The Perfect Temptation Read Free Page B

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
    quietly. "Our Miss Radford
could very well be more than she
    appears to be."
     
    "Really?" Aiden
drawled, heading for the door. "I hadn't
    noticed."
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 2
     
     
    Alex took her seat in the cab,
folded her hands in her lap,
    and sincerely regretted that she
hadn't had the courage t~
    throw something of a dignified
tantrum. Barrett Stanbridge
    was everything that Emmaline had
said he was; urbane, gentlemanly,
    the epitome of a professional.
His associate, however,
    was another matter entirely : John
Aiden Terrell was a
    man barely civilized.
     
    His hair was too long and too
sun-bleached to even approximate
    fashionable. And it was unruly,
too. Most men
    combed their locks into a
deliberate style of one sort or another.
     
    But not Terrell; he simply let it
tumble wherever it
    wanted. Which happened, she
silently groused, to somehow
    perfectly accentuate the most
beautiful, intensely green eyes
    she'd ever seen. In the
first moments they'd quite simply taken
    her breath away. And then she'd
noticed the sardonic, knowing
    glint in them. Combined with his
easy, graceful movements
    and his massive shoulders ...
She'd thought of tigers,
    of the danger that lurked beneath
the indolent manner, and it
    had taken every bit of her
self-discipline to suppress the gasp.
     
    It hadn't been easy, but she'd
studiously ignored him and
    eventually recovered some measure
of her composure.
     
    He, of course, seemed to have
spent the rest of the inter-
    view trying his best to ruffle
it. Positioning himself so that he
    half reclined against the desk
with his well-muscled