The Perfect Temptation (62 page)

dragged a breath through his clenched teeth
and tried to

straighten his back.

"No, don't move," Aiden commanded,
pressing his shoulder

back against the wall. ''Where's the closest
physician,

Alex?"

"Six blocks."

He stripped off his jacket and thrust it at
her, saying as he

rose
to
his feet, "Stanch the worst of the bleeding while I

hitch the carriage."

He was gone in the next second. Over the
sound of his getting

the horses from their stalls, Alex righted
his jacket and

surveyed Vadeen's leg. Going clear
to
the bone, it was, by far,

the worst of his injuries.
If
he lived, he might never walk right

again.

"Hanu-"

''Aiden finished the task you began;' she
assured him in

Hindi. “All
is well. We're taking you to a doctor. This is going

to hurt, Vadeen, and I'm sorry to add to
your pain, but I must

or you'll bleed
to
death."

He nodded and sucked one hard breath as she
tied the

sleeve of Aiden's coat hard over the cut
that had opened his

upper thigh from one side to the other. And
then, thankfully,

he went limp and his awareness of the pain
passed into the

oblivion of unconsciousness.

"Mr. Terrell!"

Sawyer. In the doorway and sounding as
though he'd

sprinted from the house.

"We're all right," Aiden replied
over the sound of clinking

tack while Alex tore off the shredded lower
portion of

Vadeen's pant leg and used it to bind the
gaping wound on

his right arm. "And that bastard
deserved to die. Kindly drag

his body out of the way for me."

"What else can I do, sir?"

"Keep Preeya and Mohan out of
here," Aiden answered

crisply. "In fact, take Preeya into the
house and don't let either

one of them out of your sight until we get
back. Here," he

added. "Take this and don't think twice
about using it if you

have to."

Alex was removing what was left of Vadeen's
sleeve and

puzzling that part of the exchange when
Aiden snorted. "For

God's sake, man, hold it firmly by the butt
and at least look

like you know what you're doing with
it."

Aiden had given
him
the gun, she realized as she packed

the fabric into the grisly gash on Vadeen's
side and Sawyer

asked, "And where are you going,
sir?"

"Tell Preeya we'll be late for
dinner," was the only answer

the man got.

"Very good, sir."

The horses snorted and pawed and then there
was the

heavy slap of leather against wood. In the
next second Aiden

was striding into the stall.
"Good," he muttered, reaching

down and sliding his arms under Vadeen's.
"He's not going

to feel the rough handling."

Alex watched in amazement as Aiden hefted
the man's

dead weight up the stall wall and then bent
down to plant his

shoulder in his midsection. Vadeen groaned
as he was bent

double and pulled over Aiden's shoulder. She
trotted after

him and then dashed ahead to open the
carriage door before

he reached it.

Depositing Vadeen on the front-facing seat,
he stepped

back and vaulted out to stand in front of
her. "What the hell

were you thinking, Alex?" he demanded,
his eyes flashing

with anger. "I told you to keep that
horse between you and

the barn. Were you trying to get yourself
killed?"

"Better me than you," she replied
honestly.

He rocked back on his heels and then
instantly leaned

forward, his brows knitted. "I could
turn you over my goddamn

knee," he seethed. "Don't you
ever
do anything like

that again. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you," she countered,
her own anger flaring

and her hands going to her hips as she met
his gaze unflinchingly.

"But it doesn't mean that I'm going to
blithely

obey."

He swallowed and the muscles in his jaw
ticked furiously.

"When we're alone tonight," he
said evenly, emphatically,

''you and I are going to have our first
significant row."

"Good," she retorted, pushing past
him and hopping up

onto the step. "I'm looking forward to
it."

He caught her around the waist and hauled
her hard against

him. "Fair warning," he whispered.
"I'm going to win."

His kiss was fierce and harshly, utterly
consuming. And

beneath the heat of his anger, she felt not
only the eddying

currents of his fear and his relief, but
also the depth of his

caring.
It
was a precious gift she'd thought she'd never receive

and with a grateful sob she accepted it,
melting into

him and surrendering.

He set her from
him
as abruptly and roughly as he'd

seized her. "We're Dot done discussing
it, Alex," he warned.

Ah, but the sparks in his eyes weren't just
those of anger

anymore. Desire and amusement flickered
there, as well.

She turned and climbed into the coach,
saying, "I'm willing

only
if
you promise to kiss me
like
that again."

Grinning and shaking his head, he closed the
door behind

her.

God,
if
he hadn't
known
before
that
Alex had a
backbone of

steel, the last few hours would have Convinced
him
of the

fact. Both he and the doctor had tried to
send her
out
of the

surgery, but she'd adamantly refused. And
then scrubbed her

hands and lent
her
strength and resolve to the suturing and

bandaging. Aiden had seen some men faint
dead away at less,

seen others heave the contents of
their
stomachs on their feet.

But not Alex. Her dress
was
ruined, stained with Vadeen's

blood, and she didn't care. Her hands had
cramped from the

exhaustion of holding the tom flesh in place
while
the
doctor

sewed the wounds closed and
all
she'd done was silently flex

her fingers before moving on to the next.
Vadeen had cried

out in pain and she'd tenderly spooned the
opium tincture

into
him
and whispered encouragement until the drug dulled

the edges of his pain. And now ... Now she
was bearing a

fair portion of Vadeen's weight as they
gingerly guided
him

toward
the
rear door of the Blue Elephant.

"It
is not
appropriate," Vadeen said with a lopsided, drug induced

smile, "for a princess to assist a man
in walking."

''And it is appropriate," she
countered, "for her to stand

idly by and let him fall flat on his
face?"

Aiden chuckled. "Surrender the point
now, Vadeen, and

get it done. You're in no condition to use
the only tactics that

will win the contest. And if you were and
did, I'd kill you.

I'd rather not have to do that."

His head lolled on his shoulders as he tried
to turn it to

look at him. "You have tolerated much,
Aiden."

"Don't tell her,
but
I really haven't been all that
miserable."

He stopped as a sudden realization struck.
''The peacocks."

Alex looked back over her shoulder.
"They're gone."

Thank you,
Aiden offered up to the stars. ''The neighbors

must have finally had enough and taken
matters into their

own hands," he ventured. "Frankly,
I'm surprised they didn't

dispatch them long before now. Lord knows,
I've been

tempted."

"They do smell good," Vadeen
contributed, grinning.

"Have you ever eaten roasted peacock,
Aiden?"

"Can't say that I have," he
admitted, starting them forward

again and wondering why he hadn't noticed
the silence

and the delicious scent the moment he'd
driven into the yard.

It was almost as though, with the death of
Hanuman and the

doctor's assurance that Vadeen would live,
the larger part of

his brain had decided to go on holiday.

"They taste much like chicken. Only
wild."

Of course they did. Everything supposedly
tasted like

chicken, only different. Quail. Pheasant.
Partridge. Dove.

Pigeons. And none of them came even remotely
close to

tasting like chicken. And he knew that
because he'd been

lured into trying each and every one of them
on the same

empty promise. Aiden shook his head and
expelled a long

breath. Lord, the part of his brain that had
remained behind

was frightening in its devotion to the
consideration of the
ir
relevant

minutiae of his experience.

The back door of the store opened and the
brightness of

the lamplight on the other side blinded him.
He blinked into

it, his pulse quickening with apprehension
as he realized that

on the other side of it were a good half
-dozen large men. He

reached back for his gun, remembering that
he'd given it to

Sawyer just as Vadeen spoke in Hindi and
lurched forward,

threatening to pull all three of them off
their feet.

"Your highness," Alex translated,
gasping and struggling

to keep her balance.

His brain returned with an almost audible
snap. The man