after a few minutes of peaceful silence the question came.

“Are you still mad at me?”

“Yes.”

“You know I couldn’t just leave her there.”

“Yeah, I get that. But I also know you shouldn’t have been there in the first place. With a storm coming in everyone was supposed to come straight back. You heard me warn everyone not to take too long, didn’t you?”

“Well, I only meant to check on it really fast, so we’d know how much work needed to be done. It should only have taken a second,” she said. There was a hint of a whine starting. Charlie had learned that while she loved to be spanked for fun, or even faux punishment, she really didn’t like the real thing when she was in trouble.

“It shouldn’t have taken any time at all, because you shouldn’t have been there. We don’t need that pasture for at least another month, maybe two. There was plenty of time to worry about it later,” he pointed out. He didn’t bother to keep the irritation out of his voice.

She was quiet for a minute, but he knew she was just regrouping to come back with a different argument. “Okay, you’re right, but you wouldn’t have spanked me just for that. And anyway, isn’t it good I saved her? She wouldn’t have made it if I hadn’t seen her and once I did I—"

“Charlie, let me just cut you off now. I told everyone to come straight back because we knew there was a storm on the way. You didn’t listen. You wasted time on something that we didn’t need to worry about for a while, especially not with a weather warning. You forgot your phone again, even though I’ve been telling you that you need to keep it with you. And then you nearly gave me a heart attack by sending your horse back alone—” He held up a hand to cut off her protest.

“I get you didn’t have any other way to get help. But if you hadn’t been where you shouldn’t have been, without the phone you should have had, you wouldn’t have needed to do that. So yes, I’m mad. Yes, you’re in trouble. And yes, you are getting spanked and if you don’t stop arguing about it, we can go ahead and take care of it right now.”

He didn’t especially want to punish her just yet. He could still use some cooling down time. It wasn’t that he was so furious he was worried he’d go overboard, or anything like that. But he wanted some time to just cuddle her and reassure himself that she was fine and safe before he had to deal with her mistakes.

He took a bite of his grilled cheese, watching her out of the corner of his eye until she sighed and gave up. “Okay, okay. Fine.” She huffed but it wasn’t anywhere near as dramatic as she could be when she really felt like she was in trouble unfairly. She knew she’d made mistakes and would have to pay for them so there was a little bit of attitude there but not enough sass that he felt like he needed to do anything about it immediately.

It was a quiet meal, which was probably a good thing for Charlie. It gave Sam time to settle down and once they were done eating, he pulled her into his lap and hugged her tight. The anger had dissipated along with the fear, and now there was just relief that everything had turned out okay.

At that point he finally felt like he was ready to discuss her punishment. But first he turned her sideways in his lap so he could see her face. “You know, I’m not trying to be a hard ass, or wrap you up in bubble wrap to keep you safe. You’ve got fire and I like that. I want you to live your life, but you’re going to follow the rules I give you or you’re going to have to deal with the consequences.”

She looked up with an upset expression. Her mouth turned down at the corners. "I didn't realize. I guess I wasn't thinking about— I really didn’t have another choice though. You know I couldn’t have left her to die, and she would have if I wasn’t there.”

“I know you couldn’t. I get that. That’s why youneedto have a phone on you, Charlie. I’ve told you repeatedly that you’ve got to keep it on you when you go out. If you’d been able to call, I wouldn’t have been scared, andyouwould have gotten the help you needed a lot faster. It was a good bit before the horse got back. They aren’t exactly homing pigeons, you know. They go back to the barn when they’re tired or hungry and not before.”

She shivered but this time it wasn’t from the cold; it was from the harsh tone of his voice. She tried to squirm out of his lap, and he tightened his grip pinning her there. “How many times have I told you, and every other hand on this ranch, that I want you to have a phone on you for emergencies?”

“A lot, I guess,” she said in a voice that was barely a whisper.

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