Free Seduced by Jess Michaels Page A

sliding over next to Letty and wrapping an arm around her for a hug. “How selfish of us not to realize how keenly you feel that. What can we do to ease the pain? Invite you to more events?”
    Mary nodded swiftly. “Or perhaps Edward and I could introduce you to more people?”
    Audrey and Claire exchanged a quick look, and then Audrey said, “Josie, Mary, I think she means she is lonely, er…in the bedroom. Is that correct, Letty?”
    Letty nodded as her thoughts strayed to nights when she and Noah had laid in the bed in her chamber and he’d just smoothed her hair so gently. It had been almost perfect.
    “Well, yes,” she admitted with a blush. “Although what Josie and Mary implied is what I often feel, what Audrey says is true also. Someone suggested I take a lover…” She trailed off with a humorless laugh as she thought of what Jack had said to her after he kissed her senseless.
    It’s a shame if that is true, Letitia. A woman like you should be conquered, pleasured, given to and taken from.
    She had repeated those two sentences in her head so many times that she could all but hear them echoing in her mind, spoken in Jack’s deep, seductive voice.
    She blinked to clear her mind and found that the five women were all looking at her again, this time in various levels of contemplation.
    “You know, it isn’t the worst idea,” Mary said, surprising Letty by breaking the silence.
    Letty’s mouth dropped open in shock as she pushed from the settee and backed away from the others. “You cannot be serious.”
    “Mary is correct, though I never would have thought she’d have such scandal in her,” Audrey said with a laugh. “Brava, Mary!”
    Mary waved off her support with a blush.
    “You are a widow,” Juliet said. “Even I know the rules of Society are much more lax when it comes to your conduct, especially if you are discreet in your arrangements . And there are many very nice gentlemen who are not ready to wed or are widowers, who wouldn’t mind a dalliance. I’ve seen it many times as a healer.”
    “People just tell you about things like that?” Letty said in shock.
    Juliet smiled and her empathetic expression drew Letty in. “As their healer, they trust me. And I have never given them any reason to regret that trust.”
    Josie stood and moved toward her. Letty waited for the voice of dissent, for Josie was certainly the most quiet and demure of the women. Only when Josie caught her hands, there was a light in her eyes Letty had never seen there before.
    “You and I were on the wall together a long time,” her friend said. “I don’t know what the circumstances of your marriage were, I would never think to pry. But I will say that passion is a rare and precious thing, Letty. It can help with the healing of a great many pains. You shouldn’t dismiss the possibility out of hand.”
    Letty pulled away and paced to the window. “You have all gone mad.”
    None of them answered, which left Letty to ponder what they’d said. They had no idea the truth, no idea that she couldn’t pursue a gentleman with this wild plan. If a man in her circle found out the truth, he might not be able to stop himself from telling it. She refused to do that to herself, to Noah, to his family.
    But what about a man outside of Society? A nagging voice inside of her whispered that question, then swiftly turned her mind back to Jack. A man like him had no influence in her world. Even if she couldn’t hide the truth from him, it was less likely he could later use it against her.
    And to be honest, she wasn’t sure he’d even try. Jack traded in secrets, but tawdry ones like hers? Was he that kind of man?
    “You are obviously considering it,” Audrey said with a half-smile. “What is holding you back?”
    “Aside from the shock of such a suggestion, I suppose I’m not certain how one would go about even arranging for such a thing,” Letty admitted, trying to picture how she would approach Jack…or any