Wicked Seduction by Jade Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

it won’t be proper for me to remain. Especially since, as you say, we’re not related by blood.”
    “Well, yes, as to that, proper is a rather difficult term, don’t you think? Forgive me, dear, but you do realize that you’re not likely to get a husband, don’t you? You’re much too old and you simply don’t dress to magnify your assets.”
    She frowned, her pride hurt despite her uncle’s apologetic tone. “I dress as I do because I am forced to wear Rose’s cast-off gowns. We are not at all the same size.”
    “But that’s exactly the point, don’t you see? You’re impoverished. A pauper. Without a groat to your name. No one wants to marry a gel too old and poor to boot.”
    Maddy looked away, tears stinging her eyes. It didn’t matter that everything he said was true, that she’d stayed awake nights worrying about just that. It was still cruel of him to say it so openly.
    “Oh, here now, don’t cry. I know it’s hard, but I wanted to put your mind at ease, not worry it further.” With a heavy sigh, her uncle shifted to the edge of the couch such that he sat directly beside her though she was in a chair. “I’m not a man of pretty words. I thought since your father was the same, you wouldn’t need the poetry.”
    “I don’t,” she said, though in her heart she knew she lied. She missed having her father call her beautiful as he chucked her under the chin.
    “Well, then, just listen. You’re used to nice things and good food. You manage a house better than my Susan. And with Rose gone, I might see my way to some money for your gowns and such.”
    “Well, that would be lovely, Uncle, but—”
    “You must call me Frank.”
    Maddy stopped, her breath suspended. Why would he want her to call him . . . A thought crossed her mind, a horrible thought but one she could not shake. “You’re my uncle,” she said a little too tartly. “My uncle Frank.”
    “But only through marriage. Not by blood.”
    She stared at him. And as she looked, he reached out a hand that trembled slightly. It was an odd sight to see because as far as she could remember, he never wavered in anything he did. Unless, of course, he was remembering something especially tender about Aunt Susan. And yet his hand trembled now as he stroked a finger across her cheek.
    “You’re beautiful in your own way, you know that?” he said. “And I want you to stay on after Rose leaves. With me.” He swallowed, his finger slowly outlining her mouth. “Will you, Maddy? Stay with me?”
    She pulled back, horror sickening her stomach. “Uncle, we can’t marry. By law, we’re already related.”
    He flushed, his hand dropped down as he looked anywhere but at her face. “Well, as to that, of course you’re right. Legally, there’s nothing I can do for you.”
    Except dower her appropriately so she would be more appealing to someone else. That, of course, had been her secret hope. That Uncle Frank would become so fond of her that he would set her up properly. But what was happening now was . . . bizarre.
    “Uncle Frank, are you asking me to be your mistress ?”
    “Don’t answer right away, Maddy,” he said. “Just think about the life I give you here, and what you would have out on the street.”
    She blinked, her mind reeling. “You’d throw me out?”
    “Well, I can’t have a proper girl living here when Rose is gone, can I?” he asked, his tone turning hard.
    “But you would accept an improper one?”
    He sighed, the sag in his body showing her that he knew what he was asking of her. He knew what he wanted and how despicable it was. “Think on it, Maddy. What other options do you have? You’ll never make it as a wife to some butcher or baker. That’s not the life you were born to.”
    “I wasn’t born to be your mistress either.”
    He shook his head. “I forget that you are more innocent than you seem. Maddy, girls like you who aren’t proper are im- proper.”
    “Your mistress.”
    “I swear I’ll do right