The Master's Lessons

by Isadora Rose

  “Aye, I thought you supposed yourself in love with him,” he calmly said instead. “I have seen the way you looked at him in church of late. But enough from you, Miss Montague; I will hear the rest of your piece once your lover has departed.”

  Freddie balled his fists. “Departed?! Mr. Cooper, I will not leave her here with you like this!”

  “Oh, but you will! You are to forget all about her, Frederick; to you she no longer exists. I will not permit you to use her as a throwaway mistress any longer.”

  The headmaster’s fierce declaration robbed Amelia of the last of her composure. With an incoherent cry she began to fight against him like a cornered animal, but he retained his hold on her with what seemed to be the minimum of effort as he continued speaking to Freddie.

  “You spent three years under my tutelage, remember. I do not think you need any reminder that I am not a man to be crossed.”

  “But I want her!”

  “If you are so very eager to have this woman to call your own, then perhaps I shall urge your father to see to a betrothal for you. He and I are close, as you know, and he has often told me how keen he is to see you settled. The earl would be delighted to see you wed, no doubt, even to a mere schoolmistress; but perhaps you would rather leave here now with your freedom intact, little lord. If so, then depart from my school now and speak nothing further of what passed here tonight. Take yourself back to London, and forget all about Amelia – or stay here now, fight for her and wed her if you win. It seems a very simple choice.”

  It was a simple choice. Ten minutes ago Amelia would have confidently predicted the path that Freddie would take, but to her horror she was beginning to realise the gravity of her mistake. The fear in his eyes mirrored her own – but unlike her, he could walk away from the trap that had been set.

  That was precisely what he chose to do.

  She doubled over in Cooper’s arms and he stood firm as she railed against him and fought in vain to make her lover look at her one last time.

  “Freddie!”

  Oblivious to Amelia’s heartfelt cry, Freddie strode away without a backwards glance to leave her alone and entirely at the mercy of the now incandescent headmaster.

  IV.

  Lesson Four

  Amelia would have fallen had Cooper not been holding her, but as the door closed behind Freddie, the headmaster took her head in his hands to force her to look up at him. “Forget him,” he said sharply. “He always was rather weak of will, even as a student. I am not surprised in the least that it was so easy to drive him from your side.”

  His cold words finally broke the dam inside her. She twisted to face away from him and pulled her head back to scowl furiously. “How dare you presume to do what you just did, sir?! You had no right to come between the two of us, and certainly no right to interrupt us as you did! How did you even know he had come to me?”

  Cooper forcibly steered her to the balcony doors and pointed down towards his cottage. “You see that open window? That is my bedchamber – and from there I have an unimpeded view to your room, Miss Montague. With the aid of a pair of binoculars, I have spent many a night pleasuring myself at the sight of the shows you unwittingly put on for me.”

  She whitened as what little blood was left in her face drained away entirely. “Shows?”

  “Indeed, my dear. The sight of you doing what I so longed to and stripping away your clothing from your deliciously curvaceous form was a spectacular sight to behold. No doubt you thought yourself safe from prying eyes here on the second floor with all the boys in bed below, but I have long taken up vigil at the window to catch glimpses of your glorious tits – and more besides.”

  The headmaster confessed his crime with not even a modicum or shame or remorse, and she found that the realisation he had so enjoyed watching her undress only sent her feverish lust for him spiking once more. Determined not to give in to it, Amelia tossed her loose hair out of her face and matched his intent stare. “And you were watching last Friday night too?”

  “Indeed. The entirety of your tryst was conducted with the drapes open – and with a rapt audience, I freely confess.”

  His hands moved up to cover her exposed breasts, and when she struggled to free herself of his hold he kept her restrained against the thin glass with the weight of his lean body, trapping her and making it impossible for her to escape the intimate, possessive touch as his mouth pushed aside her hair to expose her throat.

  “Yet all that is beside the point, isn’t it? The fact is that even after all we discussed earlier, Miss Montague, you allowed the rogue into your rooms again; and had I not been watching for just that, his cock would doubtless be between your sweet lips this very moment.”

  “Most likely, yes!” she hissed furiously, still spitting and railing against him in a futile attempt to break away. “I do have the right to choose whom I share such intimacies with, sir; a right you seem determined to steal away from me.”

  Cooper’s lips grazed against hers, and in an instant her fever spiked as he flashed her a swift, smug smile. “Not so, Miss Montague. I am simply attempting to teach you the truth of the matter. The truth, as I told you earlier, is that you need me, not him or any other man. Did none of what I said sink into your brain? You are not unintelligent; your wit and capability for learning was what first persuaded me to interview you for the position you now hold, after all.”

  Caught off-guard by the abrupt twist in the conversation, Amelia’s breath hitched as she tilted her head back and away from his. “No-one else even interviewed me before you.”

  “That does not surprise me. You are young for a teacher, and many of your senior colleagues have expressed to me their concern that you are far too lovely to be around so many maturing boys. However, your face and form was one of the reasons I took a chance on hiring you.”

  And there it was once more, a pointed barb that stung sharply as it struck its intended target. She recoiled, but before she could even try to remonstrate with him or express her fury at his shallow reason for hiring her, Cooper rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers with a low, appreciative groan then dragged her back towards the bed behind them.

  “And it is for that reason,” he continued hoarsely, “that I now find it so impossible to release you from my arms before allowing you all the pleasure you would have had tonight had I not interrupted. You seemed to enjoy your lover’s embrace, Miss Montague. I am certain, though, that you will appreciate my skilled touch far more than his.”

  Amelia was powerless to stop herself from arching into his hands, even as she shook her head in one last desperate attempt to stop the headmaster from lifting her onto the bed. Face-down, she could do nothing but fight for breath as his eyes darkened and he pinned her wrists above her head with one hand before winding his free hand through her hair to yank her head back, forcing her to look up at him as his reddened face filled her vision to the exclusion of all else.

  Cooper lowered his full weight onto her and shifted so that she could feel his cock pushed up in a clear demand between her legs as he settled between them, and her panic over his evident intent battled with the fierce arousal she felt. Trembling from head to toe, she tried to push herself out from beneath him, but his grip on her only tightened.

  “Mr. Cooper, sir!” she burst out, and his lips thinned as he pressed one finger against hers.

  “My name is James. In the light of all we will share, perhaps you ought to use it.”

  “I intend to share nothing with you!”

  “But already we have shared so much, and there is so much more to come; so much more that your body yearns to give to mine,” he said, his gravelly voice curt and clipped as his breath grew shallow. “I will withstand no denial, my dear, not when the evidence your body speaks so eloquently is all to the contrary of what you persist to say!”

  Amelia opened her mouth to hotly deny it, but before the words could leave her lips, his mouth slammed down onto hers. Glorious, forbidden ecstasy explo
ded inside her as her body sang in response to his forceful worship, each rough caress of his lips on hers sending her arousal spiralling higher as the kiss threatened to devour her, consuming her with the unadulterated power of the lust he had awoken in her. She didn’t want to need him, but the truth of his words could be denied no longer. Even the restrictive weight of his body weighing hers down thrilled her now, for it was laden with the self-same promise the lustful kiss he was delivering with such passion was filled with.

  When Cooper groaned into her mouth and his tongue pushed up against her lips in a clear demand for entrance, she willingly submitted. Though she had thought Freddie a skilled lover, already he was nothing in comparison to this – and the headmaster had barely begun. As dark, lascivious images of the voyeuristic pleasure he had already taken from her tumbled through her mind, she rocked against him senselessly, lifting her hips from the sheets in a wordless plea she did not even realise she was making until he released his grip on her hair and ran his hand down the side of her body, brushing the side curve of her breast then travelling lower as she tensed in nervous, feverish anticipation.

  He forced his hand beneath her inflamed body and the sheets, and then without seeking permission thrust it beneath the waistband of her skirt, all without breaking the ravenous kiss for even a moment. He was kissing her like a man starved of all sustenance now presented with a banquet, and the passion he was showing only drove her to match it. Amelia could hold nothing back, not when each inch of bare skin his long fingers danced across only brought him closer to the damp, aching heat between her legs that was silently crying out for his attention.

  With a fresh, shuddering groan, the headmaster finally broke the kiss only to transfer his mouth to the side of her throat as she bucked against his hand. His teeth tugged at the sensitive skin of her pulse point and she cried out in stunned elation, dumbstruck by the sheer force of the sensations he sent soaring through her veins. All she could do was sob her incoherent delight and wordlessly beg for more when he finally captured her swollen clitoris between his thumb and forefinger.

  “D’ye want me to make you come, Amelia?” Cooper demanded hoarsely, the thick burr of his Scottish accent more pronounced than ever as his breath came in shallow pants that betrayed the strength of his arousal. “I will stop now unless you beg me for it!”

  Broken by all she felt and craved, she pushed the entire length of his body into his and twisted her head back in search of his mouth again, desperate for a way in which to express herself without the shame of having to confess in words. “Yes,” she whispered, jerking uncontrollably when he rolled her clitoris then pinched it sharply to tighten the knot in her core beyond what she had thought herself able to bear. “Oh God, please yes!”

  It seemed her halting, whispered words were enough. With a harsh and triumphant groan, he began to stroke her in an insistent rhythm that sent her flying closer to the precipice with each deft touch, then without warning he pushed two large fingers up inside her tight cunt to stroke her walls in time with the skilled manipulation of her clit that had left her no more than a helpless slave to his will. His lips staked out their claim on hers afresh, and when their eyes locked from just inches apart she could hold back no longer.

  Amelia stiffened, then lurched into a world of pure physical ecstasy, more complete than anything she had ever known. Crippling pleasure consumed her from head to toe. As Cooper crooned his delight and rolled onto his side with her still locked in his embrace, she threw her head back and gave herself over to the soul-defining power of the physical release he had given her. Trapped in this moment with him, he was her world, and to her distress she found she did not want it any other way. If this was what his mere touch could deliver to her, she dared not think what further pleasures lay in store; for he would not release her from his thrall until he had sated himself, she knew that. The truth of it was written all over his face, and yet she could not tear her eyes away from him until finally the fiery throes of her climax abated and she struggled up to sit next to him on the bed.

  The headmaster slowly did likewise, propping himself up on his elbows as her chest heaved. Her hands still shaking wildly, she reached for a sheet to cover herself, but he scowled blackly as he knocked her hand aside and closed the distance between them again. For a dizzying moment she thought he would lay claim to her lips once more, but though they unconsciously parted in supplication, he simply took hold of her bare shoulders and sought out her wide, darkened eyes with his. His face was taut and furiously reddened, but when he finally spoke his voice had regained its normal composure.

  “After dinner tomorrow evening, Amelia, you will accompany me to my cottage.”

  She instinctively shook her head. “I will not –”

  His fingers dug into her shoulders as he sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth. “You will! If I have to drag you there myself, then so be it; but if you drive me to such extremes, you will only suffer all the more for it.”

  “Headmaster, please!”

  “I will hear no more protest! You have had your pleasure tonight, but I will go away unsatisfied. Tomorrow, Amelia, that will be rectified in spectacular fashion.”

  “But my answer is no, sir!”

  “Is that so?” A tiny, mirthless smile broke out on his face to send a violent shiver running down her spine. “Come to me of your own free will, my dear, or I will have you regardless and then announce your misconduct to your colleagues. You would be sent away in penniless disgrace, with no hope of ever attaining as valuable a position as that which you have here at Highdown Hall. I would not want that for you, Amelia.”

  Amelia rolled her eyes in furious disregard as she twisted away from him, beginning to see to her chagrin how skilfully he had manipulated the situation. “Do not waste your breath. The only position you are concerned with my possessing is that which you intend for me to have in your bed, is that not so?”

  His smile widened. “Am I so very transparent?”

  She finally succeeded in yanking a sheet out from beneath him to hold against her bare breasts. “Yes,” she spat. “You know I have no choice, don’t you?”

  “Clearly, for I have manoeuvred this so it would be so.”

  “Then you know too that I won’t be coming to you willingly.”

  “I disagree. You may protest outwardly, but your body proves otherwise; you want me, and you will take just as much pleasure from our tryst tomorrow night as I will. By the time the night is through, all that you are will be mine; if it is not already, that is.”

  Amelia’s breath caught in her throat, and before she could summon up any form of heated protest he slipped down from the bed with a surprising grace and pulled her with him, dipping her low to the ground for one last impassioned kiss before he broke away with smug triumph emblazoned upon every line of his face.

  “Until tomorrow then, Amelia. Sleep well and dream of me.”

  Struck dumb by the fresh eruption of lust that his kiss stirred in her, even in the wake of the powerful climax his touch had delivered, she slumped against the wall and clutched the thin sheet against her breasts, painfully aware how her stiffened nipples stood out sharply through the cotton as Cooper’s dark eyes raked over them before he finally left her in peace.

  The taste of him upon her tongue lingered even now, and Amelia’s trembling legs gave way beneath her as the door closed in his wake. For a moment, the treacherous urge to call after him and beg him to return nearly overwhelmed her, but she choked it back even as her body throbbed and burned in a silent but furious protest at his departure.

  Cooper threatened to ruin everything she held dear – but somehow, she found it impossible to deny even to herself how much she wanted him. It seemed he was right. She belonged to him, and she did not doubt he would soon take every possible advantage of that fact.

  V.

  Lesson Five

  Amelia could not concentrate on the meal in front of her, for she knew without a doubt that at its conclusion, Co
oper would descend from the top table in search of her. The loaded, lustful glances they had exchanged over the course of the meal had made that very clear, and to her consternation each one sent her unwanted desire for him spiralling further out of control. The entire day had been spent in a painful spasm of simmering arousal, unable to focus on any of the marking she had to do when every corner of the school held reminders of its headmaster. By the time she had gone to the dining hall, her heart pounding and a fever already building inside her, she could think of nothing but him.

  His burning stare was now fixed upon her, and she had to clench her lips tightly together to hold back a desperate moan as she felt her nipples stiffen against the confines of her corset. Even from the distance that separated them, Cooper seemed to know all she was battling, for a ghost of a smile curved back his lips as he pushed his plate away and rose to his feet.

  Amelia could barely even breathe, and though she jerked her head from side to side in a tiny, mute plea she did not really mean, he strode towards her. Seemingly oblivious to the wide-eyed stares of the other staff, he stopped next to her chair and pointedly held out his hand for her to take.

  “Walk with me a little while, Miss Montague,” he said, his clear voice carrying across the hall for the benefit of all those watching and listening so intently.

  Her tongue darted out across her lips, but she could no sooner deny herself this now than stop breathing. In thrall to the spell of lust she felt for him, she wordlessly placed her hand in his, her head rolling to the side when the touch of his fingers on hers sent a throb of such desperate longing shooting through her veins that her heart lost a beat. Triumph blazed in his darkening eyes, and he lowered his head towards hers to whisper intimately into her ear as she straightened up next to him.