The Perfect Temptation (28 page)

odd to
think
of
him
as
being a central part of her life. Given

the resolve she'd found on the
stairs no more than two hours

earlier, that was a disturbing
realization. Alex sighed, abandoned

the effort to sort through the
jumble, and announced,

"I'm going to get my things."

Aiden thanked Emmaline one
more time and then followed

Mohan out of her shop. And
stopped dead at the sight of

Rose Walker-Hines advancing on
him. Sweet Jesus. What

other nasty, god-awful things
were in store for him today?

"John Aiden!" she
cried, reaching out for him with both

hands. "Why is it that
I'm always meeting you in front of a

millinery shop?"

"Pure coincidence,
Rose," he answered, taking her hands

in his in an attempt to get
her to halt a respectable distance

out. She didn't, of course.
Her breasts impacted his chest full

on and he had to take a
half-step back as she kissed his cheek

just to keep her momentum from
toppling him onto his back.

The instant she drew away
enough to look at him, he

cleared his throat and cast a
quick glance toward Mohan.

She took the cue beautifully,
but not in the vein he'd

hoped. Instead of
circumspectly stepping away, she tightened

her hold on his hands, smiled
at Mohan and asked, "Who is

your young friend? Aren
'
t you
going to introduce us?"

"Rose, Master Mohan
Singh," he began, resigned to making

the best of it and then
getting away as quickly as he could.

''Mohan, this is the wife of a
friend of mine from years past,

Mrs. Geoffrey
Walker-Hines."

"Madam."

"Well, aren't you a
darling little boy:' Rose crooned at his

polite response and bow. And
then, like a spigot being shut

off, she promptly dismissed
the boy's presence.

She reached up and ran the
edges of Aiden's jacket lapels

between her fingertips.
"You haven't sent word of when

you'll be coming to dinner,
John Aiden." She looked up at

him,
pouted, and fluttered her eyelashes
.
"You
promised that

you would."

And he'd once been attracted
to such a coquettish performance?

He'd been insane. Barrett and
Carden should have

had
him
locked
away for his own good. "My apologies for

the oversight," he
offered tightly. ''I've been busy the last

few days and it slipped my
mind. I'll attend to it tomorrow."

"What about today? Right
this moment?" she pressed.

She patted the center of his
chest and wrinkled her nose in

what he supposed she
considered a flirtatious smile. ''That

way it can't slip your mind
again or be postponed. How does

this Saturday evening sound to
you? And please don't tell

me that you've already made
plans."

He had no idea what Alex
intended to do Saturday evening,

but, whatever it was, he
wasn't going to miss it
to
be with Rose

Walker-Hines. ''Actually, I do
have an engagement already."

''And for Saturday evening
next?" she asked, irritation

lacing her words as she
pointedly arched a brow.

"I'm sorry, Rose, but
it's a standing engagement."

"Well, surely she lets
you off the leash one night a week,"

she snapped. Then, apparently
thinking better of her tone

and approach, she sighed and
summoned a more honeyed

manner. Leaning closer, she
said softly, "Geoffrey always

plays cards at his club on
Wednesday and Friday evenings.

Would either of those be
possible for you?"

"Not at this time,"
he replied, trying his best to look at

least a little regretful.
"Perhaps in a few weeks. And then

again, perhaps not. I'd be
reluctant to make a promise today

that I might not be able to
keep. I hope you understand."

"Oh, I do indeed,"
she quipped, her brow arching again.

''And I also understand how
such commitments can quickly

change. Especially with
you."

He thought about reminding her
that the shoe fit her dainty

little foot too, but decided
against it. Trading insults would

only prolong his agony.
Instead, he smiled and shrugged

roguishly.

"The invitation remains
open, John Aiden." She stepped

forward to press her breasts
against him again and plant another

kiss on his cheek.
"Please don't be boorish and ignore

it forever," she
admonished, furiously fluttering her lashes as

she inched off toward
Emmaline's door.

One last lie ... "It was
nice seeing you again, Rose."

"It's always a
pleasure
to see you, John Aiden," she countered,

pausing halfway across the threshold.
"And I'd dearly

love to see more of you.
Soon."

She turned away and he
instantly did the same, his heart

thundering in relief to have
escaped largely unscathed. Scrubbing

his hand over his face, Aiden
expelled a hard breath and

shook his head in wonder. Had
Rose always been so incredibly,

tactlessly predatory?

"If
she is the wife of your friend," Mohan drawled
as they

started back toward the Blue
Elephant, ''why did she invite

you to dinner the evenings her
husband is not home?"

"You noticed that, huh? I
was rather hoping you hadn't."

"Is she your
companion?"

Aiden winced. "That was
delicately put." But, he realized,

if the boy was perceptive
enough to guess the truth, the

time had probably come to
discuss such matters openly. And

considering that this very
necessary part of his education

was well outside Alex's
expertise, he should be the one to

address it. He knitted his
brows as a riddle presented itself

for consideration. He wasn't
the first man to have kissed

Alexandra Radford. And she
wasn't one of those skittish

women who bolted at the merest
suggestion of physical

attraction. God, no.

If
he lived to be a hundred, he'd never

forget the way she'd looked up
at him when he'd threatened

to ravage her on the stairs.
And yet he'd bet his soul that

Alex was a virgin. How she
could be so obviously innocent

and yet so breathtakingly
carnal at the same time was beyond

him. It did, however, make him
curious. A long road

stretched between kissing and
lovemaking. How far had

Alex traveled before she'd met
him? How far would she let

him take her?

"Was I too
delicate?" Mohan asked, intruding on his

speculations. "Should I
now attempt to be less subtle?"

Aiden chuckled and allowed the
boy credit for persistence.

"Just between us men,
Mohan ... Rose was a lover.

We parted ways a good long
while ago."

"Before she became the
wife of your friend?"

"One, he's not really my
friend." Aiden clarified. "You say

things like that just to be
polite. And two ... " He took a

breath and committed himself
to providing Mohan with what

Alex would undoubtedly
consider an unseemly education.

''No, it wasn't before she
married him. It was after.
"

"If
she was one of my father's wives, my father would

have had you killed for
that"

''Those sorts of ...
transgressions are viewed differently

in
England," he explained. "It's fairly
common practice for

husbands to have affairs.
Sometimes the wives do, too. As

long as everyone's discreet,
it's considered acceptable."

Mohan stuffed his hands into
his coat pockets and considered

the near distance with
narrowed eyes. "Why," he asked

slowly, "would a man
marry a woman and then let her lie

with another?
If
he
cares for her enough to bring her into his

household, would he not care
enough about her to keep her

for only himself?"

It was a damn good question
.
One that
he hadn't thought

to ask until he had been quite
a few years older than Mohan.

"Some people marry for
reasons other than love, Mohan.

Wealth and social standing
being the most common. They

don't so much care about the
person they marry as they care

about what can be had from the
union in a tangible sense. As

long as that isn't threatened,
they're willing to overlook

physical affairs." He
shrugged and added, "Personally, I

think it's a shallow
life."

"Yet you engage in the affairs
with married women?"

So much for delicate. But it
was an honest question and

deserved an honest answer.
"Yes, I do. Whenever possible,

actually."

"Why?"

"I knew you were going to
ask that," he admitted with a

rueful smile. The boy was
naturally curious about matters of

casual sex and just as
obviously wholly uninformed. How to

tell him what he needed to
know without telling
him
more

than he could use at the
moment? "Look, Mohan," he began,

remembering how his own father
had explained it to him years

and years ago.
It
had
served
him
well enough to be worth passing

on. ''There are several
distinct categories of women. The

first one is those
you
just
don't
think
of in any physical way at

all. Your mother and your
sisters, for example."

"And the queen."