Undercover Sir Read online

  Undercover Sir

  Carolyn Faulkner

  Published by Blushing Books

  An Imprint of

  ABCD Graphics and Design, Inc.

  A Virginia Corporation

  977 Seminole Trail #233

  Charlottesville, VA 22901

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  ©2020

  All rights reserved.

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  No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The trademark Blushing Books is pending in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

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  Carolyn Faulkner

  Undercover Sir

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  EBook ISBN: 978-1-64563-272-6

  v1

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  Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design

  This book contains fantasy themes appropriate for mature readers only. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual sexual activity.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Carolyn Faulkner

  Blushing Books

  Blushing Books Newsletter

  Chapter 1

  "Your brother's coming home."

  Ia bit into a piece of homemade shortbread, not looking up. "Bully for him."

  Taffy Waite Baldwin put the phone back in its cradle, turning to continue fiddling unsuccessfully with the antennae on the TV. "Dammit! Now I'm going to miss The Edge of Night!" She smacked the side of the TV sharply, hoping it wouldn't be enough to cause any harm but just enough to put the fear of God into it so that she didn't miss her stories. She certainly didn't want to break the thing, knowing that there would definitely be consequences to having broken the very expensive machine. It had an enormous fourteen-inch screen and a beautiful black and white picture, when it came in. And, it—unlike the set in the living room—had a big handle on the top that made it portable.

  Her generous, loving husband had given it to her for her birthday, knowing that when she was in the kitchen making dinner or whatever, she couldn't see the soap operas she dearly loved.

  But Taffy knew that neither the fact that he loved her nor the fact that it was a gift from him would stop her from exacting a painful price if she damaged it in any way. It was of little use to her, though, when she couldn't get the channel she needed, with it sitting on the kitchen counter.

  "You don't need to sound so excited about the prospect," Taffy commented absently, more involved with the TV than the conversation. "And don't talk with your mouth full."

  "Oh dear. Was I sounding excited?" Ia droned in a monotone, ignoring her sister-in-law's warning. "Bully for him."

  Slipping down off the snack bar stool, Anna Maria—long since shortened to "Ia" when she could only say that part of her own first name—headed for her room, nose buried in a well-worn copy of Jane Eyre, having just gotten to the thrilling part where Mr. Rochester was finally acknowledging his feelings toward Jane. Her heart began to ache in what she imagined to be much the same way Jane's would have—if she'd been real—when she began to read those unbearably romantic lines about how his heart was connected to hers by a string.

  Nothing like that was ever going to happen for her. She was quite sure about it. For one thing, as much as her mother used to tell her that she needed to modify her tendencies, she was smart, and she refused to hide that one light she did have under a bushel.

  But it wasn't as if she was downright ugly—she was just average looking, at best. So much so, that she'd managed to grow up, graduate from high school, go to college, and had even found a job for herself without anyone of the opposite sex noticing much of anything about her that wasn't in relation to her football quarterback, straight A, student body president, all round annoyingly successful brother Daniel.

  Even though he'd preceded her through school by more than ten years—his father having married her mother when he was twelve, and them producing Ia a year later—he was all she heard about from the faculty as well as the students. Not only had he gone on to play college ball for the Vols—nearly being drafted into the NFL—but he was a bit of a business whiz, too, of course. After interning throughout college at a local business that was involved in communications engineering, he'd struck out on his own and had built an amazing company that had brought commerce to their small town, jobs to its residents, and had lined his own pockets nicely in no small way in the process.

  She'd been so glad to finally get to college, having deliberately chosen one that he had not attended, despite the fact that he'd suggested that as an alumnus, he might be able to help her get into the University of Tennessee. UT would have been closer, and she could have lived at home, he'd suggested one of the many times he'd talked to her about her college choices.

  Ia had known that he was probably on the verge of it many times, but he'd never tried to mandate where she went, and she knew him well enough to know just how hard that must've been for him.

  Their parents had died when she was ten, and he had slipped frighteningly easily into the parental roles that void had left—better as a father figure, of course, but he did his best to deal with the side of things that were much less comfortable to him, too. She'd idolized him as a little girl, but by the time she'd been orphaned, they were good friends. He was gone a lot and had his own place by that point, but he had immediately moved back into the house in which he'd grown up, too, not wanting to uproot Ia and cause her any more upset than she was already feeling.

  The truth was that he'd been amazing with her while she was struggling with the loss. Big he-man that he was, he'd never flinched from comforting her, and the first thing he'd done once he'd gotten home after finding out about what had happened was to lift her into his arms and hold her while she wept. He didn't try to stop her from crying, didn't rush her or chastise her for her tears, then or ever.

  He had given her a week out of school to help her adjust, then he'd taken her back to school himself, developing a habit of dropping her off and picking her up, and keeping a close eye on how she was doing, academically as well as emotionally. All those things brought them much closer. She didn't know it, of course, but he consciously arranged things so that he spent less time away than he might have if he hadn't had her to look out for.

  Not that he resented it in the least. He was genuinely glad to be in a position to take care of her. And, as such, he had to maintain a delicate balance between spending the time to make sure that his company was a success and making certain that he had plenty of time to spend with his little sister, too.

  Unfortunately for Ia, Daniel was much more of a disciplinarian than either of her parents had ever been with her. As a result, when she became his responsibility, she was a bit spoiled. It wasn't anything awful or even overt. She never threw tantrums or was prone to histrionics, but she wasn't used to having much expected of her in the way of complying with rules or doing chores and was generally used to getting her own way. Their parents had indulged her too much as far as he was concerned.

  Daniel loved her—and quickly came to adore her as he became her defacto parent—but he was not going to put up with any kind of spoiled or bratty behavior. Ia had to find out about that the hard way, and in a manner which caused her great embarrassment.

  Being spanked by him was horrible—horribly painful, yes. Even though he no longer played football, he maintain
ed his athletic physique, and he was strong as an ox, with wide shoulders and well-muscled arms and legs. And that enormous hand was utterly unbearable when there was that much strength behind it.

  But as far as Ia was concerned, the humiliation she felt when he spanked her was almost worse than anything he could do to her.

  As a result, several things happened. She learned to be quite sneaky, and when she did something that she knew might well get her in trouble with him if she was caught; she made damned sure not to get caught. It wasn't as if she disobeyed him all the time; it was very occasional and never in an overt manner He never checked up on her—he was too busy, and thus Ia became quite expert in covering her tracks. She was very careful never to push things too far, knowing that if he found out she was being so devious, it would go that much worse for her, on top of the punishment she'd earn for doing whatever it was that he didn't want her to.

  As a result of her careful machinations, Daniel found that he rarely had to punish her. In the years since she'd lost her parents and he'd lost his dad, he'd only actually spanked her three times.

  One of those times was relatively recent—or much more recent than she was comfortable with, even though it had happened more than three years ago.

  She'd assumed that, once she was a legal adult—twenty-one—and had graduated college, too, that he wouldn't continue to discipline her. But she was wrong about that assumption—very, very wrong.

  When she left high school, she had a curfew of eleven. She hadn't spent much time at home during the summers between college years, preferring to spend it with friends she had met, some of whom were extremely well off, and spent their summers travelling. She often went along with them, with Daniel's permission, which he gave without her ever having to ask as long as it was someone he knew and trusted, and she made sure that those boxes were checked before she mentioned her plans.

  That should have told her something, but she preferred not to confront the fact that he was still acting toward her as if he was her father. So the issue of whether or not she still had a curfew remained unaddressed for four years.

  The summer after she'd graduated and came home to live, she'd stayed out one Friday night with a group of guys and girls who had stolen under the fence at a local state park in order to night swim, drink, smoke, and party around a campfire.

  She hadn't gotten home until almost two in the morning, but he was awake, mostly because he'd been worried sick about her.

  Ia didn't like to think about what had happened next, and she really hadn't forgiven him for it, either. Not only had he spanked her—first with his hand, then finishing with the wide leather belt that he had been wearing at the time—but he'd also grounded her from going out for a month because she'd broken the law by trespassing at a state park.

  Since he owned the house she lived in, the car she drove to get to work, bought all of her clothes and food and everything else in regards to the household, plus giving her a generous allowance, there wasn't much she could do.

  It drove a bit of a wedge between them for a while, and it still stuck in Ia's craw. That night when she was still standing in her bedroom, where he usually spanked her, afterward, she surprised him by declining his offer of a comforting hug.

  Daniel had frowned darkly at that, brows drawn. It was the harshest punishment he'd ever doled out to her. He'd never used his belt on her before, and if anyone needed a hug at that moment, it was her. But she actually took a step away from him, with her hand up.

  "No. No, thank you," she'd declined coolly, not looking at him as she pulled her pants up, refusing to give any sign that doing so was incredibly painful.

  "I hope you really understand why I punished you, Ia. If I didn't love you, I wouldn't bother."

  There was no response from her, so he left, although he hated to leave things like that between them.

  As soon as the door closed, Ia allowed herself to fall apart in the way she couldn't in front of him, crawling onto her bed to lie on her stomach, breath hissing in through her teeth from even just those small movements. She was still fully dressed. He never bared her completely for a spanking, and this time was no different, but he did expose her panties, which might as well not have been there.

  As she lay on her bed sobbing, Ia made the decision to take some steps to become more independent from that moment on.

  It helped that she found out the next morning that she'd gotten the job she'd applied for at a small, regional bank. It was an entry-level position that didn't pay much, but she knew that—even for a woman—there were a lot of chances for advancement. The person who had interviewed her was a woman, and her hopes had been buoyed to see that.

  The bank gave her a free checking and savings accounts as an employee perk, and she'd already closed out her small savings at another bank and deposited the money at the one where she was working. It was annoying that they only paid once a month, but that first Friday of the month after she'd started, she'd gotten her paycheck and felt like she could conquer the world.

  That evening, when Daniel handed Ia her allowance for the week as usual, she'd refused to take it, saying a coldly polite, "No, thank you."

  Daniel had continued holding the money out to her, looking confused. "You don't want your allowance?"

  "No, thank you."

  He'd sighed in exasperation but didn't force it on her. "You can't be making that much at the bank, honey."

  "No, thank you."

  "Well, it's here for you if you should ever need it."

  "Thank you," she answered stiffly.

  As his little sister walked away from him, he sighed again, putting his hands on his hips. He wished for the thousandth time that he could find a way back to the closeness they'd had before. But he wasn't going to apologize for disciplining her for something she should have known better than to do in the first place. She wasn't a kid anymore, and they had been trespassing and could have been brought up on charges if they had been caught.

  She hadn't sat comfortably for a week, but he didn't regret his behavior in the least, except that it seemed to have driven a wedge between them that he couldn't get around.

  Still, he had to admire her for wanting to stand on her own two feet. Most women would have been just as happy to get two paychecks—one from the bank and one from him. Hell, most women wouldn't have gone out and gotten a job in the first place. She knew she didn't have to—he'd told her as much—but she had gumption and guts, his little sister, and he was very proud of her

  He wished he thought that telling her that would make any kind of a dent in the cold shoulder she'd been giving him for what seemed like forever.

  Even though it was harder to do without her brother's money, she managed to save enough money to buy herself a second-hand car, which was the next step in what she saw as her liberation—her path out from under her brother's thumb.

  It wasn't much, but she'd had the family mechanic check it out, and he said it was sound—if old. She didn't care if it was old, as long as it would get her to work and back.

  "You didn't tell me you were looking for a car," Daniel had said one night at the dinner table as Taffy had set a beautifully done roast down in front of him to carve, and Ia brought up the rear with the scalloped potatoes and peas. He stood to carve off two slices, one for his wife and one for his sister. "Is there a problem with the Chevy?"

  "No, I'd just like to own my own car," she replied, going back for the rolls, butter, and corn.

  "That's very admirable of you." He smiled. "But you didn't have to bring it to Skip to have him check it out. I would have been glad to do it for you."

  "You're very busy, and that's what Skip does for a living."

  Daniel tried not to frown at her flat tone. Instead, he smiled and said, "I always have time for you, buttercup."

  They passed around the bowls of food with the efficiency of long acquaintance, then Daniel sat down, putting a hand out to his wife and the other to his sister, palm up. Each of them took it unquest
ioningly, bowing their heads as he did his.

  "For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly grateful."

  "Amen."

  "This looks delicious, Taff. Another winner!" He smiled broadly at his wife, who preened under his praise. As he dug into the meal, he mentioned, "Don't buy anything without consulting me first, though, Ia. I want to make sure you don't get taken."

  "Thank you, but I'm neither an idiot nor a helpless female, and I'll do my homework. And since it's my money, I'll buy what I want."

  Their grandmother's milk glass butter dish that her brother had been holding landed loudly on the table at that pronouncement. Not that he'd dropped it, really, but rather he'd put it down with a certain amount of force. Daniel stared hard at his sister, but he didn't say anything further about it. If she didn't want his help, she didn't have to accept it, he guessed. It was uncomfortable for him that she was so adversarial, but he hadn't made any headway into changing how she was feeling. She wasn't doing anything wrong, and she wasn't being disrespectful—very carefully, so he thought, so he didn't feel he could spank her, and that might just make it worse, anyway.

  She clearly resented the fact that he was continuing to discipline her, but as long as she was under his roof, that wasn't going to change.

  A few weeks later, she bought a car that Skip had said checked out. He'd also told her that the price was a good deal, so she did it all without her big brother's help. One goal down, more to go.

  The next step toward independence was to find a place to live. Since she already had a job, she wanted it to be reasonably close to the bank, and she was also keen to find someone to share the rent with. But her friends from school had either moved away or were married, or planning to be married soon, so there really wasn't anyone she knew who wanted to go in on it with her. She could have advertised for a roommate or answered one of the few that were in the paper, but Ia was shy enough that she wasn't at all sure about living with someone she didn't know. There was a girl at work whom she had become friends with who might fit the bill, but she, too, was living at home, and having to pay rent, buy groceries, clean, and cook wasn't looking like much fun to her when she could keep all of her paycheck instead.