Page 25 of Before He Was Her Headmaster

“We may not be her legal guardians anymore,” he snarls. “But we’re the named beneficiaries of her trust fund allowance. So if we say her tuition needs to go somewhere else, it will go somewhere else. Do you understand me?”

That is not fucking happening. I need her here, with me, until we can leave Edgewood behind—together. “Let me be crystal clear, Mr. Murphy. Tuition at Edgewood is non-refundable. And we always make decisions that are in the best interests of our students, not their parents.”

I end the call before saying something else, something I might regret, and Lily and I stare at each other in silence.

“So that was my father, huh?” She shrugs. “He’s nice, right?”

“Do you want to tell me about your trust fund?”

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Why not?”

She doesn’t answer.

I gesture for her to come closer. She cautiously climbs onto the porch, and I duck so we’re the same height so she can see that I’m not angry at her. I never would be. “He doesn’t have any say over what happens next, Lily. You will graduate at the end of term.”

She shudders in relief. “Thank you.”

“If you tell me more about what you know, then I can help you even more.” I suspect her father is misappropriating her money, but I don’t want to tell her that. Not yet.

“My father is a wannabe businessman. He’s also a part-time criminal, but I don’t think he’s good at that, either. My trust fund comes from my grandfather, and it pays for my education—it’s tied up in that, so I need to be a private school, or nobody gets any money from it.”

“You went to a public school for part of last year.”

“They hated that. That’s when I figured out they were taking some of my annual allowance. And they’re allowed to, as long as they pay for my schooling. It’s kind of messed up. My grandfather set it up, and I don’t think this is what he intended. Before he died, he told me I would get access to it when I graduate high school. But that’s been harder than it should be because my….”

When she trails off, I come to a horrible conclusion. Her parents are deliberately delaying her graduation. Somehow. It’s madness. Maybe even criminal. But she doesn’t need to worry about that anymore.

Those people have never taken care of her properly. Now I will.

I growl under my breath, and she gives me a look that says she likes it when I get all possessive.

I like it too.

She cranes her neck around me, looking at my house. “Is this where you live? It’s private.”

It sure is. And just like that, my blood heats. I should tell her she can’t be here. Make her go back to the dorms and wait a little longer. But she heard the sharp end of a conversation she doesn’t understand, and I need to make that right first. “This is the headmaster’s residence, yes.”

“It’s nice.” She’s angling for an invite inside.

I want to carry her over the damn threshold. But first, I need to make something crystal clear to her. I catch her wrist, bringing her hand to my chest and her attention to my face. “Lily, I need you to know that when I called your father, it was so I could better understand the situation. I want to protect you so we can be together for real.”

She blinks. “Together?”

Forever, if she’ll have me. “If you want me, when this term ends, I will follow you wherever you go.”

“No way.”

I smile at that. “Would you like that?”

“I was thinking of going to the West Coast.” Her eyes narrow. Testing me. “Pretty far from here.”

The echo of my own fantasy escape isn’t lost on me. “Sounds great.”

She rolls her bottom lip between her teeth. “Why?”

The first answer that rolls through my head is,I don’t know. But that’s a lie. “Because there’s been something between us since that first moment. I walked into that truck stop, and I thought, I want to be with that woman for the rest of my life. And if that scares you, I’ll choke on those words until it doesn’t. But if you’ll—”

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