The Humiliation of Hannah Read online

  He owned her now, her fealty was restored, and he would be in control.

  On the verge … close, so very close … Please no! her inner voice pitifully cried.

  “Not now,” Daniel said in warning.

  It was almost impossible to stop the powerful sexual surge, but she forced back the physical feelings. How could he ask this of her now!

  “Please, sir, I ask your permission,” she begged him.

  “Permission is not granted! Not until you’ve impressed me with your sincere regret.”

  “Oh, but I do regret what I did!” she implored him. “I swear!”

  “Yes, we’ll see about that.”

  By then, she could feel the swell of her wild arousal abate. Understanding that all was not forgiven—not yet—she could take no joy in that hour.

  For Daniel, the satisfaction in soundly punishing his wife was as sweet as the climax he just enjoyed. But in his mind her atonement was hardly over.

  He pushed away from his wife, leaving her spent body limp against the woodpile while he rested against the shed door and took a deep breath. Staring at her bared behind, he grinned to himself.

  “A pretty sight you are, wife,” he said.

  She slowly looked back, but otherwise didn’t move.

  “May I get up, sir?” she asked, knowing that his permission wasn’t required, although a little show of respect at this moment might help put her back in his good graces.

  Daniel, however, was not about to let her off so easily.

  “Yes, you can get up,” he said, “while you’re removing your clothes.”

  Hannah gulped and closed her eyes, while trying to envision what more she’d have to pay for her sins. Her legs suddenly felt so heavy and the weariness of her body could not be denied. A horrible night, a morning of sorrow and pain, if only she could put it all aside and rest.

  “I said get up,” Daniel leaped into her thoughts.

  She stood slowly, then faced him.

  “Strip now? But it is so cold,” she softly said.

  “I’d think the heat of your bottom would keep you warm,” he smirked. “Besides, it is not cold; that’s just your fear speaking.”

  He leaned against the door and waited for her to act. His gaze was neither threatening nor soft. A playful twinkle in his eye gave her hope, but it was too soon to tell if he was kidding or if she should be careful what she said and did. At least his rage and hers had passed. In her belly all she could feel was lust, both his and her own. They had lived through such moments before; her only choice was to obey and see it through.

  While watching him warily, she began to unbutton her dress. Shrugging it off her shoulders, it fell to the dusty woodshed floor at her feet.

  He nodded for her to continue and soon her chemise and underclothes joined the pile of soiled fabric. While feeling the cool air of morning start to invade her body, she daintily stepped from the wad of clothes and waited for her husband’s next move. When had the weather changed from the summery heat to this chilling atmosphere? she wondered silently. Or perhaps it was just her fear that made her cold.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” she tried again, though her voice was faint and her spirit guarded.

  “What do you suppose I thought when I show up and find you gone?” Daniel finally spoke.

  “I’m sure you were worried,” she said.

  “Indeed. Although worry hardly describes the terror I felt.” His flaming anger had given way to a steely calm that worried her more than another bout with the razor strop. His eyes dug into her center. “My only hope, my only hope,” he repeated for emphasis, “was that you were off, as before, looking for your fool of a brother, even though I couldn’t imagine you’d disobey me so soon after I forbid such foolish attempts to find him. I actually prayed that you were that reckless, that unthinking, that foolishly impulsive, even after so many fights about your brother. If so, then maybe you weren’t taken by thieves,” his scorn began to surface again, “or lying dead in some ditch. But what a thing to wish for?” he bit off scornfully.

  His comments hurt like the blade of a knife ravishing her guts. Daniel was rarely given to mockery; it was not like him.

  “I am so sorry.”

  He shook his head. “How can I believe you, when you promise time after time then fail to keep your word?”

  “But I have learned my lesson this time. I swear.”

  “Oh? Why should I believe that?”

  “Because it was a horrid night, Daniel…everything I deserved for disobeying you.” If only she could cry, but she long ago learned that such theatrics were not becoming to her, and they would only insult her husband. He was well within his bounds to admonish her. Every bit of anger was justified, his hurt was real and right.

  “Perhaps you’d like to explain your night?”

  She looked down at herself, at her nakedness, and felt the shame as her only garment. What better way to confess her misdeeds.

  “I was stupid,” she started.

  “I’m sure.”

  “Some rough men, the Tremaine boys, I think, hassled me in Somersby’s store. My worry got the best of me. I took off to find Millie Peacock in hopes of finding Beau. She sent me miles away, to Mendon, I think it was… I know it was wrong and dangerous and against your wishes, but I just hoped that if I could find Beau, talk to him, talk some sense into him. I had every reason to worry. They talked about Jarrett Cain.” She stopped and let that one sink in, staring up curiously to see his reaction.

  His eyes barely flickered. “Is that so?”

  “Daniel, if it’s Jarrett Cain who Beau has crossed, well…” She looked at him desperately hoping to see some sign of mercy.

  “Then you have no business getting involved. So, does that explain your whole night? What more kept you from home until dawn?”

  “I got lost,” she said, so faintly that he could hardly hear her.

  But Daniel did hear her. “My, you poor creature.”

  She gazed up at him through her glassy eyes. He was not unkind, but he was not yet ready to let the matter rest.

  He took a deep breath and stood up straight, ready to move on. “I have work to do and so do you. But yours will wait until you serve your penance in the yard. I think an hour or so at the post will give you time to consider the folly of your ways.” He looked around the shed, with his eyes finally lighting on what he wanted. Grabbing a length of rope, a hammer and a spike in one hand, he then grabbed for Hannah’s arm with the other.

  “Sir?” she stared up unbelieving.

  “You heard me.”

  “But I’m naked!”

  “So you are.”

  “You can’t possibly…”

  His eyes narrowed on her grimly.

  “But what about Jolie?” She tried again.

  “What about Jolie? Your sister didn’t come home last night either.”

  This was not good news—her sister could be as full of mischief as her brother. She hardly needed that now.

  “But what if she does come home and sees me like this?”

  “Then she can take a turn beside you—after I give her a good caning.”

  Her alarm could not have been greater as Daniel led her by the arm out of the shed and into the yard, to a post that had been anchored into the ground just off the side of the front porch. Its purpose was for tethering horses, but it would serve another purpose now. Once before she’d been hauled there to serve penance in the open, but that time she’d been fully clothed. The idea of exposing herself this way was too outrageous for words; what kind of man had her husband become? Oh, yes, the farm was far enough from civilization that there was little chance anyone would see her, but the shame of the situation could not be minimized.

  “Daniel, please! You can’t do this! What if someone sees me like this!”

  “Then someone sees a disobedient wife getting the punishment she deserves.”

  He wrapped the rope about her wrists, tying them tightly together and securely knotting the
two loose ends. Raising her hands high above her head, he then drove the long spike through the center of the thick knot and into the wooden post, leaving her there to dangle in the morning air unable to free herself.

  “How can you be so cruel!” she cried in desperation.

  But he turned on her, eyes flashing with the same ruthless gleam she’d seen earlier that morning.

  “How can you be so cruel,” he spit back. “This is an eye for an eye right now, until I’m ready to forgive you. I don’t take my pronouncements lightly and neither should you. It’s a matter of trust between us, wife. And you, not I, have broken that trust. This may be crude and humiliating, but perhaps you’ll finally get the message. You’re the one to mend this breach that keeps tearing no matter what lengths I take to mend it.”

  She shrunk back from the powerful charges against her. She had no idea that his ire could reach as far as this. Daniel strode off as she watched. Deep in her groin the tickle of arousal that she had needfully submerged played a cruel game of leapfrog with her insides. How could she want him now more than ever? How could her desire rise above this humiliation? How could her heart pine for him so, even now?

  A half-hour passed with the minutes ticking by so slowly that Hannah could have sworn it was nearly half the day. For a while, her arousal was so great that she rested her torso against the post and moved her hips into the wood seeking relief. She could never climax this way, and what a shameless thing to do, but she could hardly help herself. In time, however, discomfort overtook her arousal. Her arms ached and she twisted this way and that trying to relieve the strain. Not once did she see Daniel, although she suspected that he was furtively watching her from the barn. Perhaps it would be better if he saw her suffering rather than finding some obscene pleasure in this punishment. Perhaps he would see her terrible distress and set her free.

  Although she could turn around, Hannah remained as originally placed the entire time, with her hands above her and her backside facing the path that led to the road. As her discomfort increased, time seemed to stretch out forever.

  Her mind drifted thoughtlessly. But what was that? The sound was so unexpected as it suddenly pulled her from her reverie. She listened carefully as it grew in volume, until she recognized with some horror its source. Briefly turning her head, she peeked at the scene behind her, all the while praying that her worst fears had not been realized.

  But indeed they had!

  Riding on horseback, as was his custom, Judge Boone entered the yard, stopped his mount and stared at Hannah for some seconds. In shame, the penitent wife turned into the post and shuddered with humiliation as she felt the man’s curious eyes rest on her punished bottom.

  “So, what have we here?” she heard Judge Boone ask Daniel when her husband moved out of the barn to greet him.

  “A foolish wife who needs to be taught a lesson,” Daniel returned.

  The men approached her and she froze.

  “Humph! It’s been many a recalcitrant I’ve tied to whipping posts and soundly punished,” Judge Boone said, while he studied Hannah’s fair but wounded flesh. “I trust the offense warranted such measures?”

  “I think Hannah should turn around and tell you herself,” Daniel said coolly.

  Hannah heard a trace of triumph in her husband’s voice, as if this was what he was waiting for all along.

  “You heard me,” Daniel said, when she didn’t move.

  “But, sir!” she quietly pleaded.

  He moved in close and spoke tersely. “Shall I take you back to the shed?”

  “No, no, sir.”

  “Then turn around.”

  “Please, sir, no!” Still she hadn’t the guts to turn around and show the man her nakedness.

  “Don’t be shy, girl,” the judge broke in. “I’ve seen more women in such circumstances than you can count.”

  The storm in her brain went on, even when Hannah finally closed her eyes and willed her body to make an about face. As her glorious features came into view, Judge Boone and her husband surveyed the bounty of Hannah’s lovely body, her swelling breasts, the gentle curve at her waist and the erotic way her hips flared with nothing short of admiration tinged with lust.

  “Now tell the man what he wants to know,” Daniel ordered. “Why such a hard punishment? And look at him when you speak.”

  Oh! What a greater horror could there be than this? Hannah’s lids fluttered open, while a pair of errant tears dislodged from her eyes and made tiny rivers along her dirty cheeks. “I, sir … I, um… I repeatedly defied Daniel’s orders not to seek out my brother.”

  “That ruffian, Beau?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The judge inspected her face with a haughty air then finally said: “Your husband is a wise man. Your brother is not. The boy consorts with thieves and gamblers and no counts who would prey as easily on you as they prey on him. I’d think an intelligent woman like you would see that and keep her distance.”

  “Yes, sir. I should have done so, sir.”

  The judge took a deep breath, then looked back at Daniel. “So, what does it take to get your wife back in the kitchen and brewing me that cup of coffee I was looking forward to?”

  “Oh, she’s due another twenty minutes of penance, but I suppose a quick caning would do as well.”

  “I’m sure,” the man smiled. “You mind if I do the honors?”

  “Not at all.” Daniel moved off and grabbed the switch he planned for Hannah’s final punishment. “I was aiming for her thighs,” he added as he handed the man the long, slender branch.

  Seeing the exchange, Hannah shuddered deeply. She was about to turn around and offer the man her bottom—which would have been a far more appealing way to take the blows—but the judge stopped her.

  “You can take them face forward, Hannah. It looks to me as if your arse end has already had enough beating for one day. Besides, afterwards, when you look down at your nakedness, the remaining evidence might appeal to your better self and stop such foolishness from happening again. You suppose?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Now brace yourself.”

  The judge moved in quickly to her side, and while Hannah closed her eyes—no way would she look now—the man rifled off six vicious thwacks of the stinging switch, landing the cuts evenly down her thighs, from the crook of her groin where the cut was most viscous to a few inches above her knees. Her plaintive moans were more internal than her earlier response to the pain Daniel levied against her body. The sound barely vented from her lips, and yet, the heavy load of anguish behind it was clearly evident to both men.

  For a few moments after the switching ended, no one said a word. The air was teaming with the sounds of birds, the whinny of a horse and the buzz of bees. In that time, the immediate pain receded on Hannah’s thighs, although a throbbing more internal heat remained. While she suffered in that immovable silence, the two men felt the experience through every roused nerve.

  “How about my coffee?” the judge finally broke the mood, as he tossed the switch into a nearby bush and turned toward the porch.

  “I’ll join you there in a moment,” Daniel said.

  “Good, good. I’m afraid we have another wayward woman to talk about.”

  In the midst of her misery, the judge’s words brought Hannah around, although she didn’t dare question him about what he meant. But of course, he meant Jolie. Why else would he be here?

  Oh! Dear God, what had she done now? She stared at him in wonder watching the aging jurist take the porch steps in a couple of long strides. He was in the house with the screen door banging behind him before even Daniel could offer a comment.

  Hannah scurried to dress, taking time to briskly wash her hands and face and comb her hair. She still felt like hell. Her stomach ached from lack of food, her head from lack of sleep, and her bottom and thighs throbbed hotly with every move she made. The feel of her clothes against her flesh was another uncomfortable torment. But for the moment, she put all these p
ersonal concerns aside, as she swept into the kitchen and turned on the stove. The Judge wanted coffee, he’d get his coffee.

  The two men sat in the parlor talking, well within her hearing distance.

  “The deputy picked her up in bar fight. She’s one heck of a sassy woman,” Judge Boone said.

  “And where is she now?” Daniel asked.

  “In jail.”

  “I see. And you’re the one to bear the news to me?”

  “We’ve been friends a long time, Daniel. I was friends with her family. Shame about Albert dying so young, and now his children running around the county like scallywags. A far cry from what one would expect of Albert Noble’s offspring… except Hannah, of course,” he smiled. “You got the plum there, even if she requires some looking after.” He cast Daniel a wry look.

  “She is indeed a plum. Although, it would seem the other two are taking great pains to tear her down.”

  “She’ll do all right. She has spirit and will and she loves you. She’s just a bit impetuous.”

  “Too impetuous,” Daniel said grimly.

  “My question for you—we have the matter of Jolie to decide on. Do you want me to handle this myself, or turn her over to you?”

  Hannah paused to hear her husband’s answer. She had a tray of coffee, sugar and milk in her hands and stood poised at the kitchen doorway waiting.

  Daniel didn’t make a noise for several seconds and when he spoke he might as well have grabbed her wrist and jerked hard. The tray nearly fell from her hands.

  “Why don’t you come in here, Hannah. You might as well know what’s happening.”

  Hannah rushed in and set the tray on the table.

  “I am curious,” she looked at the two men, “I think I have a right to be.”

  “Your sister is in a heap of trouble, Hannah,” Judge Boone said as he accepted his mug of coffee.

  “And what this time?” she asked.

  “A bar brawl.”

  “Jolie?” She looked at him disbelieving.

  “Your sister is not as naïve as you think. She has men swarming about her, now that she’s of eligible age. She draws them in with her pretty looks, making them dance to her suggestive come-hither ways. Frankly, she might be better off moving back with your mother.” He looked up at her and added with a warm grin, “A fine cup of coffee.”