Toni stared at herself in the full-length bedroom mirror. Her brow furrowed in dismay as her golden eyes raked up and down the length of her naked figure. Gosh almighty, it was enough to scare the strongest man alive into turning tail and running screaming out of the house! How in the blue blazes had this happened? She groaned in disgust and hid her face in her hands. She had been dreading this appraisal, and now that she had finally had the courage to take a good look at herself naked, it was even worse than she had imagined!

Toni had stepped on the scales at the doctor's office that morning and been embarrassed and horrified to see the nurse move the metal pointer up and over 200 pounds, and on up to 230! She had been thoroughly humiliated as Betty had efficiently recorded the numbers that she read from the scales, and then snapped the folder shut with a sympathetic smile in her direction.

Worse yet, when Dr. Gray had seen the figures, he had frowned and had told her she was getting too heavy! As if she didn't know that! God ... how many ways could a person be demoralized in one morning?

Toni had known she was putting on weight again, but she really hadn't realized how heavy she had become. She had returned home determined to really take a good look at herself in the tattletale mirror, and assess the damages of the last twelve years. And they were glaringly obvious as she lifted her head again and surveyed herself critically.

She turned sideways to get the full view of butt and gut, and groaned again. Might as well go whole hog, she decided. Bravely, she turned around and looked back over her shoulder to view her backside. Oh my gawd ... it was awful! Her rear end and upper thighs looked like cottage cheese! In despair, she threw herself on the bed, flipped to her back, and lay there with the tears trickling down her cheeks. How could this have happened? And how could Matt stand to look at her naked?

That one was a no brainer! She always dressed quickly when her husband was around, and they always turned out the lights to make love nowadays. He probably hadn't seen her buck naked in broad daylight in the last year! Poor Matt! Her sweet husband had to put up with the Pillsbury dough girl in his bed every night and cuddle up to Parker House Rolls! That is, when she felt like cuddling with him. She didn't have the energy she used to, and really didn't feel like making love very often. It bothered Matt that she didn't seem interested in sex any more, but she was so tired all the time. A part time job, three children, and running a home didn't leave much energy left over for her poor husband. "Bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never let you forget you're a man," was true only in the television commercial! Real life was anything but!

Disheartened, Toni finally sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed where she could glare at herself in the mirror. She caught a glimpse of the silky red teddy she had bought last year, right after Valentines Day, hanging in her closet. It still had the price tag on it, a testament to the fact that she hadn't achieved her goal.

It had been last year at this time when she had fully faced that she had gained an extra sixty pounds since she and Matt and had married. However, the first thirty had not been too bad. She was five foot, nine inches, and at 170 pounds, she had not been fat. Not skinny by any means, but still, she was able to carry it without too much trouble and look fairly slender. She had planned on losing it anyway, later.

But then the second thirty pounds had crept on and suddenly she hadn't liked herself anymore. Looking for motivation, she had gone out and had bought the red teddy, planning on being in it by this Valentines Day ... which was next week! Instead, here she was ... sitting on her bed in a mountain of fat because she had gained thirty more pounds instead of losing sixty!

Toni moaned dejectedly, and rocked back and forth as she sat there panicking. She really had meant to stay on the several diets she had tried several over the last year, but she just hadn't had the self-discipline to make them work.

"Ohhhhhhhh, I am so mad at you!" she scolded herself in the mirror. She was pointing her finger at her own image. "What you need is a ... a ... a good, hard spanking!"

The line just popped into her head right out of the mouth of her latest Harlequin romance hero! She giggled as she pictured herself, bottom up over Chase's--the hero of the novel--lap to get a sound spanking. She would never fit over anybody's lap at the rate she was going! And besides, people didn't do that these days.

She sighed deeply and flopped back on the bed, drifting into her favorite fantasy. She loved to read romance novels, and shivered when she read the spanking dialog. She always saved the ones that had a spanking scene in them, and sometimes, when she was feeling down, she would take them out and re-read them, imagining herself in the part of the heroine.

"Antonia, you are not going get away with that behavior, young lady, I shall have to give you a good spanking. Come here!" She imagined the words in the mouth of her favorite English hero, Sir Marcus of Derbyshire, a dashing and handsome man who brooked no nonsense!

"No," Antonia shouted in her fantasy, "No, I won't. You can't spank me; my mother would never allow such improper conduct from a beau ... no ... no ... you can't!" And despite her shrieks and protests, she found herself drawn over Sir Marcus' lap, her booted feet, in the button-up slippers, kicking frantically as her skirts and petticoats were raised.

"I can, and I am," insisted Sir Marcus as his hand landed hard on the seat of her lacy knickers, "And furthermore, my dear, I will do this anytime I think you need it!"

Of course, fantasy Antonia squealed and protested such barbaric treatment, but it was not uncommon, after all. Spanking was an accepted fact of a young girl's life. It was a common method of chastisement in those days, although Antonia didn't know if it applied to wives or not. In her fantasies, it certainly did!

Her mind wandered to her current western hero, a rough and tough cowboy named Chase. Now, there was a good fantasy! She pictured him in her mind, his rugged bronze face staring at her, and a stern glint in his eye. When he upended her over his broad thighs with her jean-clad rear in the air, a shiver went through her. There was just something about those western heroes! All that strong silence held a certain mystique about it. It was one of the things that had drawn her to Matt.

Matt's family owned a ranch outside Dallas and she loved it when he took her there for a weekend. Riding was one of her favorite hobbies and Matt still had the power to make her breath catch in her throat at the sight of his well-worn jeans and black cowboy hat; especially when he smiled that quirky grin of his.

Her thoughts drifted to her handsome lawyer husband. After she and Matt had gotten married, a part of her life that had been empty had filled up with real romance, and then children, and then the part time job to provide the extras. Between all the demands on her time, she hadn't been able to read as much as she liked to. But lately, with the kids all in school, she found a little more time on her hands. She had picked up her books once again, indulging herself in some of her old fantasies. She had even imagined Matt going all strict on her and threatening to spank her, but she knew that would never happen! He had swatted her a few times in the past, but he would never think of spanking her for real. Besides, she was an adult, not a fluffy-headed young girl! And adults did not get spanked!

Toni sighed woefully once again and sat up. It was time to get dressed and come up with a realistic plan to lose weight. All the daydreaming in the world wasn't going to change anything; only hard work could do that! Time to get busy!

Determined, she stood up and looked at herself again in the mirror. She would just have to make the appraisal and hope she didn't totally destroy what was left of her self-esteem.

Critically, she gazed at herself, making mental notes. Tawny hair just below her shoulders--it was one of her best assets--breasts that were still full and nicely shaped, eyes that unusual golden color that Matt said reminded him of tiger eyes, creamy pale skin, no wrinkles on her face yet--she really did have nice shoulders and a long neck with only a small beginning of a double chin. Not too bad, as long as you didn't go down any further. Reluctantly, she forced her perusal on down ... down below her breasts and ... uugghhh! She shuddered in disgust! She had to do something!

But, what?