Her Old-Fashioned Husband (9 page)

She nodded
again
.

“And then, as you were
trying to figure out who to call
to give you a ride home, a stranger approaches you. Instead of retreating into the club and calling one of your brothers, you instead decide to get a ride with him. A man you don’t know. A man who could have done anything to you and I would have had no idea since you told no one where you were going. Tell me, Frankie, what the hell were you thinking?”

“I guess I wasn’t,” she said in a small voice. Yeah, she could hear how bad it sounded. “But nothing like that happened. He wasn’t a crazy killer or anything.”

“But you didn’t know that!” he nearly yelled, shocking her. Tom never raised his voice. Well, unless he was watching football, of course.

“You were completely vulnerable. I just-I don’t know what to do about this, Frankie. I don’t know how to instill in you a sense of self-preservation. I need to make sure this never happens again, but I...” he trailed off, just shaking his head.

Frankie let out a sob, getting out of bed to kneel at his feet. Ignoring her queasy stomach and throbbing headache, she leaned her forehead in his lap.

“Please, Tom, please.”

She hated having him so disappointed in her. Hated that she’d caused this rift between them.

“Please, what?” he asked, looking down at her tiredly.

“Please punish me,” she begged. “I want to make this right.”

“I don’t know if you can.”

She shook, sobbing. No, please God, no. She couldn’t bear it if he gave up on her. “You’re leaving me?” she managed to ask.

“Christ.” He grabbed her under the arms and lifted her onto his lap. “Of course I’m not leaving you.”

“I’m so much trouble. I’m stupid, I put myself at risk, I worry you. You need a wife, not a rebellious teenager. Hell, even if I got pregnant, I doubt I’d make a good mother. No one woul
d blame you if you left me. Y
ou’d be better off without me.”

Tom tucked her head against his chest, his large hand splaying over the side of her face as he rocked her gently.

“Hey, I do not want to hear such nonsense out of your mouth
,” he said firmly
.
“
You are not stupid. And I happen to think you’d mak
e a fantastic mother
. You’re kind, funny, smart. Baby, we’ve got plenty of time to have children, don’t we? We don’t have to rush things. I thin
k we should take a break
, I don’t like what it does to you each month, you’re spiraling into depression and I won’t have it. I’m your
husband.
I’m supposed to protect you from things that hurt you. And each month I see you in such pain I want to punch something. I just can’t stand it.”

“I’m sorry,” she cried. She’d been so filled with her own
misery;
she hadn’t been able to see
past it to see his much pain
.

“What do you say we take a year
off from trying to get pregnant?
Just a year to let us be by ourselves. I’d quite like to have you to myself without this pressure.”

“What if there is something wrong with me, though?” she asked, terrified that would be the case.

Tom kissed the top of her
forehead. “We’ll get tested
, put our minds at ease. Do you agree to wait, though?”

Frankie thought long and hard. She was tired and sad. She’d been so obsessed with her need to have a baby that she hadn’t seen the effect it was having on her, her husband, her marriage. And truthfully, some time to themselves to just be together sounded ideal.

She nodded. “We’ll wait.”

“Thank you, baby.” He ran his hand over her hair. “I can’t just ignore the rest of it, though. Sweetheart, the last two nights I sat up worrying about you, scared you were in trouble and I couldn’t help you. If we keep going in this direction, things will end badly. I need to put a stop to it.”

Frankie nodded, taking a big breath. She knew what needed to happen. “You should spank me.”

Tom chuckled, surprising her. When she glanced up at him, though, his face was solemn. “Oh honey, this is going to be much harder than a simple spanking. Remember, y
our grounding? It’s now up to a month
.”

“But Tom,” she whined, unable to help herself.

He stared down at her sternly. “Argue with me, young lady and I’ll double it.”

“Tom, you’re treating me like a kid, can’t you just spank me and get it over with? Not that spanking me isn’t a kid’s punishment.” But at least then it would be over and he would forgive her, she could erase that disappointment from his gaze when he stared at her.

“You’re never too old for a spanking,” he told her, something he’d said over and over. Hell, and before that she’d heard it many times from her brothers as well.

“And you sure weren’t acting like an adult last night. An adult wouldn’t worry her husband the way she did. Wouldn’t act out to get attention. Wouldn’t get in a goddamned stranger’s car. I am seriously worried about you.”

Frankie gulped.

“No,
you’re grounded for the next month
so I can know where you are at all times. You go to work and
then come straight home.
I hate you traveling so far each day, I worry abou
t you constantly.
When you’re not at work, I want you here where I know you will be safe. I have to know where you are until I lose this tight, nasty knot inside my stomach. And you deserve this as a punishment. You’ve shown supremely poor judgment, so for a while I will be making all the decisions. Understand?”

She nodded, chewing at her lower lip.

“You’ll also be getting a spanking each morning and night for the next fortnight.”

Frankie gasped, shocked. “What? But I thought you were grounding me as punishment for worrying you? Why am I being spanked?”

“You’re being grounded because I think you should lose the privilege of being able to come and go as you please and because of your lack of respect for me and my feelings by not answering your phone or letting me know where you were going. The spankings are because of the very real danger you put yourself in. I’m very serious about your safety, Frankie, and by the end of the two weeks, you’ll know that well. And I’m not forgetting the spankings I owe you for hanging up on me and forgetting to eat dinner.”

Frankie knew she looked like a fish, her mouth opening and closing.

“You can’t do tha
t.” She finally found
her voice. “I won’t be able to sit at work.”

“Then
it’s
going
to be an uncomfortable two weeks
for you,” he said calmly, his voice very firm.

“
You’re so mean, I won’t stand for this,” she cried, trying to climb off him. He held her easily, subduing her quickly as she started to struggle.

“Just settle down
,” he growled. “You don’t want to add to your spankings.”

“You’re just a big bully, let me down!” Frankie knew she sounded like a little girl, but she couldn’t help herself.

Tom rolled her against him so she was on her side, her stomach against his. His hand landed rapidly on her exposed buttocks. Her skirt had long since given up on covering her. It wasn’t a long spanking, but it was heavy and made an immediate impact.

“Calm down and I’ll stop,” he told her.

F
rankie settled against him with a wail, crying. He spanked her a few more times. All her fears and upset from the last few days poured out against his shirt as he sat her up, rocking her again.

He didn’t try to
silence
her, just held her and ran
his hand up and down her back
as she cried
.
By the time she’d finished, his shirt had a wet patch from her tears and she was feeling exhausted.

“Frankie?”

“Hmm?”

“You know I only do this because I love you and because I believe you nee
d this, need me to take charge. You ‘re not ever scared of me are you?
”

“No.” She shook her head. “Never.
When you use that voice on me, the one that tells me you’re in charge now, my stomach drops and a kind of peace comes over me. I guess because I know you’re in charge and I trust you to take care of me. I don’t have to worry, because you’ll be there to look after me.”

She buried her face against him in embarrassment. He kissed her forehead, rubbing her back soothingly.

“Thank you for being so honest, baby. I know tha
t wasn’t easy. Honey, there is something
I’ve never talked about with you, becau
se I found it too painful and because I wasn’t sure how you would react
.
But I’ve realized not that I can’t expect you to give me all of yourself if I’m not willing to do the same. And I want all of you, Frankie. Warts and all. You’re bottling things up, honey. There are times when I see you worrying about things, only you won’t talk to me.”

He kissed her forehead. “Sometimes I worry about what exactly is goin
g on inside this head of yours.”
His voice grew deep. “Frankie, there is something I never want you to forget and that is that I love you and want to protect you. Never forget that.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered.

He kissed her. “It’s settled then. But first, there’s a question I need to ask. I want an honest answer. Do you know just who gave you a ride home last night?”

Tom waited for her reply, praying she had no idea who had driven her home last night was. Because if she did, if she’d lied and betrayed him... well, he had no idea what he would do.

“No. I’m sorry,” she said quickly, obviously thinking he’d be furious at her answer. “I know I shouldn’t have gotten a ride with someone I didn’t know. But he said he knew Brax and he was willing to wait with me while I called him. I just... I know there are no excuses. But his name must be on his card. I guess I should call him and thank him.”

“No,” he said sharply. Frankie jumped in his arms, looking at him with wide, frightened eyes. Tom squashed his anger.

“I don’t want you anywhere near this guy. Understand?”

Frankie gaped at him. “Why? Do you know him? Is he dangerous?”

“Yeah, I know him,” Tom said grimly. “And I wouldn’t have put it past him to set this all up just so I would have to see him again. He knows as soon as he shows his face to me he’s a dead man.”

Rage filled his veins. His hands clenched, his jaw tensing. A soft hand ran over his face, trying to soothe him.

“Tom? Who is he?”

“Roarke Landon. He was my best friend’s brother. My mentor. Hell, I thought he was my friend.”

“Was?”

“Yeah.” He looked down at his wife, so small and delicate to him, even though he knew she didn’t believe that. “He killed Austin, my friend. He killed him. And now he’s here. But for what?”

Frankie took a deep breath, shocked at the pained anger in her husband’s gaze. What did he mean? The man who’d given her a ride home was a killer?

“He-he killed your best friend?”

Tom looked down at her and sighed, his face softening. Thank God. She’d never seen him like this before.

“Roarke is-was Austin’s
older brother. I met Austin in c
ollege. We fast became best friends. He even took me home to his family’s house during the holidays. I spent a lot of time with his family, they’re really good people. Austin had four older brothers. Roarke w
as the oldest.
To us, he was this older, together guy who had this special way with the lad
ies. He came and visited us at c
ollege when we turned twenty-one and took us to this club
he owned
. It was a BDSM club. That was our first introduction to the lifestyle. Roarke had been a
Dom
for
years;
he was well immersed in the lifestyle.”

Frankie was shocked. BDSM?
She’d read about it, she loved erotica. But Tom had never mentioned it before.

“I wasn’t really interested in it, but Austin was. I went a few times because he wanted too. But mainly I just watched.
Although I did learn a lot about spanking techniques.
”

He grinned and Frankie squirmed.

“What went on
in the club
s
wasn’t real enough for me. I wanted to settle down with one person, not just play at things at clubs with different subs.
I knew exactly what I wanted— domestic discipline relationship with someone I loved. Then I saw you again and I fell hard.
And I knew you would benefit fro
m having structure in your life, from discipline. Domestic discipline works well for us, don’t you think?”

She blushed, avoiding the question.
“
So you’re not into the lifestyle anymore?” Part of her was relieved, she wouldn’t like to experience some of the things she’d read about. But the other part of her was curious.