Mastering Maeve Page 8

  She took her courage in her hands. Can you meet me in the schoolroom in ten minutes, please?

  Ok. Again she was struck with his terseness. He sure didn’t believe in helping her along. Maeve reached the annexe before Larry, butterflies doing a dance in her stomach. Already she could feel a tingle in her bottom and other parts as she dealt with her nerves. She decided to undress in the hope that her submission would soften him up. He was right, they needed to put the whole incident behind them and if this was how, well, she could live with it. It was a very tense five-minute wait. As she stood feeling very vulnerable and small in her underwear, Maeve wondered how it was that she loved when he spanked her for pleasure and yet now she was shitting bricks. It would hurt; she knew that, but so did the sexy ones. It seemed the key was in her own head, her guilt making the spanking a humbling experience rather than one she relished. She wrung her hands as she waited for him.

  “You wanted to see me, Maeve?” he said as he locked the door behind him. She saw him drink in her almost nakedness. He had seen her without clothes many times by now, but this was different. It was a baring of her body along with a baring of her faults.

  “Yes, sir,” she replied, but there was no sarcasm in the sir this time, only obedience.

  “What can I do for you?”

  “Punish me, please, sir.”

  “Good girl, you know you need it. Why do you need it?”

  “God, you’re not making this easy,” she said softly. “I need it for losing my temper, for sacking Kathleen, for swearing at you, and for blowing off at the poor man in the dining room.”

  “Just answer the question, nothing else, young lady. Now that’s quite a list of faults, is it not?”

  “Yes, sir.” Her head was hanging in shame by now. He lifted her face towards him.

  “Look at me, Maeve. Do you think I want to punish you?”

  “Of course you do. You love it,” she said sullenly.

  “No, you’re wrong. I do like to spank you, but for your pleasure, not like this. Remove your panties.” Before he took his hand away from her face he kissed her on the lips, with a tenderness that belied his stern visage and words. Somehow that just made it worse. She wanted to cry already, and he hadn’t even started yet. When she was totally bare he told her to lean over the large teacher’s desk. She wasn’t even getting the intimacy of lying across his lap. He stood behind her, no tender rub, just whack. She yelped, but she knew better than to move. And whack again. They came thick and fast, no breathing space. And he scorched every little bit of her bottom until she was writhing hard, trying to escape the swats. The sting was unbearable. Those damn hands of his were mighty powerful. She fought hard to keep from jumping up. She had agreed to the punishment and she tried to measure up. Finally he stopped.

  “Go stand facing the wall and have a good hard think about how you can control that temper of yours, miss; then we will deal with how you spoke to me.”

  She reached for her panties, but he stalled her with his hand. “No, you’re not quite finished yet, face into the wall.” Really, she didn’t know which was worse: the already searing pain, the fact that he hadn’t touched her tenderly afterward, knowing she had more coming, or the absolute shame of having to stand at the wall with her punished bottom exposed to him. She tried to hide her bottom with her hands, but he made her place them on the wall in front, causing her bum to stick out embarrassingly. This was far more humiliating than that first spanking. Maeve realised that she really was going to have to work on her attitude if she was to avoid finding herself in this situation again.

  After what seemed like an age he called her back. He bade her unbuckle his belt, which she did with trembling fingers. She could see where this was going, but arguing was futile. She knew she would have to yield.

  “Lie with your tummy on the table and your hands tucked underneath you; I don’t want to hurt them.” Fear and adrenalin coursed through her body as she obeyed his command. And yet in spite of it her clit throbbed and her pussy clenched in anticipation of her master’s firm hand. She knew as he parted her legs he would see the evidence of her shameful arousal and she felt her face heat with mortification.

  “What did you say to me earlier?” he asked sternly as she took her position.

  “I don’t remember,” she lied.

  “I do. You told me to piss off and keep my nose out of it, isn’t that correct?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Swish. Maeve heard the leather fly through the air a split second before she felt the searing crack across her bottom. She flew up out of position. “No,” she screamed. “Please, no more!”

  He pushed her back down impatiently. “Five lashes and if you move again I’ll start over, now was that a respectful manner with which to address somebody?”

  “No, sir,” she whimpered before she heard the swish and crack again. Although she couldn’t help crying out, she managed to hold her spot. Three more lashes followed in quick succession and then it was over, but the burn lingered mercilessly.

  “Have you something to say?” he asked

  “I’m sorry, sir. Larry,” she said softly. At that he took her in his arms and she buried her face in his shoulder. Although she had yelled plenty she hadn’t cried, which amazed her. His disapproval had upset her much more than the pain of the spanking, and now that she was in his arms again, it didn’t seem so bad at all. It was over and she had survived. And her guilt was indeed reduced. A desperate desire flooded her.

  “You probably could use a cool bath and some salve if you have it. Why don’t you come to my room and I’ll apply it. You can bathe there too,” he suggested, kissing the top of her head.

  “I’m ok. I don’t think it was really any worse than before, or maybe I’m toughening up. I should get back to work. Good job I’m on my feet today,” she said wryly.

  He cupped and squeezed her still naked butt, making her wince.

  “Now that’s just evil, rubbing salt on the wound,” she admonished.

  “Is it? Is that why you pulled in closer?” His voice was thick and husky.

  “You got off on that,” she accused. “So much for not wanting to punish me!” Next minute his mouth was on hers and his hand was between her legs.

  “Looks like I’m not the only one who got off on it,” he teased, pausing his kiss. “It was supposed to be a punishment.” Maeve very reluctantly pulled away. She recovered her clothes and started replacing them.

  “Much and all as I’d like you to fuck the arse off me, I really have to work.” A sharp slap on her bruised behind reminded her to watch her mouth, but Larry was laughing.

  “Very eloquently put. I suppose it will have to wait until later. Anyway, I’d hate to think I was rewarding bad behaviour.”

  “And I’d hate to think I was rewarding brutality,” she shot back, making sure to dodge his hand.

  “Off you go, you brazen little lady, see you soon.”

  She realised as she returned to work she was indeed much calmer than she had been at the start of the day. The pain-relieving endorphins actually made her feel good, relaxed. And of course she was horny as hell. But more than anything she was just so pleased not to be at loggerheads with Larry anymore.

  It was just as well she was feeling so much better because Bridie came at her with a face like thunder as she returned. No, please don’t you start now, Maeve thought, but with the memory of the trouble her quick tongue had just landed her in she managed to keep her thoughts to herself.

  * * *

  “I want to see you in the office now,” Bridie demanded. She meant business. “I’ve just been talking to Kathleen, she said you sacked her, what’re you playing at, miss? You can’t just go round sacking people willy-nilly.”

  “So, what was her excuse? It’s the third time since she started and without the courtesy of a phone call for any of her absences.”

  “Well, this time she spent the night in casualty with her husband; they thought it was a heart attack.”


  “Crap,” Maeve groaned. “I did warn her last time that she was on her last chance. I’ll talk to her. Is he ok?”

  “Angina, he’ll be fine, no thanks to you.”

  “You’ve changed your tune. When I didn’t turn in for work once, you got a virtual stranger to give me a good hiding; she makes a habit of it and it’s fine with you. Sometimes I just don’t get you, you’re hard as nails one minute and at other times you can be a real soft touch… look, I’ll give her one more chance, but next time she’s out.”

  “When did you get to be so hard-nosed?” Bridie asked. She was shocked at the way her granddaughter had not only adapted to the responsibility of the financial management, but she had become unbelievably savvy on the staff issues too. She was no soft touch, that was for sure.

  “We can’t afford someone who keeps letting us down. As it stands, we’ve had to cancel the appointment with the bank. Speaking of which, have you heard from them lately? Our overdraft is nearly maxed out; I’m surprised they’re not putting pressure on us. And although I paid the last two repayments, I haven’t been able to clear the arrears. The sooner we get the contract with Larry finalised, the better. Every day I’m terrified they’ll call in the loan, and then where will we be?”

  “I went to see them and explained we had an investor, but it’d take a bit of time, so they promised to back off a bit. Now stop changing the subject, we were talking about Kathleen.”

  “I said I’d see to it.”

  Larry knocked on the door of the office. Bridie knew rightly the two of them were carrying on and trying to hide it from her. She could see the little intimate looks or the briefest, most casual of touches that they thought were invisible. And she heard Maeve returning to the living quarters at all hours of the morning before work. If it made them happy, she’d play the dumb old woman. Anyway, contrary, awkward yoke as that young Maeve lassie was, if she knew how much effort Bridie had put into getting them together, she’d probably finish with him for spite. One of the advantages of being old was that you learned to play the long game.

  The older woman liked Larry, but more than that, she thought he was a stabilising influence on Maeve. She had gone off the rails a bit after her parents died, and while Bridie understood—it would throw any teenager to be orphaned so unexpectedly—she found it hard to rein Maeve in. She was a clever girl with plenty of ability, but a wilful temperament and a hot head. She wasn’t easily guided. What she needed was a firm, steadying hand; a mature sensible boyfriend who wouldn’t be afraid to check her when she needed it. That young lad she had been gadding about with only made her worse, out drinking and cavorting, with no sense of responsibility. Bridie knew she wasn’t going to live forever and wanted to see Maeve well settled, but even more pressing was Maeve was going to be twenty-five in three months’ time; it was important she was on a steady course before that.

  And of course it was no harm that Larry would be in a good position to provide for her financially in the unlikely event she should ever need it, but if there was one thing Bridie had learned in her life, it was better for any woman to be able to support herself and that was definitely easier in this day and age. When she was growing up, the marriage ban had only just been lifted, whereby woman was forced by law to leave her job if she got married. Sure the young ones nowadays didn’t even believe such a thing was real. They had no clue how good life was for them now. She knew Maeve saw her as a killjoy old biddy, but all she wanted was to lead her on the right path.

  It was regrettable that stress over the financial situation was making Maeve so uptight, but it sure was helping her to grow up and it would soon be over. At her age, it was high time Miss Maeve had a reality check. Bridie always thought her parents gave her everything too soft as she was a much indulged, long-wanted only child. And Bridie had to admit she had to take her own share of the responsibility in that; after the car crash she had tended to humour her too much, having remembered what it was like to grow up without her own parents. Maeve’s school results were only a fraction as good as they should have been. If only Bridie herself had been given the same opportunities, she’d have made so much more of her life, instead of having to go to America and work as a housemaid for more those more fortunate.

  The right thing for Maeve would have been to send her off for a few years to the States, but with all that had happened, Bridie was afraid to let her go. What if something had happened to her? Bridie was always afraid that with the way life had heaped a pile of dung at Maeve’s door at such an impressionable age, drugs would have been an easy option for her. It was hard enough to let her go off to Dublin to college. She was all Bridie had left. She couldn’t bear to lose her too. In one way Larry might not be the ideal man as he might end up dragging Maeve away, but even if he did, at least he’d do what he could to keep her on the straight and narrow. And safe!

  America would also give her tons of opportunities, if she chose to use them wisely. Of course, if Bridie could manage to work it that Larry would move to Ireland, that would be even better. She certainly intended to try her best, but even her powers of persuasion had limits. As it stood, she knew his plans were to spend as much of the foreseeable future here as his ranch would allow him. Bridie tried not to dwell too much on the long term; mostly she worried that she could keep Larry here for as long as it took to implement her plan.

  Chapter Seven

  The delays were really frustrating, but finally the contract was in place and the money was through. The bank was paid off and it had been a very busy season so far thanks to The Gathering, a government-backed tourist incentive designed to bring as many part-Irish people into the country as possible that summer. An added bonus of unexpectedly good weather, coupled with the recession, also meant that Irish people stayed home for a staycation and by the end of July they had not only been completely booked out for the previous six weeks, but August was full too. They even had to turf Larry out of his room and put him up in the private quarters, at his suggestion. He wasn’t a paying guest, he reasoned, so it was silly to waste the income from the room.

  While she was relieved to feel the release from the financial burden, Maeve found the place was so busy she hadn’t as much time to spend alone with Larry as she would have liked; they made the most of what they had, either working together or in the company of others, and had become really close. So close that even Bridie had been let in on the secret and to Maeve’s utter astonishment, when Larry moved over to the private quarters, she put him in Maeve’s room.

  “Sure yiz will only be sneaking around behind my back, having to stay up ‘til I’m asleep, and then getting up early before I catch yiz. Sleep is hard enough got around here in the summer season without being at those antics,” she announced.

  “Ma’am, I wouldn’t want to cause you any upset,” Larry tried to put her off, mortified by her forthrightness.

  “Ach, sure you weren’t too worried about upsetting me when you were sneaking around behind my back; it’s only now you’re thinking of it when it’s out in the open, you scamp you. Get on out of that,” she countered. “And while we’re at it, you must have the bookwork down to a fine art by now, so isn’t it time Maeve showed you the ropes in the bar and the dining room? If you’re going to be here, you might as well earn your keep.”

  Maeve had to admire the way Bridie was managing the whole situation. She had roped in another set of hands, without having to pay wages, and had freed his room up for paying guests. On top of that, she still had him eating out of her hands thinking she was a sweet harmless old lady. He was forever doing little jobs for her. Although she teased Larry about it, his kindness to her grandmother was one of the qualities Maeve really liked about him. He always treated her with the utmost patience and respect, even when she went into ‘me mode’ as Maeve called it. He was becoming more and more like one of the family. It would be much more difficult to say goodbye next time he left. She was dying to go to visit Texas, but knew she’d have to wait until the end of September after
the bulk of the tourist season was over.

  Of course the downside of their sleeping arrangements meant that they had to be pretty quiet and the schoolhouse, once a place of horrendous corporal punishment, ironically soon became the prime location for their spanking pleasures. Trips were frequent as she learned more and more of the sensual delights that came with a red hot bottom. Amazingly, she had managed to avoid incurring his wrath since the day she sacked Kathleen, in spite of the fact that they were now spending so much time together. Responsibility and being in charge suited her. She was a different person since she had learned what it was like to be in control. She quickly learned that being in the hospitality industry meant that you had to keep your head and your own counsel, and now the success or failure of the business was largely going to be a measure of her own mettle.

  Now that the money worries had eased up and Granny had taken more of a back seat, Maeve was quite enjoying managing the hotel, but she had to admit to herself it wouldn’t be her first choice of career. She still had a hankering to use her degree. She even knew the idea of creating the museum, while a pleasant distraction, would not be enough to keep her hand in. In truth, she had been so busy she hadn’t even had time to consider the museum project yet. Larry talked about it often, trying to encourage her, but there were only so many hours in the day. She’d be better able to turn her mind to it over the quieter winter months.

  “I’ve got to go home for a while, longer than usual. There are some staffing problems on the ranch that I have to take care of,” Larry announced at the end of August. “I’ll be gone at least a month, maybe more.”

  Maeve was disappointed. A month seemed like such a long time and she realised with a childish pang that he was going to be away for her birthday. But she understood he too had a business to run and knew how much time he spent on his damn Smartphone running it remotely. Sometimes she could see he was worried about it. She wasn’t going to make a fuss and make it harder for him.