"Gideon's Hope " by Amity Maree is completed. It is six chapters long, and can be read in its entirety in our members' area.
Synopsis
Gideon is determined to rescue the pretty brunette, and she is so frightened that she won’t let him near her. She manages to knock him unconscious by throwing a stone at him, and when Gideon regains consciousness, it is to find she is in real danger. He fights to protect her, and then picks her up and runs to get her away from the men who would harm her. Hope’s ankle is fractured, and she still isn’t convinced the tall stranger isn’t one of Dolf’s men. She tries again to escape Gideon, only to irritate him to the point he turns her over his knee and spanks her soundly. Once the fear of the last few days recedes, Hope can’t understand why Gideon would risk his life to save her, but she knows she wants to stay in his protection. Gideon doesn’t understand the strong feelings he has for Hope, either, but he is determined to protect her, even if it means spanking her daily to get her to obey him!
Chapter One
Gideon was positive he heard someone crying. He didn’t want to stick his nose into a situation that was none of his business, but how could he ignore someone who was in distress? He didn’t have it in him to just turn his back, even if he was on an extended rest for his own well-being. Reluctantly, he listened and followed the sound and came upon a young woman who was obviously injured. He hastened his step to get to her, but she picked up a large stone and threw it at him, narrowly missing his head.
“You leave me alone!” she yelled angrily.
“You’re injured; I just want to help you,” Gideon explained, but he didn’t step forward because she was picking up another stone to throw at him.
“I don’t want your help!” she yelled. “Now go away and leave me alone or I’m going to hurt you!”
“I can’t leave you here all alone when it’s obvious you’re hurt.” He took another step toward her and then ducked to keep from getting hit between the eyes with the stone she threw at him. “Little lady, I’m only trying to help you!” Gideon scolded, and then moaned when her next missile hit him on the forehead. The world turned black and he slumped to the ground.
Gideon had no idea if he was out five seconds, five minutes, or five hours, but he couldn’t fail to mistake the sounds he was hearing. The girl was in trouble of a more serious nature and he struggled to clear his head and make his body work before the two men trying to force her down on the ground could do so. She was putting up one hell of a fight, but she was outclassed and outweighed. Gideon got to his feet, and then charged into battle, knowing that he was the only one who could prevent the girl from being raped.
“Man, you’re going to get messed up real bad,” one of the two men warned with an evil smile after Gideon pulled him off the frightened female.
“Unless you want hurt, you’ll turn around and get out of here,” Gideon said firmly. “I’m not going to permit you two to hurt this girl.”
“What is she to you, man? You don’t know what you’re buttin’ into, and Dolf is going to make you wish you were dead if you mix in.”
“I said to leave her alone. That is your only choice,” Gideon said quietly, and wasn’t a bit surprised when one of the men pulled a switchblade and flipped it open. He didn’t give the man a chance to attack, but quickly moved and disarmed him, and then he felled the second man. They were both unconscious, and Gideon didn’t waste any time.
He whirled around and walked over to the weeping young woman and picked her up into his arms and took off running with her in his arms. “Where are you taking me!” she cried, shaking and afraid.
“Where you’ll be safe. Now quiet down. I need to be able to hear them if they come after us.” She didn’t speak, but she couldn’t stop crying, and he felt sorry for her, but there was no time to stop and give her the reassurance she needed. Gideon was relieved when he reached his Jeep, and even more relieved that his keys were still in his pocket and not back there on the ground somewhere. He said tersely, “Buckle up. We’re getting out of here.”
Hope was afraid, but at least this man wasn’t trying to kill her or rape her… yet! With her ankle either fractured or badly sprained, she couldn’t run, and if she tried to jump out of the speeding Jeep, she could be seriously injured. She had no choice but trust the solemn looking man who’d fought off her attackers. She wanted to demand to know where he was taking her, but he was concentrating so hard she didn’t dare. He kept glancing behind them in the rear view mirror, and he didn’t relax a bit until he left the dirt road and went on the highway. He drove a few more miles, turned off again, and then followed a dirt path that made Hope’s heart beat even harder with fear. There was no one else around for miles, and this area was as secluded as the one he’d rescued her from!
Gideon was happy to park behind the small cabin he was staying in for the summer. Unless someone had been to the cabin before, they weren’t going to find it, or so he hoped. “Let’s get you inside and see how badly you’re hurt,” he spoke softly to the young woman. He could see she was terrified. “I promise you that you’re safe, Miss.”
“If you want me to believe that, then take me to a town!” Hope insisted.
“No, I’m sorry, I can’t do that,” he insisted.
“Why not?” she demanded, her lavender eyes wild with fear.
“I don’t want to be recognized,” he said calmly. “You have nothing to fear, Miss. My name is Gideon, and I’m going to help you inside and take a look at your injuries.”
“No! I demand that you drive me into a town and release me!” she refused to budge. “I mean it; I am not getting out of this car so you’d better just listen to me!”
“Little lady, you already brained me with a stone, and you’re damn lucky I woke up when I did. Now, I’m not about to harm you, but if you keep giving me this stubborn sass of yours, I’m going to turn you over my knee and spank your butt.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Hope looked at him in shock.
“I would dare,” he told her matter-of-factly. “Now scoot over here so I can lift you and carry you inside.” He couldn’t believe it when she slid across the seat in the opposite direction and jumped out the other side of the Jeep, only to moan in pain as her injured foot touched the ground. Still, she tried to run from him.
Gideon hurried after her, and when he tried to pick her up, she swung her fist and caught him on the jaw. “That tears it,” he said. “I won’t be your punching bag, little lady!”
Hope struggled, but her strength was nothing when compared to his. He lifted her off her feet as if she was a small child and carried her to a bench against the outside wall of the cabin. Gideon took a seat and effortlessly flipped her face-down across his lap, taking pains not to risk hurting her injured foot further. He wrapped his left arm around her slender waist, and then Hope gasped in outrage and pain when his hand landed with a splat on the seat of her dirty, white Capri pants. “Don’t you dare spank me!” she cried out angrily.
“I warned you, didn’t I? Now you’ll get the lesson you have coming!” Gideon promised. He was truly out of patience with the young woman, and the quickest way he knew to get her to calm down was to set her cute fanny on fire. In his opinion, quite a few young women could do with a good spanking, he thought to himself as he spanked her bottom again and again. He got his old-fashioned views from his Granddad, and he wasn’t about to change his opinion because society deemed it politically incorrect. He didn’t give a hoot about that. If a little lady acted like a termagant, then she needed her manners mended a bit, and he had warned her!
“Stop!” Hope cried out. “Stop, please! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” she was soon crying in earnest, and the pain in her ankle from kicking her feet in response to the spanking was causing her considerable pain, too. “Owwwww! Oh, please stop! I’m sorry I struck you!” She was getting quite desperate. The spanking hurt! Her poor bottom was burning and felt like she’d backed into a campfire. “Owwww! Please stop!” she begged.
“I’m not going to stop until I am positive you get the message, little lady. I don’t like it when my intentions are called into suspect when I haven’t done one damn thing to deserve it. I have only tried to help you, and that is all I am trying to do now.” He spanked her another ten times, aiming for the tender area right below her rounded cheeks. From her frantic reaction, he surmised he was getting through to her. “I will not be punched or screamed at, and I won’t tolerate your throwing anything at me. Is that clear?” He spanked her several more time for emphasis.
“I won’t! Owwwwww! I promise I won’t! I’m sorry!” Hope was crying now. She’d never known a spanking could hurt so much! “Please, no more. My ankle hurts too much!”
Her words stopped Gideon in his tracks. All the kicking she was doing couldn’t be doing that ankle any good. “I’m going to turn you over and carry you inside, little lady. No more tantrums, hear me? If you start fussing again, I’ll take off my belt and give you a proper tanning to remember for the rest of your life.”
“I won’t!” she promised, but it was truly hard to bite her tongue and control her fear as he kicked the door open and carried her inside and gently put her on the sofa in the main room. She watched him cautiously as he moved around the cabin with easy grace, taking no pains to hide the fact he was taking out a gun and making sure it was loaded before tucking it into the waistband of his jeans. He also barred the doors into the cabin, and shut the windows and barred them as well. Hope struggled not to panic. She was in another desperate situation, and even worse, with a man who spanked! Her poor backside was burning and sitting on the soft sofa was difficult. She didn’t know what to do!
“My name is Gideon; what’s yours?” he asked confidently as he approached her once again.
“Hope,” she answered.
“That’s a pretty name,” he said calmly. “Now listen, Hope, this is important. I don’t know what your story is, and we’ll talk about that in a few minutes, but right now I want you to pay attention. If those two come here looking for you, I won’t let them have you. I promise you that, and in return, I want your word that you will do exactly what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it, and without asking questions. Our lives will depend on that. Do you understand?” he asked softly, but there was a menacing quality to his voice that sent chills up and down her spine. She nodded. “Good girl,” he said in approval, and then added, “If you don’t listen to me, Hope, and we survive, I’ll spank you for an hour straight and take down your britches to do it. Hear me?” he demanded, his tone of voice firm and unrelenting. When she didn’t answer, he said, “I don’t like having to repeat myself, little lady. Do you hear me and understand that I am perfectly serious?” Hope nodded again, and Gideon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was obvious the little brunette was terrified of him, and he wasn’t helping matters by threatening her.
“I’ll wash my hands and have a look at your ankle, Hope,” he said calmly, and then went to the sink in the kitchen and scrubbed his hands thoroughly before going to look at her right foot. He watched her cringe and mentally kicked himself. “Hope, were you mistreated in any way? If you were, you need to tell me so that I can help you?” When she didn’t answer right away, he went to get his black bag. “I know you are frightened, but I won’t hurt you, honey. Tell me the truth now. If you were mistreated, I need to know.”
Hope nodded, glaring at him. “You’ll be all right. I promise I’m not going to harm you. You’ll need to slip out of your pants so I can treat you,” he said kindly. “I’ll get a sheet to cover you.” His voice was soft and reassuring.
“No, I am not taking off my clothing!” she declared, finally finding her voice. “I wasn’t raped,” she admitted, her face turning red. “You stopped them from doing that.”
“Okay, that’s good,” he said in genuine relief. “So how were you mistreated? Did one of them punch you?”
“No… You spanked me!” she angrily accused. “I am in pain!” she stated, watching the look in his dark eyes change from compassion to irritation… and finally to amusement. “It’s not funny, Mister! No one has ever done that to me before!”
“It shows, honey,” he grinned at her without a bit of sympathy. “Now, listen to me, little lady, we might not have a lot of time before those two come looking for you. Tell me the truth about your injuries. Other than your ankle, are you injured elsewhere?” He’d already observed the abrasions on her wrists. She’d been tied, and somehow managed to free herself and flee.
“Just my wrists. The ropes were tight and I kept trying to get free.”
“Seems you did a good job of that,” he complimented her.
“No, those two morons freed me and brought me out here to kill me, but decided they wanted to rape me first. I got away,” she said. “And then I tripped over a tree root and hurt my ankle so badly I couldn’t get up and put any weight on it.”
“I think it might be fractured, honey, but without an x-ray I can’t be sure. I’m going to ice it until the swelling goes down and make it as immobile as I can, and I’ll give you something for the pain.”
“Are you a doctor, Gideon?” Hope suddenly realized that his black bag was exactly like ones that doctors carried. And, he was examining her in a way that seemed very professional.
“Yes, I am.”
“You need to clean the wound on your forehead,” she said in a small voice. “I’m sorry, Gideon. I was just so afraid, and I thought you were with the others. Thank you for helping me,” she said, her pretty lavender eyes filling with tears.
“Now, don’t cry, honey. I know you were afraid. I understand, but I sure hope you trust me now…? I really don’t want to lose my patience again and set your fanny on fire a second time. You’re going to be doing a lot of sitting for the next few weeks while that ankle heals.”
He fixed an ice pack, gently put it on her swollen ankle, and then gave her some pain killers to swallow with some water. “You don’t have any allergies, do you?” he asked almost as an afterthought, making her giggle.
“You’re used to having that question asked for you by a good nurse, right?” she teased.
“I suppose I am… Well, are you allergic to anything, Hope? I don’t want to make you ill, and these tablets are strong.”
“I’m fine, Gideon. I would have said something.” When he looked at her questioningly, she added, “I’m an RN.”
“Then you know that you need to keep your butt on this sofa and stay off your foot, right?” he demanded.
“I will. Let me fix your head,” she offered. “You can’t see where you’re hurt.”
“I can sure feel it, though,” he commented, and when her eyes filled with shame he said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scold. I would appreciate your help,” he said, moving closer and handing her a piece of cotton he’d already soaked with solution. It didn’t take him long to realize that she knew what she was doing. She asked for a steri strip to apply, and he gave her what she needed to fix his wound. “Thanks,” he said when she was finished.
“You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do, Gideon. I am sorry,” she apologized once more. She heard a sound outside and jumped in fear. “Oh God, it’s them! They want to kill me, Gideon! They know they’re as good as finished if they go back without proof that I’m dead!”
“Stay calm, Hope. I won’t let them harm you, I promise.” He pulled his gun and listened and heard noise outside at the front door of the cabin. Hope’s fear was very real, and he doubted the two men trying to find her would underestimate his abilities this time. He moved cautiously, thinking he would go out the kitchen door and sneak up on them from behind.
“Well, dang it, boy! What you got the goldurned door locked for?”
“Granddad!” Gideon hurried to let the elderly man inside. “Come inside, Granddad,” Gideon rushed him into the cabin. “Did you see anyone at all?” he asked.
“Well, I saw two men in a green colored SUV a ways down the road. They looked lost. I thought about askin’ if they needed directions, but they flew on past me like I didn’t count. So I said, ‘screw ‘em’ and come on up here to check on you, Gid. Who’s that girl?”
“Her name is Hope, and she’s in serious trouble, Granddad. I saved her from two men earlier, and they want to kill her. Hope, this is my Granddad, Silas.”
“You hurt, honey?” Silas took in her pained expression when she tried to move.
“Fractured ankle…” Gideon replied.
“You sit put. Me and Gid won’t let them two varmints hurt you.” He went and took another gun out of a cabinet and loaded it expertly. “You know they’ll follow me, thinking you might be holed up here. Dang it, if I’d knowed, I would of drove ‘em clear to town! I’ll go out the back way, and keep watch. I’ve got your back, Gid.”
