Ever had a dog study you? It can be a bit disconcerting!

For your enjoyment, here is an excerpt from my new Christmas story.

Christmas Secrets is book 4 in The Heaven's Gate series.

Ben was back.

Trying to put on a brave smile she turned to face him when he came up behind her after taking off his winter gear. “Are the animals all tucked in?”

His eyes widened in shock when she turned around. “Dottie! Ye are bleeding. Where are ye hurt?” He peered closely into her face and she put her hands up to ward him off. He grabbed her right hand and stared down at it. “Yer thumb is bleeding and ye have smeared blood all over yer face,” he said with a frown. He studied a bit closer. “Have ye been crying?”

Dottie stared at her thumb. It had been bleeding and she hadn’t realized it because it was barely seeping. “I-I didn’t realize it was bleeding,” she confessed. “And nay, I’m not crying,” she added, promptly bursting into choking sobs.

Ben picked her up and sat her on the cabinet. “Stay right there while I get a band-aid,” he instructed tenderly. He turned on the water in the sink. “Put yer thumb under that, honey.”

Dottie nodded and obeyed, sobbing softly at the gentleness in his tone. She didn’t deserve his gentleness; she was lying to him. She just didn’t know how to confess. Throwing her feelings out to be analyzed wasn’t in her make-up. Holding things in was. It was a hard barrier to get past.

When Ben returned, he brought a washcloth, held it under warm water, and carefully washed her face. It didn’t stop the tears from still leaking, but it did feel good.

“Ye look exhausted, Dottie. There are deep circles under yer eyes. Ye haven’t been sleeping well, have ye?” he asked, taking her hand from under the water and washing her thumb.

“Not really,” she confessed, more tears squeezing from beneath her eyelids.

He dried her thumb with a soft towel. “I can tell, ye never cry. Exhaustion has done this to ye.” He carefully wrapped the band-aid around her thumb. “Tonight, ye are going to bed early. Ye need some rest.”

She immediately protested. “I can’t go to bed early, I have too much to do.”

Ben put both his arms on either side of her body, and looked her directly in the face. “I said ye are going to bed early. With or without a spanked bottom is yer choice.”

She eyed his stern features. Where had this come from? If she defied him now and he followed through, this would be the second time in a week. Her heart rate picked up. Remembering his hard spanks in the truck decided for her.

“Okay,” she meekly replied. “I guess there’s nothing that can’t wait until morning.”

He smiled. “Good girl. Now, go get ready fer bed and put on that short little piece of nothing that I can see through.” He lifted her off the cabinet and added a spank to her backside as he pushed her towards the hallway.

Desire flared in her abdomen. Dottie hurried down the hallway and into their bedroom. Quickly she undressed to her panties and then slipped the ‘barely cover the butt’ negligee over her head, loving the feel of the filmy silk as it caressed her breasts. She didn’t feel the least bit sleepy, but making love with Ben always helped her fall asleep later. At least for a few hours anyway. He was being so sweet; he hadn’t even scolded her about her thumb.

Which made her feel even more like a heel.

Chapter 8

Ben watched his wife as she hurried down the hallway. He knew he needed to do something for his best girl. Coming into the house and finding blood on her, and then her injured thumb, had sent his blood pressure through the roof. Knowing what was eating at her and doing nothing about it didn’t feel right. He was allowing her to hurt herself and he couldn’t have that.

He turned and stared out the kitchen window watching the swirling bits of snow. Giving her time to get prepared made it easier for what he wanted to do. She might not like it and he didn’t want to get into a tussling match with her.

He gave her ten minutes, then followed her down the hallway and quietly opened the door. Her back was to him, her perky little bottom in her pink knickers showing beneath the filmy white material. “That’s what I like to see.”

She whirled around to face him, a hungry look in her eyes. Good, he wanted her to feel that way. His eyes traveled up and down her body with his own hungry graze and she blushed in spite of the time they’d been married already.

Ben closed the door behind him and shed his clothes except for his thermal underpants. He switched off the overhead light and watched the moonlight from the window gleam off her bare skin. Then he padded to the bed in bare feet and turned the covers back before sitting down.

Dottie sashayed to him and he grabbed her hands in his and brought her between his knees. “Do ye know how much I love ye, Dottie?” he asked, sliding his palms around her waist and down into her knickers which he then slid off her silky body.

As she stepped out of her knickers, she nodded her head. “Aye, I do,” she whispered.

“I don’t think I’ve shown ye just how much I love ye, though. A man has to protect his best girl and I think I’ve been remiss in that.”

“Nay, ye haven’t,” she protested.

She leaned down to kiss him. The slight scent of her cinnamon shampoo and the natural scent of her body slid up his nostrils. He put his hands around her waist and guided her down and over his left knee before she realized what he was doing. “Nay, I’ve been remiss. There are ways to relax a lass when she’s had a rough day and I should have been doing it. I just wasn’t sure ye would like it.”

Dottie’s elbows dug into the sheet on the bed as she caught herself and she gasped. “What are ye talking about, Ben? What are ye doing?”

When he lifted her legs so she was completely over his lap, she tried to roll off.

“None of that now,” he cautioned, pulling her in closer to his body. “Just relax fer me.”

“How can I be relaxed in this position,” she snapped, glaring back at him. “It doesn’t feel relaxing at all. What are ye up to?”

“Just trust me, Dottie.” He lifted his arm and watched her buttocks clench in anticipation...read more

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Merry Christmas, my friends, and as always,