Page 9 of Learning Little Lizzie

Sympathy stirred in Samuel’s chest as he watched the struggle play out on her face. It was clear he’d already pushed her well out of her comfort zone, but it was equally as clear that she wasn’t ready to admit it.

“No, Sir,” she said stiffly after several long moments of that silent struggle.

“Then Samuel Eaton will remain your guardian. You are dismissed.”

“But—”

“You are dismissed, Eliza.”

Eliza’s expression shifted through so many emotions all at once, Samuel couldn’t place them all. But the most prominent was confusion as she shifted from foot to foot exactly like the naughty Little she claimed she didn’t want to be. “Please, can’t we talk about this?”

“No. It’s clear Samuel has already made more of an impression on you in the past hour than I’ve managed to make over the past two years. I think leaving you in his capable hands might be the best decision I’ve ever made.”

Taking that as his cue, Samuel rose from his chair. “Come on, Eliza. We need to stop by the gift shop to pick up a few things, and then we need to gather your belongings from your room.”

“What? You can’t move me out of the dorms! That’s not fair!”

“Fair or not, I want you where I can keep a close eye on you at all times. My apartment has two bedrooms.” Which he’d thought was odd at the time, but now he was realizing Derek had been betting on him taking on the role of Eliza’s guardian the whole time.

“Ugh. Maybe I should just leave.” Eliza’s voice was thick, as if she were holding back tears. “It would serve you both right for being such jerks about this whole thing.”

“I’ll be sad to see you go, but I understand if that’s what you want,” Derek said, the truth of his regret ringing in his words. “But if you decide to go that route, simply let Samuel know, and I’ll have Erika get started on the transfer paperwork.”

The color was back in Eliza’s face now, twin red flags of it flying high on her cheeks as she turned and stomped out of the office. Samuel watched her go before turning to Derek with an apologetic smile. “I am sorry she got away from me and interrupted your time with Luna.”

“It’s fine.” But Derek’s dismissive wave held enough irritation to let Samuel know it wasn’t entirely “fine”. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Oh, I plan to. Of that, you can be absolutely certain.”

CHAPTER 4

She’d never met two more stubborn, bullheaded, self-righteous men in her life. Without bothering to spare a glance for Erika, she stormed out of Master Derek’s office to the lobby and kept walking.

Under no circumstances was she going to the gift shop with that-that man to indulge all his Little girl fantasies.

No. Fucking. Way.

So she kept walking, ignoring his voice behind her yelling for her to stop. Ignoring the curious stares of the other Ranch residents and guests, she picked up her pace and hurried toward the outer doors. Toward the dorms.

Toward freedom.

But just as she was reaching for the door, a hand clamped around her arm, hauling her up against a shockingly hard body. Somehow she’d missed exactly how sturdy Professor Samuel Eaton was when she’d been draped over his knee for her “no longer a Big girl” spanking.

“Where do you think you’re going, little girl?”

“My dorm,” she snapped, jerking against his hold. But his grip didn’t loosen in the slightest.

Even worse, he didn’t look mad about her escape attempt. If anything, he simply looked amused, as though her disobedience was nothing more than entertainment for him.

Which, of course, only fanned the flames of her own fury even higher.

“Please let me go.” The words were uttered through clenched teeth, because she knew damn well if she opened her mouth to speak, the disrespect that would fly from her tongue would land her in the most trouble she’d ever been in. Ever.

And she’d been in a lot of trouble during her stay at Rawhide.

“Not just yet. We have some shopping to do.”

“No!” Her outraged shout had even more people turning their direction. Normally, she wouldn’t mind giving them a show. Half the fun of being a brat at Rawhide was having all eyes on her when Master Derek or any of the other staff publicly took her to task.

---