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“Don’t plan on ever returning to St. Gert’s because I’m dismissing you. If you set foot on the property again, I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”
“Of course I intend to go back. Everything I own is there.”
“It’ll be packed up and sent to you.”
She wouldn’t even get a chance to say good bye, but she knew she had to pick her battles, and she couldn’t afford to think about that. Instead, she had to concentrate on all the girls who depended on her.
“Very well, Hugh. But if you don’t want chaos reigning at St. Gert’s, I suggest you replace me with Penelope Briggs. She’s highly competent, and she’ll do an excellent job.”
“That ruddy-faced woman? The one with the awful braying laugh?”
Penelope might be loud, but she was also wonderfully cheerful and extremely intelligent. Hearing her dismissed that way made Emma bristle, but she did her best to hide it. “She gets on well with the staff and the girls. She’s also extremely well-organized. You couldn’t find anyone better.” Except me, she wanted to say. I was the best headmistress St. Gert’s ever had.
He shrugged. “Since she won’t have the job long, I suppose it won’t make any difference.”
“What do you mean?”
He regarded her with a self-satisfied smirk. “I’m going to sell the school to a developer, Emma. I believe I mentioned that possibility.”
Her breath came out in a slow hiss. He wanted his revenge, and he knew exactly how to take it. “You miserable worm.”
“I don’t think you have room to call anyone names, you pathetic excuse for a woman. And I’m warning you right now that you’d better keep quiet about your perversion. I won’t have anyone knowing that a lesbian ever served as the headmistress of St. Gert’s.”
She couldn’t do this any longer. She’d lost everything that counted, and at least she would accept defeat as herself and not someone else. “I’m not a lesbian,” she said quietly. “I kissed Torie because I was desperate to get rid of you.”
“You’re lying.”
She took a deep, steadying breath. “If I were a lesbian, I wouldn’t be ashamed of it, but I’m not. I told you from the beginning that I didn’t want to marry you. Not only did you refuse to listen, you blackmailed me.”
“I did no such thing.”
“I don’t know what else you’d call it. You threatened to sell St. Gert’s if I didn’t comply with your wishes. I love that school. You didn’t leave me any other option.”
He drew himself up, and his chest expanded pompously. “You’re deluded! As if I would have to force any woman to marry me. My name is one of the oldest in England.”
Once again she was reminded of how useless it was to argue with him. When it came to his own self-importance, Hugh Holroyd had no match. She fired her final salvo, knowing how flimsy it was even as she spoke. “I’m warning you right now that, if you close St. Gert’s, I’ll do my best to destroy you.”
Her threat hardly brought him to his knees. Instead, he sneered at her. “What could a nobody like you do to destroy someone like me?”
“I could tell the truth.”
He looked bored.
“That’s really all I have to do, you know. Oh, I don’t possess your lofty media contacts, but I’m well-acquainted with Colin Gutteridge at the Lower Tilbey Standard, and I taught Evelyn Lumley’s daughter. Evelyn is the home and garden reporter for Lower Tilbey’s radio station. She’s a magician with roses, so she has a very loyal group of listeners. I admit my contacts are humble ones, but even a small stone causes ripples, and both of them are quite loyal to me. They’ll be more than happy to report my side of the story.”
“No one will believe them,” he scoffed. “You can’t prove a thing.”
“Perhaps not. But the speculation will be messy.”
“Do you really think your unimportant little friends could hurt someone in my position?”
“I fight with what I have,” she said simply.
She had the satisfaction of seeing that she had his attention. Perhaps her small threat would make him think twice.
He shot his hand toward the door. “Get out of my sight. And don’t expect any decent schools in England to hire you because I’ll make certain that doesn’t happen.”
Did he really have so much power? She doubted it, but she also knew he could make it impossible for her to secure the type of position she was qualified to hold.
