The Perfect Temptation (58 page)

an English cad has bedded his
princess?"

The gentle sense of happiness shattered as
two realizations

crashed over her. She was a princess. And
for Aiden

that changed everything between them. Her
mind reeling

and her heart hammering, she refolded the
letter with great

care, desperately searching for her way,
for the right

words. Putting the letter aside and turning
to place het

hands on his knees, she smiled up at him.
"In the first

place," she began, "I can't see
any reason for him to ever

learn of it. And in the second, I would
think that I'm proof

that he fully understands the power of
temptation and passion."

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.