Sweetheart Dance Read online

  The Sweetheart Dance

  Paige Mallory

  (c)2010 Paige Mallory Blushing Books

  Copyright (c) 2010 by Blushing Books(r) and Paige Mallory

  All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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  Mallory, Paige

  The Sweetheart Dance

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-60968-497-6

  Cover Design by Blushing Books

  Blushing Publications thanks you whole-heartedly for your purchase with us!

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  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

  Chapter One

  Red Scarf, Texas

  January 1880

  “Do you hear anything?” Natalie whispered. At seventeen, she was the youngest of the Webster girls.

  Abigail, the eldest at twenty-two, placed her finger over her lips as she listened through the door of her father’s study. She shook her head, and then moved into the large parlor across the foyer from the study. “I don’t think Mama has told him yet. It’s too quiet in there…”

  “Perhaps we shouldn’t have asked Mama to go along with our plan,” nineteen-year-old Frances fretted, as she was prone to do.

  “Don’t be silly, Franny. Mama wants a dance just as much as we do,” Rebecca told her sister. “You know that she is the only one who has a prayer of talking Papa into sponsoring a Sweetheart Dance.”

  “He won’t be happy, though,” Madeline predicted, and as if on cue, voices coming from the study were heard as a low rumble in the parlor.

  ********************

  “I don’t believe what I’m hearing, Lenora! You did what?”

  “You heard me, Connie! I let it be known that you are sponsoring a Sweetheart Dance on Valentine’s Day in the Town Hall. I am heading up the committee to make plans. And I already talked to Mr. McGee about the music. It will be good for the girls. And you know very well you can afford the expense.”

  “Hang the damned expense! Lenora Jean Prescott Webster, those girls are not on the market. They don’t need to be going to some high falutin‘ dance and have boys fawning all over them. Why, little Nattie is much too young to go to a dance!” Conrad blustered, his dark eyes expressing his displeasure with his wife of nearly thirty years.

  “Connie, don’t be ridiculous. Nattie is already seventeen, and you were courting me when I was that age! Abby is already twenty-two, and you’ve scared off the last two young men who came courting. They can’t stay cooped up on this ranch forever. They want to get married and have their own children. Why, I was pregnant with Sam when I was Abby’s age!”

  “You do these things to make me crazy, don’t you, Lenora?” Conrad scolded. He suddenly pushed back his desk chair and said, “Come here, young lady.”

  “Whatever for?” Lenora asked, although she was fairly sure she already knew exactly what her husband intended. He spanked when he was displeased. He didn’t care that she was a mother eight times over, and forty-seven years old. He believed in spanking, and from the expression in his eyes, and the frown on his handsome face, she was in for a sore bottom. She’d told herself when she was organizing this dance that it would be worth a spanking, but now that the time was here for that spanking to happen, she suddenly wasn’t as sure that the dance was a good idea.

  “Don’t you look at me with those innocent blue eyes of yours, Mrs. Webster. You bring yourself here to me right now, or I’ll take you outside to the woodshed.”

  Lenora didn’t let him finish his threat before she was around the desk. Being taken outside to the woodshed meant one very serious punishment, and at her age, it was extremely embarrassing. There wouldn’t be one person on the large ranch who wouldn’t know exactly what was happening out there. The last time Connie took her outside for a punishment was exactly nine months before their youngest was born twelve years ago. She’d never forget that day, and she did not want a repeat… even though the making up later that night had been exciting and wonderful, and produced their Zachary.

  “Down over my knee,” Connie took her arm and hurried her into position. “You are purposely trying to drive me out of my mind, woman!” Connie didn’t bother whispering, and he chose that particular moment to flip up his wife’s dress and petticoats. She was certainly wearing enough of them, he complained to himself. When he reached her pretty, lace-trimmed drawers, he had the satisfaction of hearing a crack when he spanked, instead of the muffled thud from before.

  “Ohhhh!” Lenora kicked her feet. “Connie… please stop! The children will hear!” she fretted.

  “They will if you start hollering,” he calmly agreed, not aware that two of his daughters were on the other side of the door, shamelessly eavesdropping, their eyes wide, as they whispered to their sisters that their Mama was getting spanked!

  Twelve-year-old Zachary picked that moment to come bounding down the steps, and asked loudly, “Abby, what are you and Maddy doing?” He knew very well that they were eavesdropping, and it was fun to watch them jump away from the door. He grinned in boyish humor.

  Connie immediately stopped spanking his wife, and bellowed loudly, “If I step into that hallway and catch any of my children loitering instead of doing their chores, I am going to start cutting switches!” He lifted Lenora to her feet and walked toward the door in purposeful strides. He wasn’t the least bit surprised that the foyer was empty. He walked back to Lenora and pulled her into his arms, “I’m sorry, honey. I wouldn’t embarrass you in front of the kids for anything in the world. I’m a gruff old man some days,” he scolded himself.

  “I should have asked you first, Connie,” Lenora knew when to say ‘sorry’. “I just knew this was important to the girls, and I said ‘yes’… Please forgive me for forgetting to talk to you first?” she asked, caressing his cheek.

  “Aw, you know I’m over my mad now, honey. I guess a dance won’t hurt none, but you’d better make darn sure you save most of yours for me!” he scolded.

  “I always do, don’t I?” she teased lightly, kissing him lovingly.

  “You forgot that one time,” he teased right back, and then dropped his hand to her stinging bottom to give her another firm smack. “I spanked you right proper for it, too,” he added.

  Lenora blushed. “Yes, Connie, you did. We got married a few weeks later, too, didn’t we?” she asked, and then giggled when he stiffened.

  “Did you set out to make me jealous on purpose?” he asked in amazement, recalling how upset he felt that night. It brought him to his senses and made him aware he stood to lose the love of his life if he didn’t take steps to make her his.

  “I did,” she confessed with another smile. “I wanted to marry you so badly, and you were just taking your sweet time to ask me…”

  “I ought to spank you for that!” he sputtered, and then kissed her passionately. “I was afraid you’d tell me ‘no’,” he admitted. “As long as I didn’t ask you, you couldn’t say ‘no’.”

 
“I wouldn’t have told you ‘no’… You were the only man I wanted, right from the moment I set eyes on you. I still feel that way, Conrad Webster… You are the love of my life.”

  Connie kissed her again, and then with a wink, he made darn sure the door was locked!

  ********************

  “What is this?” Connie was surprised when he entered the tack room to fix a bridle. “Nattie, why are you in here crying, honey?” This was his youngest daughter, and the one who had a smile on her face all the time. She wasn’t prone to tears.

  “I’m just being silly, Papa. Don’t mind me. I’d better get up to the house and finish the dusting…” she tried to move past him, but Conrad Webster was a big man, and he moved to block her way.

  “I’m your Papa, and I asked you a question. What’s the reason for these tears? Did you and Becky get into a squabble?”

  “No… It’s Mama!”

  “Mama? What did you two fuss over?” He was experienced at dealing with mother/daughter tiffs. They happened frequently in a house with seven females.

  “We didn’t really fuss. I want a new dress for the dance, and Mama said I had to wear an old dress of Abby’s. I don’t want an old dress. It’s just not fair! Abby always gets a new dress for everything because she’s the oldest. So does Becky, because she’s so tall. Franny does, too, because she’s a bit chubby. Maddy, Dottie, and I all have to wear someone else’s clothes. It’s okay for everyday, but not for a dance, Papa!!!”

  “Hmmm. Did you tell your Mama how you felt about this?” he asked cautiously. He and Lenora tried real hard not to step on each other’s toes when it came to dealing with the kids. He supported her decisions, and she supported his. If they didn’t agree, they did it in private, or tried to, but with eight kids that was sometimes rather difficult to do.

  “No… She just brought out two of Abby’s old dresses and asked me which one I wanted… Everyone else was so excited, making plans and all… I didn’t want to upset everybody else just because I was disappointed,” she explained, so I came out here to be alone. You weren’t supposed to see me, Papa,” she was embarrassed.

  “I’m your Papa, and you don’t need to be upset to share your feelings with me, honey,” he gave her a hug, and then said, “You are a sweet girl, Nattie. Let’s go talk to your Mama.”

  Nattie was surprised when her father took her hand and pulled her along to the house. He could hear all the giggling coming from upstairs in the room Lenora used for sewing… and he called out, “Is everyone decent?” He never walked into that room without asking that question, not since the first time he caught Abby in her little shift when her Mama was making her a new dress to wear on her very first day to school… She’d burst into tears of shame, and Connie learned his lesson for life.

  “We’re all dressed, Papa!” he heard Maddy reply, and he opened the door.

  “Ut oh,” Lenora saw Nattie’s face and could see she’d been crying. She looked at Connie questioningly, wondering what had happened. “What’s wrong, honey?” she got to her feet to come over and look at her daughter in concern.

  “Nothing’s really wrong, Lenora,” Conrad said. “Just a bit of a misunderstanding. Do you think it would be all right for all of the girls to have a new dress for the Sweetheart Dance?” he asked politely. “I promise not to raise a fuss over the expense,” he smiled.

  “Really, Papa?” Dottie asked excitedly,

  “It’s a special occasion, and I think it calls for new dresses,” he said more firmly, seeing the smile in Lenora’s pretty blue eyes and realizing that she was pleased and not upset with his interference. Still, it wouldn’t do for the girls to think he was riding roughshod over her decisions. “Mama? Clothes are your responsibility… and I don’t want to interfere, but just this once, may I have the honor of splurging on my girls… all of them…? I want to see you in something new and pretty, too… Blue!” he added, much to his girls’ amusement. He grinned when they giggled.

  “You and your ‘blue’,” Lenora teased Connie, but she was pleased, and he knew it. He went back to the everyday business of running the ranch, confident that ALL of his girls were happy. He’d have to sell a few more head of cattle, but what was money? He could splurge once in a while without feeling guilty over it, which certainly wasn’t the case when Lenora married him. He didn’t have a pot back then, and he was still amazed that she’d seem something in him that he didn’t know he had. She had faith in him to take care of her, and that simple faith kept him working hard not to ever let her down in any way. He loved her, and made damn sure he told her so often. He didn’t feel it made him less of a man in any way to express that love.

  When Connie returned to the house a couple hours later, expecting to find the noon meal on the table, the kitchen was empty… except for Zachary. It was a Saturday morning, and he was home from school. “Hey, Pa. Good luck on eating any time soon.”

  He grabbed an apple and went to see if Cookie had something cooking in the bunkhouse.

  ********************

  The second Connie left the kitchen, he heard them… ALL of them, and he cringed at the language they were using to describe each other. Where the hell was their mother and why wasn’t she fetching a bar of soap? He threw open the door to the sewing room, and seven pairs of eyes flew to him, but there was blessed silence as soon as they got a good look at Conrad’s angry expression. “Lenora, are you aware of the time?” he asked pointedly. A man had a right to expect a hot meal on the table when he worked hard all morning.

  “Oh dear!” she exclaimed. “I’m so sorry, Connie! I will get you something to eat right away.” She hurried from the room.

  “I’ve a good mind to send each and every one of you outside to cut a switch,” Conrad stated seriously, and every one of his daughters had the grace, and the common sense, to lower their eyes in shame. “The language I heard while coming up those stairs is worse than the hired hands use! I won’t have it in this house. Abigail…?”

  “I’m sorry, Papa.”

  “Rebecca…?”

  “I’m sorry, too, Papa.”

  “Dorothy…?”

  “It won’t happen again, Papa, I promise,” she whispered.

  “Frances…?”

  “Never again, Papa,” she was in tears.

  “Madeline…?”

  “I’m sorry, Papa.”

  “Natalie…?”

  “Me too, Papa.”

  “I think you all are acting like little girls too young to attend a dance…” When six pairs of eyes looked at him in horror, he kept his face stern. “I am not going to send you to cut a switch this time, but I’m still considering sending each of you to cut a sliver of soap and put it on your tongue, and if there is not a good reason for all of this squabbling and name calling, that is exactly what I am going to do.” He could see that they were squirming, and poor Franny had tears running down her cheeks. “Frances, I want you to tell me what all this fuss is about.” he resisted the urge to give her a comforting hug. She was the most sensitive of all his children, and he hated to see her cry. He knew he could count on her to tell him the truth.

  “We all want a yellow dress, but we can’t all wear the same color.”

  “I see.” He really didn’t see what the problem was, but he’d learned a long time ago not to tell a female that he didn’t understand. It took forever for them to explain, and he still wouldn’t understand why they couldn’t wear any damned thing they pleased to a dance. “Abigail,” he used her full name deliberately. It gave them all to understand that he was not teasing or joking. “Go to the water closet and bring me a new bar of soap.”

  Abby left the room immediately, her eyes full of trepidation. While she was fetching the bar of soap, Connie made a great show of taking out his knife. When Abby returned in short order, he accepted the bar she held out to him.

  “Abigail, would you be willing to wear a pink dress to the dance in order to get out of tasting soap?” he asked as he cut a wedge out of the
soap.

  Abby looked at the piece of soap and swallowed hard. There wasn’t a child in this house who hadn’t tasted soap at some point over the years, and she did not relish repeating the experience at her age. She made the decision that pink was a great color. “I’d rather wear pink, Papa,” she replied

  “You go on down and help your Mama, and tell her you decided to wear pink.” He nearly smiled when she ran from the room, but knew he had to remain stern for the rest of his daughters. “Rebecca, would you be willing to wear a green dress to the dance to get out of a soaping?” Her answer was the same as Abby’s, and he sent her to help in the kitchen, too. Dorothy agreed to wear purple, Frances to wear orange, Madeline to wear brown.

  Connie was finally alone with his youngest, and he was surprised when she gave him a huge smile! “Papa, I get to wear yellow?” she asked hopefully.

  “No… You get to wear red, or taste soap,” he said firmly.

  Natalie made a pout, and then looked at him matter-of-factly, “Mama will never agree to a red dress, Papa. She’ll say it is too old for me. What about white trimmed in red?” she smiled again, and Conrad nodded in agreement. The red dress probably wouldn’t go over with Lenora… It was what saloon girls wore. He held out the bar of soap to Nattie and said, “You go put this back, honey…”

  Nattie took the soap and headed for the water closet and Conrad made his way down to the kitchen. He was going to be totally crazy by the time this dance was over.

  When Lorena joined him in bed that night, she giggled and said, “Connie, you are a very special man.”

  “I am?” he asked skeptically. “How so?”

  “You made the girls so happy by insisting they have new dresses… Nattie told me tonight while we were doing the dishes that you caught her crying in the tack room and made her tell you what she was upset over. I am sometimes too practical,” she said, then kissed his cheek. “You understood that they all needed to feel pretty and special. You are a wonderful father.”