The Perfect Temptation (24 page)

He thought a moment. ''There
was no laughter. The

women did not smile and my
father was ... " He paused another

moment and then stridently
finished, "He was most angry

with the women for their
treatment of Kali."

She let the assertion go,
holding to her course. ''And

where is Kali now?"

"She is the wife of one of
my father's minor administrators."

"And the consequences of
her marriage were …?
"

"She left the palace and
the women laughed again," Mohan

said slowly, contemplatively
.
"My
father stopped being

angry and brought Chun into the
household."

"And did the laughter stop
with Chun's arrival?" she

pressed.

"No."

The groundwork successfully
laid, Alex smiled at him

and began the actual
instruction. ''That's because the women

approve of Chun and accept your
father's choice of her.

They didn't Kali. For a variety
of reasons you're far too

young to understand. It's sufficient
for our purposes this

evening to say that your father
was made aware of the women's

displeasure and took steps to
see that harmony was restored.

No one was the puppet of anyone
else. The decisions were

made for the benefit of
everyone's happiness." She gave
him

a moment to consider what she'd
said and then asked, "Do

you understand the lesson in
all
of
that?"

"I think so."

No, he didn't, but he would in
time. "Perhaps you could

ponder on it some more as you
drift off to sleep. It's time for

bed."

"But Mr. Terrell and I
have yet to begin our game of

chess," he protested,
gesturing
to
the board.

"We can begin it tomorrow
night," Aiden assured him.
"If

Miss Radford says it's time for
you
to
retire, it's time for you

to retire. And you won't argue
about it."

Mohan cast a quick glance
between the two of them and

then rose to his feet with a
disgruntled but resigned pout. At

his wishes for their pleasant
evening-in both English and

Hindi-Preeya laid aside her
embroidery and rose from her

cushions beside the fire,
announcing that she would retire, as

well. Alex bade them both sweet
dreams and watched them

leave for their rooms
.
It was
only in the silence afterward that

she realized that she'd been
left alone with Aiden Terrell.

"If
it's not prying to ask," he said, carefully
moving the

chessboard from the pillow top
to the floor. "Why was Kali

unacceptable to the
women?"

"How to put this
delicately ... "

"Don't worry about
battering my sensibilities," he hastened

to assure her, grinning as he
stretched out on his side,

his head propped in his hand.
''They're not all that tender."

"I assumed that. My
concern is for my own," she laughingly

countered, picking up her
needlework again
.
Her vision

suitably focused
not
on
him, she explained, ''There's a

general attitude in the women's
quarters regarding their individual

relationships with the raja.
It's of the moment, What

it is for that moment, and
nothing more or less. There's no

jealousy
over
who's
called to his chambers for the night.

"Kali,
however
,
attempted
to
change
all
that.
Her
entire

existence revolved around
working to
set us
against each

other and on restricting the
raja's favor
only to
her."

"In
other words,
she
didn't share well."

"She didn't want to share
at all," Alex clarified, pushing

the needle through the canvas
and drawing the yarn into

place. "Mohan
doesn't
quite
understand
the
dynamics of

what
happened and
I'd
prefer not to enlighten
him
just
yet,

but the
truth is that his
fathe
r
wasn't
unhappy
with
the way

we
treated Kali. He
was
unhappy
because
of the
way
we

treated
him
for
bringin
g
her into
our
midst The raja doesn't

like
to
be
treated coolly.”

"Ah," Aiden said, his
smile radiating through the sound.

''The
coordinated
action
I
warned
Mohan about.
I
can almost

feel sorry for the man."

"Almost?"

''Almost:' he reiterated.
"Any man who has more than his

fair share of companions
doesn't really merit too much pity

for the complications that come
along with it."

She could feel
his
gaze
on her, could sense the bright

light of
curiosity
in
his eyes.
"No," she said
softly. "I wasn't

one of his companions."

The edge of her vision lit up
with his grin.
"Well,
since

you broached the subject
...
Why-"

"Because I'm
British," she supplied simply. Before he

could ask another question and
before she had to refuse to

answer it, she rose from her
chair and laid the needlework on

the seat, saying, "I do
believe it's time I retired, as well.

Good night, Aiden. Pleasant
dreams."

He scrambled to his feet.
"If
you
must, I certainly understand."

His gaze was assessing as he
met hers and added,

"Good night, Alex. Sleep
well."

''And the same wish for you,
Aiden," she offered, her heart

skittering as he searched her
face.
It
took a substantial measure

of her self-discipline to
gracefully, calmly, move past

him and out the door.
It
took
every bit of the rest of it to keep

from
looking
back over
her
shoulder
in the unsettling hope

that he'd come after her.

Chapter 9

Better, Alex reminded he
r
self for
the countless time, to rise before

the peacocks and miss
breakfast than to risk being caught

in her nightgown again. She
dug her hands into the straw, feeling

for the mate to the
candlestick she'd just removed. And it

wasn't as though she'd been
sleeping soundly anyway. The

night just past was one of the
most restless she could ever remember

having. Twice she'd awakened,
short of breath and

her heart pounding, certain
that she'd find Aiden Terrell lying

beside her in reality. And
instead of feeling relieved ...

The sound of footfalls on the
stairs quickened Alex's

pulse and brought her
attention up from the packing crate.

She relaxed at the sight of
Mohan and smiled.

"Good morning, Miss
Alex," he said, beaming as he

bounded toward her. "Mr.
Terrell asked me to tell you that he

will be downstairs
directly."

"Thank you. Is there any
particular reason why I need to

be informed of that momentous
event?"

Mohan looked at her as if she
had the mental acuity of a

brick. "Your first riding
lesson is this morning," he said with

extreme patience.

"Oh. I'd forgotten,"
she lied, resuming her search in the

packing straw
.
"I'm
really terribly busy, you know. I have to

finish unpacking these crates
and then, of course, there's the

putting away and proper
displaying of everything. Followed

by the tidying up of the shop
itself. I just don't see how I

have time for a riding lesson,
do you?"

"Is it the horse of which
you are afraid, Miss Alex? Or is

it
Mr. Terrell's instruction? I assure you that he is
most competent."

As though Mohan had anyone
against whom to compare

him. "I'm not afraid of
anything," she assured him, finding

and taking the candlestick
from the crate
.
Turning to place it

on the desk, she added,
"I simply have work to do. And work

must come before
pleasure."

"Why?"

"Because if! don't work
there won't
be
money with which

to buy carriages and
hor-" She instantly recognized the two

men coming down the walk,
heading for her door. "Mohan,

go upstairs and stay there
until I call for you. Go!"

Thankfully he obeyed and she
had just enough time to

seize a single deep breath
before they pushed open the door

and sauntered in.

"Top
o'
the
mornin' to ya, mum," said the one called

Rupert.

She found a smile and dipped
her chin in acknowledgment.

"Gentlemen."