The Perfect Temptation (3 page)

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