Claimed by the Captain by Gracie Malling

Today, I am so pleased to be joined by the fantastic, Gracie Malling, and her latest hot historical release, Claimed by the Captain!

In this sizzling spanking romance, Captain Thomas Edwards returns home after twenty years at sea to take ownership of the White Hart Inn following the death of his father. He hasn’t even reached the edge of the village before he comes across a miscreant stealing apples from a local farmer’s orchard. Upon discovering that the thief is a young woman named Ellen who has been employed in his father’s inn for years, he considers it his responsibility to bare her bottom and spank her soundly.
In addition to working as a servant at the White Hart, Ellen has become known for her skill as an herbalist, and the last thing she needs is a stern sea captain getting in the way of her curing the ailments of her fellow villagers with a potion or tonic when the need arises. But despite her shock at being punished in such a shameful manner for nothing more than stealing a few apples, to Ellen’s surprise the painful chastisement leaves her aching for Thomas to take her in his arms and make her his.
Despite his willingness to spank her bare bottom whenever he feels it necessary, Ellen finds herself falling deeper in love with Thomas with every passing day. But when plague strikes the village and a witch finder is summoned, Thomas forbids Ellen from using her herbs to aid her friends and neighbors. As the situation grows more desperate, will she disobey him and put her skills to use even if it means risking her life, and can he keep her safe if she does?
Check out the scorching little snippet below, and then grab your copy…
***
The master released Ellen from the ministrations of his hands and took a step backward. She felt strangely bereft now that he was no longer holding her in place. When she looked up, it was to see the master considering her with an unusual intensity.
“Ellen, I understand your feelings but you ought not to have attacked him. He may have deserved it—indeed, by all accounts he deserves far worse—but it was not a wise course of action for you to take.” There was no gentle murmuring now; his voice was formal, stern even.
“What would you have me do instead?” said Ellen, fighting to keep her voice level as she reeled from this change in tone.
“Retreat. Protect yourself. I was coming to help you.”
“And how was I to know that?” she shot back, climbing down from the table top and making to leave the kitchen.
“Mind your tongue, Ellen!”
She turned back and gave him a look of pure outrage. To think how safe and protected she had felt only moments before as he held her and stroked her face. To think that she had told him everything and now… now he was treating her like none of it mattered.
“Never mind your angry looks,” he scolded. “You attacked him and opened yourself up to a counterattack. Had you been wise, you would not have ended up hurt in this way.”
“Damn you, Captain Edwards! I am not one of your sailors!”
Ellen turned around in a fury and made for the door.
She had just reached for the handle when the master’s hand closed around her upper arm.
There was a dizzying lurch… and then she found herself upended over his raised thigh.