Free The Princess and the Rogue by Jordan St. John Page B

beginning. To her horror, she felt him lifting her skirt. The hem slid slowly up the backs of her legs until her drawers were exposed.
    It was absolutely humiliating that a man should see her thus. But it was not over. Her mouth flew open in shock and she squealed at the indignity as she felt the awful man yank her drawers down, baring her bottom. A soft breeze caressed the denuded cheeks, and she blushed furiously, now totally humiliated. Another shock hit her system when she felt the outlaw’s palm touch her, patting her bottom casually. It sent a cold chill up her spine and she wriggled anew, protesting vociferously.
    “Let me go! You have no right! I’m a royal princess!” Juliet kicked with all her might, but the outlaw held her across his knee with a steely grip.
    “Now, princess. I’ll have a few answers. Who are you and what are you doing in my forest?”
    “I’m a royal princess of Westvale. Release me at once!”
    “All right, your highness. Have it your way.” Rand raised his arm and placed a hard spank square across the girl’s bottom. The sharp crack resounded in the dry enclosed space of the hut.
    “Ow!” cried Juliet. But she barely had time to register the shock because a volley of brisk spanks followed that had her wriggling and kicking. The steady smacks from the outlaw’s rough palm stung her bare cheeks, raising the heat in her flesh. At first it was a tingle. Then it felt warm. But as the barrage of hearty spanks piled one on top of another, her bottom began to feel uncomfortably hot, as though she had backed too close to a stove.
    Then the sensation drifted toward unbearable. The steady smack-smack-smack of the outlaw’s palm striking her wobbly bottom filled the confines of the hut. Juliet squealed. She pounded her fists on the dirt floor. She arched her back and squirmed furiously. Nothing helped halt the fiery blaze engulfing her bottom. He was spanking her on alternate cheeks, then sometimes right across the middle. He was relentless. After a while it all just spread to a scorching blaze in her behind that finally overwhelmed her.
    Juliet broke down sobbing. “Stop! Stop! Please, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to steal anything,” she blubbered. The spanking stopped while the man rested his hand on her bare seat. To Juliet her backside felt like it glowed like an iron in a fire.
    “So I’ll ask again. Who are you?”
    “I told you,” she sobbed. “Juliet Greystone.”
    Rand sighed. “All right. I can keep this up all afternoon.” And he raised his hand to resume the punishment.
    “Wait,” said the woman. Juliet raised her head and saw that curious look on the woman’s face again, as if she had remembered something. “I think she’s had enough.”
    “As you wish, Mother Theda.” The outlaw helped Juliet to her feet. He addressed the blushing girl. “You, stand over there. Face the wall and keep your skirt up while we talk about what to do with you. Go!” he said, sending her on her way with a hearty smack that made her squeal.
    Juliet stood facing the wall of the hut. Her bottom burned and she felt utterly shattered. It was doubly humiliating for her to have to keep her skirts up, displaying her bare nether cheeks to this pair while they discussed her fate.
    “I suppose I could take her in,” said the woman, “at least until we can find her people.”
    Rand scowled. “She’s a village girl, obviously, but she was on the run from the red countess. It was Morgaine’s men I fought several miles back. No doubt this one was abducted by the countess’s men. But I can’t understand her insistence on this wild story that she’s a princess.”
    “You know, at first I thought she might be a village girl I knew. Scarlett is her name. She is an orphan, taken in by the good sisters of St. Agnes. But this isn’t her, although she could be a twin. I could keep her here with me.”
    Rand shook his head. “Too much danger. The red countess will search for her. After all, she