The Master's Lessons (6 page)

With a
strangled groan, he rose to his feet without breaking the kiss for
even a moment. She arched into his possessive hold and wrapped her
legs around his waist as he stumbled towards the door, still
kissing her like a man possessed even as they began to ascend the
narrow staircase. There could be only one conclusion now, and she
thrilled in that certainty, in thrall to the fever of his
touch.

Her low whimper
must have spoken her longing without words, for when they reached
the bedroom nestled into the eaves Cooper set Amelia back on her
feet, one hand in the small of her back and the other resting
possessively against the nape of her neck to keep her head tilted
up towards his. He was breathing heavily, and his grey eyes had
darkened so much now they seemed almost black in the moonlight that
illuminated the room.

“Forget him,”
he said quietly, though the fire in his eyes had not abated in the
least despite the heady distraction of their kiss. “You are mine
now, Amelia, and I will withstand no disobedience, least of all
here in the bed we will share. Tell me...”

Her breath
hitched as he trailed off, and she instinctively raised herself up
onto the tips of her toes to rest her hand against his flushed
face. “Yes, sir?”

Cooper tensed
as his intent stare flickered down to where her fingers were now
tracing the chiselled contours of his jaw. “Tell me, my dear; whom
were you thinking of when I kissed you?” he finally said.

Amelia dropped her gaze, unable to meet his eyes as she spoke
the word that would damn her. Instead, she buried her face in his
shoulder even as her fingers grew bolder, moving across to dance
over the bow of his parted lips. “You. Only
you
.”

It was the
truth.

The headmaster
exhaled, but when she dared look up at him again there seemed to
still be a hint of caution written upon his face. His head was
cocked to the side, and he lifted one brow as he slowly nodded then
turned her to face the bed behind them, still without releasing his
hold on her. The bedroom was laid out before her, but though
Amelia’s eyes skimmed briefly over the stool beneath the window and
the binoculars sat on them, as a fresh shiver of arousal sped
through her veins her incredulous gaze came to rest upon the bed
itself. The riding crop Cooper had used with such skill yesterday
lay on top of the sheets, and upon catching sight of it she froze
in his arms.

“Astute as
ever, my dear,” he said with a mirthless smile. “I presume you
understand just why that little treasure is waiting for us?”

Her tongue
darted out across her lips. “For...for us to use?”

“Aye, and I
think we shall use it to drive Lord Frederick from your mind once
and for all,” the headmaster said grimly.

“Am I not here
with you?!”

“Only because I left you with no choice! Deep down, there is
still a part of you that fights this, a part of you still belonging
to
him
– and that
is the part I would possess in its entirety.”

Cooper finally
loosened his grip on her feverish body for long enough that she
could break away from him, but she took no more than two steps
backwards before his hand shot out to close around her wrist.
Without seeking permission, he pulled her close again and then
wound one hand through her loose hair to draw her mouth towards
his. A low moan of desperate longing rose out of nowhere to escape
her lips, and his eyes seemed to soften when she willingly accepted
the kiss he offered without words. She needed this, more than she
had ever known she could need anyone else, and even if Cooper was
as intent upon driving Freddie from her mind as he seemed to be,
Amelia was convinced now the loss would be worth it.

Powerless to
defy this any longer, she forced her right hand between their
bodies to undo the buttons of his shirt, uncharacteristically
clumsy as her fingers shook against the taut heat of his chest. His
mouth on hers steadily coaxed her arousal higher and higher, and
when his shirt finally fell open, fierce triumph sang through her
heated veins. She did not need to ask, for the headmaster had made
it all too plain how much he too wanted this. She tugged away both
the shirt and the dinner jacket that covered it, then broke the
gentle kiss with a cry of elation as her hands eagerly roamed
across the sparse hair that spread across his chest.

Cooper groaned,
but though his jaw was now clenched he allowed Amelia the time she
craved to explore all she had exposed. The cut of the tailored
suits he always wore had hidden from her a surprisingly muscular
and defined body, and she felt him tense further as her hands
drifted outwards to rest against his biceps. He would easily
dominate her when they reached the bed – and that thought thrilled
her deeply. With a forceful shiver that chased down the entire
length of her spine, she shook her head in a futile attempt to
clear it and slowly eased her right hand beneath the waistband of
his trousers as she fell to her knees before him.

He sucked in a
sharp breath as he wound one hand through her loose hair, guiding
her head towards his hips in a wordless command she followed
without hesitation. Impatiently tugging his belt buckle open with
her teeth, Amelia cried out in delight as her hand closed around
the rock hard shaft of the headmaster’s cock, for as his trousers
fell away it was revealed to her hungry eyes. He had worn nothing
beneath his trousers, and when her shaking hands pulled away his
socks and shoes, he stood bare before her, not flinching under the
weight of her lustful stare. Overcome by the force of the desire
she felt for this man against her will, she glanced up to meet his
eyes and placed a gentle kiss against the head of his cock. A tiny
drop of pre-cum already glistened there, and she found it
impossible to resist the compulsion to wrap her tongue around it
and revel in both its salty taste upon her lips and the loud,
desperate groan that erupted from the back of his throat in
response to her bold touch.

“Damn, Amelia,
that is glorious!” he said hoarsely. “I shall have to force you to
follow through upon the offer I see in your eyes some other time,
but I have plans for you tonight that I will not be distracted
from.”

Amelia
deliberately moistened her lips as she held his gaze. “The
crop?”

“Aye, but first
it is my turn to do as you have been doing,” Cooper said, the burr
of his low voice as intimate a caress as anything his hands could
deliver. “I would have the pleasure of undressing my woman, Amelia,
and finally having beneath my hands all of the joys your body will
give to me. To your feet.”

It took her a
few moments to obey, for hearing him describe her as his woman had
felt so right it took her breath away. As she steadied herself, he
reached down to take her hand and pulled her up against the hard
lines of his bare body, so full of promise that it pushed aside all
other thoughts save for how very much she needed this. By the time
his deft fingers flicked open the top button of her blouse, she was
once more a slave to the consuming desire that bound them
together.

“There’s my
girl,” the headmaster said as she arched into his touch, his voice
far gentler than she had ever heard it before. “Give yourself to
me, Amelia, and I promise I will give you in turn all you need. I
am going to undress you now, my dear, and when I am finished there
will not be as much as an inch of your bare body I have not
lavished my attentions upon. Do you like the sound of that?”

With an
impatient sob, Amelia nodded eagerly and lifted her arms, allowing
him to pull the blouse away and begin on the tight corset beneath.
“Very much so, Mr. Cooper!”

Triumphant
approval blazed across his crimson skin, and he rapidly stripped
away the corset then tugged her long skirt down to pool around her
feet. “So damned beautiful,” he muttered under his breath, his
hands already flying to unhook her stockings as he spoke. “So
lovely, Amelia, and all mine tonight. I will make it so you can
think of none but me, I promise you that!”

As he fell
silent he finished undressing her and straightened up to wrap her
naked body in his possessive embrace. For a moment the world seemed
to stand still, contracting until all that mattered was the way
their bodies moulded together as if they had been made to do just
that. When his lips quirked back into a teasing, grim smile and his
hand moved down to cup her ass, pulling her hips to nestle snugly
against his cock, she let loose an incoherent moan and hid her face
in his shoulder, breathing in deeply to allow the scent of musk,
sweat and sex to wind around her as she frantically kissed the
curve of his collarbone.

Cooper gave a
harsh grunt of approval and began to steer her towards the bed as
his hand tightened on her ass, groping firmly and sending tiny
thrills of lust pulsing outwards until without warning he spun her
around and pushed her face-first into the bed. His left hand
pressed down between her shoulder blades to hold her in place, and
with his right hand he reached for the crop. She wanted to fight
against his intent, but her body no longer had that ability. It was
his, and he was clearly ready to take full possession of it.

“
Are you paying attention?” he said, bending low to speak
directly into her ear. The touch of his bare skin on hers and his
warm breath on the nape of her neck was beyond exquisite, and
Amelia near lost her wits, forgetting to answer him until his low
rumble of discontent reminded her he was waiting for her
answer.

“Y-yes,
sir!”

His cock pushed
impatiently against her ass, but to her frustration he showed no
sign of giving into its clear demand. Instead, he straightened up
again and wound his free hand through her hair to force her to look
up at him. “To the matter at hand, then. I told earlier that I
intend to drive Lord Frederick from your mind forever, my Amelia,
and now it is time to begin. Do you understand?”

Her fever
spiked as their eyes locked and he let loose her hair. “Yes.”

The headmaster
stood between her legs and wrenched them further open as her loud,
breathless cries of anticipation filled the bedchamber. “So, tell
me, how many times did you have him stay the night here?!”

“F-five,” she
whispered nervously.

Cooper licked
his lips and his fist clenched around the handle of the crop. “I
did not hear you, Miss Montague. Again!”

Amelia
shamelessly pushed back against him as she buried her face in the
sheets, thrilling in both his mastery of her body and the dark
spark of reckless lust she had seen in his eyes. “Five, sir!”

“As many as
that?” His sharp intake of breath was the only sound in the still
bedchamber, and she tensed until finally he exhaled again. “Very
well. You have earned yourself five strikes then, my dear. Perhaps
you shall enjoy them as much as you enjoyed the punishment I
delivered in the office, and if so you need not be afraid to
demonstrate that to me. Are you ready?”

A desperate
moan spoke her answer for her.

The headmaster
reached out his free hand to caress the side of her flushed face,
then drew his arm back as he took a step away from her. Amelia
heard the swish of the crop through the air, the only warning she
had before the leather stroked firmly across the rounded curve of
her buttocks.

She threw her
head back as her piercing cry rang out, for the stinging pain was
just as much of an elation as it had been the first time he had
struck her. She thrilled in it and welcomed the second blow by
stretching up onto the tips of her toes as Cooper wielded the crop
again, making no effort to disguise his harsh groans of pleasure in
time with her own when the blow struck home.

They did not
speak, for words were no longer necessary to express themselves to
each other. They were one being in two halves, joined by the crop
that was no less than an extension of his hand, and by the time he
delivered the fifth and final blow her lust for him had soared to
dizzying heights. Amelia was openly weeping as she pummelled her
fists into the bed, for the successive blows had left her teetering
on the very brink of her climax, and to know that the headmaster
was so very ready to take her was a frustration she could not
bear.

Cooper wrapped
his body around hers to croon into her ear as his free hand slipped
beneath her to roughly grope at her breasts. “Good girl, Amelia! I
do not think I am wrong in saying that not only are you thinking of
none but me now, but my attentions have aroused you beyond anything
you have ever felt before.”

He was
right.

Dazed by all
she felt, she clung to the only constant in her mind – her lust for
the headmaster. He was all she heard and saw, and she twisted round
in desperation to try to tell him so. No words would pass the tight
lump constricting her throat, though, so with a loud sob she
reached up to fist his hair and draw his mouth towards hers.

He instantly
obliged by giving her the impassioned kiss she craved, brief yet
bruising and laden with the same hunger she felt for him. When he
pulled back again, Amelia was convinced he was finally ready to
claim her, and fierce elation exploded inside her when he reached
between her thighs to firmly stroke her cunt. It welcomed his
intimate touch, and he effortlessly slipped one finger into her as
his breath quickened, then he withdrew it and with a low, muttered
curse, eased the handle of the riding crop inside her.

She instantly
pushed down against it with a mewling whimper, for the heat of
Cooper’s hand still warmed the wooden shaft. She could almost
imagine that it was his cock instead, but she knew that when that
glorious moment came he would hold nothing back. Aching from head
to toe for that to commence, she threw her head back and obediently
rocked on the handle as his deft fingers teased at her slit and he
hoarsely spoke once more.