Free Saved by the Highlander by Emily Tilton Page B

hope it does you the good that I intend by it.”
    Then, suddenly, he began to strap Alice, bringing the leather down upon both her bottom cheeks, quickly and hard, over and over. From the very first the strap stung Alice’s rear end much more painfully than his spanking her with his hand upon the road had done, but thankfully the smart was not quite as severe as she had feared. It hurt, and the idea that a man thrashed her upon her bare bottom hurt her pride even worse, but she did not cry out as she had feared she would. The tears rolled down her cheeks, though, and as the strap visited the same spots again and again she heard little whimpers coming from her throat.
    As the anguish of her bottom grew worse, she found she must bounce a little to try to soothe it, but Niall said, “Hold that rump still, my lady, like a good girl,” and that was the worst of all, for she could not obey, but she must flex her right knee and then her left as he whipped her, knowing that he certainly could see her cunny as she did so, but unable to prevent it. Niall made a little sound of dissatisfaction at that. “If you were my wife, my lady, you would learn to hold still for your strappings.”
    Alice gave a gasping sob at these words, because they had so terribly pierced the veil she had tried to draw over her feelings. If she were his wife. How could he say that? And yet he had meant nothing by it, certainly.
    “Have you learned your lesson, my lady?” Niall finally asked, after a very severe lash that made Alice yelp.
    “Yes, sir,” Alice said, not even thinking about whether ‘sir’ was what one called the man who whipped you.
    “You’ll stay like that for a few minutes and think about what you did. You may rub your bottom, if you wish, to take away the sting.”
    Oh, how could he! But immediately the scene grew even more humiliating, for just as she reached her hands back and took her punished cheeks in them to try to soothe the pain, Fiona opened the door and said breezily, “What are you two…” Then her voice trailed off.
    “Lady Alice has just paid the penalty for some injudicious use of her tongue, Fiona. All is resolved, however. I must go out and see to the flocks—would you please ensure that she stays as she is for a bit?”
    “I shall,” said Fiona. Her tone made it plain that she did not enjoy the sight of her guest’s punished backside, and Alice’s heart swelled with gratitude to hear it.
    “Good day, my lady,” Niall said, and then Alice heard the door of the croft house shut behind him. She wondered why he had not stayed to force her to return the salutation, for that seemed much more like him than to leave so abruptly. Had a look passed between him and Fiona, behind Alice? Had something about whipping her wounded his composure?
    Did the untoward feelings in her heart, and now, to her shame, in her cunny, have an answer in Niall’s breast?

Chapter Ten
     
     
    Lord Roderick, when he discovered that no one could tell him whether Lady Alice Lourcy was alive or dead, decided that the only way to compose himself was to punish all the maids. Accordingly, he sent for Mrs. Grant.
    “I am dissatisfied with the general cleanliness of the castle, Mrs. Grant,” he said. “If you please, I should like to have a general correction here in my library on the morrow.”
    Mrs. Grant blanched. It had been several years since the last general correction, and Roderick could tell that his housekeeper had hoped there would not be another one.
    “Yes, my lord,” she said hesitantly. “And… the… details?”
    “The same as last time. The girls are to be paraded without their clothing through the castle before dinner, then brought to the library and made to form a queue for their whippings, which I shall give here over my desk.”
    Mrs. Grant seemed even more reluctant to speak now. “And… afterward, my lord?”
    “Yes, Mrs. Grant. The same. The rest of the maids turned with their bottoms to me, while Alana and