The Perfect Temptation Read online

  ''How old is this child?" Aiden asked, hoping to move

  matters along now that they'd dispensed with her general

  family and employment history.

  She didn't look at him-not that he'd expected her to and

  said to Barrett, "He's now ten."

  Again Barrett nodded. "And why do you believe him to

  be in danger?"

  ''I've noticed that we're being followed when we move

  about town, Mr. Stanbridge. I'd like to think that it's nothing

  more than a cutpurse surveying a possible victim, but, given

  our circumstances, I can't afford to assume that it's anything

  so benign."

  She considered a cutpurse a benign threat? Jesus. "If

  this ... " Aiden knit his brows. "What did you say his name

  is?"

  "I didn't," she replied coolly. "It's Mohan."

  With a nod, he went on. "If Mohan's father is so concerned

  about his son's safety, why didn't he send an army

  with you for protection? Why are you in a position to have to

  seek it from us?"

  She set the cup and saucer on the desk and turned slightly

  in her chair to face him squarely. She was at a disadvantage

  in having to look up at him, but she compensated for it well.

  As though speaking to a dullard, she said with careful measure,

  "An army would draw attention, Mr. Terrell. Drawing

  attention to yourself also draws the danger you're seeking to

  avoid. Mohan's father chose a safer course and sent two of

  his most trusted men with us, posing as household servants.

  "One died of illness while we were at sea. Rather than

  risk betraying our whereabouts by sending for a replacement,

  I decided to make a go of it with the one remaining

  guard. And, as I expected, his protection proved to be quite

  sufficient. Unfortunately, four months ago he was an innocent

  bystander caught up in a street altercation. While he

  survived the assault, he sustained an injury to his head that

  left him partially paralyzed and with the mind of a child.

  The doctors said there was nothing to be done to improve his

  condition and so, three weeks ago, I regretfully sent him

  back to India and his family. At the time I did so, I also sent

  word of our situation to Mohan's father and asked that he

  send replacements. Until they arrive, I'd like to employ

  Mr. Stanbridge's services to ensure that Mohan is kept safe."

  Barrett, not him, Aiden noted. There was a God and He

  was indeed benevolent. But as long as he had her attention,

  there was no point in wasting it since-for some odd, unknown

  reason-he enjoyed the fact that his mere presence

  seemed to irritate her. It certainly wasn't very gentlemanly

  to goad her, but then, he'd given up being a gentleman quite

  some time ago.

  "Why didn't you send word to Mohan's father when the

  guard was injured?" Aiden asked. "Why did you wait until

  you were in a desperate situation?"

  He saw her jaw tighten, heard her draw a long, slow breath.

  Her eyes bright with anger, she said with far more calm than

  he expected, "I had hoped that he would recover, Mr. Terrell.

  That sending word of any sort wouldn't be necessary. There

  are people who will be watching for it and attempt to trace it

  back here to Mohan. Contact is always risky and to be

  avoided if at all possible."

  "If these people were to find the boy," Barrett asked

  quickly, “What would they do to him?"

  "They will initially hold · him and make a ransom demand,"

  she supplied, turning away from Aiden. "In the end,

  though ... They will brutally kill him."

  And you couldn't have guessed that for yourself, Barrett?

  "It could take months for Mohan's father's guards to arrive,"

  his friend offered in what Aiden recognized as the

  opening gambit in the fee-negotiating phase of the meeting.

  "I understand that, Mr. Stanbridge." She slipped her right

  hand into the folds of her silk skirt as she continued. ''And

  I'm prepared to pay whatever your charges will be for the

  duration."

  ''They will be considerable," Barrett countered in a soothing,

  clearly preparatory tone. '

  "Mohan's father is a generous man who cares deeply for

  his son," she replied, extracting her hand from her skirt In it

  was a black silk bag, drawn closed by a golden cord. Handing

  it across the desk, she added, "He provided me with the resources

  to properly care for his son under any circumstances."

  Aiden watched over his shoulder as Barrett untied the

  knot in the cord, pulled open the top of the bag, and poured

  the contents into the palm of his other hand. It took every bit

  of Aiden's self-control to keep his jaw from dropping at the

  sight of the diamond-and-ruby necklace. The setting was

  gorgeous, the stones brilliant and clear. It was small and delicate,

  but that didn't mean that London's elite wouldn't kill for the chance to own it.

  "If you would prefer cash," she offered as Barrett dropped

  it back into the bag, "I can see to the conversion of the piece

  myself."

  Barrett shook his head, stood, and slipped the bag into his

  coat pocket. ''That won't be necessary, Miss Radford."

  Aiden expelled the breath he'd been holding and considered

  the creature sitting in front of the desk. In their brief acquaintance

  he'd learned a few important things about her'

  one of which was that she didn't provide full answers until

  she was backed into a comer and forced to do so. There were

  just a few things he wanted to know before Barrett put the

  necklace in the wall safe and committed one or the other of

  them to the case.

  "Just out .of curiosity," he began. ''Are the Indians going

  to be knocking on our door, asking for the return of their

  crown jewels?"

  "Not at all," she assured him, rising to her feet. ''That

  piece has been in Mohan's family for centuries."

  Ah, she hadn't disappointed him; she'd given him a truth

  but not a full one. "Is Mohan's father the king?" he asked

  bluntly.

  She hesitated before answering. "India has many kings,

  Mr. Terrell."

  "As I'm aware," he countered. "Is Mohan's father one of

  them?"

  Barrett, coming around the comer of his desk intervened

  in their contest of wills. "I must say, Miss Radford, that while

  I deplore Aiden's rather brusque approach, I'm afraid that he

  has a valid.reason for the inquiry. If we're to adequately protest

  the child, we need to know precisely how much consequence

  he represents. It makes a difference in what men are

  willing to do to reach him."

  She looked back and forth between them, clearly trying

  to decide just how honest she was compelled to be. Finally,

  she said softly, "Mohan's father is a raja."

  "And Mohan is the heir to the throne, isn't he?" Aiden

  guessed.

  "Yes."

  "And where is Mohan at this moment?" Barrett asked.

  "With Emmaline Fuller."

  She'd left the boy with an old woman? Good God. "I hope

  she's considerably
rougher around the edges than Sawyer

  is," Aiden observed. "If she's not, then the only thing standing

  between the boy and abduction is a firm commitment to

  protocol."

  With an arched brow, she retorted, 'Tm not a fool, Mr.

  Terrell. I hired two men to stand guard outside her shop until

  I return. They are suitably armed and are rumored to have

  the necessary grit to use their weapons if called upon to do

  so."

  In other words, Aiden silently summarized, she'd hired a

  couple of street thugs. "Why not keep them around until

  Papa Raja can send his own guards?" he asked. ''They

  wouldn't cost you nearly what we will. Why hire us?"

  ''There are certain standards to be maintained," she explained

  crisply. ''The two men on duty this morning are not

  the caliber of men with whom Mohan should be associated

  for any length of time. They will do, however, for the moment."

  "I'm sure they will," Barrett agreed smoothly. "Just as

  I'm sure that you'll find Aiden eminently suitable. He may

  have his faults, but he's a very resourceful man when he puts

  his mind to it."

  "Mr. Terrell is to see to the arrangement for and the scheduling

  of guards?"

  ''No,'' Barrett corrected. 'That's my responsibility. And

  I've decided that Aiden is to be Mohan's protector. From

  dawn to dawn until the raja's man arrives. You and your

  charge will be in very capable hands."

  Aiden could practically hear her mental wheels clicking

  and whirring. What, precisely, she was thinking, he couldn't

  be sure. But he could see that her eyes had darkened and that

  she was chewing on the inside of her lower lip. All in all, the

  signs indicated that she wasn't the font of gushing feminine

  gratitude Barrett had envisioned.

  "Mr. Terrell will be residing with us?" she said after a

  long moment and with a smile that bordered on actually being

  tremulous.

  "It's the best way to ensure the child's safety," Barrett assured

  her. "Unless, of course, such an arrangement gives you

  a significant cause for concern."

  Would she plead her reputation to avoid having to spend

  the next few weeks with him? Clearly, she was mulling over

  some dire vision; she was frowning and worrying the inside

  of her lip again. Aiden decided to give her a bit of a nudge.

  "Having second thoughts, Miss Radford?"

  ''No:' she answered·too qUickly and with a little shudder.

  She recovered her poise and lifted her chin to the haughty

  angle she'd borne when she'd first come into the office. "I

  assume that you will return to your residence for your personal

  items before joining Mohan and myself."

  If she thought he was going to play the dutiful minion for

  her, she was in for a rather rude awakening on the matter.

  ''I'll send for what belongings I'll need," he said, knowing

  that they had a long list of issues to resolve before the hour

  was out. "Where should my man bring them?"

  ''The Blue Elephant Shop in Bloomsbury," she provided,

  rising with a soft rustle of silk.

  Aiden instantly closed his thoughts, afraid that they'd inadvertently

  give him away. Barrett, however, didn't think quickly

  enough to hide his surprise, but covered it well, moving to

  escort her toward the door and saying, "My mother's spoken

  of that shop frequently and quite highly. Apparently it is the

  place for her circle of friends to shop for silver and Far Eastern

  bric-a-brac."

  The rest of their conversation was so softly spoken that

  Aiden couldn't hear it. Not that be cared what they said. he

  silently admitted as he watched them move into the anteroom.

  If he had a gram of brains, he'd slip open one of the

  windows and make his escape while he could. Of course if

  he did. Barrett would come looking for him again, determined

  to fulfill his obligations as a surrogate brother.

  Better, Aiden supposed, to go through the motions and

  appear to be cooperative. It was the easiest way to avoid living

  on Barrett's time schedule for a while. If the duchess had

  any ideas of imposing one of her own in its place, he'd disabuse

  her of that notion along with all the others.

  "Quincy's seeing to her wrap and the hailing of a cab,"

  Barrett announced. coming back into the room and making

  straight for the wall safe. ''I'll send word to Sawyer for you,

  Aiden. If you need anything else, let me know."

  "So tell me," Aiden said. rising from the comer of his

  friend's desk, "am I working on the silver case, as well?"

  "By a stroke of pure luck," Barrett answered. smiling and

  storing away the precious payment. He closed the door of

  the safe and then turned toward Aiden. "Be careful," he added

  quietly. "Our Miss Radford could very well be more than she

  appears to be."

  "Really?" Aiden drawled, heading for the door. "I hadn't

  noticed."

  Chapter 2

  Alex took her seat in the cab, folded her hands in her lap,

  and sincerely regretted that she hadn't had the courage t~

  throw something of a dignified tantrum. Barrett Stanbridge

  was everything that Emmaline had said he was; urbane, gentlemanly,

  the epitome of a professional. His associate, however,

  was another matter entirely: John Aiden Terrell was a

  man barely civilized.

  His hair was too long and too sun-bleached to even approximate

  fashionable. And it was unruly, too. Most men

  combed their locks into a deliberate style of one sort or another.

  But not Terrell; he simply let it tumble wherever it

  wanted. Which happened, she silently groused, to somehow

  perfectly accentuate the most beautiful, intensely green eyes

  she'd ever seen. In the first moments they'd quite simply taken

  her breath away. And then she'd noticed the sardonic, knowing

  glint in them. Combined with his easy, graceful movements

  and his massive shoulders ... She'd thought of tigers,

  of the danger that lurked beneath the indolent manner, and it

  had taken every bit of her self-discipline to suppress the gasp.

  It hadn't been easy, but she'd studiously ignored him and

  eventually recovered some measure of her composure.

  He, of course, seemed to have spent the rest of the inter-

  view trying his best to ruffle it. Positioning himself so that he

  half reclined against the desk with his well-muscled thighs

  within casual glance! It was patently obvious that he had

  abandoned the major tenets that ruled the public conduct

  of gentlemen. The man was a rake at best At worst, an unabashed

  hedonist

  Yes, she should have spoken up when asked if she had any

  concerns about or objections to the arrangements Mr. Stanbridge

  had made. She should have said that she preferred to

  avoid being in the presence of John Aiden Terrell if at all

  possible, that he made her feel really quite ...

  Well, frightened wasn't entirely accurate. He was so very

  different from all the other gentlemen she'd ever met that

  she couldn't help but be
a bit intrigued by him. Her heart

  skittered when she met his gaze and she held her breath every

  time he opened his mouth to speak. And the way he moved ...

  Good God, the man was nothing short of a feast for brazen

  eyes. It was all most unsettling. Yes, Alex decided, "unsettled"

  was the proper word. John Aiden Terrell made her feel

  horribly unsettled. She should have said that when Mr. Stanbridge

  had asked for any objections.

  But she hadn't said anything of the sort Terrell had goaded

  her until stubborn pride and dignity had seized control of her

  better judgment Now she was stuck with him for the immediate

  future. The only recourse was to make the best of the

  situation, to remember that protecting Mohan came before all

  other considerations. H Terrell proved himself to be anything

  short of stellar at the task. she wouldn't hesitate to send him

  packing back to his employer. With any luck at all, he'd be

  on his way before sunset

  The door of the rented carriage opened and Terrell, his

  sun-burnished head uncovered, bounded in and dropped unceremoniously

  onto the opposite seat. "I presume," he said,

  stuffing his hands into the pockets of his greatcoat, "that

  you've instructed the driver as to your address?"

  The vehicle began to roll even as be asked and so she refused

  to dignify the question with an answer. Instead, having

  decided that there was no time like the present to finally establish