Lucinda (2 page)

Lucinda looked at him, and could see he was serious.  She nodded, and then asked, “Did I sleep very long?”

“A couple of hours,” he answered.  “We’re getting closer to town now, and there is less chance of the Apache coming after us now.”

“Good!”  She was suddenly aware that her hat was sitting sideways on her head, and she reached up to adjust it, discovering that her hair had fallen down!  “Oh, I am one huge mess!” she gasped in feminine outrage.

“You look pretty as can be,” Henry told her, and in the next instant her green eyes were glaring at him.  “Now, I’m just telling the truth, young lady.  There is no need to look daggers at me.”

“I think you should sit on your own side of the coach!” Lucinda belatedly remembered her manners.

Henry threw back his head and laughed.  “If you don’t beat all!  I’ve held you in my arms for the last two hours, and pay you one little compliment, and you want to banish me to the other side of the coach?  I don’t think so, little girl.  I like it here just fine.”  Predictably the brunette gave him a look of pure petulance and quickly flounced to the other side of the coach.  “What are you doing out here, Miss…?  What is your name?  I would think since we saved each other’s lives, we could introduce ourselves…”

“I am Miss Lucinda Jacobs,” Lucinda answered primly.  “As for what I am doing out here… I am here to kill the man who murdered my brother!”  She nearly laughed at the expression on his face.

“What?” Henry was startled.  “You can’t be serious…?”

“I assure you, sir, I have never been more serious about anything in my entire life.”

“Tell me what happened.  Surely the law can arrest whoever…”

“Unlikely,” Lucinda said bitterly, her eyes full of angry tears.  “Philip did not deserve to die so far away from home and without those who love him in attendance.  He was given false promises and lured here to die.”

“Lucinda,” Henry spoke gently, “If someone lured your brother out here to kill him, then it isn’t safe for you to confront that person or persons.  You could be killed, too,” he warned her, trying to reason with the pretty young woman.  “Do your parents know what you are doing?” he asked, and watched her face take on a stubborn look.

“I left them a note telling them.”

“And your father hasn’t come after you?” he asked in disbelief.

“Father has probably washed his hands of me and disowned me, if you must know the truth.  He has no patience for anyone who thwarts his wishes, especially if that someone is foolish enough to be a female.”

“He should have come after you and turned you over his knee for a good spanking!” Henry declared.  “I’ve a mind to do it myself,” he said in a low voice.

“I would not advise you to try that, sir.  I might not be used to the way things are done out here, but I assure you that I am capable of self-defense.”  She’d spent hours training with the man and woman who did their laundry, behind Father’s back, of course.  He would have had a heart attack if he’d known his eldest daughter actually dared to enter the private apartment of the Chinese couple.  It was not proper behavior.  Neither was changing into the trousers and top they provided and learning the ancient form of self-defense.

“Those thoughts are the kind that will get you killed, Miss Jacobs.  I cannot permit you to do something so foolish.”

“You have no say in what I do, sir… and you have not given me your name!” she suddenly declared, aware that she was at a disadvantage.  She’d heard the driver call him Henry, but she could hardly address him by his Christian name!  It was not proper unless they were engaged, or at the least, friends for a very long time!

“Henry Zabarski,” he grinned.  “Most call me Henry, or Doc Z!”  To his absolute shock her pretty face drained of all color and for an instant he thought she was going to faint.  He reached out to catch her when she suddenly slapped him just as hard as she could.  Henry saw stars, and wondered how a tiny female could possibly pack such a wallop.  He shook his head to clear it, and then said to the angry woman, “That was a big mistake, little girl.”

Lucinda was so caught up in the emotions coursing through her that she didn’t realize she was in trouble until it was too late.  Her brother’s killer jerked her face down over his lap, and pinned her with one strong arm around her waist, and his right leg over the calves of her legs!  To her absolute shock and mortification, the bastard pulled up her clothing so that the only thing covering her bottom was her thin cotton drawers, and then he proceeded to spank her as if she were a naughty child!  “How dare you do this to me?” she gasped in outrage and fury!  “Stop it right now!”

“You slapped me, little girl.  I’m not about to permit you to get away with that!”   Henry wasn’t a violent man by nature, but he wasn’t above doling out a spanking when one was deserved, and Lucinda definitely needed a spanking for that stunt.  He hadn’t done one thing to deserve her temper, and his left cheek burned like he’d been branded.  He was positive he was wearing a print of her hand, and it was only fair that she have a few of his handprints to wear on her bottom cheeks!

“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.