before leaning forward to press her nose against the wall, she dragged her skirt up to her waist, clamping her arms to her sides to keep her dress in place. Her hands dropped to once more pull her drawers apart, her fingers clasping and twisting in the linen to keep the halves from sliding back together.
Edward gave her one glance. “Nose against the wall then step back and bend forward a bit and push that bottom right out, Lucille. I need to see every bit of your red splotchy buttocks properly protruding from the rear of your new drawers.” He’d made sure his words accurately described the position he required as well as using the instructions to paint a visual image in her mind of how she’d look to him as well as anyone who might enter the room. Embarrassment was quite a good teacher indeed he’d found. With a sob, she obeyed, pushing her arse up a bit higher when he gave her the single word to do so. Satisfied, Edward nodded his approval. “Good girl, remain exactly as you are,” he said and turned back to the unfinished mail still waiting upon his desk.
Edward finished his business correspondence before reaching and pulling a bell cord on the wall behind him. He poured himself a glass of brandy while he waited. His eyes took in his ward as she stood in the corner. He was very pleased to see that she was now still, her cries having quieted to only the occasional sniffle. A knock sounded on the door and he called his permission to enter.
Mrs. Bremmer nodded to him and he motioned to the corner. She stepped forward and took Lucy’s upper arm. “Come, Lucille, it is time for bed,” the housekeeper said softly. “I know you must be a very tired little one.” Lucy turned from the wall and additional proof that she was learning was evident when she didn’t release her drawers or allow her skirt to drop since she had not been given permission to do so. Anna led her to his desk and reached to pick up the remaining pile of drawers that Lucy had set upon the surface more than an hour earlier.
“I’m sorry I was naughty, sir,” Lucy said softly. “Tha… thank you for paddling me.”
Edward stood, and dropping a kiss on her forehead, said, “Good night, little one. I’m sure today’s lesson will help remind you to be a good little girl. To assure you remember your new undergarments will make it quite easy to tend to your bottom should you decide to be disobedient, you’ll keep your skirts up and your bottom out until Mrs. Bremmer gives you permission to cover yourself.”
“Yes, sir.”
Edward observed her cheeks flush and watched the two women walk from his study. One was a mature, middle-aged woman dressed quite stiffly in her daily uniform, the other, a beautiful, petite young woman, her skirts lifted to her waist, her punished red bottom peeking from the parted fabric of her drawers.
Chapter 3
With Lucille even now being tucked snugly into her bed, he returned to his desk. The last pile of mail consisted of a few envelopes, heavy and sealed with wax. He smiled, thinking he was finally receiving a response to his own letter posted weeks ago. He slid his letter opener under the flap of the first envelope and broke the seal. As he pulled a thick parchment from the envelope and unfolded it, his smile broadened.
The first letter Edward read was from his childhood friend, Lord Lucas Huntington. The men had known each other for decades. If Edward had a twin, it would have been Lucas. The two had manufactured quite a bit of mischief throughout their childhood and had attended school together. Memories flooded through Edward’s mind as he recalled receiving a very hard caning which had been followed by Lucas receiving his own. The memory caused Edward to remember the scene in Thorne’s office where both his wife and his ward had bent side-by-side, bottoms bared and raised as they both went under the cane.
That day had been the beginning of a new openness at Wintercrest. No longer was his little wife allowed to live under any deception. Lucille was quickly informed that life at Wintercrest Manor ran far differently than she had believed. The secret was revealed that her twin sister, Louisa, lived her life far more like that of a coddled—yet strictly disciplined—child, rather than as a grown woman who was