Unanticipated Complications Read online

  “Freddy, keep your voice down and stop trying to draw attention. The sooner I fill up with gas, the sooner we can be out of here. Neither of us are going inside where we can be seen.”

  He got out of the car and put the special credit card in the pump. Freddy saw her chance and she hurriedly jumped out of the vehicle and ran inside. Her bladder felt as though it was going to burst and she needed relief, no matter what Barrett thought. She headed straight for the ladies’ room, making sure to lock the door behind her.

  Barrett shook his head. The little brat couldn’t be awake five minutes before she was already in trouble with him. He finished filling the tank and hurried inside. He was waiting outside the door and as soon as she opened it, he gently pushed her back inside and locked the door against any interference from the sleepy clerk. “Pull up your dress and then put your hands on the sink and stick out your ass. You defied me and I won’t tolerate that… Not when I am trying to protect you, Fredrika.”

  “I had to pee!” She glared at him, then added, “It sure isn’t taking you long to break your promise.”

  “I told you that if you behaved I wouldn’t spank you. You misbehaved in a big way and now you’re going to feel my belt. I guarantee you won’t make this same mistake again.”

  “I don’t want you to punish me again, Barrett.” She sounded small to her own ears. “I’m so sore right now I can barely sit on the car seat.”

  “That’s too bad, isn’t it? I would think that you’d go out of your way to obey and do as you were told if you know another spanking would be hard to tolerate on sore skin. Now it is too late. Pull up that dress and bend over. If you put your panties back on at the hotel, then you can just take them down past your knees.”

  “Please give me another chance. I had to pee so much it hurt. I knew I couldn’t make it another five minutes without wetting myself, and that is just too embarrassing, Barrett. I promise I won’t challenge you again.”

  “No, you won’t challenge me again because you’ll know what to expect if you do. Now bend over or I’m going to double this strapping.”

  There wasn’t a bit of mercy in his dark eyes, and Freddy was afraid that she would be found by her father’s hired hunters if she didn’t stay with Barrett. Reluctantly, she pulled up her dress, and then turned around and put her hands on the sink. She heard the leather slide through the belt loops on Barrett’s pants and it made her clench her buttocks in anticipation of the pain she expected. “Please, I’m so sore…”

  “Keep your hands on the sink and step back several steps.” He waited while she complied. “Spread your feet apart, Freddy. It will prevent you from clenching your muscles and my belt won’t bruise so badly…”

  “I don’t want you to bruise me at all! Please don’t! I simply couldn’t wait, Barrett!”

  “You need to learn control.” He doubled the belt and then brought it down over the fullest part of her cheeks. She cried out in pain. He felt sorry for her, but she needed the lesson more than she needed the sympathy. “Stay in place,” he warned, and the belt cracked against her thighs.

  “No no no no nooooo!” she sobbed. “Please stop!”

  “You have four more,” he stated unemotionally. It pained him to give her another thrashing on top of the first one, but he felt responsible for her. The third lick of the strap was to her sit spots and she nearly fell to her knees.

  “I can’t take any more!” she insisted, but the belt fell on her cheeks once more, and she let go of the sink and turned around, holding up her hands as if to ward him off. “I’m sorry, Barrett, but I can’t. Please, let that be enough. I’m begging you.”

  Barrett was about to tell her to get back in place or face extras when the doorknob wiggled and there was an anxious knock on the door.

  “I have to go, please!!! Mommy’s going to be mad if I pee my pants!” a child cried out.

  Barrett nodded to Freddy and she quickly covered herself. He opened the door and the child scampered inside already struggling with her jeans. Barrett took Freddy’s arm and quickly led her out of the store and to the car. He opened her car door and waited for her to get inside.

  “I can’t sit!” she said mournfully.

  “You brought it on yourself. Now fasten your seatbelt. We have three more hours of driving left.”

  He got behind the wheel and took off, hoping that the clerk wouldn’t be able to identify them later if asked. Freddy just had to be impossible.

  Just like Barrett said, there was a rest area was a couple of miles down the road. “Please pull off,” she asked.

  “Why? You already went to the bathroom.”

  “I need to lie down on the back seat, Barrett. I hurt too much to sit here.” He swept by the rest area and Freddy burst into tears. “Why are you being so hateful to me? All I wanted to do was move in the back and lie down. Is that too much to ask?”

  “You were pushing me to see if I’d spank you again and now you have your answer and you’ll sit on that answer until we reach the ranch. Hopefully that clerk wasn’t paying attention to us.”

  “Where are we?” she asked.

  He answered, and then added, “We’re going to be pretty secluded out at the ranch, but you won’t want for anything you need.”

  “I can’t sit for another three hours!” she insisted. “At the next town I want you to stop. I can’t do this anymore.”

  He looked at her and then said, “I didn’t enjoy strapping you, Freddy.”

  “You could sure fool me! It hurt, and it was mean of you to do it when you knew I was sore. I couldn’t help it that I had to go.”

  “I told you not one minute before you jumped out of this car why I didn’t want you to go inside the store. You deliberately disobeyed me. Now you are dealing with the consequences. I don’t want to hear any more complaining.”

  “I hate you!” she hissed through clenched teeth. “And I promise I will find a way to get even with you, Barrett Collins!!”

  “Now that sounds like the spoiled little Fredrika I know.”

  She looked away before he could see the tears that filled her eyes. She had to ask herself why he was so positive that she’d been pushing him, testing him, when she got out of the car. Freddy wasn’t aware that she’d made a conscious decision to do that, but she was used to doing as she pleased. If her father was really as determined as he seemed to be to get her married off to someone of his choosing, then she should be obeying the one man who didn’t seem to be impressed by her father’s wealth and who was willing to help her. By getting out of the car when he asked her not to, she was throwing his help in his face. A man like Barrett Collins took that sort of thing personally. He believed in spanking and she was going to do whatever she had to do to avoid pushing him any further. Her bottom was so sore that she was truly miserable and she prayed for time to pass swiftly. She tried to lift her bottom up off the seat and tuck a leg underneath her, but the seatbelt prevented her from rising enough to make that possible. She reached for the strap, thinking to adjust it, but Barrett reached over and stilled her hand. She looked at him and he simply shook his head no.

  Barrett felt like a heel when she refused to speak to him, even when he asked her questions. She was being testy and if his Pop was still alive, Miss Freddy would end up with another spanking the moment the car stopped, and knowing how stern Pop was, the car would have stopped quite a while ago and that spanking would have happened along the side of the road.

  Barrett was relieved when they passed the boundaries of the ranch. He knew they could be seen on the monitors and he knew it wouldn’t be long before they were challenged. He finally decided to break the silence of the last couple of hours. “We’re on the ranch, Freddy. It won’t be long before some of the hands ride out here to make sure we’re supposed to be here. Don’t take your ill temper out on any of them unless you want another tanning that will make the last two feel like love pats. Hear me?”

  “How much longer before we can get out of this car?” she demande
d.

  “A while.”

  “Could I walk that far?”

  “No.” He looked at her in dismay when she started weeping. He knew that sitting on a strapping smarted, but it wasn’t worth all the fuss she was making. He saw the hands coming toward them. “The men are coming, Freddy,” he warned her, but she continued to weep, uncaring if she embarrassed herself. He stopped the vehicle and waited for the men to approach him.

  “Boss! This is a surprise!”

  “Good to see you, Jeff. How are things going at the ranch?”

  “Great. We have a couple of new colts, and the grass on the south pasture is growing nice and green. Who is this?” he asked, nodding toward Freddy.

  “Miss Fredrika Jamison. Her father doesn’t seem to mind that she is an adult. He wants to marry her off for his own reasons. I brought her here to keep her safe from him.”

  “So why is she crying, Boss? It’s not like you to hurt a lady’s feelings.”

  “He beat me!” Freddy declared. “All I had to do was go to the bathroom and he beat me because I got out of the car after he said not to. I don’t think that was fair, do you?”

  “Miss, if the Boss told you to stay in the car and you got out anyway, then you deserved a good hiding.” Jeff looked at Barrett and said, “I’ll let everyone know you’re comin’ in. Do you want her in the house or in a cabin?”

  “House. I don’t trust her to behave if she’s on her own. We’ll be needing breakfast, and then several hours of uninterrupted sleep. I expect to be told if anyone sets foot on the ranch.”

  “Sure, Boss. Would you want to slip in the back and let me drive you on up to the house?”

  “Thanks, Jeff. I can manage. Besides, I want to have a nice long heart to heart with Miss Jamison before I find it necessary to cut several switches and wear them out on her bare backside.”

  “She’s just tired, Boss. From the looks of her clothes and her smeared makeup, you’ve kept her up beyond her endurance. Go easy, huh?” With those words of advice, he turned and jumped into his jeep and headed back to the ranch, providing an escort for them.

  Freddy saw Jeff speaking on a radio and she imagined he was conveying the Boss’ orders to the rest of the people who worked for him.

  “It was rude of you not to greet Jeff properly, Freddy. I’m disappointed in your manners.”

  If he’d yelled at her then she could have remained angry, but telling her he was disappointed made her very sad. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I will tell him I’m sorry the first chance I get. I’m sorry I disappointed you, Barrett. It’s just that I am so miserable I can’t think straight. I feel like I’ve been wearing this dress forever and the fabric is like sandpaper on my bottom. I’m touchy right now,” she confessed.

  “Try to hang in here with me for a while longer, honey. I promise you’ll be more comfortable when we reach the ranch house.” She nodded, but he could see she was still crying even though she was trying to hide her tears from him. He stepped on the gas a bit harder, but the bouncing would be tough on her sore backside, too.

  Finally, the ranch buildings came into view and Freddy thought she’d never seen anything so beautiful. The outbuildings were a pristine white, but the house itself was a brick, and even from a distance she could see the house was huge. She couldn’t help but wonder how many guests they housed at a time. She suspected there was something more going on there than what Barrett said. If Barrett was in a much better mood later on she would ask him about it. In the meantime, she wanted to be shown to a bathroom so that she could shower and hopefully relieve her unbelievably sore bottom. She wanted to lie down and rest, too, and escape his all-knowing eyes. She was tired of having him judge her and finding her wanting. After all she’d put him through since early last evening he would never see her as anything but a pesky brat who needed to be spanked several times a day. It made her sad.

  The car finally stopped and she couldn’t undo her seatbelt and hurry out fast enough. She was truly thankful to be at their destination. She picked up her large bag and followed Barrett inside the cool house.

  “Boss!” An elderly woman came running. “It is so good to see you! I have food nearly ready.” She stood on tiptoe and gave him a big kiss on the cheek and then said, “Who is this young lady? Oh, my dear, you look exhausted! I’ve seen you bring in some tired people, Boss, but this girl is pooped.”

  “Adele, this is Freddy. Freddy, this is Adele. She keeps house and cooks for us. We’re lucky to have her.”

  “And where else would I go? With all that I know, they’d have to kill me to keep me from spouting off to the wrong person!” She laughed at Freddy’s shocked expression. “Now, I don’t know why the Boss brought you here, my dear, but you are safe as safe can be. Now, I’ll show you to a room and you can wash up and then I’ll get breakfast on the table.”

  “I’m so tired I would simply like to shower and then fall into bed for a year!” Freddy said with a smile. “I don’t want to put you out.”

  “Nonsense, dear. I can see how tired you are. Let me show you where you’ll be sleeping while you’re here. While you’re taking a shower, I’ll fix you a tray.”

  “No, that is too much work, Adele. Please don’t bother. I’ll be just fine.” The last thing Freddy wanted was for Barrett to scold her again. “I don’t need special attention while I’m here.”

  “You don’t appear to have had any special attention in a long time. Boss, how could you treat this little gal so hard? She’s plumb wore out and that’s a real shame. Oh, you need to call Stanford. He’s all tied up over something.”

  Chapter Four

  The shower felt absolutely delicious, and although it was early in the day Freddy put on her nightgown and crawled into bed. When Adele peeked in on her, she found the tray she’d fixed earlier sitting right where she’d left it and the little redhead was still sound asleep… Just as Barrett was in his room. Whatever happened to the two of them they were both dead to the world. Barrett knew they were safe here, and Adele suspected that he’d driven all through the night because he didn’t feel that little Freddy was safe. Adele patted her pocket and reassured herself that if all else failed, no one would get past her to remove Freddy from the protection the ranch offered. It wasn’t a promise given lightly, and there wasn’t one person here who would fail to live up to that promise. She made her way back to the kitchen and took the time to look at the monitors. Most of the time the most there was to look at was some wildlife, and this time was no exception. The telephone suddenly rang and Adele quickly answered. Someone was on the ranch and the men were going out to meet with the visitor. Adele flipped a switch and the house went on lockdown.

  Barrett quickly looked at his watch and hurried out of bed. He couldn’t believe that Fred Jamison had found them already, but unless someone had stumbled across the ranch by accident, then that was the case.

  He crossed the room and turned on the bank of monitors. He was sure that whoever it was Jeff would handle it just fine, still it bothered him to know that they’d been so easily found. It was obvious that Jeff didn’t recognize the visitor or the car. The men rode up on either side of the car and Jeff greeted the driver, asking if he was lost.

  “I’m here looking for Barrett Collins.”

  “What makes you think he’s here? This here is the Fox Ranch.”

  “Collins has something my boss wants and he’ll make it worth your while to turn it over. You can name your price.”

  “Mister, I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” Jeff insisted. “Now, this is personal property, and you’d best hightail it on outta here before it gets dark. This aint no place to be after dark unless you know the land.”

  “You’re in more trouble that you can handle,” the driver insisted, but Jeff continued to play ignorant and the man turned around and left the ranch,

  “Keep an eye out in case he tries to come back from a different direction, Jeff.”

  “Did you recognize him, Boss?”


  “No, I didn’t, but we know who he works for.”

  Barrett fell back into bed, positive that he would wake if the alarms went off again later.

  *****

  “Why didn’t you come and tell me that someone followed us here?” Freddy’s green eyes were flashing. “I had to hear it from Adele, and I’ll bet she wouldn’t have said a word if she’d realized you were keeping secrets from me!”

  “That’s true,” he agreed, grinning ear to ear. “There really isn’t much to tell, Freddy. Somehow your father found out about this place and sent a man here to try and take you. When Jeff and the guys greeted him, he turned around and left and hasn’t been seen since.” He paused, and then asked, “Did you sleep well?”

  “Apparently so if I slept through all that commotion,” she answered.

  “There wasn’t any commotion to be heard, Freddy. Would you like to go swimming?”