Dealing With Discipline (33 page)

Chapter 15

The reaction that Irene
got from the men was not at all what she expected.  Alex
frowned and looked at Hugh, as if asking for confirmation, Hugh’s
expression went from shocked to insulted to a kind of angry
glare.  The arms braced across his chest tightened.  He
didn’t looked at Alex once and he didn’t look at all
guilty. 

“I have never once in my life beaten a
woman.”

“You beat me just last
week!”

“I
spanked
you Irene.  A
well-deserved spanking that you were warned you were going to
get.”

“That just proves that you’re the kind
of man who would beat his wife given the chance!”  Irene
looked pleadingly up at Alex, her stalwart defender, the man who’d
never failed to save her.  He’d been her white knight all her
life, it was why she’d fallen in love with him, why she’d followed
her mother's dictate and agreed to any means of being with him
after he’d married even though it meant marrying another man.
 

The fury that was growing
in Hugh's eyes had almost set them ablaze, she was sure that she
needed Alex's protection more than ever.  Yet he looked like
he was hesitating!  

He glanced at Hugh, obviously hesitant
to intervene. 

"Tell him Alex!  You'd never
spank a woman!"

The man of her dreams let all of his
breath out on a huff as he looked down at her.  "Honestly
Irene, it's becoming more of a temptation every day."

Her jaw dropped.  It
was the last thing in the world she'd expected him to say.
 Alex, wonderful and chivalrous Alex, Alex that she'd loved
all her life... he would beat a woman?

The crestfallen look on her face made
it clear to both men that Alex had shattered some kind of belief or
illusion that she had about him.  The kind of look a child had
when they first realized that life wasn't fair and that not
everything they wished for would come true.

Something about this
entire situation had sparked an emotion akin to jealousy in Hugh's
breast.  He'd come to realize that Irene put her childhood
friend on a pedestal, one that had just taken a severe blow.
 Perhaps the same kind of pedestal she'd put him on before
he'd spanked her.  It irked him to think that Lord Brooke
might retain his pedestal, but considering some of the
conversations he'd had with Edwin and Wesley pertaining to Lord
Brooke's interest in domestic discipline as well as the few hints
Lord Brooke himself had dropped, he thought he had a solution to
that.

"Lord Brooke, perhaps under
the circumstances you might wish to stay as my wife and I have our
discussion," Hugh said dryly, his eyes locked onto Irene's face to
catch every nuance of her reaction.  "That way you can assure
yourself that she is not being
beaten
 and I can give you some
instruction on the proper way to spank a deserving wife. You did
seem to have some interest the last time we discussed the
issue."

There was only a moment of
silence.  "That would be much appreciated, Viscount Petersham.
 Thank you."

"Hugh, please."

"And you may call me Alex."

Irene felt as though her
world had tilted on its axis; she was actually dizzy from the
events that were taking place right before her eyes. The view that
she’d always had of Alex had come crashing down around her with
just a few simple words. Not only was he not going to save her from
Hugh, he
approved
of Hugh spanking her! He was going to learn how to do so
himself!

Licking her dry lips, her hands
clenched so tightly on her lap that her knuckles were white, she
pled with him. “Alex… don’t… please…”

“Irene,” he said gently,
starting to kneel down to look her more easily in the face before
he glanced at Hugh. When her husband nodded his permission, Alex
went down on one knee and took of her cold little hands in his.
“Your behavior tonight… it went past improper. I don’ know what you
were thinking. You shouldn’t have spoken to your husband the way
you did when he asked. Or accused him of something that he hasn’t
done. There are men in the
ton
who do beat their wives, leave them black and
blue. I’ve become friends with Edwin, Wesley and Hugh and I know
that none of them are like that, they are all honorable men who are
honor-bound to care for their wives. That means disciplining you
when you’ve done something wrong, and tonight...”

The gentle tone he was using was one
that she’d heard all her life, but the words were all wrong. Her
champion had quit the field, leaving her alone. Averting her gaze,
she snatched her hand back from him. She heard his sigh as he
stood.

“Irene, do you know why you’re being
punished?” Hugh asked, his voice low and implacable. She hated that
it sent a shiver through her that had nothing to do with fear or
anger. How could her lower body be tingling at a time like
this?!

“Yes,” she said sullenly.

Because somehow she’d lost complete
control of herself and behaved like a loose woman, throwing herself
at Alex. That hadn’t been what she’d meant to do. It hadn’t! Not
tonight anyway. She was so angry with herself, angry at Hugh, angry
at Alex, angry at everyone who had helped to put her in this awful
situation!

“Ensuring that she
understands that she’s being spanked for a reason is important,”
Hugh said in an almost lecturing tone to Alex. Her cheeks flared
with heat and began to burn with embarrassment; she kept her gaze
at their pant legs, not wanting to look at either of them. “You
must confirm that she understands why she’s being punished
otherwise there’s no lesson being learned. Irene,
why
am I going to be
spanking you tonight?”

She knew that she should have been
seething, but hearing Alex murmuring his understanding of Hugh’s
instruction took the spark right out of her. There was going to be
no saving her from what she had done. Alex had obviously been made
uncomfortable by her actions, her plans were in ruins around her
and she wasn’t even sure that she cared because the perfect man
hadn’t turned out to be what she thought he was.

“Because I behaved improperly at Lady
Cowper’s,” she responded dully, her shoulders slumping.

Cupping her chin under his hand, Hugh
forced her to look at him. He didn’t like the lack of spirit that
he saw in her eyes but he knew that she still needed to discipline
her. There was no point in telling her that there would be
consequences for her actions if he didn’t bother to follow
through.

“Yes. Although there won’t
be a scandal thanks to Lord Brooke’s quick thinking, but do you
understand how badly your little scene could have come off to
everyone? Especially since we’ve just returned from our honeymoon.
You could have shamed yourself, me, Lord Brooke, our families…
the
ton
would
have talked about nothing else for weeks.”

A lone tear rolled down Irene’s face.
As soon as Hugh had interrupted them and she’d realized how brazen
she’d been, how clear the pathway they were standing on was, and
how close she came to bringing two men to blows over her she’d felt
horrible.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I truly
didn’t intend… I mean… I didn’t… I’m sorry.”

“I’m glad to hear you say
that.” Hugh kissed her forehead and let her face drop again. “Stand
up and lean over the arm of the chair.” His voice was still gentle
but stern, the kindness had leached out of it.

Keeping her eyes averted, not wanting
to see the expression on Alex’s face – even if she now realized he
wasn’t the man of her dreams, he was still her childhood friend and
it was humiliating to have him witnessing this – she complied. The
arm of the chair was surprisingly soft against her hips and
stomach, cradling them, although it pushed her bottom high in the
air. Turning her face towards the back of the chair, she curled her
arms around her head, doing her best to pretend that she wasn’t
bent over, awaiting a spanking.

“If you’d like a chair
like this, I can send you the direction of the maker,” Hugh said,
and she knew he was talking to Alex again. “This one was purchased
by my father. It’s comfortable to sit in but the arms are wider
than usual, which helps when you’re about to be punished.” He
chuckled. “I should know, although I was in this position a lot
less often than my sister. I’ll try to go over the same things my
father did with me; Eleanor gave me plenty of practice growing
up.”

Even though she’d originally wanted to
close her ears, Irene couldn’t help but be engrossed by this
astounding information. Strong, fiery Eleanor had been spanked? A
lot? How did she remain so… so…

“Does Edwin have a chair like
this?”

“No, he prefers an over the knee
approach,” Hugh said. “He says it’s more intimate at which point I
usually bow out of the conversation.” Alex chuckled.

It took everything Irene had not to
stifle a gasp. To her, Edwin and Eleanor had seemed like the
perfect couple. So obviously attentive to each other, so obviously
well-fitted. To hear that Edwin spanked his wife, that Eleanor
allowed it… the entire way she saw the world was changing tonight.
It was almost enough to distract her from the fact that she was
bent over the arm of a chair in front of her husband and her oldest
friend.

She felt almost dazed, reviewing
everything she’d ever seen between her sister-in-law and her
husband in her head, ignoring Hugh as he told Alex to stay where he
was since it was a good viewing location. A moment later she would
be thankful for that as Hugh lifted her skirts, obviously intent on
spanking her bare bottom. From Alex’s position he was able to see
the upper curves of her buttocks and what Hugh was doing, but the
rest of her private areas remained the purview of her
husband.

The entire situation felt surreal, as
if she was dreaming or as if she had become detached from her body.
How could such a thing truly be happening after all? That Alex not
only proved himself to be unworthy of the love and devotion that
she’d always attributed to him, but that he would encourage Hugh to
spank her and think to learn from it!

“Spread your legs Irene,”
Hugh ordered, resting his hand on the exposed upper curve of her
buttock rather possessively. “This position makes it harder for her
to clench against the slaps, which makes them more effective. If
you ever have to use a paddle or tawse or even a birch then it
makes it harder for her to injure herself accidentally.” Feeling
his wife tensing under at the mention of such instruments, Hugh
rubbed her bottom. He was feeling decidedly jealous about Lord
Brooke – Alex – seeing Irene in such a state but somehow it seemed
important that his wife understand that he was not a monster for
disciplining her. Even more so, it seemed important that she
understood her childhood friend approved of Hugh’s methods and
would not save her from them.

He still wasn’t sure if Irene had
truly meant to kiss Lord Brooke, the way it had seemed to his eyes,
or what she had been doing or thinking, but he was determined that
she realize her friend was not the man she obviously thought he
was. If nothing else, she would see Lord Brooke’s true colors and
realize that he was certainly not “better” than Hugh, as she seemed
to imply by her assertion that Lord Brooke would never spank a
woman.

“My personal preference is
for nothing more severe than a spanking,” he said calmly, feeling
the slight relaxation that occurred under his hand when he said so.
“However, some transgressions require greater consequences. I
certainly had more than one instance of practicing with both a
tawse and the birch with my sister.”

“Do you keep one of each on hand?”
Alex asked, shocking Irene. A quiver went through her. He actually
sounded interested!

“I have a tawse of course,
and a paddle.” Both were in a cabinet across the room; he’d been on
the receiving end of both as a young lad. The tawse was about 2
feet long, a strap of stiffened well-worn leather; the paddle was a
large circular wooden instrument that would thwack resoundingly
against the entire cheek of a buttock. “A birch is best fresh so I
don’t keep one on hand. My father did, but that was due to
Eleanor’s constant need for it rather than his preference. I never
thought it would be something I might require.”

None of this was helping Irene,
although she was still having trouble believing that this was
actually happening. Hugh could feel her buttocks attempting to
clench over and over again, obviously in trepidation over the
litany of punishments she might receive. He hoped that hearing the
options she would choose to demonstrate more restraint in the
future, in all things.

“Hmmm.” The contemplative and slightly
far away expression Lord Brooke’s face was interesting. Hugh took
heart in the fact that Alex obviously had no interest in Irene’s
exposed bottom, even if he didn’t have a very good view of it, and
was obviously thinking about some other female. Possibly his
estranged wife?

But he needed to focus on his own wife
now. His cock had been standing at attention since he’d turned up
her skirts, it was all he could do not to rub his hand all over her
luscious bottom and dip his fingers down into her quim which he
could see was clearly dewed with arousal. Just as had happened the
first time he’d disciplined her, her body was reacting in an
unexpected manner.