Warming Emerald: The Red Petticoat Saloon Read online

  “Mama,” Paquah grumbled.

  “Hold on,” Garrett told him, giving the reins a light slap.

  “I am.”

  Never would she have thought she would have been sad to leave Culpepper Cove in the kind of dust kicked up by the wagon wheels as they followed the road out of town. It was probably the nervousness. The great unknown. Leaving felt like a door slamming shut on a part of her life that she could—no, would—never go back to. For better or worse. That was what scared her.

  “You all right?” Garrett asked the third time Lydia glanced behind them. The last of the buildings had disappeared behind the gently rolling hills and the leafy, multicolored autumn curtain of dogwoods, red maples and old spruce trees. Ahead of them lay nothing more than wide open plains, more rolling hills, and a great vast empty unknown.

  “Yes,” Lydia said. For the life of her, she honestly didn’t know if she had just lied or not.

  Because I’m the one who loves you…

  She managed to bite her tongue for almost half a mile before she couldn’t bear another wheel-rattling, rut-bumping minute of silence more.

  “What if—” She stopped herself, unsure how to ask the question that had been burning inside her hotter than the California sun.

  “What if?” Garrett coaxed.

  Lydia glanced at him sideways, painfully aware of little ears listening in the back of the wagon. “What if I can never say it back to you?”

  “Then I’ll say it often enough for the both of us.” Garrett’s smile softened. “Until you can.”

  He sounded so sure. Anything but, Lydia insisted, “But what if I can’t?”

  “Not possible.”

  “But how do you know?”

  “Because.” Reaching into her lap, Garrett took one of her hands. Raising it to his lips, he kissed the back. “You’re warming to me. You’ve been warming since the day we met.” He grinned. “Mrs. Lydia Drake.”

  Her heart fluttered and that budding warmth in her belly grew bigger, spreading its heat all the way up into her cheeks.

  “You’re crazy,” she said, looking away so he wouldn’t see how easily he could make her aware of her own out of control feelings.

  “So I’ve been told.”

  A little hand patted her shoulder and Lydia turned part way around.

  “Where are we going?” Paquah asked, kneeling up on the trunk so he could watch the way ahead.

  Garrett’s grin only broadened as she slid him another glance before turning back to all that open land, that endless stretch of grass bowing down in gentle waves beneath the sun and air. That scary unknown.

  “Home,” she said softly, almost marveling. “We’re going home, baby.”

  With her hand held warm in his and his kiss still tingling upon her skin, in spite of herself for the first time in a very, very long time Lydia relaxed.

  The End

  Maren Smith

  “Hi, I'm Maren. I'm 30, married to a wonderful, dominant man, and have five four–legged children: two dogs and three cats. I love strong, authoritative men–men who are both ready and willing to leave the lady of their choosing red–bottomed and weeping and for her own good. Writing has given me the wonderful freedom to explore my spanking side without feeling 'weird.' Even better, with the invention of the Internet, I can write what I love and know it will be appreciated by people with the same interests.”

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  OTHER BOOKS BY MAREN SMITH

  Jade’s Dragon

  Last Dance for Cadence, Corbin's Bend Book 8

  How to Live Without a Man

  Something Has to Give

  B-Flick

  Bippity-Boppity-Boo

  Black Sheep

  Daughter of the Strong

  The Diva

  Enemies

  The Great Prank

  Jinxie’s Orchids

  Katy Run Away

  Kindred Spirits

  Life After Rachel

  The Locket

  The Miner’s Wife

  Mistress

  Morogh the Demon

  Mountain Man

  My Lady Robin Hood

  The Next Ex

  Saga: Constance’s Story

  Spanking Tails I thru X

  The Suffragettes

  Treasure

  Varden’s Lady

  Have Paddle, Will Travel

  Masters of the Castle Series:

  Holding Hannah (Book One)

  Kaylee’s Keeper (Book Two)

  Saving Sara (Book Three)

  Sweet Sinclair (Book Four)

  Chasing Chelsea (Book Five)

  Owning O

  Ana Adored: Mistress of the Castle (editor)

  Box Sets:

  With Hearts Aflame

  Masters of the Castle

  The Naughty List

  Spanking Tails Vol. 1

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