Chapter 8

Truth be told Seamus preferred men to women when it came to bedroom antics and the only other person who knew was his best friend, the daughter of a judge. An innocent friendship that left him forever doomed.

Bridgette Dempsey used to joke about the woman who kept her family’s house, suggesting the buxom woman might dabble in unmentionable dark practices. How quickly it stopped being funny after a late summer party at the judge’s manor. Seamus had slipped away with Bridgette, the poor girl heartbroken over the arrangement of her marriage to a much older man. She believed firmly in love and wanted nothing more than to marry the son of a local merchant.

Seamus had taken her in his arms, there under the twinkling blanket of stars, offering her what comfort he could. He understood, perhaps better than most, how she felt.

At the time it seemed innocent, a moment between friends.

If only he knew what waited for him later in the night.