Chapter Twenty-Two

"J oanna!" Philip said, his eyes wide. "What have you—?"

"Done? I'll tell you what I've done. I've shown what happens when people step into my territory. When people dare to betray me. That's what I've done. It is a lesson everyone at court should learn."

Carolyne stood, her long plait hanging limply from her hand. Tears emerged and rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed pitifully.

"Get out." Joanna gestured wildly to the door. "Get out and make sure I never see you again."

The woman glanced briefly at Philip then scampered to the doorway and slipped out, closing the door behind herself.

Philip paced toward Joanna. His cheeks were flushed and his jaw set tight. "You have behaved appallingly."

"You are not pleased to see me?" She placed the scissors down then set her hands on her hips. "Your wife, your love, the mother of your children."

"I am pleased that you have had a safe journey, but pleased to see you …when this is what you do upon arrival?" He gestured to the scissors. Their shiny blades still held evidence of several long, blonde hairs.

"How dare you?" She tipped her chin and did her best to look down her nose at him, but it was hard, given how tall he was. "How dare you question my behavior when it was you who was in your bedchamber with another woman?"

"A friend," he said, his eyes narrowing. "A friend from my childhood who has just lost her mother, a cook here. We were talking about shared memories." He pressed his hand over his heart. "I was fond of her mother too. She was part of my childhood."

"A likely story." Joanna huffed.

"A true story."

"You could have spoken to her outside, in the broad light of day. Why did you have to be in here?" She didn't believe a word he was saying.

"Some conversations are delicate and private." His lips tightened as he studied her, turning his handsome face even more angular. "Like this one."

"Exactly, like this one. Now let us become reacquainted as husband and wife. Perhaps I will give you more sons." Her cunny ached for him and her breasts were heavy with desire. She didn't care that he was angry; he'd soon forget that when they were naked and in bed. That always charged his passions for her.

"Reacquainted…yes…" he said slowly and somewhat menacingly. "I will reacquaint you with who is in charge, my sweet Joanna. Remind you who runs this house, these lands, and this marriage, for I fear you have forgotten."

He reached for her and she went into his embrace, eyes closed waiting for his kiss. Longing had reached a crescendo inside of her.

But the kiss didn't come. Instead, she found herself locked in his arms and being dragged to the bed. "Oh…Philip."

His need for her was clearly very intense.

"My love." She gasped as he sat, feet on the floor, and dragged her onto his knee. "Show me how much you love me," she pleaded. "How much you have missed me."

"I do love you and I have missed you." He cupped her face. "But I see now that my absence from your life has led to you being misguided—deluded, even—and that needs to be rectified." His eyes flashed dangerously as he stared into hers.

"I don't understand." She frowned.

"Behave like a child, wife of mine, and you will be punished like one."

The next thing she knew, she was face down over his knee. Her world had upended. Her headdress slipped to the floor and her hair hung by her cheeks. "Philip," she gasped, kicking up her heels and trying to right herself.

"Stop that." He held her firmer. The highest part of her body was her rump and her toes were only just skimming the floor. "Keep still, woman."

"What are you doing? Lord have mercy. Philip. What are you doing?"

"The Lord will not save you from this spanking." He yanked at her gown, pulling it up past her knees, her thighs, and then over her buttocks. "A spanking you know full well you deserve."

She yelped and tried to cover herself, twisting and turning, but he batted her hands away and held her firmer against his hard body. How could this be happening? The image she'd had of their passionate reunion did not include her bare bottom being exposed for his hand.

Slap.

A hard, sharp smack suddenly landed over both of her cheeks.

She jerked forward, crying out at the shock of the hot sting of his palm colliding with her delicate flesh.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

He'd spanked her again, hard, precise swipes that had heat flooding to her rear and between her legs. She yelped and squirmed but to no avail. Her husband held her exactly where he wanted her.

"Be quiet," he said. "I don't want those knights of yours rushing in and I'm sure you don't, either. You look quite the sight, Princess Joanna of Spain, with your blushing bottom on show like this for all to see."

Before she could deliver a scathing reply, he delivered another set of spanks.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

She felt so humiliated, so chastised and utterly helpless.

On and on the spanking continued, the pain and heat layering up and her breaths huffing from her with each resounding smack. The sound of her pulse pounded in her ears competing with the thwack of flesh on flesh.

"You must stop these jealous fits," he said, pausing and smoothing his hand over her smarting rump. "I will not stand for it."

Tears ran from her eyes, dampening her temples. "And I cannot stand you being with other women."

"I have not been with another woman since we wed. You have to believe that. I'll make you believe that."

He took out his frustration on her poor behind, smacking her soundly again.

"Oh, please…stop…" she begged.

He ignored her, spanking her until the heat was at its boiling point.

"Philip. I beg you," she wailed.

He stopped. He was breathing fast. So was she.

"No more." She sobbed. "No more. I promise to behave. I promise in the name of the good Lord."

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure. Please."

He said nothing. Instead, he traced the line between her thighs and buttocks, first the left and then the right. Then he slipped his finger down the crack of her buttocks.

She was hot and breathless, but she stilled and held her breath when he went lower, through the hot flesh of her cunny to find her entrance. She was wet for him, she knew she was, and when he slipped the tip of his finger into her body she let out a long, low groan of longing.

"You are so ready for me," he said quietly. "I hadn't expected that…"

"I want you," she said. "It is all I have craved, to be with you, as one." The words were stuttering and jagged but spoken with conviction. "Please…my love. Take me as your wife."

He added another finger, as though to tease her, and then pumped in and out of her cunny. She closed her eyes and moaned. Her toes curled in her shoes and she arched her back, pressing for more.

"Bad, little princess," he murmured. "Wanting this when you've been so naughty."

For some reason, his words, muttered so darkly, had her craving him more than she'd ever thought possible. "Philip."

"You need to understand your body is mine, as mine is yours," he went on. "Tell me you understand that."

"Yes. Yes. I understand." At this moment, she'd say anything to get him to give her everything she needed. "I am yours and you are mine."

"And you will apologize to my friend for chopping off her hair."

"What?" She twisted.

"You heard."

"I am the heir to the throne of Spain. No, I will not apologize."

He withdrew and set a resounding spank on her buttocks.

"Oh!" She lurched forward. "Yes. I will…oh… Please, no more…and but…more…"

He chuckled, his mood seeming to shift. "Luckily, I want you as badly as you want me."

Suddenly, she was being hoisted upright. He moved her as though she were a feather, her weight nothing to him.

Clinging to his hard, bulging biceps, she stared into his face, her head swimming as she sat astride his lap now, not over it.

"I have missed you," he said. "My cock has missed you." He was fumbling with his breeches, pushing them aside as he freed his erection.

She saw it and her cunny clenched in eagerness to feel it filling her. "Yes. Oh, yes…" She rose up, her gown around her waist.

"Sit on me," he said, holding his erection upright. "Take me."

She nodded and bit on her bottom lip as she hovered her entrance over his cock tip.

His hands circled her waist and he pulled her down, forcing her to take him.

She let her head fall back and groaned as his width stretched her and his length filled her. She kept on going until she was fully seated on him and her smarting buttocks rested on his thighs.

"Joanna." He gasped, spearing one hand into her tousled hair. "You're all I need."

"And I you." She caught his mouth in a kiss, driving her tongue in to find his.

He kissed her back with an urgent fervor that had her hips grinding against him, working her clit on his body as she hugged his cock into hers.

He was tense and trembling. A surge of power went through her. She might have just received a spanking from her husband, but now she was in control. He needed her like he needed to take his next breath.

"Don't stop." He gasped, breaking the kiss. "This is incredible. You are incredible. Oh, Lord above, don't stop."

She flung back her head and he kissed her neck, holding her close, urging her on. But riding him was easy, as if she were made for it, and the pressure on her nub was growing. Soon she'd find pleasure. It was so close. And hearing Philip groaning, pleading, desperate for release only pushed her on and heightened every sensation.

Her big, strong, powerful husband was once again at her mercy.

"Oh, oh…Philip…my love." She gripped him harder, digging her fingernails into his flesh. "I am… I need… I…oh…"

It was as if another force had taken over her. The wildness of her grinding hips and the need in her body for climax had removed all other thoughts from her mind. She let her inhibitions go and took herself to an awe-inspiring climax. One for which she had waited in solitary confinement for so long. And now it was here and she cried out her pleasure, extending every moment of it. Bliss sung around her body. It pulled her muscles then squeezed them tight. Her cunny did the same, hugging and releasing his cock.

Breathing hard, she allowed the ecstasy to continue.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured, pulling her to him for a kiss.

But it lasted barely a second because then she was on her back and he was over her, his cock ramming into her puffy, spasming cunny.

"Oh, yes…" he said, locking his arms and looking down at where they joined. "This is what I've missed so much." He screwed up his eyes and thrust his hips over and over, pounding into her and extending her bliss as he found his. "I love you. I love you, wife of mine."

"And I love you." She clasped his face and stared into his eyes as pleasure gripped him. It seared through his soul, stealing his body for long, beautiful moments as he pulsed his seed deep inside her. "I will always love you."

He collapsed onto her, pushing the breath from her lungs.

"In the name of the Lord," he said, quickly withdrawing and rolling to his side. "If that didn't create another child, I don't know what will." He pulled her close.

"The child will have a sore behind," she said, plucking at one of his chest hairs.

He caught her hand. "The child will know to behave when his, or her, father is around." He paused and kissed her head. "Just as you should."