His by Valentine's Day (4 page)

Pulling up in front of the small A-frame house, Cade waited for Scott to walk over to meet him. The man's expression was definitely strained; his jaw tight; his shoulders beneath the heavy coat he wore appeared stiff.

Cade lowered the driver's window and shivered as the bitter cold air swept into the warm SUV. "Did you get her to go to a doctor?"

Scott strode up, stood in the snow and didn't even seem to notice it. He shook his head. "Damn stubborn female wouldn't even talk about it. But she's sicker than a..." He stopped himself, blew out a steadying breath. "She doesn't have the strength to stay upright, but won't stay down, either. Coughing something awful. Chills that rattle her bones. Fever that doesn't seem to want to break. If you hadn't called earlier saying you were on your way here, I would have hauled her ass into Topeka. Taken her to an emergency center."

Cade knew he was facing a showdown of possibly epic proportions, but he'd faced worse. He could deal with her. "Things will be changing today, I guarantee it."

While he was preparing to say more, Scott's attention shifted away from him. The cowboy cursed a blue streak and went stomping back to the small house. "Dammit, Shawna. What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Cade's gaze followed him, then he growled a few curses himself and shoved out of the SUV. He didn't reach for his coat in the back seat. He didn't even care about the snow burying his brand new boots. His entire focus was on the petite woman standing in the doorway of the house wearing flannel pajamas and pink fuzzy slippers. Standing there shivering as the bitter wind swirled around her.

"I needed to tell you--" Shawna said in a scratchy, raw sounding voice.

Scott stood toe-to-toe with her, his big body tense in fury. "There isn't a damn thing you need to tell me right now. All you need to do is get the hell back in bed!"

She coughed and Cade saw her whole body shake from the effort. His stomach knotted. She looked horrible, sounded worse. It scared him. Pneumonia, he was sure of it.

"I'll handle this," Cade stated grimly. He strode up beside Scott and was pleased to see the other man give him a curt nod of agreement. Maybe there was a hint of relief, too. He already knew how much trouble she'd been giving her men lately. It stopped now.

Shawna's fever-fuzzy eyes blinked at him, evidently not having seen the big black Suburban parked out front. "What are you doing here?" A coughing jag caught her and she struggled to breathe.

"I'm here on business." He stomped the snow off his boots on the mat in front of the door. Then he stepped past Scott and reached to scoop her into his arms. She tried to scoot out of his way, but he was determined. When he had her, he said, "First business is getting a crazy woman back in her bed."

She shoved at his chest and wriggled in his hold, but weakly. "Put me down. Now."

He ignored her. "Not happening." He glanced around the inside of the log A-frame house and spotted the stairs to the loft bedroom. Resigned to carrying the uncooperative woman upstairs, he looked back to Scott. "You can go back to whatever you're supposed to be doing. I've got this."

"Do something!" She looked toward her friend. "Make him put me down."

Scott just shook his head.

Shawna struggled again but Cade held her tighter and growled, "Stop that!"

"Maybe you need some help with her. Maybe I should stay."

Cade understood the man's reluctance to leave a virtual stranger alone with his friend. He respected that, but it didn't change anything. "She'll be fine with me, trust me. You should know after all my calls to check on her that I only want what's best for her."

Stubborn woman tried squirming again and nearly made him drop her. He tightened his hold even more and bit out, "Do you remember what happened the last time I was here?"

Those emerald eyes he couldn't forget widened. "You don't mean...You're not serious...But I'm sick."

Scott had already decided to get out, wise choice. The door closed behind them. Now all Cade could hear was the crackling fire in the fireplace and the pounding of Shawna's heart.

"I'm so going to make you sorry for this..." Shawna coughed and turned her head from where she lie face down on her bed. "As soon as I'm well enough to..."

"I look forward to you trying to get even with me." Cade's expression mirrored his concern as he gently touched her long braid. He drew in a breath, his eyes heating.

She held still as he fingered her hair, as she watched the first signs of his arousal. She even made the mistake of glancing lower and seeing the way his very nice package pushed against the front of his obviously new jeans. Her heart raced and she swallowed down a desire to see that "package" unencumbered by denim. In spite of the crude, rude way he'd carried her up here and planted her face down on the bed, her body wanted him. She wanted to... No!

"Cute PJs. Ponies, pink ones. Not exactly sexy stuff, but I'm getting turned on anyway." Then his hands moved. He pushed her top over her back and reached for her pajama bottoms.

The instant she felt his fingers grabbing onto the waistband, she jerked sideways. "What are you doing?" she questioned, although she really knew. She reached back to bat at his hand still holding onto her pajama bottoms.

He smacked her butt hard enough to sting. "Baring a sweet bottom before I turn it red."

She smothered a cough and hissed in annoyance when he managed to tug her bottoms clear down to mid-thigh. This was embarrassing, especially when the slide of his fingers over her skin made her quiver in anticipation. Made her... Oh jeez! She felt moisture beading between her legs. Oh please don't let him see that!

Then she ruined it by squirming and giving a quiet moan of frustration.

"Believe me, I want you too, honey," he said in a husky tone. He smoothed his hand over her bottom and her buttocks clenched. "But this isn't the time."

"I know. I'm sick." She forced a cough, and then a real one followed. "I belong in bed, under the covers, sleeping this stupid cold away."

He smacked the middle of both cheeks. "All of that is true. And as soon as I give you the spanking you've earned by being foolish about this whole being sick matter, you're going under those covers."

"Without you," she snapped and then groaned when she realized what she'd said, what thought had popped into her mind. "Oh, just go away! Go back to Timbuktu or wherever you came from."

"Los Angeles, actually. But I'm here to stay for a week or so." His hard, well-manicured hand landed fast and sharply on her vulnerable bottom. "I'm here to take care of a certain stubborn woman."

Shawna craned her head to look back at him, her eyes narrowing. "I don't need you--or anyone else--taking care of me. And I'm not stubborn." Okay, she was, but that wasn't the point.

He snorted, holding her gaze and looking determined. "The only person I know more stubborn than you is me. And I promise I'm going to win this round." He raised his hand. "The first part of my taking care of you is going to be this spanking. Look away, unless it gives you a thrill to see me spank you."

She snarled at him and turned her head. She most certainly did not get a thrill out of seeing him prepare to spank her! Her lower lips tingled and the moisture between her legs told her that his going Alpha dominant was a serious turn on. But she sure didn't like the idea of feeling the pain.

His hand landed hard again and she gasped, "Isn't it bad enough that I'm horribly sick? Do you have to make it so I'll lie in bed on a sore bottom? That's sooooo wrong."

He hesitated and then said, "Being forced to deal with a sore butt will make you think about the importance of cooperating better. Like when someone tells you to see a doctor. Like when someone tells you to stay in bed."

Clearly he wasn't going to back down. She didn't have the energy to fight him about this...and she had to admit that she had been pretty uncooperative. She'd been cranky to the extreme every time Scott or Alan had tried to get her to at least call the doctor. They'd meant well, but she didn't like doctors. And she hated taking medicines. All those chemicals. They just weren't right for a body.

"Are you ready?"

"To be spanked? No. Never." She coughed and then huffed. "Just do it."

As if she'd given him approval, he got down to the business of burning her bottom. He spanked her at least a couple of dozen times, each swat hard and biting. He didn't mess around when it came to spanking. It was delivered efficiently and quickly. Not an inch of her bottom was spared.

She jerked with each swat and gritted her teeth. She was not going to cry out. She was not going to let him know how much it hurt.

"Do you have any idea, really, how much trouble you've been for everyone?" He swatted the underside of her bottom. "All of your men are worried about you." Two more fierce swats to the same place.

"I...I know," she said miserably. "I...I just...I'm sorry." She curled her fingers into the quilt and breathed through the fiery sting as he spanked her steadily.

"I've been worried, too. And I haven't worried about very many people in my life."

He gave her two final flaming smacks and sat down on the bed beside her with a heavy sigh of frustration. "I'm sorry I had to spank you. But you've gotten out of control. You are sick, yes, but you're being selfish too toward all those who care about you."

She rolled against his heavy weight on the side of the mattress, wincing when her tender bottom brushed against his jeans. Tears more of shame than pain trickled out of the corner of her eyes. "I'd say thank you, but I wouldn't mean it. Not really."

He turned to look down at her and she saw the heat in his eyes again. Desire. The man had just spanked her for misbehavior like a child and yet he clearly wanted her as a woman. They didn't say anything, both studying the other. She should move out of his reach but she stayed put. It was odd how she liked this take-charge-of-her side of him. No other man had ever dared put a hand to her butt. Nor would she have let him. So why this man? Why did she let this irritating stranger, who planned to upset her whole world, spank her bottom?

She watched his gaze move over her, saw it settle on her still exposed bottom. His chest rose and fell in a shuddery breath. Now that the spanking was finished with, she had a feeling that something else was being tempted...something intimate...something that both worried and excited her.

Then she coughed and she heard the rattle in her chest.

Cade came out of his apparent sexual haze trance and stood, jostling the bed. While she lie there feeling awkward, he carefully pulled her pajamas back into place. She trembled as his fingers moved against her skin. Again, her lower body wanted him. Warmth spread through her even as the fever of illness raged too.

"You're such a responsive woman," he said, sounding husky. "I can hardly wait until I take you to bed, until I--"

His words, the promise--threat?--pulled her back to the moment. She scrambled up the bed until she could wiggle her way between the sheets. She winced at the pain lacing her bottom. "There is no 'until you' anything, buster! This is as close to taking me to bed as you're going to get."

The impossible man simply gave her a crooked grin and pulled the quilt up to just under her chin. "Is it? I think we both know differently. This is just the wrong time."

She huffed, which turned into another coughing spell. His handsome face hardened and he turned toward the stairs. "Stay put, I mean it! I'm going to my car and get some things to help you get better."

"The only thing that will really make me better is you leaving."

He hesitated, and then continued down the stairs.

"Even better than that would be you changing your mind about selling the ranch." She coughed, clutching at her sore chest.

"I've already got a potential buyer." He strode toward the door as she sat up and watched him.

Her heart pinched. "You said you'd give me time to come up with a way to buy it. You said four months." A lie, he hadn't given her a timeline.

"I don't want to talk about this right now. And you shouldn't be talking at all. It's straining your throat, probably your lungs, too." He faced her with his hand on the door handle. "If you even want me to consider giving you until the first of February, you need to lie down. You need to cooperate with me."

She didn't feel up to arguing, but she hated giving in. "That's not long enough." She didn't have a prayer of saving her home in less than a month, not in four months, either. Not really.

"Lie down. Now." She felt the heat of his glower even from this distance. "If you don't do it, I'm going to burn your bottom some more. Harder. Longer. Understand me?"

Shawna could tell from the intensity of his look that he meant it. Darn him. What made him think he could get away with telling her what to do? What made him... Oh yeah, because he owned the ranch. Still feeling bratty, she snapped under her breath, "You're not the boss of me!"

The man with incredible hearing countered, "Yes, I am." He turned to head in her direction. "You've got to the count of five to lay down or I'm coming back up there. Five. Four. Three."

She plopped back against the pillows. "I really don't like you, Cade Calloway."

He chuckled and had the nerve to say, "Yes, you do. And that's what really makes you mad." With that said, he left the house.

Chapter Three

Shawna sat propped up by a stack of pillows in her bed, realizing she actually felt better than she had in what seemed like forever. The fever that had hung on for so long finally had broken yesterday. Her ribs still hurt like the devil from so much constant coughing, but the coughing, too, had eased up. After spending nearly all of the last three days in bed, she was healing but her full strength had yet to return. She was among the living again. Now she needed to quit lazing about and get back to work. It might take her longer than usual to accomplish anything, but she had to pull her weight around the ranch. Her pride demanded it.

She blew out a frustrated breath. Unfortunately every blasted man on the ranch didn't want her back at work yet. Scott and Alan both had threatened to haul her right back to bed if she even set foot on the porch, and tie her there. Most bothersome, though, Cade Calloway had promised to roast her butt if she so much as left her bedroom. Roast her butt! Lord help her, the man was a real burr in her life.