Lucinda Read online

  “Owww! Owwwww! Stop it! Stop it now!” Lucinda screeched at the horrible man. “You let me go!” She tried to reach her bag to get her gun so she could shoot him.

  Henry saw what she was doing, and captured her hands in his and pinned them to the small of her waist in back as he continued to spank her, even harder now. “I have never met a female who needed spanking more than you do!” he told her, making sure he covered every inch of her rounded backside, and concentrating his efforts on the tender area where her cheeks met her thighs. The little brunette would not sit comfortably for a while, he decided, giving her several more spanks to each side. “I am waiting for an apology, young lady, and this spanking won’t stop until I get one.”

  “I will never apologize!” Lucinda declared. “I would rather die first!”

  “Pride and stubbornness hurts, young lady,” he informed her, and continued setting her fanny on fire while she cursed him and cried out in pain. His hand was starting to burn and hurt, but he wasn’t about to stop the punishment until he got his apology. “I’m waiting,” he told her.

  “You can wait until hell freezes over!” Lucinda sobbed. “I will never apologize to you, you murderer!”

  “What?” Henry demanded. “Murderer? I’ve never murdered anyone!” he denied. “What are you talking about, little girl?” He stopped the spanking and picked her up to sit her on the opposite side of the coach with a thump.

  “Oww!” Lucinda cried out when her bottom made contact with the seat, and in the next instant she was grabbing for her handbag and gun. The dratted man beat her to it, and put it behind him where she couldn’t possibly reach it without going through him. “Damn you!”

  “Why are you so angry with me, Lucinda? I can’t recall ever meeting you.”

  “Does the name Jake Thomas mean anything to you?” she demanded, and his blue eyes turned dark with an emotion hard to define. “I can see it does. You murdered my brother, and you are going to pay for it!” she told him, and then she crossed her arms over her chest and looked daggers at him the rest of the trip into town.

  It hadn’t occurred to him that Jake had been using a false name. The man arrived in Snowfall nearly a year ago, and he was very ill. He brought a letter from his doctor in Boston, and Henry did everything in his power to help him regain his health, but Jake’s lungs were too far gone by then, and in spite of all his efforts, Jake died. In those months, they’d become good friends, and Jake shared many things about his family, including his little sister, Cin-Cin.

  The coach finally arrived in Snowfall, and Henry made a point of taking Lucinda’s gun from her handbag before returning her purse to her. “I’ll leave your gun at the Sheriff’s office, Miss Jacobs, and he can and will clear me of any wrongdoing in your brother’s death. If you want to know about Jake, come and see me and I’ll tell you about his last hours. He spoke of you often, and loved you very much.” He tipped his hat to her, and then walked away.

  Lucinda was exhausted and drained. The trip was long and not without hardships. Today was the worst, however. The Apache attack, and then, worst of all, discovering that she’d been curled up in the arms of her brother’s killer! The horrible man had dared to spank her, and she was still in considerable pain. She had no intention of going near the Sheriff’s office tonight or any other time. She would meet that particular man soon enough. Tonight, she needed sleep. Lucinda registered at the hotel, had a bath delivered to her room, and once she was clean, she went to bed. Tomorrow would be soon enough to start paying back the ‘good’ Doctor Z.

  * * *

  Henry looked at his watch once again and frowned. By this time he normally had patients filling his waiting room, especially when he’d been out of town for three days treating a cowboy that was thrown from his horse and badly injured. When another thirty minutes passed, and no one showed up, he decided to go outside and see if something was happening that he knew nothing about. When he stepped out on the landing and put up a sign stating he would be back soon, he was aware of a group of people standing around at the bottom of the steps, whispering and laughing. When they saw him, they grew quiet. Henry marched down the steps to see what was going on, and felt anger surge over him. At the very bottom of the steps was a tub full of water, with baby ducks swimming around. There was also a sign, proclaiming him to be ‘Dr. Quack’ and warning his patients not to trust him because he was a murderer!

  Henry swore under his breath and headed for the hotel and one Miss Lucinda Jacobs. The young woman was going to get a spanking on her bared bottom this time, and he was going to make sure she couldn’t sit down for at least a week!

  Chapter Two

  “The young lady isn’t in her room, Doc Z,” Sheriff Mac Forrester intercepted the angry Doctor before he could storm the desk and frighten Bucky into telling him which room the little brunette was using while in Snowfall. “You need to count to ten and let me deal with Miss Jacobs.”

  “She needs her backside spanked from now until sundown!” Henry declared. “I’ve worked hard to earn people’s trust and not one person stepped over that tub and come up to the office!” he raged. “She’s got some fool notion that I murdered her brother.”

  “You?” Mac hooted in disbelief. “Where’d she get that crazy idea?”

  “I know that Jake loved her a lot, and she obviously loved him… It’s hard telling what he was saying to her in letters. He probably didn’t want her to worry about him dying out here all alone.”

  “You talking about Jake Thomas?” Mac asked, surprise in his dark eyes.

  “Yeah. Jake’s real name was Philip Jacobs.”

  “This is making less and less sense,” Mac stated with a frown. “Was he on the run?”

  “I don’t think so, but I don’t know the answer,” Henry replied, and then said, “I intend to find out, however… Just as soon as I get my hands on that little spitfire.”

  “You can’t just grab her and haul her over your knee, Doc. That ain’t proper.”

  “Neither is calling me a quack and scaring off people who need medical attention,” Henry argued. He turned on his heel and left the hotel. He was going to find one Miss Lucinda and set her fanny on fire again or his name wasn’t Henry Zabarski!

  * * *

  Lucinda felt safe in her disguise. She was dressed like a boy, and her newly purchased gun was tucked neatly in her gun belt. She’d shoved her long hair up under the brim of her large hat, and the oversize shirt and vest she wore effectively hid her breasts. She’d predicted that Henry would go straight to the hotel to find her once he saw the ‘quacks’ swimming in the small tub she’d purchased early that morning at the Mercantile, and she’d been correct. She had a ringside seat right across from Henry’s office on the bench in front of the bank, and smiled in perverse satisfaction when Henry came stomping down the street and picked up the tub and moved it away from his steps. He took her sign and ripped it up, and then looked up and down the street and then came to settle on her. Lucinda was confident that her disguise was perfect, but in the next second he headed in her direction. She wasn’t about to run from him. He probably wanted to ask if ‘he’ had seen a ‘young woman’ in front of his steps. Lucinda mentally deepened her voice, and prepared to send him out of town on a wild goose chase.

  Henry had to give it to the little witch; she was in a clever disguise. He was looking for a female, predicting that she wouldn’t want to miss his reaction to the ‘quacks’. He was right, but he’d overlooked her because she was dressed like a boy. Clever. And from the look on her face she was positive he wasn’t able to tell a woman from a boy! He quickly snagged her wrist and had her gun out of her holster before she knew the game was up!

  Lucinda was startled, to say the least! By the time she reacted, however, it was too late to save herself, and the crude and rude Doctor was planning to spank her for the second time! It was unthinkable! They were in public, and she was face-down over his lap on a bench in the middle of town, such as it was! “Don’t you dare do this! I
warn you, I will get even with you if you dare to strike… OW!” her threats ended on a wail as his hand landed on her bottom! He spanked again, and then again, and she struggled wildly to get free. Her hat fell off and her coal black hair tumbled around her face and hung down to the sidewalk! Clear evidence that she was a female, and a pretty one at that!

  “Your gun belt is in the way,” Henry grumbled more to himself than to her, and he reached underneath her and in seconds he’d unfastened the leather belt and dropped it on the sidewalk before resuming the spanking she so richly deserved.

  “No! Do not!” Lucinda protested, but Henry was not listening. He was too busy peppering the seat of her britches with spanks meant to sting like the very devil. “Owwww! Owwww! Someone help me! Heeellllp!” she cried out. She could see people coming, and hear them laughing and joking with Henry, but no one at all stepped forward to help her! No one! “What kind of people are you to let this bully beat me!” she berated them.

  “’Pears to me you was askin’ fer it, girlie,” one old man chortled, and the murmurs of the crowd were in agreement with the man.

  “Thanks, Abraham,” Henry nodded to the toothless man. “Your next visit is on the house,” he added generously.

  “Well, thankee, Doc Z!” the man beamed with pleasure.

  “He’s a murderer!” Lucinda screamed at them, trying to keep from crying. Henry was hurting her! Her poor bottom was still tender from the spanking he gave her on the stage yesterday, and he was spanking even harder this time!

  “Doc didn’t murder your brother, Miss Jacobs,” another voice spoke with authority. “Doc, let her up now. She’s had enough, I reckon.”

  “I don’t think so,” Henry argued.

  “Well, I do. Let the lady up right now and let’s move this discussion to my office.” Mac was firm, and fully prepared to stop Henry if necessary.

  Henry gave the rounded backside one more hearty whack and then got to his feet, dumping Lucinda on the sidewalk, right on her stinging butt.

  She gasped in outraged dignity, and slapped at the hands trying to lift her to her feet. “I can get up on my own, thank you very much!” she snapped, scrambling to her feet and tossing her hair back to look up at the Sheriff, who was regarding her soberly.

  “Maybe I should have let Doc finish what he started, Miss Jacobs?” Mac’s dark eyes were snapping. He wasn’t used to women who didn’t know how to say please and thank you, and Miss Jacobs was doing nothing to endear herself to the people in this town.

  Lucinda wanted to rub her backside, but simply couldn’t with all the people standing around staring at her. “My apologies, Sheriff. Thank you for stepping in on my behalf,” she belatedly remembered her manners. This man looked as capable of spanking her as did the Doctor!

  Mac nodded. Doc Z was already half way down the street, and he said, “Let’s get going, Miss Jacobs. We need to have a talk before something like this happens again. Folks, go on about your business now. There won’t be any more entertainment today.” He waited, looking at people until they realized he meant what he said and went on with what they were doing before their Doctor lost his temper and spanked the strange lady wearing boy’s britches.

  “Have a seat, Miss Jacobs,” Mac pointed to an empty seat in front of his desk. Henry was already seated and didn’t rise when they walked inside. Mac knew that Henry meant it as an insult to the young woman, but she ignored him.

  “I want to press charges, Sheriff,” Lucinda declared. “You, yourself, witnessed this man assaulting me!”

  “He didn’t assault you, Miss. He gave you a spanking you had coming. Women in this town do not wear pants, and since he gave you a tanning, I won’t fine you… this time.”

  “That is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard!” Lucinda stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips.

  “If you had a husband or father here, I’d turn you over to them and insist they do their duty,” Mac stated with a straight face, enjoying himself. The little lady was in serious need of some discipline and for two cents ‘he, himself’ would pick up where Doc Z left off. “Now sit yourself down on that chair so we can talk about this mess you’ve created here in my peaceful little town.”

  “I have no desire to sit down!” Lucinda stated furiously.

  “Too bad. You earned the spanking, now you’ll deal with the consequences of it. SIT DOWN!” Mac ordered, raising his voice, something he rarely did.

  Lucinda reminded herself that she couldn’t follow through with her plan to kill Doc Z if she was locked in jail. She gingerly sat on the wooden chair and gritted her teeth, pointedly ignoring the snicker on Henry’s face.

  “Now, Miss Jacobs, what evidence do you have to support your claim that Doc Z murdered your brother… and just for the record, how do we even know that Jake Thomas was your brother? Doc says you referred to your brother as Philip Jacobs.”

  “Jake was Philip’s nickname in school. They had too many ‘Philips’ in his class. Thomas was his middle name,” she explained. “He did not want our Father following him here to insist he come back to Boston. Father could not accept that Philip was ill and needed treatment.”

  “All right. I’ll allow that makes sense, but it doesn’t explain why you think Doc had something to do with Jake’s death. He and Doc were great friends.”

  “Philip wrote to me and told me Doc Z claimed he could make him well! It was all lies!”

  “That’s not true, Miss Jacobs,” Mac said matter-of-factly.

  “I have the letter in my room at the hotel!” she was insulted at being called a ‘liar.’

  “I didn’t mean that you don’t have a letter. The part about Doc telling Jake that he could fix him isn’t the truth. I sat with Doc and Jake many nights and Doc never lied to Jake about his condition. He was too far gone when he got here for Doc to do much but keep him as comfortable as he could while nature took its course.”

  “I might have known that you would lie for this man!” Lucinda stated, and then promptly walked out of the office, slamming the door so hard the windows rattled.

  “She’s going to be trouble,” Mac said quietly.

  “I’m not going to put up with it, Mac,” Henry replied, then got to his feet. “I have patients to see.” He slammed the door, too.

  Mac shook his head. Perhaps he should toss Miss Lucinda in jail and send for her father…? Or at least threaten her with that unless she caught the next stage headed east…? One thing was certain; if he caught Doc tanning the little hellion again, he was going to walk the other way.

  * * *

  Lucinda hated crying. It was a useless waste of time, and not something she indulged in very often. She was so angry that the Sheriff was defending Doc Z she just didn’t know what to do. Not one person in this town seemed inclined to believe her. She took out Philip’s letters and reread them all. Even in the last one he told her not to worry, that he was getting stronger every day! Clearly something the Doctor did changed all of that and killed Philip. He was going to pay for it, too!

  She gathered her courage around her like a mantle and then made herself as presentable as possible. She found the newspaper office and was pleased to learn that the paper came out the next afternoon. She wrote an article denouncing Doc Z and paid handsomely to have it printed, word for word. Her only obstacle was the newspaper owner’s niece.

  “Uncle Jerry, you can’t print this! It could destroy Henry’s career, and it’s not true!”

  “It’s up to folks to decide to believe it or not,” the man said stubbornly, his mind on the money the young lady was willing to pay to place the article, and it was considerable. Henry could look out for himself, but the newspaper was hanging on by a string, and the cash from Miss Jacobs would carry them the next few months. He couldn’t afford to turn down the business because Millicent wanted him to.

  Millicent understood her Uncle’s worry. She wasn’t completely blind to their finances, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t print her own article right beside
the other woman’s! And since she did most of the type-setting and printing while her Uncle tended to other matters, he wouldn’t learn of it until the paper was on the streets and for sale. He might end up taking a strap to her bottom, but she had to do what she knew to be the right thing. Doc Z took good care of her Aunt when she was ill and dying, and she owed him her support.

  Henry was out of town tending a birthing when the article came out, and he was unaware why people were looking at him so strangely when he got back late that night. He tended his horse, and tiredly walked from the livery toward his place. Mac stepped out of his office and said, “Doc, could I have a word with you?” he held open the door to the jail and invited Henry inside.

  “Is it important, Mac? I’m bone tired and I need sleep before I get called out again.”

  “It’s important, Henry.”

  When Mac used his given name, Henry knew that something was very wrong. He followed the other man inside and took a seat. “What’s up?”

  “I guess there’s no putting this off. Read the article on the front page.” Mac handed the Doctor the newest edition of the town’s one and only newspaper and waited for Henry to lose his temper. The man had red hair, and the temper to match. He wouldn’t blame the good Doctor if he cut a switch or two and wore them out on that sassy Lucinda Jacob’s rear end, but he couldn’t very well let him throttle her. He waited until he saw Doc’s blue eyes fill with anger and said, “Folks ain’t a bit happy with that girl, Doc. No one believes it, and if you look right next to that piece of trash, Miss Millicent wrote in your defense, and it is a right nice article, too. Miss Jacob was displeased, and Jerry came close to giving Miss Milli a strapping, but she stuck up for herself and reminded Jerry of how you took care of Mrs. Jerry, and he nodded and give his niece a big hug instead. He feels bad for taking Miss Jacob’s money, and was shamed to tell me the paper was close to shutting down because of money. He wants you to know that.”