Her Old-Fashioned Husband (11 page)

“Tom, I thought you might visit.”

Tom gla
nced up
and looked into the face of the man he’d once considered to be an older brother. He
looked older, but on him the gra
y appearing around his temples and the extra lines on his face made him look more distinguished. His blue eyes stared at Tom calmly as he leaned against a doorway, arms crossed loosely over his large chest.

Damn, he was still a large, muscular bastard. Tom had hoped by now that he’d run to fat, he must be nearing forty.

“You going to continue to stare at me all afternoon or would you like to come inside?”

With a snort Tom started forward, following Roarke as he turned and walked through the passage behind him.

“Decadence is a bit of a
cliché
name, don’t you think?” Tom sneered, while inwardly he winced. Damn, one minute in this man’s presence and he was reduced to a reb
ellious teen. Where was all his control
?

Roarke just looked over his shoulder at him coolly. “It fits the club. People come here to indulge their fantasies.” He led Tom into an empty b
ar. It was done entirely black—
black tables, black furni
ture and fixtures. The only color
was dark maroon carpet and drapes.

“Jesus,” Tom muttered.

“Something wrong?” Roarke asked with what looked like amusement in his eyes. “You don’t like the furnishings?”

“Like I said before,
clichéd
. Don’t you have anything original in here?” Tom challenged. On the one hand he was a bit appalled at his behavior. But the other part of him didn’t care. This was the bastard who’d taken his best friend from him.

Roarke moved behind the bar. “I give people what they expect. This club isn’t as hardcore as some of my other
clubs;
we have open nights a few times a week and run training classes. Drink?”
             

Tom sneered. “Well, aren’t you Mr. Wonderful? Still helping out all the little newbie
Doms
. Tell me, does it help you sleep better?”

Roarke looked at him calmly. “No, it doesn’t. Nothing helps me sleep. All I see when I close my eyes is my little brother racing out the door, knowing I can stop him and I don’t. How are your dreams?”
             

Tom swallowed his sorrow, his surprise at the pain in Roarke’s eyes. He knew the other man must be suffering, but his own anger had suppressed his empathy for Roarke. He wanted that anger, needed it.

He needed someone else to blame. He couldn’t carry it all himself. It would drown him.

“I didn’t come here to talk about sleeping patterns. I came here to tell you to stay away from my wife.”
             

Roarke raised an eyebrow. “She was a woman alone outside a club, looking distressed. You expected me to just leave her there?”

Tom fought hard to maintain his anger. “You knew she was my wife, didn’t you?”

“Of course. I’ve seen the photos you sent my mother. They’re proudly displayed on the
mantelpiece
.”

Tom swallowed back tears at that. “You had no business approaching her, what were you hoping to use her to get to me?”

Roarke eyed him. “Well, if I had it’s worked, hasn’t it? Because here you are, filled with righteous anger.
I didn’t search your wife out. I was merely in the right place at the right time.
”
             

“Do not bring my wife into this. I don’t want to see you or talk to you. I am not going to forgive you.” Even as he said the words, pain bloomed. He’d held onto his anger so long, but now faced with Roarke, he remembered the anguish and horror on the other man’s face as they’d heard how bad Austin was hurt. Heard him cry as they’d turned off the life support. Tom had blocked all that out in his need to blame the other man. It was the only way he could keep going.

Now, a part of him
was wondering if that was fair. He shook off his doubts.

“Stay away from her. I catch you near her and I will call the cops. She’ll be under orders to do the same.”
             

“But will she obey you?” Roarke asked
softly as Tom turned to leave.

Tom turned back. “Yes.”

Roarke raised a brow in that infuriatingly superior way he had. “Really? So she had permission to be out at that nightclub on her own? While you were away? With no plan to get home? You allow your sub a lot more leniency than I thought you would.”

“She’s not my sub, she’s my wife.”

“She can be both,” Roarke told him with amusement. Damn him.

“Well, she’s not
.
” Well,
Frankie submitted to him when it cam
e to her health and safety. Although
, submitted might be too strong a word. She knew if she broke the rules, he’d blister her butt. Whether she obeyed was up to her and her wish to sit for the next week.

Tom wondered
why he was telling Roarke this. But
then
Roarke had always been his confidant. His mentor.

“Do you think that’s wise? She clearly needs a gu
iding hand. She’s
pushing herself so hard that she’s
self-destructing
.”

Tom ground his
teeth. “What the hell do you know about it?”

“I know that she feels like she has to be this perfect wife, or what she thinks a perfect wife should be. She’d trying so hard to be everything she thinks you need, a wife, a housekeeper, a mother, that she’d nearly exhausted herself.
It’s no wonder she went off the rails
, she’s wound up tighter than a jack-in-the-box. That’s your fault, you know. If you were keeping a proper eye on her you would know how worried she is that you’ll leave her.”

Tom gaped at him. He’d spoken to Frankie for less than an hour and he’d discovered all that? Tom had been married to her for nearly a year and he was only just coming to realize how insecure she still was.

“She told you all that?”

Roarke nodded. “She was rather upset. She needed someone to talk to. She should have come to you, but she’s terrified of scaring you off. You need to show her that no matter what you’ll be there for her.”

Anger suffused him. Most of it aimed at himself, but some it spilled over onto the smug bastard sitting before him.

“Stay out of my life and away from my wife.”

“I’m worried about her,” Roarke told him, as though he’d known Frankie for years. “
When I saw her outside that club she could barely stand.”

Although there was no discernible criticism in his voice or face, Tom nearly winced at his words. Anger flared. “Well, by the time I’m through with her, she will regret every moment of it. She won’t be sitting comfortably for quite a while.”

“Ahh, well, I see you haven’t given everything up that I taught you.”

Tom flushed a bit. “She responds best when she has boundaries and structure.”

“Like
a true submissive. You could bring her here. Train her.
”

“No.
” Tom looked around him. “You know I never truly enjoyed any of this. I kept coming back for Austin. And this is definitely not the place for Frankie.”

H
e meant it. He didn’t need to bring
Frankie here or to another club. I
n fact the idea of others seeing her, watching her, it filled him with possessiveness.

She was his.

That didn’t mean he didn’t recognize his need to domina
te
. It was part of the reason he’d introduced domestic discipline to their relationship from the beginning. He wanted, no needed, to ensure that Frankie was happy, safe. The thought of anything happening to her terrifi
ed him.

Frankie fl
oundered without structure.
She might not like the fact that she got her butt spanked when she disobeyed, but he knew she’d admit that she functi
oned better with him in charge.

“Do you
know why I approached Frankie
?” Roarke asked.
“
I was
checking out
the club as a favor to a friend when I spotted her. I knew she was your wife, of course, so I felt some obligation to look out for her. I saw some large asshole hitting on her, but as I started toward them, she stepp
ed on his foot hard
.
When she left
I followed her. So did the large asshole. When she stopped outside to search through her bag for her phone, he was almost on her. I got to her first, luckily or I’m not sure what he would have had planned. I suggest you start keeping a closer watch on your wife.”

The last sentence was said coldly. Tom glared at him.

“Thank you for giving my wife a ride home
,
now stay the fuck away from her,” he told Roarke hotly before storming out of the club.

Frankie watched the horses, not sure what the hell she was doing here. She should be in bed, waiting for Tom to retu
rn. But each time she’d
shut her eyes, she’d felt confused and a bit insecure. She couldn’t get rid of that voice telling her that she wasn’t good
enough for Tom.
Was she holding him back from being truly happy?

This wasn’t her. She didn’t sit around and worry about things, she raced out and met them face on. Then went home and got her butt spanked usually. That ‘action first-think later’ part of her was usually what got her in trouble with Tom.

Well, she guessed leaving her bed to dress and drive out to Heath and Ava’s place was probably a good example of that sort of behavior. But she hadn’t wanted to think anymore, that was the point.

She was tired of thinking. She just wanted to be for a while.

Two horses pranced around the corral, one a dark, deep black with just
a white splash between its eyes
.
That was Ava’s mare, Slinky. Weird name for a beautiful horse. The other horse was larger, a stallion with a deep brown coat. Rocky. Anothe
r funny name for a stunning animal
. Frankie just shook her head in amusement.

“Want to go for a ride?”

She gasped in fright, turning towards her oldest b
rother
. Tall, broad, his long body encased in well-worn shirt and jeans, a hat hiding his dark hair, Heath, was a handsome man. Strong, smart and reliable.

Tears welled. Shit, she was
really
emotional at the moment. It really sucked.

Frankie shook her head.
             

Heath smiled slightly. “Is that because your butt is too sore or you just don’t feel like a ride?”
             

Frankie’s gaze narrowed, the tears disappearing. “What the hell do you know about the state of my ass?”
             

Heath’s face grew stern before he moved to lean against the corral beside her. They both looked out at the horses.

“If I know Tom, I’d bet your bottom is feeling his displeasure right now. Where were you last night, Frankie?”

Oh shit, that’s right.
Tom had told her that he’d sent Heath around to check up on her.

“I don’t need checking up on like a child,” she muttered, staring at her feet.

Heath clasped her chin lightly, raising her face so she was staring into his eyes. He looked down at her gently, with such understanding that she almost started crying again.
             

Goddamn it.

“I know that it can be hard living with a husband or brothers like you have,” he began.

“What ones who like to beat my ass at the least provocation,” she interrupted, wishing back the words as soon as she said them.

“I was going to say overprotective and bossy, before I was so rudely interrupted.”

She flushed at the gentle reprimand.

“Is that truly how you see us?” he asked. “Do you think we’re just waiting for you to do something wrong so we can spank you?”

Frankie sighed. “No, of course not.” She’d just been blowing off frustrated steam. In truth, she liked the fact that her family cared so much for her. She knew so many families who barely even talked to each other. Sure, her
brothers and Tom could be arrogant and bossy
at times, and it was rather embarrassing to still be spanked at her age, but Frankie honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.

She knew she was loved. She knew there would always be someone there for her if she needed them. And she knew no matter what she did, they’d stick by her.

It was no coincidence that she’d fallen in love with a man like her brothers. Although, she’d had a crush on him as a kid, it was only once he’d shown her that he could and would take charge
,
and do whatever he thought necessary to protect and care for her
,
that she’d actually fallen in love with Tom.