The Cutler Brothers Series

Book 3: The Cutler Brides

By Paige Tyler

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The Cutler Brothers Series

The Cutler Brides

CHAPTER ONE

Riley Cutler usually hated flying and everything that went with it, including the tiny seats with no leg room, the crappy food, and the stale, dry air.  But cuddling closer to her handsome husband, Cade, she found that she didn’t mind those things nearly as much.  Maybe the airlines should provide everyone with a sexy seatmate, she thought with a little smile.  It certainly made the flight go faster.

Officially, they were going down to Texas for Cade’s parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary, but that was really just an excuse to get everyone together again.  When she and

Cade had gotten married, Riley hadn’t seen his parents for more than a few days, hardly enough time to get to know them.  Of course, she’d seen them again several months ago at Madoc and

Shayna’s wedding, but again, it had been just for a long weekend.  She was really looking forward to spending some relaxing time with not only Cade’s parents, but also with Madoc and his new bride as well.  Riley had the feeling she and Shayna were going to hit it off great.

Thinking about Madoc and Shayna’s wedding made Riley think about her own.  It was hard to believe she and Cade had been married almost a year already.  It seemed like just yesterday that the U.S. Marshal had shown up on her doorstep.  They had met while she’d been in the Witness Protection Program and though their relationship had started out rather rocky, it hadn’t taken her long at all to fall completely in love with him.  She couldn’t believe how lucky she was.  Not only had she met and married a wonderful guy, but she had also been able to drop out of the Witness Protection Program because the organized crime boss she’d been hiding from had turned state’s evidence and gone into the program himself.  The Marshals had no longer believed she was in danger and she’d been able to return to her old life.  Of course, her old life was even better now that Cade was in it.

Flipping through the fashion magazine she’d brought with her, Riley stopped when she came to an advertisement for a pair of sexy, high-heeled sandals.  “Aren’t these cute?” she said, holding the magazine at an angle so that Cade could see, too.  “Wouldn’t they look great on me?”

Her husband looked up from his outdoor magazine to glance at hers.  Upon seeing the shoes however, he lifted a brow.  “I’m sure they would, but I don’t think you need any more shoes, do you, honey?”

Riley looked up at him from beneath lowered lashes.  Though even she had to admit she had more pairs than the average woman, shoes were definitely her weakness and she couldn’t resist buying the newest style in footwear when it came out.  “Well, actually, I do,” she said.  “It completely slipped my mind until now, but we were in such a rush to leave that I think I forgot to pack the shoes I was going to wear to your parents’ anniversary party.”

Cade gave her a dubious look.  “Did you really forget or did you deliberately decide not bring them just so you could buy new ones?”

A blush crept into her cheeks.  She had made a conscious decision not to pack them, of course, but only because they really didn’t go with her dress.

“Of course I forgot!”

Riley tried to sound as truthful as she could, but Cade saw right through her lie.  She used to be a really good liar back when she was in the Witness Protection Program, but for some reason, she couldn’t ever seem to lie convincingly to her husband.

“That’s what I thought.”  Cade let out a loud, dramatic sigh.  “Well, you know what this means, don’t you?”

“What?” she asked innocently.

His mouth quirked.  “It means you’ll be going over my knee for a good, sound spanking when we get to the ranch, sweetheart.”

Her pulse still skipped a beat at hearing her husband say the words.  It was amazing how much her attitude toward spanking had changed over the past year, she thought.  When Cade had put her over his knee to give her a spanking that first time at her apartment, she had put up a terrible fuss, kicking and squealing for all she was worth.  Actually, she had made a fuss the first half dozen times he had spanked her.  After they’d gotten engaged, however, something had happened to change all that and she’d started looking forward to getting spanked.  But knowing she could never come right out and tell her fiancé that, she’d started to do little things to get him to spank her.  Perceptive as he was, Cade had quickly figured it out.  So now whenever she wanted a spanking, all she had to do was just act a little naughty.  Almost anything would do, like buying yet another pair of shoes.  It wasn’t that Cade really cared whether she bought a new pair; it was just simply a signal to him that she wanted to get spanked.

“Don’t you think your parents might notice if you dragged me off to the bedroom the minute we got to their ranch?” she pointed out.

Cade frowned slightly as he considered that.  “You’re probably right,” he agreed after a moment.  “I guess I’d better spank you now then.”

She gasped.  “Now?  Are you crazy?  On the plane?”

But her husband had already taken her hand and was pulling her to her feet.

“Honey...” she began, but the words trailed off as he led her toward the back of the plane.

Since it was an evening flight, the interior of the cabin was dimly lit, something a blushing Riley was grateful for as they made their way to the restroom.  She needn’t have worried, though, because none of the other passengers were paying any attention to them.

While Riley couldn’t deny that the thought of her gorgeous, dark-haired husband spanking her thirty-thousand feet in the air was rather thrilling, it also made her a little nervous, and she stopped outside the door to the restroom to voice her concerns to Cade.

“Honey, we can’t,” she protested.  “Someone could hear.”

His mouth quirked.  “Then we’ll have to make sure we’re quiet.”

As Cade opened the door and urged her inside, Riley could only wonder what had gotten into her husband.  He was always up for adventure, especially when it came to sex, but they’d never done anything this daring.  Not that she was complaining really.  The whole thing was a major turn-on!

The small bathroom seemed even tinier with her tall, broad-shouldered husband in it with her, but Riley found herself forgetting all about her dislike of tight spaces when Cade ordered her to turn around and put her hands on the wall in that soft, sexy voice of his.  Eager for her spanking, Riley obediently placed her palms on the wall, bending over just enough to thrust out her bottom.

Instead of placing his hand on her back like he usually did when she was draped over his knee, though, Cade wrapped his arm around her middle.  Holding her close against him, he ran his other hand over her short skirt.

“If we were home, I’d give you a warm-up over your skirt,” he said in her ear.  “But in the interest of time, I think it’d be best if I just get straight to the main event.”

As he spoke, her husband lifted her skirt to reveal a skimpy pair of bikini panties.  Her pulse fluttering, Riley slanted him a look in the mirror on the adjacent wall, watching in fascination as Cade slipped his fingers beneath the waistband of her panties and slowly pushed them down to the middle of her thighs.  There was something very delicious about watching him do that in the mirror, she decided.

Riley held her breath as she waited for the spanking to begin and was surprised when

Cade reached out to gently caress her bottom.  Though it was something he always did before giving her a spanking, she didn’t think he would take the time since they were only having a quickie.

Cade must have remembered where they were because all of a sudden, he lifted his hand and brought it down on her right cheek with a resounding smack!

Riley gasped at the sting his hand had left, but then quickly bit her lip to stifle a tiny yelp as he smacked her on the other cheek.  Though she was pretty sure the spanks couldn’t be heard over the loud noise of the plane’s engines, she didn’t know about her cries of protest, so she kept her lip firmly held between her teeth just in case.

Transfixed, she stared at their reflection in the mirror, watching as her husband lifted his hand again.  This time, however, he brought it down on her ass in a flurry of rapid-fire spanks that had her dancing from foot to foot within seconds.  He moved from one cheek to the other with a rhythmic precision that had her bottom coloring in no time, and she watched with fascination as her creamy skin turned a rosy pink color.  Wow, she really loved this mirror.

Maybe they should put one up right beside the bed at home!  Her pussy tingled at the thought, and she had to resist the urge to slide her hand down to touch herself.

As if reading her mind, Cade stopped spanking her to slide his hand between her legs.

Riley moaned as his finger found her wet pussy and dipped inside.  Just as quickly, though, Cade withdrew his finger.  Dismayed, Riley opened her mouth to protest, only to close it again when she saw her husband undoing his belt.

Riley watched hungrily as Cade pushed down his jeans to free his cock.  Hard and throbbing, it stood at attention, and when he rubbed the head along her pink asscheeks, she impatiently reached back to wrap her hand around him and help guide him inside her pussy. To her relief, Cade didn’t need any more urging.  Grasping her hips in his hands, he slid his cock deep into her pussy in one smooth motion.

Unable to stifle her moan of pleasure, Riley closed her eyes and allowed it to escape her lips.  But then Cade’s grip tightened on her hips, and as he started to move in and out of her, she was forced to bite her lip again to keep from crying out.  She could tell by the way Cade was thrusting that he was just as excited as she was.  Oh yeah, this was definitely going to be a quickie!  Wanting to make sure she was able to come as quickly as possible, Riley slid her hand between her legs and began to finger her plump clit with quick, little motions.

Suddenly remembering they were in front of a mirror, Riley turned her head to gaze at their reflection.  The sight that met her eyes was so unbelievably sexy that all she could do was watch in fascination as Cade took her from behind.  Oh yeah, she was definitely getting a mirror put up in the bedroom!

Cade grasped her hips more firmly, thrusting into her harder and faster, and Riley had to bite her lips to stifle her cries of pleasure as her orgasm coursed through her.  Just then, Cade held himself completely still inside of her, and she heard his own muffled groan in her ear as he found his own release.  God, she loved it when they came together like that!

Smoothing her skirt over her hips afterward, Riley looped her arms around Cade’s neck and gave him a lingering kiss on the mouth.  “Now, why didn’t we do that when we flew to

Hawaii for our honeymoon?  It would’ve made the flight a whole heck of a lot faster, not to mention more fun.”

Cade chuckled.  “It definitely would have,” he agreed.  “But as I tend to remember, you were on your best behavior, so I didn’t have a reason to spank you.”

Riley considered that as she and Cade settled back in their seats several minutes later.

Well, she supposed if she wanted any spankings while they were down in Texas, she was just going to have to see about getting herself into trouble as frequently as possible!

Shayna was glad she and Madoc had decided to drive down to Texas instead of fly.

While flying would have been faster than the two day drive from Denver to Dallas, she was sure it wouldn’t have been as much fun.  This way, she and Madoc had been able to take their time and enjoy each other’s company.  They had stopped along the way at any and every tourist attraction that caught their eye, something which was quite different than their last road trip five months ago, she thought with a smile.  Back then she had been a fugitive and the handsome U.S.

Marshal had arrested her and been dragging her off to jail.  Or he would have if they hadn’t gotten caught in a snowstorm and had had to hole up in a deserted cabin.  There, she had not only finally gotten him to listen to her story about being framed for a crime she didn’t commit, but had also fallen in love with him.

After they had cleared her name, she and Madoc had been inseparable, getting married five months later.  While their wedding had been perfect, everything had been so hectic that she hadn’t had much of a chance to spend time with Madoc’s family.  But she was going to make up for that now because she and Madoc would be spending two weeks at his parents’ ranch outside of Fort Worth.  She really looked forward to getting to know them better, especially his brother, Cade, and his wife, Riley.  She just intuitively knew she and the other girl were going to hit it off great.

“There’s a rest area coming up.  Want to stop and take a break?” Madoc asked.

Shayna pulled herself away from her thoughts to glance at her husband.  “Sure.”

After using the facilities, she and Madoc still didn’t feel like getting back in the SUV

right away, so they walked up to the small picnic area situated on a grassy hill just behind the main buildings.  When they got to the top, Shayna was surprised by how far she could see.  Even though the hill wasn’t very high, it still towered above most of the nearby Texas countryside, and the view was beautiful.  Slow, rolling hills, covered in waving grass, spread out as far as the eye could see.  Here and there, a cow or an oil well dotted the landscape, but mostly it was uninterrupted and pristine.  She wished they had thought to grab a bite to eat and bring it up here.

It would have been nice to sit and have lunch at one of the small tables while they enjoyed the view.

She turned to give Madoc a smile.  He was sitting down on the bench-style seat, his arms lazily outstretched to either side of him on the picnic table.  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it, hon?”

His golden brown eyes traveled up and down the length of her body to take in the tank top and shorts she wore, lingering on her bare legs.

“Not as beautiful as you,” he said, his mouth curving into a sexy grin.

Shayna felt herself blush at her husband’s compliment.  She’d never blushed so much until she’d met Madoc.  He just had a way of looking at her that made her think he was always visualizing her completely naked.

Reaching for her hand, he gently pulled her closer until she was standing between his legs.  As his arms circled her waist, Shayna automatically looped hers around his neck.  With a little laugh, she bent her head to kiss him on the mouth.  The kiss wasn’t some quick peck on the lips, but instead, it was slow and passionate, leaving Shayna breathless.  When she lifted her head, she couldn’t suppress the sigh of pleasure that escaped her lips.

“Too bad we’re not someplace a little more private,” she said huskily.

Madoc made a show of looking around the deserted rest area before lifting his gaze to hers again.  “I don’t know.  It seems pretty private to me.”

Her eyes widened.  “You can’t be serious?”

“Why not?”  He slid his hands up to cup her breasts through the thin tank top.

Shayna caught her breath as she felt her nipples immediately harden in response.  It had always been a secret fantasy of hers to make love outdoors, but she didn’t think she could ever be bold enough to act it out.

“Madoc...” she began.

But her husband was already unbuttoning her khaki shorts and pushing them down her legs.  As he gently ran his hands up her bare legs, Shayna felt the last of her resolve disappear, along with her shyness.  Surely, they could have a quickie without getting caught, she told herself.

Shayna waited breathlessly for Madoc to take down her panties, but instead he surprised her by taking her hand and guiding her over one of his muscular legs.  Though she went willingly, she couldn’t help but give him a confused look over her shoulder.

“I thought we were going to booty,” she said.

The corner of his mouth edged up.  “We are,” he said, lightly resting his hand on the curve of her bottom.  “But since I don’t know how much spanking we’ll be able to do while were at my parents’ ranch, I thought I’d give you one now to tide you over until we get home.”

Shayna hadn’t thought about that.  But she supposed Madoc was right.  They wouldn’t have much privacy at the ranch.  Which would mean she would have to wait two weeks for another spanking.

She gave her dark-haired husband a naughty smile.  “Well, when you put it that way, I

definitely think you’re right.  I do think you should give me a spanking.”

Shayna couldn’t help but smile at Madoc’s deep, sexy chuckle.  It wasn’t so long ago that she hated to get spanked.  Or at least she had the first half dozen times or so that her husband had put her over his knee.  But then one evening after they’d gotten engaged, he had playfully smacked her bottom a couple of times while they’d been having sex in the doggy-style position, and it had been a huge turn-on, much to her surprise.  As they’d been cuddling together afterward, she had shyly admitted to him that she’d liked the spanking, and then asked if they could do it again sometime.  Well, sometime turned out to be the very next night when Madoc treated her to her very first erotic spanking.  It came complete with lots of rubbing and caressing in between some very pleasurable spanks, which weren’t too hard or too soft, but just perfect.

Shayna couldn’t remember ever being so turned on!

She let out a little sigh of pleasure as Madoc slowly caressed each panty-covered cheek with his strong hand for one long delicious moment before he slipped his fingers inside the waistband and pulled them down to the middle of her thighs.  When he rubbed his hand over her bare bottom, she sighed again, only to let out a startled, little, “Oh!” as he lifted his hand and gave her a sharp smack on each cheek.  The sound echoed around them, making it seem louder

than it probably really was, but before Shayna could mention it, her husband brought his hand down again, this time a little harder.

“Owwww!” she yelped.  “Honey, that stings!  Don’t I get a warm-up?”

Madoc chuckled again.  “Since anyone could pull into the rest area at any time, I think we’re going to have to skip the warm-up.  Besides, how else will it tide you over until we get home if it doesn’t sting at least a little, babe?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, but lifted his hand and gave her ass a series of firm, deliberate smacks that had Shayna wiggling and squirming around on his lap almost from the start.  But her protests were all part of the game, and she knew Madoc knew it.  She loved each and ever spank he meted out, even if her bottom was usually a rosy shade of pink and stinging like crazy by the time he was done.

But while she loved the feel of Madoc’s hand coming down over and over on her bottom, she loved it even more when he stopped in between to caress her freshly-spanked asscheeks, just like he was doing right now.  Shayna let out a moan and spread her legs as far as the panties banded around her thighs would allow.  It was her little way of telling Madoc that she wanted him to touch her pussy.  Lucky for her, he was very good at knowing what she wanted in bed –

or wherever else they happened to make love – and this time was no different.  Slipping his hand between her legs, he gently ran his finger along the slick outer folds before sliding deep into her pussy.

“You’re very wet,” he said.  “Do you know that?”

Shayna moaned softly, unable to do more than that as her husband slowly moved his finger in and out of her pussy.

Then, all at once, Madoc slid his finger out.  Dismayed, Shayna opened her mouth to complain, but her husband gently took her arm and stood her on her feet before she could get the words out.  Any desire to protest disappeared when she saw him start to unbuckle his belt.  While she wouldn’t have minded some more foreplay, she was definitely ready to have him inside of her.  She was as aroused as she could possibly get.

Her pulse fluttering in anticipation, Shayna quickly pushed her panties down the rest of the way, and then stepping out of her sandals, climbed astride her husband where he sat on the bench, and slowly lowered herself onto Madoc’s hard cock.

He slid into her in one, smooth motion, and Shayna couldn’t stifle the moan of pleasure that escaped her lips even if she’d wanted to.  But as unbelievably good as his cock felt nestled deep within her, she knew it would be even better when she started to ride him.  With that in mind, she lowered her head to kiss him as she slowly and methodically began to rotate her hips.

Madoc slid his hands down her back and over her hips to cup her freshly-spanked ass.

Shayna gasped as he squeezed her cheeks, and then sighed against his mouth with pleasure as he began lifting her up and down.

Shayna began moaning out loud, not caring if anyone heard her.  She didn’t think it could get any better, but then Madoc tipped his head forward and began nuzzling her neck.  She hadn’t discovered it until after they’d gotten married, but her neck was one of her favorite erogenous zones.

She slid her hand into his hair, keeping him focused on her neck while she began to ride him like a wild woman.  The bench was a little hard on her knees, but she couldn’t care less as she felt the tip of his throbbing cock reaching into the very depths of her pussy.  Every time she came down on him, she swore she had a little mini-orgasm.

All at once, Madoc stopped nibbling on her neck and threw back his head to let loose his own groans of pleasure.

Obeying the urging of his hands on her hips, Shayna began to ride him even harder, completely exhilarated to be living out her wildest fantasy with the man she loved.

Shayna’s orgasm coursed through her then and as she screamed out her pleasure, she felt

Madoc’s cum explode hot and pulsing inside of her.  She continued to ride him until every last tremor of her climax had subsided.  Only then did she look around, checking to make sure that no one had pulled into the rest area while she and Madoc had been distracted.  Luckily, no one was around.

Sliding his hand into her long hair, Madoc pulled her down for a kiss.  “You’re completely amazing, do you know that?” he said against her mouth as he kissed her again.

All Shayna could do was laugh, giddy at what they had just done.

As she and Madoc walked hand-in-hand down to the parking lot afterward, Shayna found herself hoping the Cutler ranch was as big as her husband said, because there was no way she could go two weeks without another spanking.  Surely there had to be someplace she and Madoc could slip off to so they could get in a spanking now and then.

CHAPTER TWO

About an hour outside of Fort Worth, the ranch was even bigger than Shayna had imagined, with acres and acres of land, a huge barn, and a beautiful two-story house.  Since

Riley and Cade had flown down from Seattle the night before, the couple had already settled in by the time Shayna and Madoc arrived that evening, and they immediately came out to greet them when she and Madoc pulled into the driveway.  Madoc’s parents, Arlene and John Cutler, were right behind their son and daughter-in-law, and as soon as Shayna got out of the SUV, she immediately found herself enveloped in a welcoming hug from each of her in-laws.

“It’s so good to see you again, my dear,” Arlene Cutler said, pulling away to gaze down at Shayna.  Dressed in jeans and a western shirt, she was tall and slender with graying hair that she wore in a smart-looking bob.  She also had the same intriguing golden brown eyes as her sons, Shayna noted.  “How was the trip?  You’re not too sore from such a long drive, I hope.”

Over by his brother, Madoc chuckled and Shayna felt herself blush, knowing exactly what he found so amusing.  While she definitely wasn’t sore from the drive, her bottom was still a little tender from that very thorough spanking her husband had given her at the rest area.  She always felt the effects of a good, firm spanking more when Madoc didn’t give her a warm-up first, she thought.  Not that she was complaining, of course.  It had been an incredibly sexy spanking and she would definitely remember it as one of her favorites for a long time to come.

She had to stifle a giggle as a naughty, little thought suddenly popped into her head.  Maybe she should tell them that it wasn’t the drive that had her sore, but the spanking Madoc had given her that still had her bottom tender four-hundred miles later!  Then again, maybe not.

“Nope, not sore at all.  The drive was great,” she said, giving the older woman a smile.

“Though it’s good to finally be here.  The ranch is absolutely beautiful.  I can see why Madoc loves it so much.”

“Just wait until the boys show you girls around,” John Cutler said.  “You’re going to love it here as much as they do.”

Though in his sixties, the retired U.S. Marshal stood as straight and tall as his sons, and with his angular jaw and handsome features, it was easy to see where Madoc and Cade got their rugged good looks.

“Why don’t we go inside so you and Madoc can get settled into your room,” Arlene suggested.  “Dinner’s just about ready to be put on the table, and we can all sit down and catch up.”

Cade and John offered to help Madoc with the luggage while Shayna and the other two women started toward the house.

“Whoa,” she heard Cade remark as Madoc opened up the back of their SUV.  “Think you and Shayna could have brought any more luggage?  You’re only staying for two weeks, you know.”

Madoc chuckled, but his reply was lost as he leaned into the SUV to begin unloading the bags.  Whatever he’d said, it must have been funny though, Shayna thought, because both Cade and his father laughed.

“Men,” Arlene scoffed as she led the way onto the big wrap around porch and into the house.  “They think that just because they can get by on a change of underwear and a toothbrush, we women can too!”

Shayna and Riley both laughed.  That was definitely true, Shayna thought.  But while

Madoc liked to complain about all her clothes, he certainly didn’t seem to mind when she came to bed wearing all kinds of sexy lingerie and super high-heels.  Not that she kept any of it on for very long, she thought with a smile.

“I would have brought more myself,” Riley said.  “I think the real reason Cade wanted to fly instead of drive is because the airlines limit how much luggage you can take.”

“I heard that!” Cade called, as he, Madoc, and their father started up the walk, suitcases in hand.

Inside, the big ranch house was just as beautiful and inviting as the outside, and Shayna immediately felt at home as she stepped into the huge entryway.  Off to the left was a spacious living room, while on the other side was a formal dining room and eat-in kitchen.  There was also a hallway straight ahead that looked like it led to a family room, and Shayna was just able to catch a glimpse of the pool through the French doors.  The water looked so tempting that she almost wished she could take a dip before dinner.

The upstairs guest rooms were beautifully decorated in the same southwest style as the rest of the house, Shayna noted as she and Madoc dropped their bags off.  The room was dominated by the big, four-poster bed and she could already imagine the fun she and Madoc were going to have in it.  The bed was so high off the floor that she could probably bend over it and have her bottom be at the perfect height for a spanking, she thought.  Too bad they didn’t have time before dinner to try it out now!

As they made their way back downstairs a moment later, her husband gave the hand he was holding a tug, pulling her closer to his side.

“That spanking I gave you back at the rest area might not have to tide you over until we go home after all,” he said softly.  “My parents’ room is way at the other end of the hallway from ours.”

Shayna felt her pulse skip a beat at the mention of a spanking.  Had he read her mind?

“What about Riley and Cade?  Aren’t they right down the hall?”

Madoc shrugged.  “Yeah, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that.  The walls are too thick for my brother and Riley would hear anything coming from our room.”

That was probably true, Shayna thought.  And anyway, she was sure she and Madoc could improvise if they had to.  After all, the ranch was huge.  They weren’t limited to the bedroom.  There had to be lots of different places where her husband could spank her that were more private.  Just thinking about the possibilities had her tingling all over.

When they went back downstairs, Madoc’s parents gave them a tour of the house before leading them outside to the patio.  Riley and Cade were already seated at the big, round table near the pool and Shayna’s eyes widened a little at the array of food on the table.  There was easily enough to feed a small army.  Her mother-in-law must have spent the better part of the day in the kitchen!

As they filled their plates a few minutes later, Madoc asked his father how things had been going on the ranch.  Never having actually been on a ranch before, Shayna was amazed as her father-in-law described all the work that went into one.  She had just naturally assumed the ranch was more of a hobby for the retired Marshal, but she discovered that it was a full-time working cattle ranch.

“Dad was telling me earlier that none of this season’s calves have been branded yet,”

Cade said, looking at Madoc.  “I told him we’d give him a hand.”

Madoc helped himself to another baked potato.  “Sounds good,” he said, and then glanced at Shayna.  “What do you think, babe?  Want to help?”

Shayna eyed him over the rim of her water glass.  “You’re kidding, right?  Why would I

want to help hurt those poor baby cows?”

Her husband chuckled.  “It doesn’t really hurt them.  Besides, I’m sure Riley’s going to help, right?” he said, glancing at the other girl.

Shayna looked at Riley to see the other girl shaking her head, obviously as disgusted by the idea as she was.  Beside his wife, Cade looked amused, as did his father.

“Okay, you two,” Arlene said.  “Stop teasing your poor wives.”  She looked at the two girls.  “We don’t brand cattle like that anymore.  We put tags in their ears with something that looks a lot like the tool used to pierce your ears.  Of course, the guys still like to call it branding because they think it sounds more manly than admitting that they’re out piercing ears like an eighteen-year-old girl at the mall.”

“It’s still manly,” Cade insisted.  “It’s tough to hold down a two-hundred pound calf while you poke a hole in his ear.”

Riley was still shaking her head.  “I don’t care either way.  I don’t want to see it.”

“Aw, come on,” Cade cajoled.  “It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah,” Madoc added.  “We’ll even teach you how to rope the calves yourselves.”

Arlene scowled at the men.  “That’s enough, you two.  I’m sure Shayna and Riley would much rather go into town and do some sightseeing than stay here and brand a couple hundred cattle.  Wouldn’t you, girls?”

At the relieved look on both of their faces, Arlene smiled.  “That’s what I thought,” she said, and then proceeded to tell them about all the things they could see in the area.

While some of the tourist attractions sounded like fun, Shayna had to admit she was more interested in doing some shopping.  Across the table from her, Riley agreed, saying she heard there were some excellent shops in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards.  Arlene agreed, telling them how the old stockyards had been converted into a shopping and entertainment district.

Mention of the stockyards got the men’s attention and John suggested they should all go see a rodeo down there while they were in town.  Shayna had never been to a rodeo before, but she agreed that it sounded like fun, as did Riley.

“I read that you can watch them herd longhorn cattle down the main street of the stockyards every day,” the blond girl said.  “Is that true?”

“Sure is,” John said.  “In the early days, Fort Worth used to be a stopover point for the cattle herds as the drovers moved them north towards Kansas and the railroads.  Later, as Fort

Worth continued to grow, the stockyards changed from being just a stopover to being the actual destination for people bringing livestock in from all over the west.  Cattle and other livestock were bought and sold and transported right out of the stockyards.  They do the cattle drive through the main street just to show people what Fort Worth looked like in the 1800’s.”

Shayna stirred cream and sugar in her coffee.  “How interesting.  I didn’t realize Fort

Worth was quite that historic.”

“This area has quite a lot of history behind it,” her father-in-law explained.  “There’re all kinds of small museums and historic landmarks that talk about everything from agricultural inventions to fights with the local Indian tribes.  And of course, there’s the legend of the

Confederate gold.”

Madoc and Cade both let out a groan at that.

“Dad, not that story again,” the younger Cutler brother said.  “Please.”

“What story?” Riley said, eagerly leaning forward in her chair.

Madoc sipped his coffee.  “Supposedly, there was a shipment of payroll gold headed north toward the end of the Civil War.  Unfortunately for the men transporting the gold, the

Confederates surrendered before delivery could be made.  The men had no choice but to turn around and try to bring the gold back.  However, no one knew what to do with it, so folklore says that in a desperate move to keep the Union forces from getting their hands on it, the men buried it somewhere near here.  The theory was that the gold would be needed when the South rose up again, but that never happened and everyone apparently lost track of where the gold was buried.”

“Of course, it’s all a complete crock,” Cade added.  “People have been searching for that gold for a hundred years and no one’s found even a clue.”

“Just because no one’s ever found it doesn’t mean it isn’t there, son,” Arlene said.

Cade snorted.  “Don’t you think someone would have found it by now if it did exist?

Hell, Madoc and I spent practically every summer looking for it when we were kids.”

Shayna looked at her husband in surprise.  “You did?  That must have been fun.”

Madoc’s mouth quirked.  “More like a waste of time.”

“Do the stores in Riverville still sell those phony treasure maps claiming to be able to lead you to the gold like they did back when we were kids?” Cade asked, pouring more coffee for both Riley and himself before asking if anyone else wanted some more.

His father nodded.  “Of course.  You can find them everywhere.  Even at the general store.”

“We should get one,” Riley said, her blue eyes bright with excitement.

Cade sipped his coffee.  “You’ll only be wasting your time.”

Riley shrugged.  “So what?  It sounds like fun.”  She turned her attention to Shayna.

“What do you think?  Are you up for a little exploring?”

Shayna couldn’t help but smile at the other girl’s enthusiasm.  Hunting for buried treasure actually did sound like fun, no matter what the guys thought.  “I’m in,” she said.

“It’s settled then,” Riley said.  “We’ll go into town tomorrow and get one of those maps.”

Madoc leaned forward to rest his forearms on the table.  “Just make sure you girls take some time to look at a real map first.  There are a few areas to the north of here you need to stay away from,” he warned.  “They’re not always marked on those silly treasure maps, but they’re federal property that’s been leased out to various corporations for the purpose of strip mining.

Those companies can be more than a little territorial when it comes to their leased property and they definitely don’t appreciate trespassers.”

Both Shayna and Riley agreed that they would be careful and stay away from those areas.

Even so, Shayna couldn’t help but think that looking for the gold was actually going to be a lot of fun.

CHAPTER THREE

While Riley and Shayna didn’t have any intention of helping tag the calves, neither of them minded sitting on the fence and watching their sexy husbands work up a sweat as they herded the animals into the corral the next morning.  While Cade usually wore jeans and a button-up shirt on his days off, Riley had never seen him in a cowboy hat before, but just seeing him in the Stetson with his shirt off had her temperature rising in a way that had nothing to do with the Texas heat.  Beside her, Riley noticed Shayna was eyeing Madoc with the same lusty look, and she couldn’t help but smile.  Who knew jeans and a cowboy hat could be so darn sexy?

Then again, Riley thought, the brothers would probably look sexy in anything.

After getting the first group of calves into the corral, Cade and Madoc made their way over to where Riley and Shayna were perched on the fence.

“You sure you girls don’t want to stay and help us with the tagging instead of going into

Fort Worth today?” Cade asked, giving Riley a teasing grin.

Riley exchanged a look with her sister-in-law.  “We’re sure,” she laughed.

“Okay, but you’re going to miss out on all the fun,” Madoc told them.

“Yeah, after we get done with the tagging, we thought we’d go out and do a few fence repairs, then come back and shoe some horses,” Cade added.

Shayna laughed.  “That sounds like so much fun, but I think we’ll pass.  Thanks anyway.”

Cade and Madoc both chuckled at that, making Riley think the two men had been teasing them.  Before she could call her husband on it, however, he closed his mouth over hers in a kiss.

“Have fun shopping,” he told her when he finally lifted his head.  “And be careful.”

“We will,” Riley promised even as Shayna told Madoc the same thing.

After another lingering kiss from their husbands, Riley and Shayna hopped down from the fence and walked back to the house to grab their purses.  They had asked Arlene over breakfast if she wanted to join them, but the older woman had declined, saying she was going to be busy all day.

It took about an hour to drive to Fort Worth, but it seemed much less than that, Riley thought, mainly because she and Shayna spent the whole time talking.  Though she and the other girl had grown up in different parts of the country, they were close enough in age to have a lot in common, and as Riley had suspected, they hit it off great.

Of course, most of their conversation centered on Cade and Madoc. It was amazing how alike the two men were, Riley thought.  The brothers didn’t realize it, but they were almost carbon copies of each other.  Besides both of them being U.S. Marshals, they both also loved the outdoors, liked the same kind of movies, ate the same kind of foods, and had even fallen for the same type of independent, outgoing girl.

Since their husbands wanted to take them sightseeing, Riley and Shayna concentrated their focus on shopping, something they knew neither of the men would care to do anyway.

Their main priority was finding shoes for Riley to wear to the anniversary party, so they made sure to stop at every shoe store in the popular shopping area of University Village.  As it turned out, Riley quickly found a cute pair of strappy high-heeled sandals that would go perfectly with

her dress.  But she also found the most gorgeous pair of cowboy boots, and though they were a bit on the pricey side even on sale, once she tried them on, she couldn’t resist buying them.  It just didn’t seem right to come to Texas and not buy a pair of cowboy boots, she told herself.

Shayna apparently agreed because she bought a pair as well.

After a light lunch, the two women did some more shopping in Fort Worth before deciding to head back to the ranch.  On the way, they stopped in Riverville, the small town near the ranch that John Cutler had mentioned to them the night before at dinner.

Finding parking on the main street was easy and Riley and Shayna took their time wandering around the small town.  Though nowhere near as big as Fort Worth, Riverville had quite a few quaint, little shops that piqued both their interests.

Remembering the general store Cade had talked about, she and Shayna made it a point to stop there.  Though designed to resemble the general stores of the old west, it sold modern goods, including the usual tourist stuff like magnets, shot glasses, and T-shirts.  While Shayna looked for a magnet to add to her collection, Riley browsed through the other things for sale up at the counter.  Her gaze immediately fell on the stack of treasure maps and she eagerly picked one up.

“Look what I found,” she said, holding it up so that her sister-in-law could see.  “Want to get it?”

Shayna glanced up from the magnets, her eyes lighting up when she saw the map.

“Definitely!”

Thrilled that the other girl was up for an adventure, Riley handed it over to the elderly

Mexican man behind the counter just as Shayna came over with her magnet.

“So,” he said in slightly accented English as he regarded them with kind, dark eyes.

“You are going to hunt for the treasure.”

Riley smiled.  “Yes.”

The old Mexican ran his boney fingers over the piece of vellum, smoothing the edge that had curled.  “This map was taken from the original,” he said.  “It is authentic.”

Riley doubted that, but she smiled at the old man nonetheless.  Though she knew Cade and Madoc were probably right and there was no gold to be found, Riley also knew she and

Shayna would have tons of fun looking for it anyway.  Hunting for treasure was just a good reason to get out and go horseback riding.

When they got back to the ranch that evening, Madoc was just coming in from the barn and he offered to help carry their shopping bags into the house.

“Where’s Cade?” Riley asked as they stepped into the entryway.

“Still outside in the barn,” her brother-in-law answered and then glanced at Shayna.  “Do all these go upstairs?” he asked, referring to the shopping bags in his hands.

Shayna nodded.  “Yes, but I want to show your mother what I bought before we take them up.”  She looked at Riley.  “Are you going to come show Arlene what you bought?”

Riley thought a moment, her lips curving into a smile as an idea came to her.  “Actually, I

think I’ll go put on my boots so I can model them for Cade first.”

While she really did think that was the best way to show off her new cowboy boots, Riley had an ulterior motive as well.  When Cade saw she had bought a pair of boots in addition to the shoes she’d specifically went to the store to buy, he would surely think a spanking was called for.  At least, she hoped he would.  And the barn would be a perfect place to get one!

Her pulse fluttering at the possibility of getting a spanking, Riley hurried upstairs to the guest room to change.  Kicking off her sandals, she shimmied out of the shorts she was wearing

and into the flirty suede mini-skirt she’d bought.  Pulling on her new boots, she ran a brush through her long, blond hair, then surveyed her reflection in the full-length mirror, turning first one way and then the other.  Paired with the tank top she wore, the skirt and cowboy boots showed off her long legs perfectly.  Cade would take one look at her and be unable to resist putting her over his knee, she thought with a smile.

Cade was in one of the empty stalls when she walked into the barn a few minutes later.

At her entrance, he glanced up from what he was doing, only to do a double take when he saw how she was dressed.  He let out a low whistle.

“Wow, do you look hot,” he said.  “How come I’ve never seen you in those boots before?”

She walked over to where he stood, adding a little extra wiggle to her hips as she did so.

“Because I just bought them today.”

Cade lifted a brow.  “I thought you went shopping for shoes.”

Riley shrugged.  “Oh, I did, but then I saw these boots and I just couldn’t resist.  And they go so great with this new skirt, don’t you think?”

His golden brown eyes lingered on her legs for a moment.  “They do,” he agreed.  “But that doesn’t mean you should have bought them.  I guess you didn’t learn anything from that spanking I gave you on the plane, did you?”

Riley’s pulse quickened at the mention of a spanking.  Her husband was so good at playing this game, she thought.  “But honey,” she protested.  “I can’t come all the way to Texas and not buy a pair of cowboy boots.”

Cade set the hay fork he’d been holding aside.  “That’s fine.  As long as you realize it’s going to get you another spanking.”

She formed her lips into a pout, but before she could say anything, her husband took her hand and led her over to the stack of hay bales in one of the other stalls.

“You can’t spank me here!” she complained, knowing her protests were all part of the game.

He turned to face her, an amused expression on his handsome face.  “Why not?  All the hands have already left for the day and we have much more privacy here than we would up at the house.”

Riley almost smiled.  That was exactly what she had been thinking.  But still while the barn provided privacy, there was also the possibility of someone walking in and catching them.

For some reason, that only made the whole idea of getting spanked there even more arousing.

The thought of the spanking she was about to get already had her pussy purring!

“Okay,” she agreed.  “But don’t spank me too hard.”

Her husband chuckled.  “No harder than you deserve, sweetheart.”

She gave Cade another pout, but didn’t protest when he sat down on a bale of hay and gently guided her over his knee.  While it certainly wasn’t the best part of the spanking, there was something very exciting about being put over her husband’s knee.  Maybe it was the feel of his firm hand on the small her back, she thought.  Or maybe it was the way he rested his other hand on her upturned bottom.  Or maybe it was simply the anticipation of that first spank.

Whatever it was, it always made her pulse flutter wildly.

Thinking this would be a quickie spanking like the one he’d given her on the plane, Riley expected Cade to lift her skirt, pull down her panties, and start right in on her bare bottom, but she was surprised when he caressed her bottom through her skirt instead.

“This is the second time this week I’ve had to spank you for buying a pair of shoes without permission, sweetheart,” he said.  “I think your shoe habit is getting a little out of control, don’t you?”

Riley squirmed on his lap; the mock scolding Cade was giving her was as much of a turn-

on as the spanking that would soon accompany it.

Without warning, his hand suddenly came down on her ass with a sharp, resounding smack.   She jumped, letting out a startled, little yelp.

“Don’t you?” he prompted again, giving her another smack.

“Owwww!” she squealed.  “Not really, no.  As I tend to remember, I never agreed to that whole ask-you-for-permission-to-buy-shoes thing.”

That earned her another half dozen spanks.  “Oh, really?  You don’t remember the conversation we had where you asked me to help you get control of your shoe buying fetish?  I

agreed because your side of the closet is already filled to capacity.”  He paused long enough to administer several more firm smacks to each cheek.  “I’m not sure you even have room for these boots.”

She shrugged, as much as she could shrug while hanging upside down over her husband’s knee.  Even though the spanks stung, she couldn’t resist provoking him further.  “I’ll just put them on your side of the closet then.”

Above her, Cade chuckled.  “Ten extra for being so saucy,” he told her.

Riley looked over her shoulder to stick her tongue out at him.

“Make it twenty,” he said.

Though she gave him a pout, Riley couldn’t help but smile at their light banter as she turned back around to focus her gaze on the hay-strewn floor.  The hand that came down on her bottom was anything but light, however, and she squirmed and yelped as he applied a series of stinging smacks to her entire bottom.

“Owwwww!” she protested.  “Honey, what about my warm-up.”

“This is your warm-up,” he replied, pushing up her skirt.  “I’m just getting started.”

A moment later, his hand was coming down on her panty-covered bottom.  He moved with a steady rhythm, smacking first one cheek, and then the other until her asscheeks felt hot all over.  Only then did he pull down her panties.

Riley held her breath in anticipation as she waited for the spanking to continue, but again

Cade surprised her by cupping her ass and giving it a firm squeeze.  Her skin tingled where his hand touched and Riley moaned.

“So, how much did these boots cost, sweetheart?” Cade asked softly.

Riley was so caught up in what he was doing with his hand that she barely heard him speak.  She lifted her head to look at him over her shoulder.  “Wh-what?”

Cade regarded her with an amused expression.  “How much did you pay for the boots?”

The question took her by surprise and she had to think before answering.  “A hundred-

and-twenty-five dollars,” she said.

If her husband was surprised at the dollar amount, he gave no indication of it.  Instead, he simply nodded.  “Then I think a hundred-and-twenty-five spanks would be fair, don’t you?”

Riley blinked at the number.  Though it sounded high, she was sure Cade gave her that many and much more whenever he spanked her, but still....

Before she could reply, however, Cade lifted his hand and brought it down hard on her right cheek.

“One,” he announced.

Was he really going to count out each and every spank? Riley wondered even as his hand connected with the opposite cheek.

“Two,” he said.

Cade continued spanking her like that, counting each smack as his hand came down on first one cheek and then the other.  And while Riley loved every minute of the spanking, she still squirmed and squealed, not to mention kicked her booted feet liked crazy whenever his hand connected with the tender area of her sit-spots.

Ouch!

“One-hundred-twenty-four and one-hundred-twenty-five,” Cade announced, finishing up with two very hard smacks on her bare bottom.

Riley lay limply across her husband’s strong thighs.  Thank goodness the boots had been on sale, she thought as he gently rubbed her throbbing asscheeks, because she wasn’t sure if her poor bottom could have taken it if she’d had to pay full price.  God, she loved sales!

But even if her bottom was throbbing, she had to admit that she’d just gotten an absolutely wonderful spanking!  She was just about to tell Cade as much when he took her arm and gently stood her on her feet.  Riley immediately began to reach back to cup her bottom, but before she could, her husband scooped her up in his arms and deposited her on the bales of hay stacked beside the one on which he’d been sitting.  Riley squealed in protest as her freshly-

spanked asscheeks made contact with the rough, scratchy hay, but she quickly forgot all about her tender bottom when she saw her husband unbuckling his belt.

Her blue eyes went wide.  “Honey, we can’t!  Someone could come in!”

Cade grinned down at her.  “No they won’t,” he said as he went to work on the buttons of his jeans.  “There’s this unwritten rule on a ranch.  If the barn’s rockin’, then don’t come knockin’.”

Riley couldn’t help but laugh.  “You’re making that up,” she said.

“Maybe,” he chuckled.

As he spoke, Cade pushed down his jeans and Riley barely had a chance to catch a glimpse of his hard cock before he put a hand beneath each of her legs and gently raised them in the air so that she was in a V-position.  A moment later he was sliding into her wet pussy.

Riley gasped as she felt him fill her, only to let out a little moan as her tender asscheeks rubbed against the scratchy hay when he began to thrust.  But as much as her bottom might want to protest, having Cade’s hard cock moving inside her was so good that she couldn’t concentrate on anything but how wonderful it felt.  If anything, the tingling in her bottom seemed to add to her pleasure!

She leaned back against the hay bale behind her as Cade spread her legs wider and began to thrust even more deeply.  The position allowed the tip of his cock to come into contact with her G-spot on every thrust and she couldn’t control the moans that escaped from her lips.  God, this felt so good!  It definitely didn’t hurt that Cade’s thrusts were making her tender bottom press against the rough hay bale each time he drove into her; it almost made it feel like she was still getting spanked!

Riley could only imagine that the position was just as good for Cade.  Not only did having her legs stretched out like this make her pussy extremely tight, but she also suspected that the view of his cock sliding in and out of her was incredibly arousing, too.

She would have liked the sex to have gone on and on forever, but the combination of so many sexual sensations was too much for her.  Fulfilling the fantasy of having sex in the barn, the feel of the hay on her tender bottom, not to mention what his cock was doing to her all served to push her over the edge within moments.  Riley couldn’t have held back her orgasm even if

she’d wanted to and she screamed out with pleasure as she came harder than she thought she’d ever had.  Just as her orgasm was starting to diminish, Cade threw back his head back and groaned as his own climax surged through him.  His extra-hard thrusts only served to catapult her into a second orgasm and she relished the sensation of coming along with him.

Afterward, Cade let her legs relax and Riley automatically wrapped them around him, pulling him in close even as he leaned forward to claim her lips in a searing kiss.

“My bottom is terribly tender, you know,” she complained softly as she smoothed her skirt over her panties a few minutes later.

Cade’s mouth quirked.  “Then maybe you’ll think twice before you buy another new pair of shoes,” he said as he buttoned his jeans.

When Riley gave him a pout, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her again.  “These boots really do look sexy on you, you know.”

Riley laughed as she felt a blush rise to her face.  While her new cowboy boots did have the desired effect, she thought as they walked back to the house, her bottom was so sore that she didn’t know how she was going to manage to sit through dinner.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Do you think your brother spanks Riley?” Shayna asked Madoc as they were getting dressed the next morning.

Her husband stopped in the act of buttoning his shirt to look at her in surprise.  “Cade?

You’re kidding right?”

She shrugged.  “Riley was fidgeting around in her seat the whole time we were having dinner last night,” she pointed out as she pulled her long, dark hair up into a ponytail and secured it with a cloth-covered elastic. “And I’m sure she got into trouble for buying those expensive boots.”

Madoc shook his head.  “No way would my brother ever give his wife a spanking.  He’s too uptight.  The closest he probably comes to being adventurous in the bedroom is leaving the lights on.”

Though Shayna doubted Riley and Cade’s sex life was as boring as her husband made it out to be, she couldn’t help but laugh anyway.  Having been spanked quite often since meeting

Madoc, Shayna recognized the signs of a tender bottom when she saw one, and Riley looked like hers had definitely been tender last night.  But since Shayna couldn’t very well come out and ask her sister-in-law if Cade spanked her, she supposed she would just have to continue to wonder.

Over breakfast, Arlene asked what everyone planned on doing that day.  Madoc said that since Shayna and Riley wanted to start searching for the Confederate gold, he and Cade were going to ride down to the southern end of the property and help the ranch hands mend some of the fences there.

“Just remember, stay away from that mining property we told you about,” Cade warned.

“We will,” Riley promised.

After taking a closer look at the map with Riley after breakfast, however, Shayna saw that there was a big X just to the north of the Cutler ranch, specifically in the area that both men had told them to stay away from.  When she pointed it out to Riley, though, the other girl just shrugged.

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” she said.  “Besides, we’ll stay away from anything marked private property.”

Shayna supposed her sister-in-law was right.  Madoc and Cade had no interest in looking for the buried treasure, and therefore no interest in the map, she reasoned.  The only way their husbands would find out what they’d been up to was if she or Riley told them, which they wouldn’t.  Unless they found the Confederate gold, of course.  Shayna couldn’t help but smile at that.

Yeah, right.

Madoc and Cade already had horses saddled and waiting for them when she and Riley walked out to the barn a little while later.  Shayna hadn’t ridden for years, but she’d taken riding lessons when she was a kid, and she climbed into the saddle eagerly.  Of course, the guys had picked out really sweet horses for them to ride.  She and Riley wouldn’t have any problem at all.

“Be careful,” Madoc told her.

“We will,” she said, leaning down to give him a kiss.

Even though the map didn’t have any modern landmarks on it, it would still be easy to get to the location of the supposed treasure.  If she and Riley kept an eye on the land formations as they rode north, they should have no problem.  According to the map, there was a big river

that split into two smaller streams right near the location where the treasure was thought to be.

All they had to do was find the river, and then follow it until they came to the part where it branched off.

Even if the treasure hunt was a wild goose chase, the ride was certainly worth it.  The

Texas countryside was beautiful, Shayna thought.  In fact, it reminded her a lot of the area where she’d grown up in Colorado.

“I think we’re supposed to head in that direction,” Riley said, urging her mare alongside

Shayna’s to show her the map.

Shayna studied the map for a moment before lifting her gaze to survey their surroundings.  According to the map, the big river should be somewhere on the other side of that hill up ahead.

Urging their horses forward, she and Riley rode in that direction.  When they got to the top of the hill, however, they found that the river was a whole lot bigger than it looked on the map.  Shayna realized they would have to cross over it at some point to get to the X on the map, but they sure as heck couldn’t do it here.

“What’s that?” Riley asked.

Shayna turned her attention away from the river to look in the direction her friend was pointing.  In the distance on the other side of the river, she could see a big cloud of dust being kicked up.  She was just able to make out several trucks and a bulldozer, as well as a lot of men moving around.  She and Riley were too far away to see what the men were doing, however.

“They must be doing some mining,” she told Riley.

Riley agreed that there was no way they could traverse the river right there, especially since they didn’t want to attract the attention of the men working on the mining property.  With that in mind, they decided it would be better to ride parallel to it until they found the fork in the river.  Hopefully, it would be shallow enough to cross there, Shayna thought.

They had been riding for ten minutes or so when Shayna spotted something wedged in the branches of a fallen tree on the far side of the river.  A quick glance in Riley’s direction told her the blond girl had seen it, too.  Something about the shape made Shayna think it was definitely out of place.

“What is that, do you think?” Shayna asked.

Riley shook her head.  “I don’t know.  Let’s go see.”

Curious, they urged their horses forward toward the riverbank, only to both come to an abrupt halt.

“Oh God,” Shayna breathed.  “Is that what I think it is?”

Beside her, Riley was standing up in her stirrups, trying to get a better look.  “I think you’re right,” she said after a moment.  “It’s a person.”

Shayna swallowed hard.  “Do you think he’s alive?”

Riley sat down in her saddle, but said nothing for a moment.  Then she shook her head.

“I don’t think so.  He’s facedown and that looks like blood on the back of his shirt.”

Shayna chewed on her lower lip, wondering if they should check anyway, but then decided that the other girl was right.  “Do you think we should try to go out there and get him?”

“No way,” Riley said.  “That river’s moving too fast.  We’d be risking our own lives trying to get to him.”

Shayna silently agreed.  “Then we have no choice.  We have to go back and tell Madoc and Cade.”

She didn’t really want to do that, especially considering how much trouble it was going to her and Riley into, but what could they do?  They couldn’t just leave the guy there.

Abruptly remembering that her husband and brother-in-law had gone to the mend some fences on the opposite side of the ranch, Shayna was afraid Madoc and Cade would still be out, but to her relief, both men were in the barn when she and the other girl rode into the stable.

From the looks of it, they’d just gotten back, too.

“Thank God you’re here,” Shayna said, still breathing hard from the long ride back.  Not bothering to dismount, she explained about the body she and Riley had seen floating in the river.

Madoc’s brow furrowed as he exchanged a look with his brother.  “Are you sure it was a body you saw?” he asked dubiously.

Shayna was taken aback by the question.  “Yes, we’re sure,” she said.  “It was a man and he was floating facedown in the river.  We even saw the blood.”

Madoc exchanged a look with his brother again.

“Aren’t you going to call the cops or the sheriff or something?” Riley demanded when neither man said anything.

“Why don’t we ride up there with you and take a look first before we go calling in the sheriff,” Cade suggested.

Madoc and Cade didn’t believe them, Shayna realized.  What did they think, that she and

Riley were making it up?  Rather than argue about it though, she and the other girl waited impatiently while their husbands mounted their horses.

By the time they rode back up to the river, however, the body they’d seen floating in it was nowhere to be found, much to Shayna’s consternation.

“Well?” Cade asked, looking at the two girls.  “Where is it?”

Riley frowned.  “I don’t know, but he was here.  Shayna and I both saw him.  He was wedged up against that tree over there.”

“Maybe he came loose and floated downstream,” Shayna suggested.

The brothers exchanged looks, but said nothing as they urged their mounts in that direction.  As she and Riley followed, Shayna expected to come upon the man’s body at any moment, but to her surprise, it wasn’t anywhere.  After half a mile or so, the two men brought their horses to a halt.

“There’s nothing here,” Cade said.  “And a body wouldn’t have made it past this part of the river with all of these rocks.”

“Well, he couldn’t have just disappeared,” Riley insisted.  “We didn’t just make it up, you know.”

Cade sighed.  “We’re not saying that you did.  We’re just saying that maybe you were confused about what you saw.  Things floating in the water can take on all kinds of shapes.”

Riley glared at her husband.  “We know what we saw, Cade.”

Shayna saw Madoc’s mouth tighten.  “Maybe,” he agreed.  “But you girls weren’t even supposed to be up here anyway.  Cade and I specifically told you that you weren’t to go near this area.”

Shayna glanced at her sister-in-law and saw the other girl’s face turn red.  “We didn’t realize we’d ridden up this far, I guess,” she told her husband.

Madoc scowled.  “You didn’t see the sign back there that said this was a restricted area and to keep out?”

“We must have missed it,” Shayna mumbled.

Madoc shook his head.  “Let’s just go back to the house.”

Shayna groaned inwardly.  She recognized that look all right.  It meant she was in for a spanking.  And not the fun kind, either.

They rode back to the ranch in silence.  Once in the barn, Shayna took her time getting the mare she’d ridden cooled down and back into her stall.  She dawdled over giving the horse fresh food and water, and was just finishing up when Madoc came over.

“In the house,” he growled softly in her ear.  “Now.”

Shayna glared at her husband, but said nothing.  As much as she wanted to refuse, she didn’t want to make a scene in front of Riley and Cade, or the ranch hands for that matter.  Once up in the bedroom, however, she rounded on Madoc as soon as the door was closed.

“I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this,” she said sullenly.

Madoc’s brows drew together.  “I’m making such a big deal out of it because if you and

Riley had gotten caught trespassing on federal property, Cade and I would be bailing you out of jail right now.”

She rolled her eyes.  “Don’t you think you’re exaggerating?”

“No, I don’t,” he said.  “Trespassing on federal property is a serious offense around here, Shayna.  And considering what a horrible experience being in jail was for you before, I wouldn’t think you’d be in any hurry to go back.”

That gave Shayna pause and she shivered at the reminder.  “What if I tell you that Riley and I won’t go back up there again?” she asked in a small voice.

“I’d think you were trying to talk me out of giving you a spanking,” he growled.  “Now, are you going to take your jeans off or should I?”

Shayna didn’t move, torn between trying to talk her way out the spanking some more and doing what he’d asked.  When her husband had his mind set on spanking her for doing something, there was no talking him out of it, so she might as well just give in and accept her spanking.  Besides, she probably did deserve one.

Taking off her boots, she dropped them on the carpeted floor, then unbuttoned her snug-

fitting jeans and wiggled out of them.  She wondered if she should take off her panties, too, but then decided against it.  While she was sure they’d be coming down at some point during the spanking, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of doing all the work herself.

While she had been undressing, Madoc had taken a seat on the bench at the foot of the bed and was now looking at her expectantly.  “Over my knee,” he said.

His voice was soft, but still commanding, and Shayna found that she had no choice but to obey.  Her pulse fluttering, she slowly walked across the room to where Madoc was sitting, but once she got there, she hesitated.  She had draped herself over his knee dozens of times, of course, but there was something so embarrassing about doing it for a bad-girl spanking.

When she continued to stand there, Madoc lifted a brow.  “Shayna?”

Her face coloring, Shayna took a deep breath and obediently draped herself over his knee.

Madoc immediately placed one hand on the small of her back to hold her there; he rested the other lightly on her panty-covered bottom.

“Ready?” Madoc asked.

Wordlessly, Shayna nodded her head.

A moment later, he lifted his hand and brought it down with a sharp smack on her right cheek.  He could at least give her a warm-up first, Shayna thought as she let out a little yelp.

Madoc, of course, ignored her protest, delivering a firm smack to the opposite cheek.  He went back and forth like that, spanking first one cheek, and then the other until her bottom felt hot all over.  And he hadn’t even taken down her panties yet!

As if reading her mind, Madoc stopped right then to abruptly pull down her panties.

Shayna lifted her head to look at him over her shoulder.  “Couldn’t you rub my bottom some in between?” she said, and then added in a small voice, “Please.”

Madoc lifted a brow, obviously aware she was trying to use her feminine powers of persuasion on him.  “I think you’re missing the point of this spanking.”

She thrust her lower lip out in a pout.  “But honey, it stings.”

“It’s supposed to,” he told her.  “How else are you going to remember to behave yourself and do as I tell you?”

Shayna gave him another pout, but turned back around to focus her attention on the floor again.  It was useless to argue with her husband about it, especially when she was over his knee.

When his hand came down on her bare ass a moment later Shayna had to bite her lip to stifle a yelp.

Ouch

, that stung, she thought, stifling another protest as he delivered a resounding smack, this time to her very sensitive sit-spot.

Each smack seemed harder than the one before it, and Shayna squirmed and kicked her feet for all she was worth.  She desperately tried to stifle her squeals, but every so often one would escape her lips.  God, she hoped no one could hear her.  She’d be mortified if someone figured out she’d gotten a spanking!

“Honey, please,” she begged.  “That really...owwwww!... stings!”

“Good,” he told her in between spanks.  “That way you won’t be tempted to go where you’re not supposed to the next time you’re out riding.  When I give you a warning to stay out of a certain place, I’m doing it for your own good.  I want to make sure you remember that.”

Shayna bit back another yelp as his hand connected with her ass again.  It felt like her poor bottom was on fire!  “I promised I wouldn’t go up there again,” she complained.

Madoc’s hand came down again.  “Then a couple of more smacks will make sure of that.”

A couple of more turned out to be twenty or so, though Shayna couldn’t be sure because she didn’t keep count.  But somewhere in the middle, an unusual, but familiar sound caught her attention.  Was that yelping she heard?  She strained her ears, stifling her own yelps as she tried to hear over the spanking Madoc was giving her.  But before she could figure out what she was hearing, her husband put her back on his feet and pulled her down to sit on his lap.

Shayna gasped as her freshly-spanked asscheeks came into contact with the rough material of his jeans.

Madoc gently brushed her hair back from her face.  “I’m serious about not going up there, Shayna,” he said softly.  “These strip-mining companies have been known to run people off their property with guns and I don’t want you getting hurt.  Promise me you won’t go up there again.  Shayna, are you listening to me?”

She dragged her gaze away from the door to look at him.  “What?  Yes, of course.”

But Shayna hadn’t been listening.  Instead, she’d been trying to figure out what those sounds were that she heard coming from down the hall.  If she didn’t know better, she’d think

Riley was getting a spanking, too!

Madoc gently slipped his fingers beneath her chin.  “Shayna, promise me you won’t go up there again.”

“I won’t,” she said softly.  “Promise.”

That seemed to satisfy her husband because he pulled her close for a kiss.  Even though

Shayna hooked her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, she still couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in the next room.

CHAPTER FIVE

Shayna and Madoc were already in the kitchen making lunch by the time Riley and Cade came downstairs a little while later.  Since Arlene and John were out for the day, it was just the four of them for lunch and Riley hoped that neither Shayna nor Madoc noticed she was sitting a bit gingerly.

Riley had known from the expression on her husband’s face that she would be getting a spanking when they got back to the ranch, but she’d still been a little surprised when Cade had taken her upstairs to their bedroom the minute they had finished cooling down the horses.

“But honey,” she’d protested.  “Your brother and Shayna are in the next room.”

Cade, however, hadn’t been dissuaded.  “Then you’ll have to keep your protests to a minimum, won’t you?”

Five minutes later, Riley was over his knee getting her bottom reddened.  She had really tried to do as Cade had suggested and keep her protests to a minimum, but she couldn’t help letting out the occasional squeal.  She only hoped Shayna and Madoc hadn’t heard.  God, that would be so embarrassing!

After lunch, the two girls decided to go into town to check out some of the shops they hadn’t gone into the day before.  As Riley pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, she glanced at Shayna.

“Madoc wasn’t too angry with you for going up there, was he?” she asked.  Though her brother-in-law hadn’t seemed upset at lunch, Madoc had looked furious when they’d gotten back to the barn earlier.

Beside her, Shayna shook her head.  “No, he was just worried about me,” she said.  “How about Cade?  Was he very mad?”

Riley turned her gaze back to the road, afraid the other girl would see her blush.  “A little bit.  But he was more concerned than anything.”

They rode in silence for a little while before Riley spoke again.

“Contrary to what our husbands think, I know what we saw floating in the stream, Shayna.  It was a body,” she said.

Shayna shrugged.  “I agree with you, but what can we do about it?”

Riley thought a moment.  “Maybe we should go see the sheriff,” she finally said.  “He might be skeptical, but at least he’d be obligated to check it out.”

Shayna chewed on her lower lip, but said nothing.  Riley supposed it did seem odd to go talk to the sheriff since both of their husbands were in law enforcement, but what could they do when neither Cade nor Madoc believed them?  She was just about to point out as much to

Shayna when the other girl nodded her head in agreement.

The sheriff’s office was easy enough to find since it was across the street from the general store.  Finding a parking space, Riley and Shayna walked across the street and went inside.  At their entrance, the girl seated at the front desk looked up from her computer.  She was pretty with long, dark hair and big, brown eyes.  The nameplate on her desk read Rosalinda

Sanchez.

She gave them a smile.  “Can I help you?”

Riley returned the girl’s smile.  “We were hoping we could talk to the sheriff,” she said.

“Are you here to report a crime?” the girl asked.

Riley glanced at Shayna before answering.  “Maybe,” she said.

That earned her and Shayna a curious look from the girl behind the desk.  “If you’ll have a seat, I’ll tell him you’d like to speak with him,” she said, gesturing to the wooden bench opposite her desk.

Riley and Shayna did as the girl asked, but no sooner had they sat down than the sheriff came out of his office.  Neither fat nor thin, he was somewhere in between, with graying hair, a weathered face, and a thick mustache.

“Rosalinda says you wanted to see me,” he said, gesturing to the dark-haired girl at the desk.  “What can I do for you ladies?”

Riley related what she and Shayna had seen up at the stream that morning, including the fact that they had taken Cade and Madoc up there, but had found nothing.

The sheriff regarded them with amusement.  “I see,” he said.  “I’ve always thought those

Cutler boys were pretty sharp.  If they don’t think there’s anything going on, then they’re probably right.  Maybe you two ladies should reconsider what you think you saw.”

Riley frowned at him.  “But we really did see a body.”

“Now look, young lady,” he said.  “We take things like that very seriously around here.

If there was a dead body, that means someone would be missing, and since no one reported anyone missing, I really doubt that you saw a body in the river.”  He held up his hand when

Riley started to argue.  “Now, I’m not saying that you didn’t see something, but things floating in the water can take on all kinds of shapes. It could even have been a dead cow. They bloat up and can look really strange.”

Shayna made a face at that.  “So, you’re not even going to look into it?”

He gave them a placating smile.  “That area belongs to Big Sky Mining.  I know the head of security up there.  If it’ll help ease your mind any, I’ll give him a call and have him check it out.”

Riley frowned again.  “But...”

“Now, ladies, I’m very busy, so I’m going to have to ask you to move along,” he said soothingly.  “I’ll let you know what I find out.  How does that sound?”

Riley opened her mouth to protest, but found herself and Shayna being ushered out the front door and onto the sidewalk before she could get the words out.  Annoyed, Riley was about to say something tart, but forced herself to hold her tongue.  If they pushed the sheriff, he might not look into their story at all.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t vent to Shayna after the sheriff had gotten into his SUV

and driven off, though.  In fact, she was just about to do so when a female voice interrupted her.

“Excuse me.”

Riley and Shayna both turned to see a petite, dark-haired girl hurrying up to them.  Riley recognized her as the girl from the sheriff’s office, Rosalinda Sanchez.

“Could I talk to you for a minute?” she asked.

Riley exchanged a look with Shayna and both girls nodded.  “Of course,” Riley said.

Rosalinda tucked her hair behind her ear.  “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with the sheriff, and while he may not believe you, I do.”

“You do?” Riley asked in surprise.

The girl nodded.  “Whatever you think you saw, you’re probably right.  Something has been going on up at the Big Sky Mining Corporation for a long time now, but no one will believe

it.  I know for a fact that over the past several months, quite a few of the people who work for them have disappeared.”

Shayna frowned.  “But if that’s true, then why hasn’t the sheriff done anything?”

Rosalinda’s mouth tightened.  “Because a lot of the people working for him are illegals and no one ever reports them missing,” she said grimly.  “But I have no doubt that Bill Bingham, the head of security for Big Sky Mining, is behind it.  He’d have to be, to keep this covered up so well.”

“The guy the sheriff said he was going to talk to?” Riley asked.

The Mexican girl nodded, but before she could say more, a sheriff’s vehicle pulled into the parking space nearby, distracting Rosalinda.  She gave Riley and Shayna an apologetic smile.

“I’ve gotta go,” she said.

With that, she turned and walked over to the vehicle.  Riley had thought it was the sheriff returning, but when the man got out of the truck, she saw he was much younger, probably closer to Cade’s age.  He was handsome, with dark brown hair and a charming smile, which he flashed at the Mexican girl.

As Rosalinda and the deputy made their way into the sheriff’s station, Riley turned to

Shayna.  “What do you think?” she asked.  “Want to check out this Big Sky Mining Corporation and see what Bill Bingham has to say?”

Shayna hesitated for a moment.  “Don’t you think that’s a little risky?  This Bingham guy could be dangerous.”

“We’re not going to do anything foolish,” Riley said. “I just want to see if this guy comes across as suspicious.  If he does, then we can tell Cade and Madoc.”

Then again, Riley thought as they drove out to the Big Sky Mining offices, if she did have to tell Cade, he was going to be really mad.  She had promised to drop this, but the spanking she would get would be worth it if it turned out there really was something illegal going on.

The Big Sky Mining offices were made up of several small buildings.  Not knowing which one Bill Bingham’s office was in, Riley and Shayna decided try the main office first.  As it happened, the head of security had his office there.  It took some doing to get past the receptionist at the front desk, but eventually, the woman brought them back to Bill Bingham’s office.

A big, barrel-chested man, Bill Bingham eyed both girls with interest as they entered his office.  “So, what can I do for you?” he asked after Riley and Shayna were seated in front of his desk.

Riley and Shayna had decided that rather than come up with a phony story, it would be best to simply tell Big Sky Mining’s head of security exactly what they’d seen that morning.  At first, Bill Bingham looked stunned when they mentioned seeing a dead body floating in the river, but then his expression darkened.

“I don’t know exactly what you two ladies saw floating in the river, but I can assure you it wasn’t a dead body,” he said firmly.  “My men do regular sweeps of the area and they would surely have seen something like that.  It was probably just a log or something like that.”  Pushing back his chair, he got to his feet.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to.”

Riley’s brow furrowed.  “Mr. Bingham, with all due respect, I think you might want to have your men take another look.  My sister-in-law and I could go with them and show them exactly where we saw the body.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Riley saw Shayna shoot her a look of disbelief, but she ignored the other girl, determinedly keeping her gaze trained on Bill Bingham.

Gray eyes narrowed at her.  “You’ve already trespassed on private property once today, Mrs. Cutler.  If you do so again, I’ll be forced to call in the sheriff.  Do I make myself clear?”

Riley felt a shiver run down her back.  “Yes.”

“Good,” he said.  “Then if you’ll excuse me.”

Bill Bingham had already come around the desk and opened the door, giving Riley and

Shayna no choice but to leave.  Once in the car, though, she couldn’t wait to get Shayna’s take on the man and what he’d said.

“I think Rosalinda Sanchez is right.  Bill Bingham is definitely hiding something,” she said, glancing at Shayna.  “Don’t you think?”

Beside her, Shayna nodded.  “Yeah, I do.  But that doesn’t mean Madoc and Cade are going to think so.  Or the sheriff, either.”  She sighed.  “I don’t really think there’s anything more we can do to convince them, Riley.”

While Riley knew the other girl was right, it still bothered her that they hadn’t been able to get anything out of Bill Bingham.  She had been hoping Big Sky Mining’s head of security would say something a little more incriminating.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Shayna added as Riley turned into the Cutler’s driveway.

“Let’s not mention our little outing to our husbands.  I don’t think they’d be too understanding if they found out we not only went to see the sheriff, but the head of security for the mining company, too.”

Riley wholeheartedly agreed with the other girl about that and quickly promised she wouldn’t say anything.

It turned out that she nor Shayna needed to say anything, however, because John Cutler brought the subject up during dinner that evening, much to both girls’ chagrin.

“I ran into Sheriff O’Keefe when we were in town today,” he said conversationally as he reached for a dinner roll.  “He said that you girls had claimed you’d seen a dead body floating in the river on the north end of the ranch.  How come none of you mentioned anything about it?”

Beside her, Riley saw Cade glance at her sharply.  Across the table from them, Madoc was giving Shayna the same look.  So much for their husbands not finding out what they’d been up to, Riley thought.

“Because there was no dead body,” Cade said firmly.

“Yes, there was,” Riley insisted.  “Shayna and I both saw it.”  She looked at the other girl.  “Isn’t that right, Shayna?”

Shayna nodded.  “It really did look like a body.”

Madoc scowled.  “Well there was no body when we rode up there with you later.”

“We told the girls it was probably just their minds playing tricks,” Cade said, giving

Riley a pointed look.  “It could have been anything in that stream.”

Riley opened her mouth to argue, but John was already agreeing with his son, saying that had happened to him on more than one occasion.  That led to several of his old Marshal stories, none of which Riley really paid attention to.  She was furious that no one would take what she and Shayna were saying seriously.

After the dinner table had been cleared, Madoc excused himself and his wife, saying that since it was such a nice evening, they were going to take a walk.  Shayna looked less than thrilled with that idea, which made Riley think her poor sister-in-law was going to be getting a stern lecture in addition to some exercise.

“A walk sounds like a good idea,” Cade said after the other couple had left.  “Why don’t we take one, too, honey?”

Riley blinked in surprise.  A walk under the moonlit sky with her handsome husband would be very romantic if it weren’t for the fact that it was probably going to culminate in her being put over his knee.

“I really should help your mother in the kitchen,” she said.

“Nonsense,” Arlene said.  “The table’s already cleared, so all I need to do is load the dishwasher.  You two kids go have fun.”

Reluctantly, Riley put her hand in Cade’s and allowed him to lead her outside.  Normally, she would have been eager to get a spanking, Riley thought as they walked toward the barn, but after getting one last night and then another that morning on top of all the horseback riding, her bottom was a little tender.

When they walked into the barn a few minutes later however, Riley was both surprised and relieved to hear Shayna’s voice.  Cade couldn’t spank her with his brother and sister-in-law there.

“But honey, I...” Shayna was saying to Madoc, her voice trailing off when she noticed

Riley and Cade standing there.

As Riley noted the other couple’s pose – Madoc standing with his arms crossed over his chest and Shayna looking up at him from beneath lowered lashes – the most ridiculous thought popped into her head.  If she didn’t know better, she’d say that Shayna was in for a spanking.

“I thought you were going for a walk,” Cade said to his brother.

Madoc cleared his throat.  “We were, but then we decided to come out to the barn instead so I could show Shayna how to clean the horses’ hoofs.  What are you and Riley doing out here?”

Cade glanced at her.  “We, uh, thought we’d go for a ride.”

Riley looked at the other couple eagerly.  “Do you and Shayna want to come with us?”

she said, ignoring her husband’s scowl.

Shayna’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, but Madoc answered for both of them, saying they would take a rain check.

As she and Cade saddled their horses, Riley couldn’t help but glance over at the other couple occasionally.  Did Shayna get spanked, too? she wondered.  For some strange reason, the thought that the other girl might get her bottom warmed on a regular basis made Riley’s pulse skip a beat.

“Ready?” Cade asked.

Still preoccupied with the idea of her brother-in-law putting his pretty dark-haired wife over his knee, Riley merely nodded and took the hand Cade offered as she climbed onto her horse.

“Where are we going?” she asked Cade as they rode out of the barn.

“Not far,” he said noncommittally.

She said nothing for a moment, but then asked, “You’re going to give me a spanking, aren’t you?”

He gave her a sidelong glance.  “Don’t you think you deserve one?”

Riley sighed.  “Shayna and I just thought telling the sheriff what we saw was the right thing to do.”

“It would have been if you had actually seen a body,” he said.

It was on the tip of Riley’s tongue to tell Cade what Rosalinda Sanchez had said about all the illegal immigrants who had gone missing in the area lately as well as the conversation she and Shayna had had with the shady head of security for Big Sky Mining, but she didn’t.  If Cade found out she’d gone out there, she’d be lucky if she could even sit down after the spanking he’d give her.  Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, she thought, but he would definitely give her a hard spanking.

A few minutes later, Cade slowed his horse to a stop.  Dismounting, he came over to offer Riley his hand, and then led her over to a large rock situated beside one of the trees.

“But honey, my bottom is still tender from the spanking you gave me this morning,” she protested.

“Well, obviously that spanking I gave you didn’t have the desired effect, so you need another reminder,” he replied.  “Now push down your shorts and climb over my knee.”

Riley hesitated for a moment, but then did as he asked.  She’d barely unbuttoned her shorts and wiggled them down over her hips when Cade took her hand and guided her over his knee.  She automatically placed her hands on the grassy ground to steady herself.  Not that she needed to worry; Cade’s strong hand on the small of her back held her in place quite effectively.

From her vantage point, Riley had a perfect view of the barn and as she waited for Cade to begin, she found herself wondering if her sister-in-law was getting spanked even now.  The thought had Riley’s pulse fluttering with excitement just like it had back in the barn.  Before she could think on that, however, her musings were interrupted as her husband slowly pulled down her panties.  A moment later, his hand came down on her bare bottom with a resounding smack.

“Owwwww!” she yelped and looked at him over her shoulder.  “Don’t I at least get a warm-up first?”

His mouth quirked.  “I think that spanking I gave you this morning is all the warm-up you need,” he drawled.  “Besides, I want you to remember this spanking the next time you want to go snooping around.”

Riley gave him a pout, but turned around to focus her attention on the ground again.

Cade immediately brought his hand down on her bottom again, this time a little harder, and she squealed again.  Her husband ignored her protests, of course, bringing his hand down over and over on her bottom until she was squirming and wiggling around all over his lap.  Her ass felt like it was on fire!  Cade lectured her the entire time he spanked her, too.  He seemed determined to get her to understand how important it was to stop poking her nose into places it didn’t belong.

"Owwwww!” she squealed as he administered a sharp smack to her sit-spot.  “Okay, honey!  I get it!”

Riley really hadn’t been listening to what he was saying.  She just hoped if she agreed with him, then he wouldn’t spank her as much.

“Somehow, I doubt that,” Cade said.  “So, I’d better give you a couple more spanks just to be sure.”

A couple more turned into a whole lot more, and somewhere in the midst of the smacks, Riley began to protest that she’d learned her lesson, but Cade’s hand continued to come down on her asscheeks.  He even gave her a few good spanks on the backs of her thighs, right below the curve of her cheeks.  Ouch, those really stung!

When he finally stood her back on her feet, Riley immediately reached around with both hand to cup her throbbing bottom.  She was always amazed at how hot her asscheeks felt after a spanking.

“That was a really hard spanking!” she complained, sticking her lower lip out at him.

“You deserved it,” Cade said, getting to his feet.  “I just hope this spanking will help you remember to behave yourself.  Even if it was a body you saw, I don’t want you getting yourself involved in stuff like that.  It’s too dangerous.”

Riley knew Cade was just worried about her, and she couldn’t be upset with him for that, even if he had just given her a hard spanking.  “I know,” she said softly.  “But my poor bottom is really sore.”

He brushed her hair back from her face with gentle fingers.  “How about I give your bottom a nice, gentle rub when we get back to the house then?  I’ll even use some lotion.  How does that sound?”

Exquisite, Riley thought as he bent his head to give her a tender kiss on the lips.  With some TLC like that to look forward to, she couldn’t wait to get back to the house.  But then as she considered how sitting in the saddle was going to feel against her freshly-spanked bottom, she decided to suggest they walk the horses back instead.

CHAPTER SIX

Shayna couldn’t look at Riley and Cade the next morning without blushing.  If the other couple had come into the barn a few minutes later the night before, they would have seen her draped over her husband’s knee with her bare bottom on display.  Admittedly, Shayna had forgotten all about Riley and Cade once Madoc had started spanking her, though.  She had tried to talk her way out of the spanking, of course, but Madoc had been of the opinion she deserved one for what she’d done, and her poor bottom had felt like it was on fire by the time he’d finally let her up.  Her ass was fire-engine red all the way from the tops of her cheeks to the backs of her thighs.  She hadn’t done very well at stifling her protests, either.  She had no doubt that anyone standing within fifty feet of the barn would have known exactly what had been going on in there.

And afterward, he’d made her sit on a scratchy hay bale while he lectured her!  She was just glad he hadn’t known about their visit to the mining company, or her bottom would really have been in trouble.

Of course, Shayna couldn’t complain too much about the spanking he’d given her.  They had both gotten so turned on by doing it in the barn that she and Madoc had run all the way back to the house and up to their room.  It might have been a bad-girl spanking, but it was still arousing as hell!  She and Madoc hadn’t even gotten all of their clothes off before they had fallen into bed and made passionate love for hours.  Needless to say, before finally dropping off to sleep, though, Madoc had made her promise again to cut out all the snooping.

Cade must have made Riley promise the same thing because as they were clearing the table of the breakfast dishes a little while later, the other girl mentioned to Shayna that maybe they should just forget about what they’d seen.  Shayna was all for that.  After all, they were supposed to be there on vacation, not investigating a possible crime.  Not that Madoc or Cade were going to give them a chance to do any more snooping anyway.  After breakfast, the two men suggested they all go into Fort Worth and do some sightseeing.

Eager to spend some vacation time with their husbands, Shayna and Riley eagerly agreed.

Ten minutes later, they were all headed for Fort Worth.

Though they primarily spent the day taking in the tourist attractions, Shayna and Riley managed to drag their husbands into a several shops in both Sundance Square and Traders

Village.  They went over to the Fort Worth Stockyards later in the day and arrived just in time to catch the longhorn cattle drive down the main thoroughfare.  Never having seen longhorn cattle before, Shayna was amazed at how big the animals were.

Since they were going to the rodeo at the stockyards that night, they decided to have dinner at one of the restaurants there, and then browse around the shops before the show.

Shayna had been looking forward to the rodeo ever since her father-in-law had mentioned it the first night they’d been at the ranch, but she didn’t know how much fun watching barrel racing and bull riding could be.  Of course, when she mentioned that to Madoc on the way back to the ranch, he chuckled and told her that she could give it a try herself on the mechanical bulls some of the saloons had.  Though Shayna declined, she couldn’t resist telling Madoc that she wouldn’t mind watching him do it.  Just the thought of how he’d look had her pulse fluttering wildly.  In the back seat, Riley agreed, saying she’d like to watch Cade ride on a mechanical bull, too.

As she fell asleep in Madoc’s arms that night, Shayna had to admit that spending the day sightseeing with her husband, Riley, and Cade had been a lot better than snooping around on federal property.

After breakfast the next morning, Riley asked Shayna if she wanted to go into Riverville for a little while since the guys would be busy shoeing horses.  Though Shayna had been considering taking a dip in the pool, she agreed.  She could go for a swim when they got back, she decided.

She and Riley were just coming out of the general store later that morning when they ran into Rosalinda Sanchez.

“So, did you find out anything when you went to Big Sky Mining the other day?” she asked eagerly.  When both Shayna and Riley looked at her in surprise, she added, “You did go up there, right?”

“Well, yeah,” Riley admitted.  “But we didn’t find anything out.  Bill Bingham was less than forthcoming, not to mention a little peeved that we’d been trespassing on private property.

He threatened to have us arrested.”

The Mexican girl folded her arms.  “He’s hiding something, I know it,” she said.  “I was just about to take a run up there and see what I can dig up.  Do you want to come with me?”

Shayna exchanged looks with Riley before answering.  “I don’t know, Rosalinda,” she began.

“Everyone calls me Rosie,” the other girl said with a grin.

Shayna smiled.  “Rosie.  Anyway, our husbands weren’t too happy when they found out we’d talked to the sheriff the other day.  They made us promise we’d stay out of trouble.”

Rosie lifted a brow.  “Do you two always do what they tell you?”

Shayna saw Riley flush.  “Well, no, but...”

“Please,” Rosie said before Riley could continue.  “Something terrible is happening up there, I know it.  People are disappearing and I can’t do anything about it on my own.  I need your help.”

Shayna glanced at Riley to find her friend giving her a helpless look.  She turned back to

Rosalinda.  “Rosie...”

The Mexican girl looked at them imploringly.  “These people who are disappearing don’t have anyone to speak for them.  If we don’t get involved, then no one is ever going to hear a word about this, and they’ll just keep disappearing.  We can’t just stand by and do nothing while that’s happening.”

Shayna had to admit that when Rosie put it that way, it was difficult to turn their backs on the situation.  She looked at Riley questioningly.  After a moment, the blond girl gave her a shrug as if to say, “what else can we do?”

Turning back to Rosie, Shayna gave her a nod.  “Okay, we’ll go up there with you.”

Even as she said the words, Shayna found herself wondering if she should do this.  If

Madoc found out, he’d spank her so hard she wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.  Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but he would definitely redden her bottom until it glowed.

They took Rosie’s car up to the mining company.  When they got there, it was just in time to see the head of security, Bill Bingham, getting into his own car.  Since it was around lunch time anyway, Shayna didn’t think it all that unusual for the man to be going out, but Rosie said she thought they should follow him.

Shayna fully expected Bill Bingham to head toward town when he pulled out of the driveway, but to her surprise, he didn’t leave the mining company’s property at all but turned down a dirt road.  Shayna was afraid Bingham would realize they were following him, but Rosie was actually very good at tailing the man, and when he stopped alongside a second car, she made sure to stop far enough back so that he wouldn’t see them.

For a moment, neither Bill Bingham nor the person he was meeting got out of their respective cars, but then both car doors finally opened.  The second man was tall and thin, but rather nondescript in the looks department, and Bingham glanced around furtively as he walked up to him.  Shayna had never seen a more guilty look on a person’s face in all her life.  He was definitely up to something.

“I wish we could hear what they were saying,” Rosie muttered.

Shayna silently agreed.  For all they knew, the two men could be talking about where they wanted to go for lunch.  But at the way Bill Bingham was gesturing, she didn’t think so.

Beside her, Rosie took her eyes off the men long enough to dig around in her shoulder bag for something.  A moment later, she came up with a small pair of binoculars, a notepad, and a pen.  She studied the men and their vehicles through the binoculars for a few moments before flipping open the notebook and scribbling down the license plate of the second man’s car.

“I’ll run his plate number when I get back to the station, then let you know what I find out,” she said, dropping everything back into her bag.

At that, Shayna saw Riley give her a curious look from the back seat, but neither she nor the blond girl made any comment about it as Rosie turned the car around and headed out to the main road.  If Shayna didn’t know better, she’d think Rosie was a cop and not just a girl who worked in the sheriff’s office.

Back in town, Rosie dropped the girls off at their car, then promised again to let them know what she found out before thanking them for going up to the mining company with her.

Shayna was just glad they hadn’t gotten themselves into any trouble while they were there because she really didn’t want another spanking like she’d gotten the other night in the barn.

Playful, erotic spankings were just fine, but those serious bad-girl ones were definitely not her thing.  Of course, it helped that they usually resulted in great sex, but she’d just prefer to skip the serious smacks and go right to the fun kind of spanking.  In fact, just the thought of getting a sexy, erotic spanking made her want one right then.  Maybe she’d ask Madoc to give her one when she and Riley got back to the ranch, she thought with a naughty smile.

By the time Riley and Shayna got back to the ranch, Madoc and Cade had already finished shoeing the horses and were waiting for them out by the pool.  Seeing her husband in a pair of swim trunks was all the invitation Riley needed to hurry upstairs and put on her bikini.

Apparently, Shayna felt the same about joining Madoc in the pool because she went up to change into her bikini, too.

But while spending the day with her half-naked husband was more than a little fun, it also made Riley incredibly horny, and by the time they went to bed that night, she was ready to jump him!

Grabbing her shower gel and body lotion off the dresser, Riley gave Cade a sexy wink.

“Stay there,” she ordered him in a silky voice.  “I’ll be right back.  And don’t you dare think of falling asleep!”

Hurrying down the hallway to the bathroom, Riley took a quick shower, then put on her shorts and tank top.  Back out in the hallway, however, she stopped when she heard giggling

coming from Shayna and Madoc’s room.  Normally that wouldn’t have been enough to make her stop, but it was the distinct and very familiar smacking sound that followed Shayna’s giggle that made Riley come to a halt.  It couldn’t be, she thought.  But then her eyes went wide as she heard another smack.  Oh my God, she thought.  Madoc was spanking Shayna!  And going by the soft moan that her friend was letting out, Shayna was enjoying it!

Riley knew she should go back to her bedroom, but instead, she found herself edging closer to the door.  From inside, she could hear another smack, this time a little louder.  It was quickly followed by a squeal.

“Hey, that stings!” Shayna protested.

Madoc chuckled softly.  “I’d better rub it and make it all better then.”

There was silence, then another soft, throaty moan from Shayna.  Riley’s pulse fluttered wildly as she pictured her pretty, dark-haired friend draped over her husband’s lap while he lovingly rubbed her reddened bottom.  It was just like Cade did to her, Riley thought.  And it sounded as if Shayna liked it just as much as she did!

“Oh yeah,” Shayna breathed, the words barely audible through the door.  “Touch me right there.”

Riley felt herself blush, but still she didn’t move away from the door.  She felt as if her feet were glued to the floor; she had to stay and hear more.  She couldn’t believe how turned on she was getting!  The thought of what Shayna and Madoc were doing just on the other side of the door had her pussy positively tingling.  It was all she could do not to reach down and touch herself; if she weren’t standing in the hallway, she probably would have done just that!

Just when it sounded like Shayna was getting into some serious moaning, there came the sound of rapid, solid smacks.

Oooh, Madoc was spanking her again!

Those sounded like some pretty hard spanks, too, Riley thought, and she could just imagine Shayna’s bottom getting all red.  She pictured the other girl squirming and kicking her feet in protest as Madoc brought his hand down over and over on his wife’s bottom.  Whenever

Riley did that, Cade usually held her legs down with one of his own, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Madoc did the same to Shayna.

Thinking of her own hunky husband made her suddenly remember that Cade was still waiting for her in their room.  Riley was torn for a moment between staying where she was and eavesdropping some more, or going back to her room.  The throbbing between her legs made the decision for her, however.  She needed some loving right now!

Whirling around, Riley practically ran down the hallway to her room.  Opening the door, she closed it quickly behind her.  Cade was lying in bed, his hands behind his head and he looked up at her entrance.

“I was just about to come find you,” he said with a grin.

Riley didn’t answer.  Setting the bath gel and body lotion down on the dresser, she walked over to the bed, stripping off her tank top and wiggling out of her shorts as she did so.

The way Cade was eyeing her naked body told her he approved of her quick, little striptease, which only excited her even more.

Throwing back the quilt, Riley climbed into bed and settled herself between her husband’s legs.  Giving him a sultry look, she leaned forward and took his rapidly hardening cock into her mouth.

Cade groaned, his cock going completely hard as she slowly made love to him with her tongue.  She moved her mouth up and down on his shaft slowly at first, and then more quickly.

Each time she went down on him, she took his cock a little deeper until finally the head was

touching the back of her throat.  She held him there for a long moment, and then very slowly slid her mouth back up his hard length.

Cade lifted his head from the pillow to regard her with awe.  “Whoa,” he breathed.

“What got into you?”

Riley laughed.  “Oh, nothing,” she told him.  “I was just thinking of doing this the whole time I was in the shower.”

She could tell from the look on his face that Cade thought she was going to go back to lavishing her attention on his cock with her mouth, and though that was tempting, right then she needed feel him inside her.  Giving him a naughty smile, she crawled up his body until she was straddling him.  As much as she wanted to have his cock inside her, however, she couldn’t resist teasing both of them by rubbing her clit over the head.

But apparently Cade could only take so much teasing because after a moment he grasped her hips and slid into her pussy in one smooth thrust.  Riley gasped, still amazed at how incredible his cock always felt inside her.

As she slowly began to ride up and down on her husband’s cock, Riley was surprised to feel the first tremors of an orgasm ripple though her.  Abruptly, she remembered what had gotten her so turned on, and she immediately began to fantasize about what was taking place in the room next to theirs.

Was Madoc still spanking Shayna?  Riley pictured her friend over her husband’s knee, squirming and wiggling as he brought his hand down over and over on her bottom.  Suddenly, Riley’s fantasy became more vivid and in it, Madoc had slid his hand between Shayna’s legs to tease her clit.  Riley could imagine the other girl’s breath coming in quick, little pants as Madoc made his pretty wife come.  And then, after her orgasm subsided, he would lean down and whisper in her ear, telling her to climb on his hard cock.

Riley moaned as much from the fantasy playing out in her head as from the pleasure

Cade was giving her.  Her husband’s hands suddenly tightened on her hips, urging her to ride him faster.  On the brink of orgasm herself, Riley gladly obeyed, bouncing up and down on his cock wildly until they both came.  Her climax felt amazing and she couldn’t help but wonder if her fantasies about Shayna getting spanked had something to do with how intense it had been.

The images of Shayna’s bottom getting reddened had been so vivid that it felt almost as if Riley had been getting spanked herself.  God, she never realized she had such a voyeuristic streak!

Spent, Riley lay draped across Cade’s chest his chest afterward.  After a moment, her brow furrowed.  Lifting her head, she gazed down at her husband.  “Honey, do you think your brother spanks Shayna?”

Cade opened his eyes to regard her sleepily.  “What would give you an idea like that?”

She shrugged.  “When I came out of the bathroom before I thought I heard him spanking her.”

Her husband chuckled.  “No way.  My brother’s way too vanilla for that.”

Riley could only smile.  She knew that wasn’t true, but she said nothing as she lay back down.  If Cade only knew, she thought.

CHAPTER SEVEN

As she and Shayna were lounging by the pool the next afternoon, Riley really wanted to ask the other girl if that was spanking she’d heard coming from their bedroom the night before, but every time she tried, she just couldn’t seem to make the words come out.  She didn’t want to embarrass the other girl or herself, so she decided it was probably better if she just didn’t bring up the subject.  She supposed she would have to keep wondering.

Riley was just settling back in her lounge chair again when she heard footsteps on the patio.  Thinking it was probably Arlene, she was surprised to see Rosie coming toward them.  On the lounge chair beside her, Shayna looked just as surprised.

“Arlene told me you were out here,” Rosie said as she sat down on the bottom of Riley’s lounge chair.

Riley sat up, as did Shayna.  They both looked at the other girl expectantly.

“Were you able to find out anything from the license plate number you copied down?”

Riley asked.

Rosie nodded, her dark eyes filled with excitement.  “Yes, and it’s really weird.  That car belongs to a pharmaceutical company.”

Shayna frowned.  “What would someone from a pharmaceutical company be doing talking to Bill Bingham out in the middle of nowhere?”

The Mexican girl shrugged.  “I don’t know for sure, but I’m thinking that it must have something to do with drugs.  I mean, what else would a pharmaceutical company be involved in?”

Riley’s brow furrowed.  “Drugs make sense, but what are they doing?”

“I have no idea,” Rosie said.  “None of the day-laborers who work at the mining company will say anything, either.  But I know that a lot of them got picked for work today, which means that something big is going on up there.”  She looked at them expectantly.  “I

thought you girls might want to come with me to check it out.”

Shayna’s eyes narrowed.  “Check it out how exactly?”

“I’m going to sneak up there and take pictures of whatever it is that’s going on, then give them to my boyfriend,” Rosie told them.

Riley looked at her in surprise.  “Why?  Is he a cop?”

The other girl nodded.  “He’s the deputy you saw me with the day you came to the sheriff’s office.”

Shayna gave her a frown.  “Then if he’s a cop, why don’t you just tell him your suspicions and let him check it out?”

Rosie sighed.  “Because Clay always thinks I’m imagining things,” she said.  “Which is why I need to get him proof.”

“But wasn’t your boyfriend the one who ran the license plate for you?” Riley asked.

“Didn’t he wonder what you wanted it for?”

The Mexican girl shook her head.  “Actually, he didn’t run the plate for me.  I got his computer password out of his wallet while he was in the shower.”

Shayna blinked.  “Won’t he be angry if he finds out?”

But Rosie only gave her a grin.  “Probably,” she said.  “But I have Clay so wrapped around my finger he doesn’t know which end is up most of the time.”

If Cade caught her doing something like that, she would be over his knee so fast, Riley thought.  From Shayna’s expression, apparently she didn’t think Madoc would be nearly as understanding as Rosie’s boyfriend, either.

“So,” Rosie said.  “What do you say?  Are you in?”

Riley looked at Shayna, who shrugged.  She knew exactly what the other girl was thinking – they’d better not get caught, or they would be in for it.

“Okay,” Riley told Rosie.  “But our husbands can’t find out about this.”

Rosie grinned.  “No problem,” she said.  “We’ll just tell them we’re going shopping.”

Since they couldn’t very well go with Rosie dressed like they were, Riley and Shayna went upstairs to change out of their bikinis and into more suitable clothes.  When they went back downstairs, it was to find Rosie in the kitchen with Arlene.

“You girls have fun,” the older woman said when Riley told her they were going shopping with Rosie.

As they left the house, Riley wondered if they should have let Arlene in on where they were really going just in case something went wrong and she and the other girls got caught snooping.  Then again, if they did get caught, Bill Bingham would probably have them all arrested for trespassing on private property, which meant Madoc and Cade would find out anyway.

They drove out to the same location they had the day before and hid the car in a ravine.

As they crept over the next hill, they saw that the area was crawling with people.  Most of them seemed to be the day laborers Rosie had mentioned, but there were also a handful of men carrying rifles.  It looked like they were the ones directing the work that was going on.  It was hard to see exactly what they were doing with all the dust that was being kicked up, but Riley could see that there were several large trucks, as well as a bulldozer.  The dozer had just finished digging what looked like a really deep trench.

Eager to see what was going on down in the valley below them, Riley and the other two girls carefully crept closer to the working men.  They tried to move as stealthily as they could from one hiding place to the next.  Within a few minutes, they had worked themselves to within a hundred feet or so of the work site.  From their vantage point behind a large rock, Riley watched as the day laborers unloaded plastic bags from the trucks and tossed them into the huge hole the bulldozer had dug.

“What are they doing?” Riley whispered to the other two girls.

It was Rosie who answered.  “I don’t know, but it’s obviously not legal.”

Digging into her bag, Rosie took out the digital camera she had brought with her and held it up so that she could use the zoom function to see better.

“Do you think they’re burying drugs?” Shayna asked, leaning in close so that she could look through the camera, too.

“Maybe,” Rosie said.

Riley’s brow furrowed.  “But why would they bury drugs?  That doesn’t make sense.”

“Unless someone else is going to come and dig them up later,” Rosie suggested.

They all fell silent for a moment as Rosie took some pictures.  “I’d love to get a little closer, but I don’t know if we dare,” she said.

“And what the hell do you girls think you’re doing?”

Startled by the gruff male voice, Riley jerked around to see two men standing behind them, a pistol in one of their hands and a rifle in the other.  From the corner of her eye, she saw

Rosie’s grip on the camera tighten.

Riley swallowed hard.  “We, uh, were just out sightseeing and...” she began.

“Like hell you were!” the second man snarled.  “Get up!”

With two guns being held on them, Riley and her friends had no choice but to obey.  She wondered for a moment if they should try and make a run for it, but then thought better of it.  If they ran, the men would probably shoot them for sure.  However, if they went along willingly, the men might let them go, or at least she and the other girls might be able to escape later.

Apparently, Shayna and Rosie must have thought so, too, because when the men gestured for them to walk toward where the men were working, they went without protest.

Though the day laborers looked at Riley and the other girls curiously, they didn’t stop unloading the trucks.  But perhaps that had something to do with the half a dozen men brandishing guns, she thought bitterly.  Bill Bingham, however, strode over to meet them as soon as she and the other girls were herded into the clearing.

“I thought I told you girls to stay away from here,” he said, looking from Riley to

Shayna.  “But you couldn’t leave well enough alone could you?  And now you’ve involved your friend, too.”

Rosie glared at him.  “They didn’t involve me in anything.  I’ve been on to you for weeks now, you bastard!  I knew you were doing something illegal and now I’ve got the pictures to prove it.”

Bill Bingham’s eyes narrowed as he took in the camera she had in her hand.  “You’ve got nothing but pictures of a bunch of Mexican day laborers unloading plastic bags from trucks and tossing them into a hole in the ground.”

“Plastic bags full of drugs, you mean,” Rosie sneered.

Bill Bingham stared at her in disbelief.  “Drugs?  Is that what you think is in those bags?”

He let out a harsh laugh.  “Does that stench smell like drugs to you?”

Riley had been too preoccupied with their situation before to pay much attention to the smell, but now that she did, she wrinkled her nose.  She didn’t know what drugs smelled like, but she didn’t think it was that.

“If it’s not drugs, then what is it?” she asked.

He regarded her in silence for a moment as if deciding whether he should answer, then shook his head.  “You really want to know what’s in the bags?  I’ll tell you,” he said.  “A local pharmaceutical company is paying us to dispose of the lab animals they use for testing.”

Riley blinked, her gaze going to the bags the workers had already thrown into the hole.

There had to be hundreds of bags in there, she thought, sickened by the idea.  She didn’t like the thought of animal testing to begin with, and after seeing this, she was even more against it.

Beside her, Shayna looked just as disgusted.  “This can’t be the approved method of...of disposal,” she said.

Bill Bingham shrugged.  “No, but it is cheaper.  And more importantly, it covers up how many animals they’re actually killing in their testing.  If the public ever found out how many of those cute, cuddly critters die just to make sure their mascara doesn’t run, there’d be an international outcry.”

Riley tore her gaze away from the growing pile of bags in the trench.  “What about the body we saw floating in the stream the other day?  That wasn’t an animal.”

His mouth tightened.  “No, it wasn’t.  It was one of the laborers we hired.  He decided he was going to tell the authorities what we were doing up here, anonymously of course, since he was an illegal.  But either way, we couldn’t have him doing that, so we stopped him.”

“Killed him, you mean?” Rosie sneered.

Bill Bingham fixed her with a glare.  “If you prefer,” he said.  “Which is exactly what it looks like we’re going to have to do to you.”

Riley felt her heart start to pound.  “B-but you can’t!” she protested.

“She’s right,” Shayna told him.  “Our husbands are U.S. Marshals and they know we came up here.”

Bill Bingham smirked.  “Somehow I doubt that.”  His gaze went to the men standing guard behind them.  “Shoot them and then put them in the trench with the rest of the trash.”

“You can’t think you’re going to get away with this!” Rosie shouted.

But Bill Bingham was already walking away.

Cade and Madoc were just heading in from the barn when they spotted a sheriff’s vehicle coming up the driveway.  His brow furrowing, Cade came to a halt, as did his brother.  A

moment later, the SUV slowed to a stop and Clay Ericson got out.  Cade and Clay had been friends since grade school, and while Cade had chosen to become a police officer in Dallas, Clay had decided to stay in the local area and become a deputy instead.  Cade grinned at the other man as he and Madoc walked over to meet him.

“What brings you out here?” Cade asked, giving him a hearty handshake.

“I’m looking for Rosie, actually,” Clay said.  “She left me a message on my cell saying she was coming out here to see your wives.  I’m going to be on duty for a while yet so I thought

I’d come by and see if she wanted to grab some dinner.”

Cade glanced at Madoc.  “Rosie’s not here.  She went into Fort Worth to do some shopping with Riley and Shayna.”

Clay’s eyes went wide at that.  “Shopping?  Are you sure?   Rosie hates to go shopping.”

Cade didn’t think he’d ever heard of a woman who didn’t like to shop.  “That’s what they said.”

Clay was about to reply when a woman’s voice came over the radio handset attached to his shoulder.

“Clay, you there?”

The deputy reached up to thumb the talk button.  “Go ahead, Marcy,” he said.

“I think we may have a problem,” the woman said.  “One of Rosie’s friends is here and she said Rosie went up to do some snooping around on Big Sky Mining property this afternoon.

She says Rosie swore her to secrecy, but since Rosie’s not back yet, her friend thinks she might be in some kind of trouble.”

Cade’s brow furrowed as he shared a look with Madoc.  There was no way Riley or

Shayna would deliberately go snooping up at the mining company after they’d specifically told the girls to stay out of it.  What the hell was he thinking?  Of course they would!

Clay swore under his breath.  “Is the sheriff still there, Marcy?”

“He and his wife already left to go to Dallas,” the woman said.

“What about Whitley or Michaels?” he said.

“Both of them are out on Old Mine Road about a domestic disturbance,” Marcy said.

“Shit,” Clay muttered.  “All right.  Get them on the radio and have them meet me up at

Big Sky Mining.”

“Roger that,” she said.

“What do you think is going on?” Cade asked.

Clay shook his head.  “I’m not sure, but Rosie has been going on about something shady happening up at Big Sky Mining for weeks now.  I told her to stay out of it, but obviously she didn’t, and now who knows what she’s gotten herself into.”  His mouth tightened.  “Or what she’s gotten your wives into.”

Madoc clenched his jaw.  “Shayna and Riley probably didn’t need that much persuading.

They thought they saw a body floating in the stream when they went riding up near the mining company’s property the other day, so they were already suspicious.”

Clay frowned.  “Absolutely wonderful,” he muttered.  “Well, as you heard, I could use some back-up.  You boys game to help out?”

Cade had known his wife’s snooping was going to get her into trouble, and now it seemed that he’d been right.  He should have listened to her when she’d said they’d seen a body.

If he had, then she and Shayna wouldn’t be in this situation right now.  But there was no time to beat himself up about it; they had to get out to that mining property, and quickly.

Apparently, Madoc had the same thought because he turned and disappeared into the house without saying a word.  A minute later, he came back out with two rifles, one of which he tossed to Cade.

“Let’s go.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Oh God, this had been a really bad idea, Shayna thought.  Madoc and Cade had been right; she and Riley should have minded their own business.  But of course they hadn’t, and now they were going to pay for that stupidity.  She glanced frantically at Riley and Rosie to see that though both girls looked as frightened as she felt, they also seemed as determined as she was not to give in without a fight.

“You can’t do this to us!” Shayna shouted, trying to jerk free as the man holding her began dragging her closer to the edge of the hole.

“She’s right!” Riley added.  “People know we’re here!”

“They’ve probably already called the sheriff!” Rosie said.  “He’ll probably be here any minute!”

The men all laughed, obviously finding the whole thing amusing.

“If they called the sheriff, he would have been here by now, bitch,” the man who was holding on to Rosie snarled.  “Which means you girls are on your own.”

“And about to become fertilizer,” the man holding Riley sneered.

Shayna was dangerously close to the edge of the hole now.  All it would take was one shove from her captor and she’d be in it, she thought.  If that happened, she’d never be able to escape.  Desperate, she began to fight more wildly, as did the other two girls.

Suddenly, Shayna heard police sirens.  Jerking her head around, she saw not only two sheriff vehicles, but also a familiar dark SUV speeding down the dirt road toward them.

Madoc!

 

Thank God, she thought.

The man holding her tightened his grip, and for one fearful moment, she thought he was going to throw her in the hole anyway, but to her relief, he released her.  Barking an order to the other two men to get the hell out of there, he and his companions took off at a run toward their one of the trucks.  They weren’t fast enough. though, and within moments, Madoc, Cade and the sheriff’s men were out of their trucks and holding them at gunpoint.

Shayna’s first impulse was to run over to her husband and throw herself into his arms, but she forced herself to stand beside him while he and Cade kept their weapons trained on Bill

Bingham and his men so that the sheriff’s deputies could handcuff them.  Once that was done, Madoc immediately turned to her.  Resting his rifle against the SUV, he took her in his arms.

Shayna leaned against his chest, hugging him tightly as she let the warmth of his body envelop her.  All too soon, however, Madoc pulled away to gaze down at her.

“Are you all right?” he asked.  “Did those men hurt you?”

She shook her head.  “No,” she said.  “I’m fine.  We’re all fine.  But thank God you got here in time.”

Though Madoc clearly looked relieved that she and the other girls hadn’t been harmed, his jaw tightened anyway.  “What the hell were you girls doing up here?  You promised you wouldn’t get involved!”

Shayna bit her lip and looked away to find Riley getting the same lecture from Cade.

Several feet away, Rosie was obviously hearing the same thing from her boyfriend.

She lifted her gaze to look up at Madoc.  “I know, and we really had every intention of keeping that promise, but then Rosie had a hunch something was going on up here.  Riley and I

couldn’t talk her out of it, but we couldn’t just let her investigate on her own, either, so we came

with her.  We only meant to take some pictures, so that we could prove to you that there was something illegal going on, but then we got caught.”

Shayna went on to tell him what she and the other girls had discovered, including the fact that they’d been right about the body floating in the stream that day.

Madoc scowled at her.  “We are definitely going to talk more about this when we get back to the ranch.”

Shayna suspected she would be over his knee for a good portion of that conversation, but she supposed she couldn’t really say she didn’t deserve it.  If Madoc and the other men had gotten there even a couple of minutes later, then she, Riley, and Rosie would be dead right now.

The thought made her shiver.  She was so happy that she and the other girls were safe that she’d gladly submit to any spanking Madoc gave her.

Madoc’s gaze kept drifting over to where Shayna and the other girls were giving their statements to the federal investigators who had arrived.  While he was angry with his wife for putting herself in danger once again, he was also immensely relieved he, Cade, and the sheriff’s deputies had gotten there in time.  If they’d just been a couple of minutes later...he didn’t even want to think about it.

With a sigh, Madoc turned his attention back to his brother and Clay to find them wearing the same grim expressions as they stood regarding their significant others.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with Rosie,” Clay said, shaking his head.  “Not only did she get involved in this whole thing when I told her to stay out of it, but then I find out that she stole my computer password so she could run a license plate check on the guy from the pharmaceutical company.”

Beside him, Cade’s mouth tightened.  “Well, if she were my girlfriend, I’d put her over my knee and give her a spanking.”

Clay’s eyes went wide.  “A spanking?  You’re kidding, right?”

Madoc had to admit that it was the same kind of advice he would give, thought he was definitely surprised to hear those words come out of his brother’s mouth.  Maybe his brother wasn’t as conservative as he’d thought.

But Cade only shook his head.  “No, I’m serious.  In fact, when I get Riley back to the ranch, that’s exactly what I plan on doing.”

Clay looked even more surprised at that.  “Really?” he said, his gaze going to his girlfriend.  “A spanking...I don’t know.”

Cade shrugged.  “It might sound old-fashioned, but believe me, it’ll make Rosie think twice before she does something this foolish again.”

“Cade’s right,” Madoc put in.  “Though in Shayna’s case, sometimes it takes several trips over my knee before she finally learns her lesson.”

At his words, both men looked at him in surprise, but it was Clay who spoke first.

“You spank your wife, too?” he asked, then looked from Madoc to Cade.  “What is it, some sort of family tradition or something?”

Madoc couldn’t help but chuckle at that.  “I don’t know about it being tradition, since I

didn’t know Cade spanked Riley until he just mentioned it a few seconds ago.  But I do know that it works.”

The sheriff’s deputy was silent for a moment as he considered the idea, but before he could say more, the girls walked over to them.  While Madoc didn’t know Clay that well, he had the feeling Rosie would be sitting a little gingerly that evening.

After the ordeal she and Shayna had been through, Riley wanted nothing more than to take a shower and curl up in her husband’s arms, but when they got back to the ranch, Cade surprised her by taking her hand and leading her in the direction on the barn instead.  He couldn’t mean to spank her, could he? she wondered.  As much as she knew she deserved to have her bottom reddened, she didn’t think he’d put her over his knee the moment the got back to the ranch.  But glancing over her shoulder to see Shayna and Madoc heading to the barn as well, Riley relaxed as she realized Cade wouldn’t spank her in front of the other couple.  More likely, the brothers were going to give them a stern lecture, she thought.

Once in the barn, Cade and Madoc stood before the two girls with their arms folded across their broad chests, scowls on their handsome faces.

“You girls could have been killed up there this afternoon, you know,” Cade said.  “If

Madoc and I hadn’t gotten there when we did, you would have been.”

She and Shayna didn’t really need a reminder of how stupid they had been to go up there, Riley thought, but she said nothing as Cade continued.

“And if you’ve ever deserved to get a spanking for something, this would definitely be it,” he said.

Riley blinked in surprise.  She must have heard him wrong, she told herself, because

Cade could not just have said the word “spanking” in front of Shayna and Madoc.  But when she darted a quick look at the other girl, Riley saw that her friend was staring at them opened-mouth.

Riley swung her gaze back to Cade.  “You’re can’t seriously be saying that you’re going to spank me in front of them, are you?

It was Madoc who answered.  “Don’t worry,” he said.  “Shayna is going to be getting a spanking, too.”

Stunned, Riley glanced at her friend to find the other girl blushing furiously and looking at Madoc in disbelief.

But Madoc merely shrugged.  “Cade and I figured since you girls got into trouble together, it’s only right you should get spanked together, too.”

The barn was filled with stunned silence for a moment while Riley and Shayna both gaped at the men.  Riley couldn’t believe Cade and Madoc were actually going to spank her and

Shayna in front of each other.  But apparently that was exactly what they intended to do because

Cade took Riley’s hand and led her over to one of the hay bales while Madoc led Shayna over to another one.

Standing before Madoc as he sat down on the hay bale, Shayna couldn’t help but glance over at Riley and Cade.  While the idea of getting spanked in front of her friend was a little embarrassing, strangely enough, the thought of getting her bottom reddened alongside the other girl was also kind of thrilling.

“Push down your shorts and climb over my knee.”

Madoc’s deep voice brought Shayna’s head around.  “Wh-what?” she stammered.

Her husband regarded her patiently.  “Push down your shorts and climb over my knee.”

Shayna’s gaze went to the other couple for a moment before she turned her attention back to Madoc.  Getting a spanking in front of the other couple was one thing, but getting a bare-

bottom spanking was quite another.  “But...”

Madoc lifted a brow, but said nothing.  Clearly, he wasn’t going to change his mind, Shayna thought.  Reluctantly, her hands went to the buttons of her shorts.  Undoing them, she

glanced over at Riley and Cade before pushing them down, only to see the other girl pushing down her own shorts to reveal a tiny pair of lavender-colored bikini panties.  Well, at least Riley was getting a bare-bottom spanking too, Shayna thought.

With a sigh, Shayna wiggled her shorts down over her hips and obediently draped herself over Madoc’s knee.  Though she knew from experience that his strong hand on her back would hold her in place, she automatically put her hands down on the hay-covered floor to steady herself.

Even though she was focused on the spanking she was soon going to be getting, Shayna couldn’t resist taking a peek at the other couple.  She’d never seen another girl get spanked before and for some reason, she found herself watching in fascination as Cade guided Riley over his knee and settled his hand on her back.  He placed his other hand on Riley’s panty-covered bottom.

Shayna had been so caught up in watching the other couple that when Madoc rested his hand on her panty-covered bottom, she actually jumped a little.  She turned her attention back to the floor, waiting for the lecture she was sure she would be getting, but Madoc surprised her by suddenly lifting his hand and bringing it down on her bottom in a sharp smack.

“Owwwww!” she yelped, then immediately bit her lip in embarrassment as she remembered the other couple.

She heard Riley let out a yelp of her own a moment later as Cade delivered a loud smack to his wife’s upturned bottom.  At least she wasn’t the only one, Shayna thought even as Madoc brought his hand down on her other cheek.

Soon, the barn was filled with rhythmic smacking as both Madoc and Cade set to work reddening the girls’ bottoms.  While Shayna was grateful that Madoc had allowed her to keep her panties on, they didn’t offer much protection, especially since they rode higher up on her asscheeks with every smack of his hand.  Soon, her entire bottom was suffused with heat, and she couldn’t keep herself from squirming.

“Honey, please,” she begged.  “That really stings!”

Madoc’s hand didn’t even pause as he answered.  “Well, it’s going to sting a lot more because I’m just getting started.”

With a groan, Shayna darted a quick look at the other couple to see that Cade had stopped spanking Riley to pull down her panties.  Shayna’s own spanking forgotten for the moment, she gazed at the other girl’s bare bottom, mesmerized by how red her friend’s asscheeks were.  Was her own bottom that red? Shayna wondered.

Shayna felt her pulse quicken in anticipation as she watched Cade lift his hand.  It didn’t seem right to want to see her friend get spanked, but Shayna couldn’t seem to help herself.  In fact, she was so captivated by it that she was barely aware of Madoc lowering her own panties.

As if sensing Shayna’s eyes on her, Riley lifted her head to look over at her and Madoc.

Embarrassed to be caught staring, Shayna started to look away, but then stopped when she realized that Riley was gazing at her ass with the same fascination.

Shayna felt her pulse skip a beat, but before she could even begin to think what it meant, Madoc lifted his hand and brought it down on her bare bottom.  The smack seemed to echo throughout the barn and Shayna saw Riley’s blue eyes go wide.  A moment later, however, it was

Shayna who was wide-eyed as Cade’s hand connected with Riley’s ass.  She didn’t think she’d ever seen anything so provocative before.

But even as captivated as she was by watching Riley get spanked, Shayna couldn’t ignore the hard smacks Madoc was administering to her own bottom.  He was concentrating on her sit-

spots now, his hand coming down over and over on them with impeccable aim.

Ouch!

The force of the smacks soon had Shayna kicking and squirming wildly, and she let out a squeak of protest after each one.  When she had said she would gladly submit to whatever spanking Madoc gave her, she hadn’t been thinking that it would be one quite this hard.  Madoc must be really determined to teach her a lesson!

Amazingly, though, even while she was kicking and squealing, Shayna still found her gaze drawn repeatedly to the spanking Riley was getting.  The other girl was putting up quite a fuss herself, kicking and wiggling so vigorously that her husband was forced to put a lot of effort into holding her still.

Oooh, Riley’s bottom was so red, she thought.  Shayna was sure her own bottom never got that red!

Then, all at once, Madoc stopped spanking her.  A moment later, she was back on her feet in front of him.  Shayna automatically reached back to cup her throbbing asscheeks with both hands, only to gasp at how hot her bottom felt.  Maybe her ass really was as red as Riley’s.

She suddenly had an almost uncontrollable urge to stand beside the other girl and compare!

Abruptly realizing that she didn’t hear any spanking coming from the other part of the barn, Shayna glanced over her shoulder to find Riley standing in front of her husband, her hands cupping her glowing red ass.  Shayna had to admit that seeing her friend’s bottom all red like that was damn sexy!  She couldn’t wait to get Madoc alone; she was going to be all over him like a wild woman!

Madoc and Cade made her and Riley stand where they were for several minutes while they lectured them again on keeping their noses out of places they shouldn’t be.  Shayna wasn’t really paying much attention to what her husband was saying, though because she was spending most of her time glancing over her shoulder to check out her friend’s very red bottom.  She had to smile when she realized that Riley was doing the same to her.

As they were all walking back to the house a little while later, all Shayna could think about was how much fun it had been to get spanked alongside Riley.  She wondered if they could orchestrate a reason to make it happen again.

Riley must have been having the same thought because she smiled mischievously.  “You know,” she said, glancing at Shayna as they walked back to the house.  “Without the mining company to bother us, there’s no reason we can’t spend lots of time up there looking for that

Confederate gold now.”

Shayna returned her smile.  “I agree.  Though I’m not sure the guys are going to be crazy about the idea.”

Riley glanced over her shoulder to where the two brothers were walking a little distance behind them.  “You’re probably right,” she said.  “Of course, we’ll probably get another spanking when they find out about it, you know.”

Shayna laughed as she glanced over her shoulder at the two men.  “I’m counting on it.”

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A Glitch in Time by Judith McClaren  ISBN:  978-1-935152-00-2

Master of Wyndham Hall by Sullivan Clarke ISBN:  978-1-935152-01-9

Barbarian Worlds by Sharon Green ISBN:  978-1-935152-02-5

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The Cutler Brothers by Paige Tyler ISBN:  978-1-935152-08-8

Simple Pleasures by Nattie Jones ISBN:  978-1-935152-09-5

DeAkeny’s Bride by Darla Phelps: ISBN: 978-1-935152-10-1

The Friends Series, Volume One by Paige Tyler:  ISBN 978-1-935152-11-8

Comanche Canyon, by Judith McClaren:  ISBN 978-1-935152-12-5