The Master's Lessons

by Isadora Rose

  The Master’s Lessons

  By Isadora Rose

  Copyright 2013 Isadora Rose

  Smashwords Edition

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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  I.

  Lesson One

  England, 1899

  Amelia Montague surveyed the neatly-cropped heads of hair before her, all lowered in concentration as their owners applied themselves to the translations she had set. Some people became teachers from a love of learning, or from a true passion for the vocation. She came to Highdown Hall because she had no other choice. With no family – and thus no dowry – making a respectable marriage was out of her reach. She had to earn a living by fair means or foul, and despite her lack of experience she had somehow won the position of a junior mistress at one of the most prestigious boarding schools in all of England.

  Fate had certainly smiled upon her when in desperation she answered the notice the headmaster, James Cooper, had placed in the Times calling for new teachers to join his staff. She had fully expected he would dismiss her in an instant, but here she was a year later secure in her employment. Though far from content with her restrictive lot, her life here was far better than it would have been had she been forced to go into service.

  Still, though, Amelia could not help but allow her thoughts to wistfully turn to the forbidden pleasures that tonight promised. The still classroom offered little distraction, after all. The air was stale, and the high windows allowed next to none of the late afternoon sunlight into the room. As was the custom, even the walls themselves were bare save for a half dozen maps that the geography masters used. The French verbs and prepositions she had spent the afternoon teaching were etched into the dusty blackboard, and the cursive script of her own hand danced before her eyes as she shivered in secret delight.

  Finally, the bell rang to herald the end of the school day, and with a dizzying rush of relief she dismissed the class. Her cool and calm voice gave no hint of the anticipation that blazed through her heated veins, nor of the distinct throb of lust that already burned deep down in her core at the thought of the night ahead.

  When the last of the youths pushed through the open door with a backward grin directed at her, she smiled back at him and gathered her papers before readying herself to follow in his wake and prepare herself for all that was to come.

  However, as Amelia glanced up, to her deep frustration she found she was no longer alone.

  “Miss Montague?”

  The mathematics master, Mr. Austin, had moved across to swiftly and skilfully block her exit from the classroom.

  Though her heart thudded against her ribcage, she showed no outward sign of how unwelcome the elderly teacher was. “What can I do for you, sir?” she asked with a smile.

  His lips thinned. “The headmaster wants to see you, Miss Montague. He requested that I escort you to him without delay.”

  Despite her best efforts to control herself, Amelia’s blue eyes widened. The headmaster rarely fraternised with the staff, and she had never been summoned to him before. She feared this unexpected summons could have only one cause.

  Resigned to the inevitable, her stomach lurched even as her polite smile remained in place. “Then we shall go to him, Mr. Austin. Is he waiting in the office now?”

  “No, not the school office; his private study.”

  The faint wrinkling of the senior master’s nose told her precisely what he thought of that, but at the school the headmaster’s word was law. Austin was just as unable as she was to disobey, and so it was that he turned sharply on his heel to lead her through the unseasonably dark corridors of the school. Boys of all ages from ten to sixteen lined their way, but each one of them dropped back in deference to the two teachers despite the interested glances the older of them tossed in her direction.

  Impassive to them and their implication as ever, for the only man she wanted was not yet within the school’s confines, Amelia held her head high and battled to calm the treacherous pounding of her heart as nerves churned her stomach. Even passing through the intimidating double oak doors of the entrance hallway offered no relief, for the scorching heat of the early summer’s day only deepened the flush of her face that the walk had brought on.

  Cooper’s private office was in the lower levels of the cottage that sat apart from the main school building, nestled into the embrace of the woods that Highdown Hall backed onto. As they made their way towards it, she found herself consumed anew by fear of what she would find within.

  The headmaster was feared by students and teachers alike. He had that rare talent of commanding respect and obedience wherever he went, which was surely part of the reason why he had risen to the prestigious position of headmaster of Highdown Hall before he had even reached his fortieth year. This was his third year in the post, and the school had thrived under his command.

  This afternoon, though, his focus seemed to be on her – and the only reason Amelia could attribute that to was the one she had feared would be revealed ever since she had begun the dangerous dalliance. By the time Austin raised his hand to knock smartly on the door to the cottage, her heart was in her mouth, but turning back now was impossible.

  The door swung open in an instant, forcing her to the grim conclusion that the headmaster had been standing behind it awaiting her arrival. Unwillingly she looked up, and there he was. James Cooper’s thin lips drew back into a ghost of a smile beneath his moustache as his grey eyes settled upon her.

  “Thank you, Samuel. You may leave Miss Montague in my hands now; I shall escort her back up to the school when I am through with her.”

  “Very good, sir.”

  And with that Austin departed to leave her alone and defenceless, entirely at the headmaster’s mercy. His smile widened as he crooked one finger to beckon her inside.

  “Come, Miss Montague. Are you afraid that I shall bite?”

  Amelia shivered despite herself. The low Scottish burr of Cooper’s accent had fascinated her ever since he personally conducted her interview for the position she now held. In truth, the man himself intrigued her against her will; it had been a blessing she had seen so little of him over the past year. It seemed that today that blessing would be no more.

  As she stared at him wordlessly, he had taken her arm to lead her inside and now the door closed behind them with an unsettling and definitive click of the lock in the catch. Afraid to look at him for fear of the unmistakable fever that was spreading through her veins with his touch, she forced her eyes to dart over the cottage’s entrance hall instead. The ceilings were so low that the wooden beams threatened to graze the top of Cooper’s head, and the dark green wallpaper blended in seamlessly with the woods that surrounded them outside. Through an open door to the right Amelia caught a glimpse of the parlour room, filled with groaning bookshelves, a velvet-upholstered settee and a high-backed armchair beside the inglenook.

  It was surprisingly homely; enough so to disarm her and make her too slow to realise that he had hold of her arm once more and was now steering her into the small room at the rear of the property that served as his study. Yet more textbooks lined the shelves on every wall, but the vast mahogany desk in front of the window dominated the room. A chair was on each side, and as Cooper took his with his back to the window, he gestured at the other.

  “Take a seat.”

/>   His command was impossible to defy. Her mouth was dry and her head spinning, but all that was nothing in comparison to the treacherous and unwanted rush of warmth between her legs when a hint of his musky cologne drifted towards her. Gritting her teeth, she tried to force it aside, but then he spoke again and made that task impossible.

  “So, you are nearly at the end of your first full academic year with us, Miss Montague.”

  Amelia had no choice now but to look up at the headmaster once more. Though he was twenty years her senior, she could no longer deny to herself now they were alone the attraction she felt for him. The first faint whispers of grey crept around his temple, but they did nothing to lessen the impact of his classical looks; a jaw so strong it seemed chiselled from stone, and a crooked nose full of character. It was his steely eyes that were most captivating, though, framed by a pair of dark brows that seemed to speak even more eloquently than all his intelligent words.

  Tall and lean, in that moment he reminded her of nothing more than a wolf. If he was the wolf, then this was his lair – and she was trapped within it. It was an unsettling thought.

  Cooper smiled as he met her wide-eyed and unnerved gaze without blinking. “Have you nothing to say, Miss Montague? The reports of your classes do not make you out to be mute, I have to say; there have been dazzling reports of your loquacious repertoire and your mastery of both English and French. I confess myself no little surprised that you are so silent now.”

  Amelia could barely even breathe under the weight of the fearful anticipation she felt, let alone speak with the cool wit she was used to being in possession of. She opened her mouth in a desperate attempt to answer him, but before she could form any words with her dry mouth he rose to his feet again and came around the desk to stand behind her chair.

  “Sir -” she said wildly, but then the headmaster’s hand descended to rest upon her shoulder as she twisted her head to look up at him. Dazed by the force of her conflicted emotions, a violent shiver ran down her spine and he smiled again.

  “Hush, now. If you have no words, then perhaps it would suit you to listen to me instead – for that is, after all, why I summoned you here today.”

  He reached out to tuck a stray tendril of fair hair back behind her ear, and her heart lost a beat. His smile only widened as he leaned in closer still, so near now that the tantalising sensation of his warm breath on the vulnerable skin of her bared neck consumed her.

  Amelia tried and failed one last time to pull away from him. The headmaster’s hand tightened around her shoulder, and with a sharp intake of breath his smile slipped away as he pressed his mouth against the top of her ear and breathed a dozen words that stole away the very last of her composure.

  “Now, I hear tell that you have been rather wicked, Miss Montague.”

  Cooper knew.

  With a strangled cry, she shook her head in desperation, but her efforts to escape only brought her parted lips within reach of his. For a dizzying moment she thought they would lay claim to hers, but then he forcibly pushed her away and straightened back up again.

  “Nothing to say?” he said, his voice dangerously low and clipped. “Do you care to deny my accusation that you have been entertaining a gentleman caller, perhaps?”

  To her chagrin and frustration, hot tears stung at her eyes as she battled the unwelcome compulsion to arch towards him. “Would it be of any use to do so, sir?”

  He snorted. “None at all, Miss Montague. I have eyes everywhere, particularly when it comes to you. I saw the two of you together last Friday – and the intimate way in which you were permitting the rogue to touch you made the carnal nature of his visit all too plain.”

  Cooper reached up to his right, and to her horror his long fingers closed around the handle of the riding crop that had until now been resting harmlessly on one of the highest bookshelves. As Amelia fought for breath, he took it down and then turned to fix his penetrating stare upon her once more.

  “We have standards here at Highdown Hall, and those who fail to meet them must be punished. Tell me, Miss Montague, what happens to the boys if they misbehave?”

  The headmaster circled restlessly around her and absently stroked the leather handle of the crop as she buried her flaming face in her hands to conceal a low sob from him. She did not want him to know how afraid she was – nor how very much she found herself wanting him to follow through upon all the fire in his eyes threatened.

  “I asked you a question,” he said sharply. “Answer me – now!”

  Amelia closed her eyes tightly as the reluctant words left her lips. “They get punished, sir.”

  “Precisely so. Stand up and bend over the desk, Miss Montague.”

  II.

  Lesson Two

  Amelia stared up at the headmaster in stunned disbelief. “Sir, you cannot possibly be serious!”

  Cooper groaned under his breath when his gaze settled upon her breasts and in instant mute reply her flush deepened further. “I assure you that I am, Miss Montague. You have more than earned this whipping with your deviant behaviour, and I am just the man you need to administer it.”

  “I will not permit it!”

  He loomed over her once more and wrenched her hair free of its neat pins with his free hand, allowing it to fall around her feverish face as, wholly unbidden, a loud moan flew from her parted lips. Smug satisfaction blazed in his eyes with her unwilling evidence of how much she wanted this against her better judgement.

  Cooper’s tongue darted out across his lips as his grip on the riding crop tightened. “Do you really imagine you can stop me from doing whatever I want with you? Protest all you like, but my strength far outstrips yours; and should you run to anyone else to report this, whom do you imagine they will believe?”

  They both knew that he was right. The headmaster was highly respected in the local community, and was a close friend of the elderly earl whose manor overlooked the village. No-one would believe her over him, and that surety had clearly emboldened him today. As his face slowly reddened to match hers, he lowered his head again until mere inches separated them.

  “And besides, Miss Montague, we both know that you want this – that you want me. I will ask one more time only, now. To your feet.”

  Amelia did not want to obey him, but it seemed her body knew better. Aching arousal sped through her veins, and though she trembled from head to toe, her lips parted in waiting and she did as he commanded.

  Cooper breathed in sharply behind her as she drew herself to the fullness of her height, still half a foot shorter than him. “Good girl,” he said quietly, the burr of his voice thickening ever more as he slowly wound his fingers through her fair hair then drew his hand down the nape of her neck to elicit a fresh shiver from her painfully tense body. “Now lay your hands on my desk and bend over.”

  As he pulled away the chair she had vacated, she did precisely that. She closed her eyes tightly and willed him back towards her, and he did not disappoint. The sound of his breath becoming rapidly shallower filled the small study, and sunlight streamed through the trees outside to bathe them in its spidery glow as he closed the distance between them.

  Without seeking permission, Cooper pushed his hips up against the rounded curve of her ass, and even through the material of her tightly-stretched skirt and his trousers, Amelia could feel the distinct shape of his hard cock pressing insistently up against her. She cried out in surprised delight, and his low laughter rippled through her as she instinctively rocked against him.

  “Oh, you like that? However, patience is a virtue, my dear Miss Montague. Perhaps I shall have to teach you that as well – but before that particular joy, we have another, more urgent matter to attend to. I will not allow you to distract me, pleasurable though your method of doing so might be.”

  Yet despite his smooth words, his fist closed around the collar of her cropped jacket from behind, and before she could even catch her breath, his deft fingers had wrenched each button open and torn it away.


  She cried out again, this time in heated dismay, but the headmaster only chuckled as he tossed it to the floor. “Much better, don’t you think? Now unbutton your blouse.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Oh, I think you heard me,” Cooper said calmly. “You need to be punished, Miss Montague; and seeing as you took such delight in displaying your lovely tits to Lord Frederick, you can do the same here and now for me before your punishment commences.”

  Amelia scowled tempestuously, but to her amazement she found her hands already flying to obey his new command. Each pearl button she flicked open quickened his breath further, and by the time she lifted her arms to allow him to pull the blouse away entirely, his strained groans of delight came between pants of breath that betrayed the sheer height of his arousal, even if the continued swelling of his cock against her had not.

  Her corset still concealed her breasts from the headmaster, but not for long. His impatience clearly overcame him, for when she hesitated he seized hold of it and ripped it away.

  “Sir!” she said hotly, infuriated by his lack of concern for the amount her clothes cost her from the paltry wages she kept after board and lodging were deducted. “Sir, you have torn my corset!”

  “Then you should have anticipated I wanted its removal. Miss Montague, I shall replace it for you in time if that would soothe your sweet outrage; but for now, keep that fire and passion in mind. I find it most delightful.”

  Amelia’s eyes widened, but before she could even attempt to demonstrate the depth of her fast-building fury that now ran in tandem with her feverish arousal, he placed the palm of his hand between her shoulder blades to force her back down then followed the line of her spine downward. The touch of his fingers against the curve of her exposed back was beyond exquisite, so deeply sensual and laden with erotic promise that neither the threat of the riding crop still in the headmaster’s right hand nor her continued rage could do anything to quench her lust for him.