“Ow,” she said softly. “Ow, oww.”
She bit her lip, trying to be quiet. Oh, she had earned this, that was the worst part. The spanks came firm and steadily, the cumulative stinging growing to a sore burn. She pressed her lips together as hard as she could, but at last, a cry broke free.
“Ow. Please, it stings,” she said, wiggling sideways.
He gathered her back into the prime strike zone and resumed punishing her. It did not do to count during hand spankings, as she’d done when he paddled her aboard the Providence. Then, there’d been a set amount and some rest between blows. This spanking went on without respite and though she tried to be good, her control began to slip as her bottom got hotter and hotter.
“Please,” she begged, struggling against his grip. “How long will this spanking go on?”
“Until you seem adequately regretful, darling. As long as you’re fighting me…” He corralled her flailing arm and fixed it firmly at the small of her back. “As long as you’re fighting me, I think you’re not really focusing on what you’ve done or the need to pay penance for it.”
“It was your idea to spank me,” she whimpered.
“It was you who complained of guilt.” He rubbed his hand over her belabored arse cheeks. “I think there’s a battle going on within you, Rosalind. You wish to be perfect all the time. When you aren’t perfect, it’s hard for you to live with yourself.”
She wiped the tears that overflowed onto her cheeks. “That’s true.”
“So, this spanking is a correction. I’m trying to help you, as much as it hurts.”
“I know it. But it does hurt.”
He sighed and pinched one of her exposed, sore bottom cheeks. “Have you had enough of a rest, my little complainer? That’s all this is, a delaying tactic. I will spank you until I feel the punishment is over, as you very well know. And if you don’t seem adequately remorseful when I’ve finished, we shall follow up your spanking with corner time and a lecture, and perhaps a second spanking. Would you like that, Rosalind?”
“No, sir.”
“Then let’s finish this business with no more squirming and no more complaints.”
He began to spank her again, with crisp, stinging swats even harder than the ones that had come before. Now that he held her wrist in a firm grasp behind her back, squirming got her nowhere. Her mewling cries for mercy were ignored. This spanking is a correction. I am trying to help you.
At last, when the pain was on the edge of too much, she let go of resistance and tried to accept the correction. She had behaved badly. Her father, her mother, her brother, none of them had the right to punish her anymore, although they’d looked at her as though she ought to be punished. It was Marlow who had the right to do it, and he was, and oh, it hurt…
But she must learn to think of punishments in the same manner he did. One misbehaved, one paid the price, one moved on with a clear conscience.
“I just want to be good again,” she sobbed as he spanked her. “I am a good person.”
“Yes, my darling.”
“I want to be a good wife.” Her voice cracked on the word “wife” as he delivered an especially sharp spank. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry!” Her bottom burned like the sun, hot and throbbing. She felt it must glow by now. She could not move, could hardly kick her legs it hurt so much, so she only cried with all the passion in her soul. Someone might hear, she cried so loudly. For that matter, he spanked her quite loudly. She supposed it didn’t matter since they all believed her deserving of punishment.
“Are you going to be good after this?” he asked, taking a break and rubbing her burning cheeks.
“Yes, please. Yes, my lord, I’m going to try to be much better.”
Another volley of spanks, so hard she cried out with a shriek.
“And you won’t ever run away and put yourself in danger, and frighten everyone so they are angry with you afterward?”
“Oh, no, sir, I won’t. I’m so sorry for my behavior.”
Her abject apologies and bitter tears finally made him relent. It was, by far, the hardest spanking she’d had. She accepted that her husband was a disciplinarian; now she must accept that his spankings could be quite severe if warranted. Yes, he had changed her, made her better, for she would think twice before embarking on any wild capers again.
“There now, sit up in my lap.”
She did, wincing as her spanked bottom slid across his legs. “Ow. It really smarts.”
“I hope it will be hard for you to sit down for a few days. Something to remind you that you were punished.” He put a finger beneath her chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “Something to remind you that you’ve paid the price for your misbehavior. I would like to move on now, move forward. No more of your guilty sulking. You’ve been a good wife and submitted to your husband’s discipline, yes?”
She looked into his pale blue eyes, overcome with every sort of emotion. Embarrassment, relief, and a quaking, shameful sort of love. “Thank you for spanking me,” she said. She could not understand why, but she really was thankful.