Free Immortal With a Kiss by Jacqueline Lepore Page B

heaviest burden to bear. My father used to say that, an admonition I did not need for it was my usual impulse to maintain scrupulous honesty—or at least it used to be, before all this business with vampires started. I used to speak frankly as a habit, and disliked deceit of any kind.
    Thus when the headmistress called me to her office unexpectedly a few days later, all the lies I had told to get myself this position sprung instantly to mind, and I had but one, urgent thought: Caught!
    She kept me waiting, and I used the time to contemplate the thorough humiliation I was sure awaited me. After a half hour, Miss Sloane-Smith glided in with an imperial air, and I stood, ready to take the storm on full force, for it was no less than I deserved.
    However, what followed was not accusation and dismissal. She made her way to the desk and said: “You are faring well in your new post, Mrs. Andrews.”
    She spoke it as if this displeased her, although I could not imagine why it would. I murmured a modest thanks.
    “And how do you find your students?” she asked.
    “Interesting,” I said. She said nothing more, so I filled the silence with, “I enjoy our discussions immensely.”
    “Really.” Her tone was flat as she lifted her gaze to mine. “I am so glad you are enjoying yourself.”
    I smiled, pretending I missed her sarcasm. “I doubt The Inferno is any young girl’s idea of pleasure reading, but they do engage in the discussion and practice their conversation skills. It is a good exercise.”
    She sniffed. “There is no indication of anyone with intellectual leanings, I trust.”
    I knew the correct answer was no. The girls were being trained to be appropriate foils for men to wax prosaic, an audience merely, never the orator. “We speak in terms of morality, at least how Dante envisioned it.”
    “Very good. And what of Miss Kingston? It is up to you to see she does not prove impertinent.”
    She meant Margaret. “Indeed, she is challenging each and every day. But I can manage her.”
    She sniffed, her eyebrows twitching to indicate a grudging approval. “The girl is incorrigible. Her family is new money, you know. Crude people, made their fortune in trade.” Her look of distaste turned sly. “But they are very wealthy.”
    The conversation lapsed, and I assumed it was over. “Very well, then,” I murmured and made to step past her to exit the room.
    She held up her hand. “There is another matter,” she said with a twitch of her pointed nose, and I knew that whatever it was, it was the true reason why she had summoned me. I also saw she was deeply displeased and doing a poor job of covering it. “I have received an invitation to a dinner party being given at Holt Manor. I was not aware you had made the acquaintance of Lord Suddington.”
    At the sound of his name, my heart gave an unexpected and slightly thrilling little leap. “We dined together at the Rood and Cup several times while I was staying there.”
    “Indeed.” The single word could have frozen seawater. “It seems he regards you two to have struck up something of a friendship. He and I have known each other for some time, of course. We are distantly related, cousins, and our families have been involved with the Blackbriar School for generations. His father was a member of the board of trustees at the time I was appointed headmistress and Lord Suddington has been an enthusiastic member of the board since he returned to the area.”
    “I did not realize.”
    She preened. “Did you not realize he is an important man in the county? Well, he most certainly is, and as such he is very attentive to his social duties as a leader of the community. His guest lists are unfailingly comprised of local luminaries. And yet, for some reason, he has seen fit to invite you to his upcoming dinner party.”
    My surprise was too great to hide. “How kind of him.”
    “Well, it is not done, you see, the staff socializing freely with the local gentry. Now we