“I never threaten,” she said with a smile. And then, without warning, she kicked him hard enough in the leg to make him flinch and reach for the bruised area. He also let go of her arm, which made her smile widen. “I just promise, and then usually keep the promise. Remember that if there’s ever a next time.” Once again she turned toward the door, obviously meaning to leave the way she wanted to, but Derand had had enough. A man would have paid for the assault and insult with his life, but Elissia was a woman. She might later decide that she would have preferred to pay with her life, but that was too bad for her. “You and I aren’t as done as you seem to think,” Derand growled as he caught her arm again and began to pull her over to a chair. “You’ve been allowed to run the lives of everyone around you for much too long, not to mention acting as you please and getting away with it. You’re about to pay for that kick, and if you ever try it again you’ll pay twice as hard.”
“Let go of me, you big oaf!” she said in a near growl of her own as she was brought helplessly with him. “If you didn’t want to be kicked, you should have kept your hands to yourself. You – Oh!”
Her argument ended abruptly when she was pulled face down across Derand’s lap, but she also began to struggle harder.
“Don’t bother trying to get out of this,” Derand said dryly as he got a good grip on her. “You were told that I’m your husband, so I have a right to do more than put a hand on your arm. I’m about to show you what some of that ‘more’ entails, a pleasant chore I expect to have to repeat over and over again. If you decide you’d like to avoid that, you can do it by behaving yourself.”
The girl snarled wordlessly as she continued to struggle, fighting to regain her feet. Derand ignored her efforts and began to raise her skirts, then he cursed silently. He’d forgotten she was wearing a riding skirt, and there was no effective way of getting it raised. The girl had gotten lucky, but only for this one time. If the situation ever recurred, he’d strip her naked before putting her over his knee. But she was in that position right now, so there was no sense in putting off her first lesson. She voiced another “Oh!” of shocked surprise when his hand came down with the first smack, but she couldn’t have felt it too strongly through all that cloth. But she did feel it, which her renewed struggles showed. “You’ll be getting away lucky this first time,” Derand told her as he added a second and third smack. “The next time I have to do this your bottom will be bare, and you won’t sit down for the rest of the day at least. You will learn to be a good little girl, or you’ll spend the rest of your life standing up.” “You miserable savage, let me go!” the girl demanded, her voice filled more with desperation than command. “You’re hurting me and you have no right!” “I have every right,” Derand countered, still smacking the rounded bottom that now squirmed with every stroke. “I’m your husband, and it’s a husband’s duty to teach his wife what she needs to know if her father didn’t. You will not get away with insulting or disobeying me, so don’t ever think you will. And I’m not hurting you, I’m punishing you. You’ll soon learn the difference.”
She snarled something under her breath and tried again to fight free, but her strength wouldn’t have been a match to his even on his worst day. He continued to bring his hand down hard on her backside, determined to leave a lasting impression, and finally succeeded. When she tried to shield her aching seat with a hand, he captured her wrist and held her arm out of the way, then went on with his chore. The girl finally fell silent except for an occasional “Oh!” muttered under her breath or swallowed, and Derand took that for a good sign. She’d stopped trying to oppose his will with her own, showing that the first lesson had been spanked into her. That she refused to let herself cry out wasn’t quite as good, but eventually she’d surrender the stubbornness as well. Derand gave her a final five spanks, each of them hard enough to make her draw in her breath, and then he released her.
“So now you know what to expect from me,” he said as he rose to his feet. The girl stood rubbing her bottom with one hand, making no effort to look up at him. “If you behave yourself we’ll get along without a problem, but if you don’t we’ll have more sessions like this one. The choice is completely yours.” A few minutes earlier the girl would have made some sarcastic remark to that comment, but now she just stood rubbing herself and making no effort to meet his gaze. Yes, she’d learned the lesson all right, and with less trouble than Derand had been expecting. “You’ll join your father and me for dinner tonight, and afterward we’ll retire to your apartment,” he went on in the delightful silence. “If you try any of your tricks on your father you’ll regret it, because I’ll put you over my knee and bare-bottom paddle you right on the spot with everyone watching. I’ve decided that we’ll spend a day or two here before leaving for home, and you’ll behave as a courteous guest rather than as the ruler of the world. Have I made myself clear?” Her nod was rather more curt than Derand would have liked, but he really had only just begun with her. In a little while she would be just as polite and well mannered as the next woman, or she would definitely be more sore. “Good,” Derand said, letting her hear his satisfaction. “I’ll escort you to your apartment now, but I won’t be staying – and you won’t be leaving again until it’s time for dinner. And don’t make me come looking for you unless you enjoy the idea of needing to sit on a cushion. You’ll find it very embarrassing and even more uncomfortable. Let’s go.” He waited for her to precede him, which she did without even a moment’s hesitation. As he followed after, he decided that his married life promised to be much more peaceful than anyone – including him – had expected.
