Well I stuck a resistor and an LED in a breadboard and measured it at various points and sure enough, 2.5V across the LED, 6V across the resistor, and 8.5V across either end from the battery. I guess this will work then. Thanks!
I have to wonder though why none of my searches pulled up any explanations of how to do this. I actually found one circuit using an opamp to do it, and other places suggested diodes in series with the LED.