To celebrate her "authorversary" Kelly's first book "Bracken Ridge" is on sale for this week only. A resident of New Zealand, Kelly's books share insights from the world "down under."
Jeremy gave her a grin when she walked past him in the stables the next morning. Dawn had barely broken, and the stables were a hive of activity. The three school-aged stable hands were hard at work, tying up horses, leading others outside to the day paddocks and mucking out stables. Anna gave him the fingers. The stable hands sniggered. They liked Jeremy for the most part, but they had each encountered his wrath at one time or another. He was a fair man, but firm. And the young stable hands thought he could be too bossy and had an occasional arrogant streak, so they loved it when someone gave him his come-uppance.
“Back
to work,” Jeremy snapped at them. Then
he looked directly at Anna and pointed towards the direction of his office. “My
office. Now.”
“Ooooh,
now you’re in trouble!” one of the stable hands murmured quietly, but Anna
couldn’t tell which one it was. Jeremy smiled, shaking his head. Then he
followed Anna into his office and shut the door. He indicated the chair on the
side of the desk nearest the door, and he walked around the desk and sat in his
big swivel chair.
“Your
father’s advice was to haul you in here first thing this morning and give you a
severe telling-off. I wasn’t going to, but it appears that he knows what he’s
talking about. “
“Go
on then, I’ll sit here and ogle you and listen. You’re sexy when you’re stern.”
Anna leaned back casually in the chair and smiled, and she saw Jeremy stifle a
grin.
“Do
you still want to work for me?”
Anna
nodded. She did. Well actually, she didn’t. She didn’t much enjoy working for
Jeremy at all. She wanted to be in charge. And she liked him much better when
he wasn’t in charge. But right now, her options were to work for him, or not.
So she chose the former.
“Good.
You’d better get it into your mind to follow my orders then, and stop
undermining me in front of the staff. It’s hard enough to keep kids of that age
in line, without you giving them a bad example.
Your father reckons I’m not allowed to fire you. However, I have his
full support in doing whatever I want to gain your compliance, and he will not
question my methods.”
“And
what methods will they be?” Anna asked sweetly, looking up at him
flirtatiously. As her father had told her the exact same thing last night she
wasn’t surprised, although she was curious as to how Jeremy thought he would
force her to obey him.
“Spanking.”
Jeremy replied, a twinkle in his eye.
“Spanking?
Are you serious?” It was all Anna could do not to laugh.
“Ah-ha.
Spanking. I take it you’re familiar with the concept?” This time the smallest
of smiles escaped Jeremy’s lips even though he fought to stop it – he’d grown
up with Anna. He knew for a fact that she was very familiar with the concept of
spankings.
“Crikey,
that will just about be worth being naughty for!” She skipped out of his office
lightly, and as she did, Jeremy reached out and slapped her butt.
“Ow you bastard! That hurt!” She shrieked at
him, clutching the seat of her jeans in mock agony.
Jeremy
grabbed her arm and pulled her in close to him so he could whisper in her ear.
“That was just light. The next one will really hurt. And if you swear again,
you will find out just how much it will hurt.” With a wicked grin and another
hearty slap, he let her go. She walked away quickly, rubbing the sting out of
her bottom as she went.
Blurb:
When Anna Fletcher
comes home from University back to Bracken Ridge, the equine centre where she
grew up, she is stunned to find Jeremy McCrae working as the manager. They were
children together and she has had a crush on him forever. The years she's been
away, Jeremy has only gotten cuter.
Anna has plans for
Bracken Ridge, but before she can implement them, she needs to prove herself.
The biggest obstacle in her path is her nemesis, the stable hand who thinks Jeremy
is mighty fine. Once Anna gets past her, Jeremy is standing in her way - he's now
the boss, but she can't work for him. He's been her best mate forever, and to
cede to his authority now is going against every grain of her nature.
Being the daughter of
the owner, Jeremy isn’t allowed to fire Anna, so when she gets rebellious and
sassy he decides to spank her instead.
Can Jeremy tame Anna's
rebellious spirit before it is too late?
About the Author:
Kelly
Dawson loves anything to do with horses, rodeos and cowboys, and loves to get
lost in a good book - preferably a rural romance where a strong woman falls in
love with a ruggedly-handsome, tough but gentle cowboy, and these are the types
of characters who feature in the stories she writes. Only in Kelly’s books, the
cowboys are even better because they spank!
She lives literally at the bottom of the world
in the South Island of New Zealand, with her husband, four kids, a dog and a
cat.
Social Media Links:
Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/kellydawsonau/
Congratulations on you Authorversary Kelly! Wonderful fun eexcerpt, love the banter between them. Thank you both for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteHugs
Roz
Thanks so much Kathryn for helping me spread the word about my authorversary sale!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, Roz, I love the banter between them too :)