The Rancher's Bride (11 page)
Read The Rancher's Bride Online
Authors: Dina Chapel
“Those boys are my boys now too. You don’t take them away from me. Ever.”
Marie nodded.
“And you’re mine, too. You don’t leave me. Ever.”
She nodded again.
Frank turned his head to glance back at the truck, only to see the two boys watching them intently. He shifted himself and Marie so that he was sure his back was now all they could see and then reached down behind Marie and swatted her backside once, hard.
Marie yelped; her behind was still raw from Frank’s attentions to it the day before. She tried to pull away then, but Frank had such a hold on her that she wasn’t going anywhere.
“You’ve earned yourself a good sound spankin’ when we get home for thinking for even a moment that you’re the one making the decisions for me now.” Frank swatted her discreetly again. “I told you who was in charge in this marriage and in our home.”
Marie’s eyes glistened with her tears. “I thought you wouldn’t want me no more. I figured once you found out I was a bastard, you wouldn’t want me for your wife.” She started to cry. “You deserve better’n me.”
Frank’s mouth fell open at that. “I ought take you over my knee right here on the side of the road, with the young’uns and God as my witness, and wallop you proper for thinking so low of me.”
Marie squirmed in his arms.
“You’re my family—you, Jack, Henry and Emme—all of us together. You’d best start believing it yourself.” He hugged her tight.
“I’m so sorry, Frank,” Marie cried. “I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.” He kissed the top of her head and then smiled back at the children looking on from the truck. “Let’s go home.”
The End
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