Free Lessons of Love by Jolynn Raymond

that moment. She was caught in the throes of passion, and her body wouldn't be denied. Cole knew he had to scoop her out of the tub and strap her bottom until she was begging for mercy, but that could wait a moment, right now he was having great fun simply watching her as she bowe d to his control of her body.
    Why did she have to resist him? Why must she be so defiant? Her behavior was intolerable. It would make a powerful declaration of his mastery to cause her intense pain immediately after giving her pleasure. He controlled her body's every sensation, he and he alone. His wife needed to be dominated. She failed to understand her place in his world. She was here to service his needs an d grace his arm, nothi ng more.
    He reached under her arms and legs allowing her no time to come back to earth. Her muscles were languid from passion, her body incapable of resistance. Cole carried her to the bed. He laid her down, turning her on her stomach, and began to roughly dry her with a towel. He reached between her legs with the coarse material, sending shock waves through her as he stimulated her engorged nubbin yet again. Cole stepped back and admired his wife's body. Her milky white bottom beckoned him, begging for him to chastise it until it was fiery red.
    Cole unbuckled his belt and Jolie started at the sound. " Cole … ?" Her voice a harsh cry, a question , and a pl ea for mercy at the same time.
    He pressed his hand onto the small of her back holding her down. "You are no t to get up, Jolie , and I want you to spread your legs wide. I want to see your little cunny as I strap you." Cole felt a strong need to dominate his disobedient wife. He wanted to shame her as well as cause her pain. Jolie didn't move. She was mortified. How could he humiliat e her like this?
    Cole roughly pushed her legs apart growling at her refusal. "Do not defy me wife for I am already angered by your behavior. Now the seamstress will see your punished bottom when she measures you for your new underthin gs, and she will know you were being willful. I'm sure her gossip will reach the ears of all your friends before nightfall. It is my duty as your husband to correct your errant behavior. I will not tolerate you b eing disrespectful to Gregor."
    She heard the soft sound of his belt being pulled from its loops and shoo k her head frantically. "Cole, no… I'm sorry."
    " Jolie you continually tell me you're sorry but then turn around and act like a shrew. Perhaps spending the day with a stinging backside will remind you to use proper manners." Cole doubled his belt and raised it high to strike her. Jolie cried out in an anguished plea, begging him to forgive her. She couldn't take a beating at his hands. Not after she had just given her body over to the touch of his m agic fingers yet again. A sob caught in her throat and her shoulders shook, the sharp-tongued witch replaced b y the frightened child within.
    She had lived through many lashings from her stepfather, but this was different, it wasn't the physical pain that w ould hurt her. Cole was the man whom she'd la in with during the long night, t he man who awakened her body to the pleasures of lovemaking. The man who'd stared down at her with those stormy deep blue eyes as he'd taken her to heights of ecstasy sh e'd never known existed. Cole was the man who had held her gently in his arms and murmured sweet words in her ear as she drifted off to sleep. To have him beat her now like an erran t child would break her heart.
    Jolie pulled her arms in and put her face in her cuppe d hands as she sobbed. This humiliation was more than she could stand. Her mind and body were raging with conflicting emotions and she felt lost. She damned herself for caring what he thought of her, for feeling pain in her heart at the idea of Cole despis ing her and wanting to beat her. If he thrashed her now it would prove there wasn't an ounce of caring inside his cold heart, no matter what sweet words he had whispered to her