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possible.”
    Audrey exchanged a look with Josie. “You are completely ruling it out?”
    “You and I were on the wall together, yes, Josie,” Letty said. “And both of us ended up with men Society saw as catches far above our reach. That only happens once. No, I shall be a widow forever, I think. And now we should return to the party—enough of this talk.”
    Josie opened her mouth as if to argue, but Juliet caught her hand and squeezed. The beautiful healer smiled at Letty. “Of course you know your path better than anyone. I hope we haven’t pushed you too hard.”
    “No,” Letty said. “I-I know you have my best interest at heart, all of you. And I appreciate it. I am so very happy to have all of you in my life on a more regular basis again and to spend time with you and your growing families. That is enough for me, I assure you.”
    Audrey didn’t look convinced, but no one said anything else about the subject as they exited the retiring room and made their way back to the ballroom. But as the women fell into a discussion of the current cut of waists on gowns, Letty suppressed a sigh.
    Her family was only trying to help. That was very true. But only she knew the truth about her marriage—and why it would be her only one. There was no other option.
    Even if there was a stirring in her heart that told her she wanted more, it was a foolish notion. She had come to accept that. She had moved on.
     
     

Chapter Three

     
     
    “Give me the reports,” Jack said, trying to keep his expression neutral as he reached out to his right hand man, Hoffman.
    The lined face of the older man was as blank as his own as he handed over a pile of paperwork. Jack sat down at his desk and flopped the stack down in front of himself. He stared without touching it for what felt like forever.
    “You all right, Jack?” Hoffman asked.
    Jack blinked. That was the material question, wasn’t it? Was he all right? The answer was complicated. In a way, he had never been all right . Darkness, pain, loss had been his shadow all his life. But that wasn’t what Hoffman meant. He meant to inquire about Jack’s distraction of late.
    There were many reasons for it. One being some very unexpected thoughts of Lady Seagate that had haunted his dreams in the three nights since he saw her last. He’d thought nothing of her until she came raging across a room at him and revealed herself to be more than he’d suspected. Now he couldn’t get her out of his mind.
    But it was more than just that.
    “I think I know how bad these reports are going to be,” he mused. “And I am making a lame attempt to pretend them away.”
    “Do that and you’ll end up dead,” Hoffman said.
    Ignoring the twisting pain in his chest, Jack forced a laugh. “Plainspoken as always.”
    “It’s what you pay me for.”
    Jack nodded. “Indeed it is. So tell me in the most plain spoken way what these reports say and I’ll read them in more depth today.”
    Hoffman set his legs apart and his hands behind his back in the fashion of a military man, which was what he had been before an injury had forced him out of service and heavy drinking had nearly killed him. When War left him over ten years ago, Jack had found Hoffman, hauled him out of the gutter, sobered him up and eventually put him in charge. He’d never regretted that decision. Hoffman had saved his ass more than once and the men in the gang respected him as much as Jack. Probably more, honestly.
    But Hoffman wasn’t War. That fact was always bitter.
    “Aston was our main rival. Everyone knew that,” Hoffman began.
    “Yes,” Jack said, steepling his fingers in front of him on the desk. Jonathon Aston had been a thorn in his side for years. The man had wanted to take Jack’s place ruling the underground, and he’d been willing to steal and destroy to do so. He’d also nearly murdered War, though that was over Claire, not a territorial dispute.
    Putting a bullet between Aston’s eyes had been no