The Headmaster's Confession by Laurel Bennett Page A

crossed her nose. Not wearing her bonnet outside again, he presumed.
     
    “ But sir,” Miss Houghton began. I held up my hand again, and she pursed her lips, as though she wanted to curse me to the devil and back. Sometimes I wished she would.
     
    “ You may go,” I said. I sighed heavily, templing my hands on the desktop.
     
    Miss Winters frowned and turned toward the door. Where was she going? “Not you, Miss Winters.” I pointed my quill at Miss Haughton. “You.”
     
    The lady sputtered as thought she’d just choked on her tea. “But my lord, I need to tell you what she has done. It’s unseemly. She influences all the other girls. And if she’d not expelled, she’ll ruin them all.”
     
    I highly doubted this little slip of a girl could influence all the others. She was fairly quiet, even if she didn’t conform to certain social constrictions. I raised my brows at Mrs. Haughton and glared, throwing my best stare at her. “You. May. Go.” It was only then that I realized she had a birch stick in her hand. The kind she liked to use to punish the girls. I’d never, not once, used any such item. I’d never raised a hand to a single one of the girls. I might send them to their room without supper. Or force them to read. But I’d never harm one of them. Miss Haughton shuffled in her place, the birch stick whapping her leg as she fidgeted. Then she finally said something beneath her breath and started for the door. “Wait,” I called. She turned back to me with an anxious look. “I’ll have the birch stick.” I held out my hand and I waited for her to turn it over. She looked none too pleased as she placed it in my palm. Then she turned and quit the room, her skirts flurrying about her. I had no desire to see her ankles. Not one bit. Miss Winters, on the other hand…
     
    My cock twitched at the very thought of her. I still couldn’t stand. “Close the door,” I said.
     
    Miss Winters looked at me as though I’d grown two heads, those blue eyes blinking in question. I didn’t have time to wait for the erection to pass. I lowered my forehead into my palm again and massaged it. “Close the blasted door, Miss Winters,” I repeated. She moved quickly to do so. She obviously warred with the impropriety of it. But I had a feeling Miss Haughton would be nearby, just waiting to hear my verdict about her behavior. And I didn’t want to give the woman the satisfaction.
     
    I pointed to the chair across from my desk. “Sit, Miss Winters.”
     
    Miss Winters did so, gingerly, balancing her bum on the edge of the chair. “I can explain, my lord,” she rushed to say.
     
    God, she was pretty. She stole the words right from my mouth when she looked at my lips. My lips. Good God, I could do wonderful things to her with my lips. I could already taste her on my tongue.
     
    I held up a hand to stop her explanation. “The last time I saw you, it was because you absolutely refused to wear appropriate underthings. You put the headmistress in a fit. Has that been remedied?” Great. Now I could only think about her unmentionables. I imagined her perched on the edge of her chair in nothing more than her corset and stockings with her breasts spilling over the top. I’d lift them and tug her nipple into my mouth. I wanted to see her face as I tasted her. I shook the thoughts away. This was doing nothing but making the ache in my manhood worse.
     
    “ That was a foolish thing to involve you in, in my opinion,” she said, her voice quavering a bit.
     
    “ Indeed.” It was a foolish thing to involve him in. Miss Haughton should have known better. But my eyes strayed down Miss Winters’ torso. She was slim in all the right places. And plump in all the other right places. “Are you wearing one now?”
     
    She fidgeted only slightly, and a blush crept up her cheeks. “I am.”
     
    “ So you are a good girl.” I didn’t mean to say that aloud. But it was in my head, and evidently, my tongue was loosened