by Jocelyn Cross
The busty, blonde bombshell sat in the dirt looking like a spoiled little girl who had just not gotten her way. In truth, the haughty actress was lucky that she hadn't been injured when her horse had thrown her from the saddle. The blonde was preparing for a role in a western film that revolved around the rodeo circuit. She was trying to learn to ride a horse and thought she had it all figured out.
Actually, this was the second time she thought she had it all figured out. The hulking cowboy who was trying to teach her about rodeos and horses was now concerned on two fronts. First, if the big movie star would not listen and follow his directions, she was bound to hurt herself. That wouldn't be good for the cowboy's developing career as a Hollywood film wrangler. Second, little-miss-bigshot was becoming a real annoyance with her disdainful attitude. It was an attitude that had the cowboy's patience simmering just below boiling point.
The actress managed to get to her feet and began dusting off her jeans. She and the cowboy had been working in the corral behind his stables when she had been thrown to the ground due to her foolish antics. As she turned to retrieve her hat from the dusty corral floor, she just barely caught the flash of movement that was the cowboy striding swiftly in her direction. Too late, she started to stand up, but bending over to pick up her cowboy hat had provided a conveniently tempting target to the angered cowboy.
SMACK!
His large, calloused hand swatted her denim-covered bottom. As the actress shrieked and tried to stand up, the cowboy wrapped his left arm around her waist and lifted her from the ground. Her backside was prominently bent forward and he carried her like a pair of bongos. Her head was behind the big rancher as he easily carried her in this position with just his left arm.
The actress kicked and demanded she be let loose from his grip, but the cowboy ignored her. He carried her back to the stable as he peppered her bottom with hard stinging swats. His rough hand alternately spanked the woman's twin bottom mounds as he strode purposefully into the stables. She was literally providing a pair of bongos for the otherwise musically limited cowboy to beat upon!
Finding a convenient bale of hay, the rancher and former rodeo star put his left boot on top of the bale so that his left thigh provided a supporting surface to hold the diminutive blonde. She complained, argued, then pleaded, but all to no avail as the cowboy totally overpowered her. Now that she was secured in a good bottoms-up position to be spanked, the cowboy recited his rules.
SWAT!
"What I tell you is for your own safety!"
WHACK!
His hand delivered powerful swats that not only could be fully felt beneath the taut denim jeans but also heard across the ranch.
"I don't make things up just to hear myself talk!"
SPANK! SWAT! SLAP!
The actress continued to try every verbal persuasion she could think of to get the big man to stop assaulting her butt. Despite her improvisational skills, she could not convince the cowboy she understood. No, the cowboy was hell-bent on delivering his message so that she would truly understand.
WHACK!
"And this..."
SPANK! SWAT!
"... is for the horses. They may be big and strong, but your antics endanger them as well!"
A volley of stinging swats lit a fire that the actress would have sworn were from real flames. She began earnestly pleading through sobs that she was sorry and would behave from that second forward.
The cowboy sighed with resignation and replied, "Dammit! You're such a good actress I can't tell if that was real or not."
"I mean it," she pleaded. "I promise I'll be good and follow your directions!"
"This is your last warning," barked the cowboy, punctuating his words with a pair of particularly harsh spanks to her upended bottom. "If I have to do this again, it'll be on your bare bottom and I won't give a whit who is around and watching!"
"OK, OK! I understand," whined the actress.
Though she was the consummate professional when it came to her craft, the cowboy sensed a ring of sincerity in her voice and deftly put her back on her feet. He wrapped her in a powerful bear hug. With a quiet voice he said to her, "I'm serious. Neither of us can afford to have you hurt."
Nestling her face into his broad chest, she softly sobbed, "I'll be good. You won't have to spank me again." Then, to her utter amazement, she found herself saying, "And I would expect nothing less than that bare bottom spanking if I deserve it."
It was impossible to determine who was more shocked by those words: actress or cowboy. Neither said another word until they broke from their now warm embrace. It was then the cowboy quietly considered what had just happened and how they'd got to this point. He recalled the young woman's first meeting at the ranch and realized that was only two days ago! It came about like this...
The Visitor
Vance Grey called out to his housekeeper, "Magdalena! Make up the guest bedroom, please. We're going to have a visitor for a while."
A pudgy Hispanic woman stuck her head out of the kitchen and asked, "A visitor? For a week? You never have visitors, Seņor Vance!" She shook her head in disbelief causing the rest of her considerable girth to wobble wildly.
"It's the new movie I'm wrangling. I'm also going to be the Rodeo Consultant on set, so I have to help the star become acclimated to horses and riding. I've no idea if there's any level of experience at all."
Now the housekeeper was interested. "This movie star - would I know him?"
This caused Vance to grin. "It's a 'her'. It's Zephyr Gemstone." The big cowboy waited for the reaction he was suspecting, and his housekeeper did not disappoint.
"Dos mio!" the woman gasped. "You mean the star of that movie about, you know, with, ohh... I don't remember his name!" Her hand was covering her mouth as her eyes were wide with expectation and hope.
Vance laughed. "Yeah. Her... and I think you mean that movie you saw twice last month."
Magdalena shook her head holding up three fingers. "No, Seņor Vance, I saw it three times!" A worried look suddenly crossed the woman's face and her eyes began flitting left and right. "What do I do? Is the guest room OK? Do I have to cook something special? You've never had a movie star here before."
"Hey," protested Vance. "I've been in a bunch of movies. Don't I count?"
Magdalena gave him a scolding glance and a dismissive wave of her hand. "No! You were just riding your horses. It's what you always do. You ride here, you ride there, you ride in the rodeo, you ride on a movie set. You ride horses. Thank God you don't ride the bulls no more!"
It was true. Vance Grey had been a popular and successful competitor on the professional rodeo circuit. But after his third hospital trip (a plain old visit to the Emergency Room was never counted!) as a result of being trampled by a 2,500-pound bull, Vance had broken enough bones to call it quits to rodeo competition. He was just past 30 years of age when he retired, but he was quickly called by a Hollywood producer to help with a western movie being filmed. Vance took care of the horses on set (they called him The Wrangler) and impressed everyone on the project with both his ability and professionalism.
It also didn't hurt that he was ruggedly handsome and had a lean, athletic body despite the 19 broken bones he had suffered on the ranch and in competition. That first film experience and his physical presence led to more wrangling jobs in Hollywood and even a few appearances in a couple of films. He never had a speaking role, so he couldn't call himself an actor. But, he had become the most sought-after wrangler in the film and television businesses.
Magdalena was now shaking his arm. "Seņor Vance, what do I do?"
"Darlin'," the cowboy drawled in response. "Make sure the spare bedroom and bathroom are clean and tidy. Miss Gemstone is coming here to find out about rodeos, horses and cowboying. She's not under any impression that this is a spa."
Not entirely satisfied, the housekeeper rushed upstairs to check on the guestroom. "You make sure," she warned with a wagging finger, "that you tell me if I need to cook anything special!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" called out the grinning cowboy.
The small plane touched down at the nearly obscure local airport near Sundance, Wyoming. The pilot opened the door, let down the steps and helped his famous passenger down the steps. Gosh, thought the pilot not for the first time on this flight, Zephyr Gemstone is prettier in person than on film. He escorted her to the little building that served as flight center and control tower. With her bags in hand, he trailed her and marveled at the star's swaying hips encased in tight jeans.
Waiting inside was a big, rugged cowboy leaning on the counter and sipping a paper cup of coffee. When the movie star entered the building, the interior seemed to brighten just from her presence. A mechanic and the flight controller found excuses to wander in to get a glimpse of the famous star. It seemed to happen everywhere she went these days. The cowboy leaning on the counter had the impression that someone had just lit up a previously dark room as he watched the incandescent actress survey the facility.
The cowboy straightened up and stepped to the woman, extending his hand. "Miss Gemstone," he said, "I'm Vance Grey. I hope your flight was a good one."
The actress removed her oversized sunglasses giving the cowboy both her hand and a 10,000-Watt smile. They shook hands briefly and there was a momentary standoff. The cowboy checked out his guest: well built, lots of blonde hair and only marginally self-absorbed... at least for now.
From her perspective, she appreciated Vance's earthy, but handsome, countenance. His grip was strong but she could tell it was a natural grip for the cowboy... he wasn't trying to impress her. She also noticed that she was holding her breath and quickly let it out. The man was not only broad-shouldered, but he was at least 6' 2" tall. He was clean shaven which surprised her as she'd figured he would be sporting a big sloppy moustache. She had also thought the bull riding cowboys were little men from her previous viewing of some film clips of bull riders. Looking at Vance, she could only imagine how big the bulls really were.
"Please call me Zephyr," she said, and smiled. By force of habit she helped the man impress the onlookers by adding, "We'll be working so closely together, anything else just won't work."
There was a general mumble by the small cluster of watchers as Vance blushed slightly. The cowboy shot a reproachful glance at the others and moved towards the pilot.
"Let me get those, buddy," Vance said to the pilot as he took the two bags Miss Gemstone had brought. Nodding to a door he said to the blonde bombshell, "Out this way... uh... Zephyr. We have a bit of a drive."
He escorted the movie star out to his truck, tossed her bags in the back and off they went to his ranch, The Zany G. The brand on his horses and cattle was a cock-eyed G.
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