The Demure Bride(19)

     



 

"Now, wait a minute!" Helene protested. "I don't know if I want to learn  to ride!" She saw the shocked looks on their faces and relented. The  chance of more time alone with Whitey was worth doing her best to  conquer her fear.

Amanda was very proud of herself for finding a clever way to throw  Whitey and Helene together, and wanted to kick her Papa under the table  when he said he'd be happy to help Helene.

"Papa, I am sure you are much too busy to give riding lessons. It is  already arranged, and Whitey is happy to spend the time with Helene,  teaching her." Her green eyes glittered as she tried to warn her parent  to shut up.

Helene was quick to add her own voice. "Really, Mr. Chambers, I think  Whitey understands me and how afraid I am of horses, and I think I would  be more comfortable with someone my own age teaching me. I won't feel  so inept if I act like a big baby in front of Whitey."

Matt wasn't stupid, and he hid a smile with his coffee cup. "I was just  trying to be polite, Helene. If you are comfortable with Whitey, then I  am sure he will teach you just fine. He's a good man."

"He is," Helene promptly added. "Mr. Chambers, why didn't you go ahead  and send out those wires about him? Don't you think he deserves to know  who he is?"

"It ain't my place to decide that for him, Helene. Any time he wants me  to help him with this, I'll be glad to," he added. "Losing your memory  is a hard thing to face. Think about how you'd feel if you woke up in a  strange bed somewhere and didn't know how you got there, who shot you  and why, and most of all, you didn't know your own name! He was pretty  much in shock for a while. Doc patched him up physically, but he  couldn't fix his brain."

"Whitey was shot?" Helene was horrified.

"Three times. Someone wanted him dead."

"How terrible!" Helene whispered, tears filling her eyes. "Oh, I just want to find who it is and put him in jail!" she declared.

"It might have been that he was simply robbed, or it could have been  someone wanted him dead. He might have attempted a crime of some sort  and got shot up in the process. Whatever happened before he come here  doesn't matter none to me; Whitey is a good man and I'm proud to have  him working here for me," Matt said.

"Oh, he wasn't committing a crime, Mr. Chambers," Helene defended the  man. "He's a good person inside, and that wouldn't change."

"I reckon you are right, young lady," Matt's green eyes crinkled with  good humor. "Now you best eat up so you don't keep Whitey waiting."

"Oh, I've got so many butterflies in my tummy I'm not sure I can do  this!" she wailed dramatically, and both Matt and Amanda laughed  heartily.

"We need to pick out something for you to wear, too, and you'll want to  take your hair down and simply braid it. Otherwise you'll have such  tangled hair you'll have trouble getting a brush through it."

Matt chuckled when Helene excused herself and went flying up the stairs.  Amanda got to her feet, too, having finished her meal, and she  surprised Matt by giving him a kiss on the cheek. "What was that for?"  he asked gruffly.

"Because you are so smart," she said with a wink and then hurried after Helene.

"Looks like I'm goin' to have to pick up a dish towel this meal,  Goldie," he said as forlornly as possible when she started clearing the  table. "The girls abandoned me."

"Won't kill you none," was the housekeeper's tart reply and she hid a smile when he chuckled.







"You have to get on the horse before you can ride, Miss Helene," Whitey  said patiently several minutes after she met him in front of the corral.  He'd saddled a mare called Molasses for her. She was as slow as her  name implied.

"I don't think I can, Whitey," Helene protested.

"Sure you can," he insisted. When she stubbornly shook her head 'no' for  at least the hundredth time since coming outside, he decided it was  time for action. He put his right arm around her waist and before she  could guess what he was about, she was seated on the saddle, looking  down at him in horror.

"Nooooo!" she whispered frantically. "Get me down!"

"Calm down, honey. You're just fine," Whitey talked to her as if she  were a frisky colt. "I won't let you fall. Put your feet in the stirrups  and that will make you feel safer, and hold on to the saddle horn. She  grabbed as if for dear life and her knuckles turned white. "Relax now.  See, Molasses isn't even moving. She knows you are afraid, and she is  being still to give you time to know she won't hurt you none."

"She's a horse! She can't think!"

"Now, you are wrong about that, little lady. Molasses is very smart. I  talked to her when I was putting a saddle on her and I told her she  would need to be gentle, and she nodded and agreed."         

     



 

"Really?" Helene asked.

"Really. Are you feeling some better yet?" he asked hopefully.

"I'm not as terrified as I was," she acknowledged.

"Good, we'll walk a bit now. Your job is just to sit there in the saddle  and relax. I'll hold Molasses' reins and we'll go slow."

After a couple minutes Helene felt herself enjoying the ride. "This is  actually fun, Whitey," she admitted. "Can I try it by myself?"

"Sure. Just keep going slow, and if you want to stop, pull back gently  on the reins. She'll know to stop without you causing her pain."

"Pulling back too hard would hurt her?"

"Yes, Miss Helene, it would. Molasses is a good mare and she wouldn't deserve that."

"I won't hurt her, Whitey, I promise."

"Good. I'd have to smack your bottom for you if you did," he said lightly.

"Oh! You wouldn't do that, would you?"

"Well, I reckon I would if I thought you earned it."

Helene was shocked. Amanda had confided in her that Rob spanked her a  few times, and she'd found herself wondering if Whitey would do that to  her if she crossed a line. Suddenly, she wanted to know for sure, and  without giving it a thought, she gave the mare a little nudge with her  boot and Molasses took off running, straight out of the corral! Helene  held on for dear life, but she allowed Molasses to keep right on going.

Whitey was shocked when he saw Helene use her boot to make Molasses run!  She was too inexperienced to be riding that fast, and he could only  pray she wouldn't fall off the saddle before he caught up to her. It  only took seconds for him to run from the corral and mount his stallion  and start to give chase, but she already had a pretty good head start.  Of course, since it was Molasses, it didn't take long for Hero to catch  up. Whitey reached out and lifted Helene from the saddle, then brought  Hero to a stop before dropping the young woman to the ground and then  dismounting. He gave Hero a smart slap on the bottom before rounding his  horse to stand in front of Helene.

"What were you trying to prove with that stunt, little girl?"

"Nothing," she whispered. "Molasses simply took off running and I couldn't get her to stop," she lied.

Whitey was angry, something that rarely happened. "First off, little  girl, you kicked Molasses and made her run. Second, you knew how to stop  her, but you didn't. Third, I am not stupid and I don't appreciate  being lied to."

"Lied to?" Helene tried to sound indignant, but failed miserably. She  had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she'd gone too far.  His next words confirmed that.

"Yes, lied to. We were talking about spanking, and you got this funny  look on your face and decided to test me to see if I would really dare  to put my hand to your backside, and, little girl, this is where you  learn the truth of the matter."

Helene gave a little scream when he reached for her. She suddenly did  not want to know if he would really spank her. She knew the answer for a  fact, and she didn't need the demonstration. "Please don't, Whitey! I  admit everything, okay! Please don't spank me! I'm sorry and I promise I  won't do it again!"

"I reckon you won't, little girl." He looked around until he found a  likely spot to sit down and take her across his knee, and finally  spotted a tree stump that would serve the purpose quite well. He pulled  her along while she continued to plead with him not to do what he was  damn well going to do. "You can stop all the begging, Helene. When you  issue a dare, you have to accept the consequences. If you haven't  learned that by now, then it's time you did." He sat, and even though  she struggled, he pulled her down over his lap and when she landed, he  heard her grunt of pain and her gasp. The fact that she was already  crying didn't bother him. He figured that it was a girl thing, and she  wanted him to feel sorry for her, but he didn't.

Helene felt as though she'd taken another blow to her ribs when she  landed wrong over Whitey's knee. The pain was excruciating, but she bit  her tongue, determined to hide the fact she was injured. Whitey didn't  know... No one knew, and she wanted it that way. She bit her lip and  waited for the first spank to land on her backside. Whitey didn't keep  her waiting long. His hand smacked hard on the seat of Mandy's riding  skirt, but she felt it and let out a gasp of surprise. It hurt more than  she thought it would!