Heaven Bound (A Blakemore Family Book: Madame Lou Series Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

might want to open up that London office my partner and I had been considering recently.”
    “You are planning on staying in London?” Adeline asked trying to hide her surprise. She hadn’t expected the possibility that she might actually run into Jack after she had married her titled gentleman.
    “I’m considering it.” Jackson leaned back as the waiters began serving dinner. “I have no reason to go back to New York. Jeffrey can run the American offices without me and I can expand the business in Europe.”
    The thought made Adeline decidedly uncomfortable. It was one thing to be married to a man she probably was not going to be in love with, but it was quite another matter altogether to have Jack around to observe her in such a situation. If it was anyone other than Jackson Bradley, it might not bother her so much, but since she had always thought of him as the one man she could never have but who was everything she had ever hoped the man she did marry would embody—well—she didn’t want to have to think about it. It was unnerving to imagine having to face Jack once her wedding night was over, especially after what she had witnessed all those years ago.
    Images from the past flashed in Adeline’s mind and she tried to think of anything else. But once she let loose that particular memory, there was very little she could do to stop it.
    She’d been barely eighteen and Papa was on one of his long trips. Clara had seen how lonely Addie was and invited the girl to stay with her and Jack. Adeline had just discovered the book written by Mrs. Van Vorst, The Woman Who Toils , which described how she had disguised herself as a factory worker and investigated the plight of girls and women who labor for a meager living. It had been a pivotal moment for Adeline as she suddenly realized in that instant that she wanted to help in the reform movement.
    Even though it had been the middle of the night, Adeline was so excited that she couldn’t help herself, so she went running through the Bradley mansion to tell Clara about what she had decided. Not wanting to scare her friend by waking her too suddenly so late at night, Adeline had entered Clara’s bedroom quietly. But her friend wasn’t asleep nor was she alone. Instead, Addie found herself observing one of the most intimate moments imaginable between a husband and wife. She froze in her steps and held her breath as she saw Jackson looming above Clara, both completely naked. Their bodies were slick with sweat, gleaming in the moonlight that streamed in through a window. Hidden in the shadows, neither of the Bradleys saw Adeline standing there, transfixed by what she was observing. Jack was touching Clara’s breasts and kissing her while moving over her body in a rhythm that sent foreign tremors through Adeline’s own body. She watched as Jack pressed himself into Clara’s flesh over and over and over again until the muscles in his back flexed and he cried out, finally collapsing into the sheets.
    Breathless from what she had just seen, Addie snuck back to her own room and crawled under the covers. She knew what she had just witnessed—intruded upon, really—and she knew it had been wrong to stay and watch. But she’d been hypnotized by Jack’s beautiful body and the way he and Clara had moved and been joined together. An urgent thrumming in her belly and below had been awakened by what she’d seen that night and every time she thought of it, it set her blood on fire and created a need in her that could not be quenched.
    “Miss James, oh dear, Miss James, are you alright? You don’t look at all well. You didn’t touch your trout almandine and you’ve barely noticed the other dishes presented.”
    “I’m fine, just not very hungry.” Addie said hoping no one noticed that she sounded as breathless as she felt. She tried to turn her attention back to the conversation at the table. “Are you really going to stay in England, Jack?”
    “I was just telling your