Temptation by Leda Swann Read Free Book Online Page B

the passion of a lonely man, but with true love .
    I shall send it! Then the die is cast. You will either reply or not. I hope you do.
    With love,
Percy
     
     
    She refolded his letter and put it away at the back of her desk drawer where no one could possibly chance on it. He must be a true rake to write such words to her, but she couldn’t deny that they heated her blood. He described lying with a woman, with her, as pleasure not as a sin.
    She wondered if she would dare to reply to him in the same vein…
    Six or seven of the other girls were already gathered around the table in the parlor. She drew up a chair and joined the group. They did not even notice she came empty-handed.
    “My soldier is asking for a photograph,” one of them said excitedly, waving her letter in the air. “He says he wants to see what his lady correspondent looks like. Do you think I should send him one? I could have a sixpenny tintype taken by the photographer who comes to the park every Sunday.” She turned her head to look out of the window. “He is probably still there now. I could find him if I hurry.”
    “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” another girl ventured quietly. “He might come looking for you when he gets back home. Do you want to be courted by a poor soldier on half-pay?”
    The first girl’s enthusiasm wasn’t quenched. “I’m sure I wouldn’t mind if he did want to court me.”
    Beatrice was silent as the argument raged around her, lost in thought. Should she send a picture of herself to Captain Carterton, as he had asked her to? On the whole, she didn’t think so. She was still walking out with Dr. Hyde. Not that you could call him her sweetheart, exactly, their relationship was too rational and platonic for such an emotional term. Still, she didn’t want the captain to know her as anything other than words on a piece of prettily scented stationery. He was her fantasy; he had no place in the reality of her life. She wasn’t sure why she balked at the thought of sending him a picture, except that it would make their correspondence seem too real.
    It was a pity that her relationship with the captain, if you could call an exchange of letters a relationship, was a hundred times more affectionate than Dr. Hyde’s tepid courtship. The captain’s letters were so much more intelligent and full of personal insight than Dr. Hyde’s conversation. So much warmer and more loving. So much more appreciative of her as a woman. And so much more inclined to make her think of deliciously intimate pleasures.
    Captain Carterton had turned out to be a man of more substance than she had thought at first. He was clearly well educated and interesting, with a turn of phrase that could heat any young woman’s blood. If she were to meet him in society, they might even become friends. Or more…
    “Of course you should send him a photograph if you want to,” Mrs. Bettina said stoutly, putting an end to the argument. “There’s nothing wrong with writing to a lonely soldier, and no harm in sending him a picture. A modest picture, of course.”
    “I’m not so sure about that,” one of the others said darkly. “Don’t we all know what he wants to do with a photograph of a pretty girl. The saucier it is, the better he’ll like it.” She made an obscene gesture with one of her hands to make it quite clear to what she was referring.
    The girls all laughed, and some of them, Beatrice among them, blushed. It seemed somehow wrong to think of the soldiers off fighting for their country as…as doing that , just as if they were grubby schoolboys.
    But when Captain Carterton described it to her in his letters, he made it sound so delightful, as if bringing himself to orgasm while thinking of her was an act of love for her. She liked to imagine him lying in his tent, one hand stroking his stiff cock while the other held a picture of her. It made her want to do just the same, only with a picture of him.
    Maybe she would send him a