Randy chains her to his bedpost.

What was he going to do with this spirited young woman? Clearly he could not keep her hanging from the thick root in the rough ceiling, he had seen able bodied seamen punished this way and the strain on her much finer wrists would soon be causing excruciating pain. Not that she didn't deserve to be punished for the trouble she caused him.

"Damn you're a heap of trouble!" Randy told her as he lit a great brass lantern and hung it next to her lighting up the surprisingly large cavern. "I should fold your trim lines over my lap and spank your stern end until it glows." He had been joking when he made the threat, but the combination of Charlotte's sudden blush and the image of her white buttocks wiggling over his thighs almost made him change his mind.

Randy pushed the erotic thought from his mind and looked around the cave for somewhere safe to keep his hostage at least until he figured out what he was going to do with her. He had a set of chains taken from a patrol of the King’s redcoats sent into the forest to capture him. Randy smiled at the memory of the comic attempts of the 43rd foot to trap him, how ironic that those chains would now be used to secure the Lady Marlton herself. Randy moved silently as her fetched the heavy manacles. The iron rings were too big to secure her wrists, but they should fit nicely around her shapely ankle.

Charlotte watched Black Brand move across the cave until he stepped out of her peripheral vision. Would he really spank her like a naughty school girl? It had been many years since Charlotte had been spanked by her nanny and the memory was still mortifying, but somehow the thought of this man holding her on his lap and punishing her like that made her tremble with both fear and excitement.

Then Charlotte heard the rattle of a chain and the squeak of metal on metal. What was he doing? Suddenly she felt the cold clasp of heavy irons on her lower leg. She kicked her foot determined to escape this indignity, but the scoundrel was prepared for her sudden struggles and despite her best efforts turned the key that tightened the ring until it fit snugly just above her damp boots.

“How dare you!” So insulted by the knowledge that he had chained her like a common criminal that Charlotte completely forgot about Black Brand spanking her, the words escaped her lips before she thought better of them. Black Brand just chuckled at her discomfort and only when the iron ring was securely tightened around her anckle did he finally released her aching arms from the leather strap overhead.

“Oh, I dare all right.” Randy laughed “I have no desire to go swimming after you again. No, I've got a much safer place to keep you.” With those ominous words he guided her towards the great bed that seemed so out of place in the otherwise sparsely furnished cavern. As soon as she realized where Black Brand was taking her Charlotte realized what he intended to do with her.

This was how he intended to punish her for her foolish attempt. She would be chained to this bare chested savage's bed, used over and over again as a woman, and she would be powerless to stop his **** on her virtue. Once again her mind jumped to a scene in a secret romance describing a captive young Frenchwoman’s experience of being chained just like this to an Ottoman lord’s bed for his pleasure. Josephine, the pretty heroine, had been rescued just in the nick of time but Charlotte had no expectation of a similar miracle.

Nonetheless she would fight as long as she could. Charlotte resolved solemnly to defend her virtue with every ounce of strength she possessed. She looked around hopefully for anything she could use a weapon to help even her terrible odds.

Randy sensed Charlotte’s tension as he neared the bed, and could well imagine what she must be thinking. In fact what he had been thinking just a minute ago himself. Chaining this spirited noblewoman to his bed was not making it any easier to keep his libido in check either. However, the great bedposts were the only place that he could see to secure the other end of the chain low enough to the floor that she could be comfortable. Damn his tendency to act before thinking! Randy cursed himself silently, keeping Lady Marlton here in this cave made as much sense as having tourists on a whaling ship.

“Sit there.” He told her pointing to the great bed piled high with an assortment of quilts, blankets and comforters. She sat demurely on the edge of the bed and Randy knelt by her feet and wrapped the other manacle around the thick post between the crossbar and the point where the frame was bolted into the post.

This may be my best chance – Charlotte realized as she saw Black Brand lower his frame and turn his head to the task of securing her to the great bed. If she had a heavy bludgeon or even the cast iron pan she could see by the fireside she’d act with no hesitation at all, but would she be able to hit her capture hard enough with just her own two small hands?

Black Brand's bare neck and shoulders were both broad and well-muscled, how could she possibly knock him ****, even for just long enough to escape? But to not act would be in effect submitting herself to his lustful demands, once she lay shackled to the bed Black Brand could use her as he wished.