The Perfect Temption

by Leslie LaFoy

  She could see the struggle between temptation and reason

  in the hard line of his jaw; he wanted to believe her, wanted

  to reach for her. "Will you be a lesser princess because

  you're half English?"

  She couldn't lie to him. "In the eyes of some. But not

  Kedar's. You'd like him, Aiden. He's a good and kind and fair

  man."

  He sighed and swallowed. And then, blessedly, his eyes lit

  with sparks of anger. "In England princesses are married

  off-as the expression goes-advantageously. Is that what's

  going to happen to you, Alex? Are you to be married off to

  the highest bidder?"

  "The choice of husbands will be mine. And-"

  "Will he mind too terribly much," he interrupted bitterly,

  ''that I danced with you before he did?"

  "I'll never choose one, Aiden," she finished calmly, hoping

  to soothe him. "No one will force me to wed."

  "So you'll go through life alone."

  His tone made it an accusation. Her own anger flared. "As

  I recall, it's what you intend to do. Why is it a situation appropriate

  for you, but not for me?"

  He rammed his hands into the pockets of his coat and

  stared off over her head, the muscles in his jaw pulsing furiously.

  "You could stay here, Alex. Keep the Blue Elephant.

  I'll run the shipping route for you and bring you all that you

  need."

  And she would be alone, waiting for him to come into

  port, living for those few days a year, praying all the others

  that nothing horrible had happened to him, and always waiting

  for the day when he'd tell her that he wouldn't be coming

  back, that he'd fallen in love with another woman. No,

  that wasn't the life she wanted with him. If she couldn't be

  his wife and the mother of his children, then it was better

  that they break it cleanly. Better that they part with sweet

  memories than to linger for years, trying to sustain hopes

  that would eventually wither away.

  She knew that she could ask him to come back to India

  with her, but she also knew that even if he accepted, there

  would come a day when he wished he- hadn't. He bad too

  much pride to be a kept man, too much energy to wander the

  balls of the royal court, day in and day out, without purpose.

  No, he bad peace to make with his father and a shipping

  company to someday lead. His path lay to the west, hers to

  the east. In loving him, she had to let him go.

  ''As a. princess, I have responsibilities:' she began, her

  heart tearing, her soul aching, her mind certain that she was

  choosing the only path she could. "In addition to those of

  being the royal tutor. I can't stay, Aiden. The decision 's been

  made for me. In a way, it's a relief."

  He leaned back against the wall and pulled his hands

  from his pockets to scrub them over his face. "God," he

  groaned, letting them fall into his lap as he stared off over

  her head again. "I knew you'd say that. Duty before all else.

  It's so damn British."

  "Please don't be sad, Aiden. Or angry." She reached up

  and took his hands in hers, loving him so much, unwilling to

  let him go a single moment before she absolutely had to.

  "We've known from the beginning that there was no forever

  for us. Only the length of time we have together has changed.

  It's now just shorter than we'd hoped."

  Forcing a buoyancy into her voice she didn't feel, she

  smiled up at him and added brightly, "Which, to my mind,

  anyway, suggests that we should probably make every second

  of it count."

  He didn't move, didn't make a sound. As though he

  hadn't heard a word she'd said. He continued to stare at the

  other side of the room, blinking, looking for all the world

  like a caged animal. Part of her wanted to gather him into

  her arms and rock him gently, to assure him that all wasn't

  as hopeless as he thought. Another part of her wanted to take

  him by the lapels of his coat and shake him until his teeth

  rattled. She decided on a middling course.

  Releasing his bands, she rose to her feet, and then

  reached down for his foot, one hand on the heel of his boot,

  the other around his instep.

  ''What are you doing?"

  At least she finally had his attention. "Making a choice:'

  she answered, pulling. The boot didn't budge and she adjusted

  her stance for better leverage.

  "Alex, you're a princess," be said as she tugged-without

  effect-again. "I know that it shouldn't make any difference,

  but it does. It makes a big difference."

  She gritted her teeth and, trying a third time, replied,

  “I'm the very same woman I was at midnight. Aiden."

  ''Alex, darling, stop." And then he took the choice from

  her by gently but firmly pulling his foot from her grasp.

  Turning, she found him still slouched back against the

  wall. But the caged look was gone. One comer of his mouth

  was quirked up in a smile that seemed slightly more amused

  then it did sad. It gave her just enough hope to press him for

  more. Kneeling down between his thighs, she cradled his

  face in her hands and met his gaze squarely, lovingly. His

  hands came up off his thighs and then he started, sucked a

  hard breath and forced them back down. The smile disappeared,

  replaced by a thin line of resolve.

  Alex ignored it all and quietly asked, "Is denying ourselves

  pleasure going to make me a virgin again?"

  "I wish it could."

  So softly, so earnestly, from so deep in his heart. "You regret

  far too easily, Aiden," she countered, loving him for the

  tender soul that he was, wanting with all of hers a forever

  they couldn't have. ''The past is over and gone. It can't be

  changed," she went on, pouring all the hope that she could

  have into her words. "What will come in the future can't be

  known. All that exists is now, Aiden. This one moment in

  time. Live in it with me. Please. Make love with me."

  His confusion tore at her heart, but she waited in silence,

  watching temptation and wonder struggle against his sense

  of right and wrong, praying that desire would win the battle.

  Then suddenly the haunted, desperate look flickered through

  the depths of his eyes. His breathing ragged, his pulse hammering

  against the palms of her hands, he forced himself to

  swallow. "If I asked you to…"

  She pressed her fingers to his lips, silencing him. ''This

  moment, Aiden," she whispered. "Don't look forward. Don't

  look back. Look at me."

  He couldn't fight any more, couldn't breathe, couldn't do

  anything except feel a relentless, utterly overwhelming-sense

  of desperation. It wasn't right Or noble. Or honorable. It was

  need; raw, primal, and undeniable. A need to escape the pain,

  a need to lose himself in the sated, mindless oblivion that

  only she could give him. He needed her. And God help him,

  he wanted her more than life itself. For just this moment ...

  The floodgates opened and he surrendered to the unrelenting

  torrent.
He reached for her, wrapping her in his arms

  and hauling her hard against him, crushing her lips under his

  own. She met his advance with a cry of joy and a ferocity

  every bit the equal of his own. With a grateful moan, he spiraled

  away into the searing salvation of passion.

  Alex awoke with a smile and Aiden curled around her. There

  was, she knew, no happier, more deeply and thoroughly satisfied

  woman on earth. It was a miracle that she had any

  mind left at all. And if she could ever possibly want again ...

  She'd be extremely grateful, she admitted, grinning. And

  she most certainly wouldn't squander the opportunity. God,

  what she wouldn't give to spend the rest of the day right

  where she was. She glanced toward the window and, with a

  resigned sigh, accepted that she couldn't keep life from intruding

  on bliss.

  Easing her leg out from under Aiden's went smoothly.

  But she'd barely started to slip out from under his arm when

  he tightened it and drew her closer, nuzzling into her neck

  and murmuring, "Don't go."

  "It's daybreak," she murmured back, kissing his forehead

  before resolutely slipping out of his embrace. "Mohan will

  be rising soon. Sleep a while longer. I'll wake you later."

  He rolled onto his back, and then to his other side to

  watch her walk around the end of the pallet, stoop to pick up

  the letter, and then make her way toward where they'd left

  her wrapper and one of his sheets the night before.

  His head propped in his hand, he watched her pick up her

  silk cover. "I know that there'll be a reckoning for it later,"

  he said softly, "but I want all the moments together we can

  have."

  Relief weakened her knees. She'd won. She wasn't going

  to have to give him up too soon. "So do I," she confessed,

  drawing on her wrapper as she tucked away the parchment

  and moved back to the bed. Kneeling down beside him, Alex

  ran her fingers through his tousled hair and added, "But

  there isn't much chance of stealing any moments around

  here. Not during the day."

  He cocked a brow and gave her a quirked, rakish smile.

  "We could go to Haven House."

  "Oh, now there's an attractive possibility. Under what

  pretext?"

  "A riding lesson?" he suggested, trailing a fingertip down

  her throat.

  ''That would work rather nicely, wouldn't it?" she offered,

  keenly aware that he was veering off course and drawing

  her wrapper down off her shoulder to bare her breast.

  '"My mother warned me that men and horses were a combination

  to be avoided at all costs, you know."

  "Why?"

  ''I don't know," she replied. her breath catching as he

  trailed his finger back along her shoulder and then down. ''But

  she was very emphatic about it"

  The comers of his mouth twitched and his eyes sparkled.

  ''Is that why you've used every excuse to get out of it?"

  "Yes," she admitted. as he drew a slow, tantalizing circle

  around her hardened peak. God. if she didn't stop him, she

  wasn't going to be able to leave.

  "Why the sudden change of mind?"

  And Mohan would have his young sensibilities shredded.

  "Because," she answered, leaning forward to kiss him

  quickly before scrambling to her feet and beyond temptation's

  reach. '''There's something at the end of the ride that I

  want." She covered herself and tied the sash, grinning at

  him. "And I want it madly enough that I'm willing to take

  incredible chances to get it!”

  "What time do you want to go?"

  "After Sawyer gets here."

  ''I'll meet you in the yard, with horses saddled," he offered,

  his smile wicked and ever so deliciously promising.

  "If you have boots and a split skirt, wear them."

  A split skirt? She didn't have one, but she could modify

  one of her other ones easily and quickly enough. But why

  it was necessary and why he seemed so delighted by the

  prospect ... "You know why my mother warned me against

  riding, don't you?"

  He laughed, mischief dancing in his eyes. "Nine-oh-five,

  darling. A split skirt."

  "I'll be there," she promised as he abruptly sat and

  reached for his trousers. ''Aiden, please don't get up," she

  cajoled, knowing that he couldn't have had more than three

  hours of sleep in the course of the entire night. "You need to

  sleep a bit longer."

  "No I don't," he countered, trying to both undo the tangle

  of his pants and turn them right side out. "I have to find an

  apothecary shop. I'm out of sheaths and I'm fairly sure that

  you won't want to stop with me for them on the way to

  Haven House."

  No, she didn't. "They aren't necessary," she pointed out.

  "The count of my days isn't right for conceiving."

  His hands stopped, his brow shot up, and his smile turned

  unholy. Barely moving his head, he looked at her askance.

  "Really?"

  "Really."

  He tossed his trousers aside and drawled, "Oh, darling,

  today is your day for delightful discoveries."

  "Nine-oh-five," she reminded him, moving to the door,

  her pulse lusciously fast and warm. "Please don't be late."

  He was laughing when she pulled it closed behind her.

  She lingered for just a moment, closing her eyes and committing

  to her memory the wondrous sound of it. Only when

  the dreary shadows of what was to come drifted up to the

  edge of her awareness did she turn and walk away.

  Preeya glanced up from her pan as Alex came to stand beside

  her at the stove. "Much has happened in your night," she

  observed, smiling and going back to her stirring.

  Since Preeya somehow knew that already ... "I'll tend

  the eggs," Alex said, removing the letter from her pocket,

  "while you read this."

  Preeya traded the slotted spoon for the folded parchment.

  She opened the folds, read, then pursed her lips and reached

  out to pull the pan off the fire. "Breakfast will be late," she announced.

  Holding the letter between them, she asked, "How

  was this delivered into your hands?"

  "One of Prince Sarad's bodyguards is here in London. He

  gave it to Aiden. Aiden gave it to me. You don't seem to be

  overly surprised by the news, Preeya."

  "We will come to that in time. First, I would ask why you

  have brought it to me."

  Alex gave her the obvious reason first. "So that you can

  help me decide how I should tell Mohan. He has to know at

  some point, Preeya. And fairly soon."

  "Is that the only reason?"

  Alex carefully put the spoon in the pan. "When I look

  past today, I want to cry."

  Preeya took her hands and led her to the stool at the worktable,

  saying, "Your world has been changed, dear Alex. So

  quickly, so greatly. And in so many ways. All in the passage

  of one night It is understandable that your feelings are in turmoil."

  She laid the letter aside and poured them cups of tea

  and allowed Alex several sips before she asked, "Your


  Aiden ... He was good to you? He loved you tenderly?"

  Alex smiled around the china rim. ''Tenderly'' wasn't the

  word she would have chosen. "Well" and "perfectly" came

  much closer to being accurate. But that wasn't what Preeya

  really wanted to know. 'That I had forever to be in his arms."

  "If it is destined, it will be. You know that."

  She nodded, also knowing that what no one ever said was

  that if it wasn't destined, it wouldn't be. ''Aiden's doing better

  this morning, but ... " She sighed and shook her head, remembering.

  "He didn't take the news at all well last night.

  He's very good at regretting."

  “That is because he is a good man with a caring heart,"

  Preeya observed. She took a sip of her own tea before

  adding, "He wishes no one to ever suffer. He would cradle

  the world if he could. That he has come into your life is a

  great blessing."

  "I know you're right. But at the moment, Preeya, I don't

  feel especially blessed."

  "Why? Have you quarreled this morning?"

  "No," Alex assured her. "Not at all." Holding her cup in

  both hands, she took a long, slow taste of tea, trying to find

  words that didn't sound self-pitying. And gave up. "I'm going

  to lose him, Preeya. He's mine only until Sarad arrives."