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“He said a Russian hired him.” Elijah shook his head, frowning.
Mitchell came to an abrupt halt, and Josie glanced over her shoulder to see him standing there looking struck. He rushed forward again, quickly catching up to them because, of course, Elijah had not stopped moving. He seemed to want to get out of the Warrens as soon as possible. Josie was torn. She had no desire to stay in the Warrens any longer, but she was also not looking forward to when Elijah got her to the privacy of their home.
“A Russian?” Mitchell’s voice was oddly strangled. “But… my lord, are you certain he was telling the truth? Everything seems to point to the French…”
“Everything except this, but I cannot talk about it with you now, Mitchell. I have other matters to deal with.” Elijah’s tone was grim, and his fingers did not tighten, yet Josie felt his grip far more keenly. Her heart was beating fast for an entirely different reason, and her mouth had gone dry.
Suddenly, accepting the consequences of her actions as long as she got to be a part of the action no longer seemed quite so fair a trade.
“Of course… I will… I will see what I can discover about the Russians.” There was something odd in Mitchell’s tone, but Elijah did not appear to notice as they finally reached a street with a hackney. Elijah hailed the jarvey, who pulled the carriage up in front of them with a curious look at Josie, though he said nothing when Elijah pushed her into the carriage in front of him.
Sitting on the bench, Josie crossed her arms over her chest, blowing out a long breath, while Elijah gave the jarvey their direction. She did not have long to get comfortable. Elijah got into the carriage, sitting on the bench, and before she could even attempt to apologize or plead her case, he had her tipped over his lap as the carriage lurched into motion.
Chapter 31
Josie
Stifling a shriek, Josie bucked against the first application of Elijah’s hard hand to her backside. She had thought he would wait until they were back at Stuart House before beginning her punishment!
“Elijah! Not here!” She reached back to cover her bottom and give it some protection, but he quickly grasped her wrists and pinned them to the small of her back.
“Yes, here.” His tone was as grim as it had been outside the carriage, and he punctuated each sentence with a short, sharp slap on her bottom that made her bite her lip against shrieking. “If you can go gallivanting at night, out in the open, putting yourself in danger, then you can be punished here as well. You should be glad I waited ‘til we were in here to punish you.”
“The coachman! He’ll hear!” She did not manage to stifle her cry as his hand came down on a spot he had already spanked. The fabric of her breeches did even less than her skirts to shield her bottom from his hard swats. Few times, she felt her skirts had an advantage over breeches, but this was one of them.
“He will hardly care.”
Elijah did not care if he heard as he rained down swats in earnest on her bottom. Josie did her best not to cry out, wishing she had not tried to cover her cheeks when he first spanked her. At least then, she could have used her hands to quiet herself, but now all she could do was bury her face against the thin cushion on the bench as her tears poured into it.
The wet fabric rubbed against her cheeks, annoying but hardly a distraction from the painful heat growing in her rear. Her legs kicked, but Elijah easily hooked his own leg around them, pinning her even more in place and leaving her entirely helpless to his stern discipline.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“Elijah! Please! I am sorry!”
How many swats did he mean to give her? It seemed unending, and he did not slow down even a little, no matter how the carriage turned and jostled them or how she bucked on his lap. The stinging fire across her skin was growing exponentially, turning into a raging inferno, and they were not even home yet!
Elijah
“Are you sorry, Josie? Or are you only sorry you were caught?” The question grated out between his teeth.
His temper was tightly reined—he would never punish her in anger—but that did not stop him from giving her exactly what he thought she was due. And when they arrived home… Oh, yes, his little minx’s punishment had hardly begun.
Elijah realized he had been holding back with Josie. She had never been given the true measure of what he was capable of when it came to disciplining her. Part of him had been worried about turning her against him, about her continuing to prefer his brother over him, and that leniency had led to this.
No more. He did not know if she loved him, but he loved her and would not tolerate her putting herself in danger. As angry as he had been, deep down, she had frightened him. Thinking about all the things that could have happened to her was utterly paralyzing. Elijah did not know what he would have done if anything had happened to her. He would have been devastated.
“I am sorry!” There was more defiance in her voice than anything. Elijah did not hear any true repentance, but they would get there. Another sharp swat to her bottom had her squealing and squirming again.
The spanking was hurting his hand. As soon as they got home, he would use far more interesting ways to punish her so she would not forget it. The breeches she was wearing were already giving him all sorts of ideas. His cock rose, swelling against her soft, wiggling curves.
“You do not sound particularly sorry.” He brought his hand down, moving back and forth between each hot cheek. Even through the fabric of her breeches, he could feel her skinwasgetting hot, and he intended to make her cheeks glow. “Perhaps you should work on your sincerity.”
“Perhaps you should work on not being such a hypocrite,” she shot back. “I was only doing the same thing you were!”
“The hell you were,” Elijah scoffed with another swat to her bottom. “I was going to a destination I was well acquainted with and would have had an escort back.Youwere following me through streets you do not know at all, would not have been allowed into the Den without my presence, and exactly how were you planning on getting back home?”
Her position changed slightly, slumping, and Elijah felt as if he might have finally gotten through to her. Yes, he admired her bravery, but he was determined to curb her impulsiveness.
