The Perfect Temptation (7 page)

A warm shudder slowly cascaded.
down the

length of her, and she savored
the depth of it, wanting to identify

the feeling it stirred. It most
definitely wasn’t apprehension.

Neither was it anything even
slightly akin to

repugnance. It was almost a
hunger of sorts, a rather pleasant

kind of
...

Anticipation, she realized, her
heart jolting and her

breath catching. Dear God in
Heaven, what was wrong with

her? Distance. She needed to keep
as far away from the man

as she possibly could. If only
she'd spoken up when Barrett

Stanbridge had given her the
chance. If only there was

someone else she could hire.

Alex drew her elbow from his
grasp yet again and resolutely

set off toward the back of the
store, saying crisply,

 
"Follow me, if you
please," hoping that by some great miracle

he'd turn around and walk out of
her life.

Chapter 4

Alex stood in the center of the
front shop, her hands pressed

to her midriff and willing her
heartbeat to slow. It was absolutely

ludicrous to run away from a man
in your own home.

Especially a man who was there to
protect you and those for

whom you were responsible. She
simply had to gain some

measure of control over her
reactions to Aiden Terrell. She

was the employer and he was the
employee. She'd been the

royal tutor, for heaven's sake;
she'd had hundreds-perhaps

thousands-of relationships with
subordinates before. This

one was no different from any of
the others. She closed her

eyes and took a deep, steadying
breath.
"Cool
distance," she

whispered.
"Cool,
cool distance."

The sound of his footfalls on the
stairs sent her heart back

into her throat and shattered her
mantra. Letting her hands fall

to her sides, Alex opened her
eyes and faced him squarely, resolved

to take command of the situation
before he could.

He was just coming off the last
step when she gestured to

the goods surrounding her and
crisply said, ''As you've no

doubt surmised, the main floor is
devoted to the sale of

goods. I've tried to arrange
things so that my customers can

easily visualize the various
objects in their own homes."

He nodded and let his gaze wander
over the displays. ''Did

you bring all of this with you
when you came out of India?"

"Very little of that initial
shipment remains," she supplied,

vastly relieved by the distant
and impersonal tone she heard

in his voice. "I receive
replacement goods from a trader in

Dwarka on a regular schedule. One
is, in fact, due any day."

Casually rubbing a paisley
cashmere shawl between his

fingers, he said, "If he
knows where you are-"

"He's Mohan's favorite uncle
and can be trusted."

Again he nodded. This time,
though, the gesture was accompanied

by first a humming sound and then
a pronounced

silence. After several moments,
he turned to face her,

crossed his arms over his chest,
and asked, "May I pose a

more personal question?"

"I suspect that refusing
wouldn't make any difference in

whether you ask or not."

''True,'' he admitted with a grin
that sparkled all the way to

his eyes. "Let me more
accurately restate the question. If I

asked you a personal question,
would you give me a straight

and honest answer?"

"I can't know the answer to
that," she countered warily,

''until I know what the question
is."

"Fair enough." He
picked up an ornately carved picture

frame and studied it as he asked,
"Why the shop? Why London?

Mohan's father could have bought
a country estate and

tucked you both neatly away in
safe seclusion. Why didn't

he? Why did he choose to
establish his royal tutor as a merchant

in the heart of a huge
city?"

He considered this a personal
subject? God was indeed

merciful and caring. Alex leaned
her hip against the writing

desk and relaxed, suddenly much
more confident in her ability

to manage both the conversation
and Aiden Terrell.

"While, in recent years, the
East India Company may have

crumbled as a governing body of
India," she said, "it's apparent

that British control isn't going
to be surrendered anytime

soon. The rajas know this, of
course, and believe that in order

to effectively exercise their
power within those parameters,

they must understand the ways of
Britain herself." .

He set aside the one frame and
picked up another Without

comment or-most
surprisingly-another question.

"Part of the reason for
bringing Mohan to England," she

went on, watching him caress the
carving with the pads of

his thumbs , "was to immerse
him in British ways so that he

would be a better leader when his
time comes. Ensconced in

at a country estate wouldn't have
accomplished the larger

goal. London is the center of the
empire and so it's London

that Mohan must experience in
order to learn what he must

to rule effectively." "

"A partial answer. A quite
acceptable one, actually. He

put down the frame and selected
yet another. "Now if you'll

just as ably answer the other
part. Why did he establish you

as a merchant? Why not simply put
you in a house and support

you and Mohan in royal
fashion?" .

''That was his intention at the
beginning. I suggested that

Mohan would learn more of what he
needs to know if he were

to experience a more common
reality. In the end, the raja saw

matters my way."

"Do you always get your
way?" .

"No, not always." He
set down the small frame, but this

time didn't select another.
Still, he didn't look at her. She

found it most odd; it didn't seem
at all like him to approach

matters in this way. "Just
usually." .

His gaze snapped up to meet hers
as another of his heart jolting

grins lit up his face. "I'm
not the least surprised by

that."

Something had surprised her,
though. Aiden could see It.m

the nervous edge to the smile she
gave him in return. Despite

an apparently determined effort
to appear unaffected, her gesture

was a bit vague and shaky when
she indicated the back of

the main floor and said, "If
you'll come this way, I'll show you

the other rooms."

There was nothing vague about the
way she turned and

walked off. He'd seen squads of
royal sailors make less obvious

retreats. He followed, puzzling
over what he'd done

that had set her into flight.
She'd been answering his questions

easily and forthrightly up until
...
He'd
given her a

compliment. Well, of sorts,
anyway. That's when
she'd
gotten

flustered. And he'd smiled at
her, too.

“
'This
is
one of the three fabric rooms," she said, interrupting

his musing.

Aiden stopped with the space of
the
doorway
separating

them and looked inside. There
were shelves against 3ll the

walls from floor to ceiling. all
of them packed with neatly

folded fabric. The floor was
covered with a dark blue, richly

patterned rug. A huge
library-type table sat in the center
.
of

the room and a discreetly draped
dress form had been placed

in the comer. Everything was
blue, green, purple, or a variation

thereof.

She didn't
say
anything
but he followed when
she
moved

to the next room. As the first
had been stocked with fabrics

at the cooler end of the rainbow,
this one decidedly dis
played

the warmer. Reds. yellows,
oranges.
From bright to

the merest hint of color. Another
coordinating
rug, another

table, another dress
form
.

The third room she showed him
was, to his
surprise,

something of a disappointment
after the first two. It was visually

divided in half. Blacks and grays
were on one side.

Whites to light camels on the
other. The rug was white, the

dress form draped in black. He
frowned, realizing that, as

strange as it was, the general
absence of color made him feel

somehow cheated.

He was still pondering his
reaction to the room when she

moved to the next. This one she
actually entered and he dutifully

stepped
in
behind her. There were shelves in this one,

too. But it wasn't fabric she
displayed. It was silver. Tea and

coffee services, trays, bowls,
platters, pitchers, and silverware.

God Almighty, there was enough
silverware in that room to

set the table at Windsor Castle.
There were wooden storage

boxes of it everyWhere; some
stacked one upon the other,

some of them opened to display
the gleaming contents. If

there was any stolen silver in
the mountain before him, he'd

have one helluva time trying to
find it.

"I
don't
think I've ever seen a collection of silver this ...

extensive," he ventured.

She tweaked the angle of a tea
service on one of the

shelves, saying, "It is a
bit overwhelming, isn't it? I didn't

set out to be a silver broker,
but the opportunity presented itself

and the profits are so
attractive, I couldn't resist. It's

been very instructional for Mohan,
too."

"I
can't
imagine a raja being all that concerned over what