The Perfect Temptation (26 page)

"Oh, God," Alex
brokenly whispered, lifting her face to

gaze up at him, tears still
coursing down her cheeks. "Aiden."

He wanted to kiss her. Long
and slowly. Until they both

forgot what had just happened.
He managed to exercise self-control

and find a smile. "I'm
afraid that I've made a mess in

your rear hall. Sorry about
that."

"I don't care," she
replied on a shaky breath. A fresh

wave of tears spilled over her
lashes even as she swiped a

trembling hand across her
cheek. "I'm sorry," she offered,

her voice on the verge of
breaking. "I'm trying not to cry.

Really, I am."

"It's all right,
Alex," he assured her, pulling his handkerchief

from his pocket and gently
dabbing her cheeks. "Go

ahead and cry all you'd like.
I intend to later."

She sniffled and took the
cloth from
him
to vigorously

scrub her eyes and demand,
"How can you be so damn calm?"

Damn?
The duchess could swear? He smiled and allowed

that if any situation merited
a few curses, this one was it. He

pushed a tendril of
tear-dampened hair off her cheek and

gently
-
tucked
it behind her ear. "I wouldn't be doing you

much good if I fell to pieces,
now would I?"

The look
in
his
eyes as she gazed up at
him
...
Gone was

the
cold, lethal man who had squarely dealt with her
attackers.

This Aiden Terrell, the one
holding her, comforting her, was

compelling
in
an
entirely different way. It would be so easy to

melt into
him
and
surrender all of her fears, all of her self. He

wouldn't hurt her, wouldn't
take advantage of her lack of

courage. She knew that to the
very marrow of her bones.

The tender searching in his
eyes was gone in a blink. As

was the gentleness with which
he held her. All of his muscles

instantly taut, he turned his
head and lifted the gun,

pointing it at the slowly
opening front door. Alex held her

breath and pressed herself
closer to him, her heart racing in

cadence with his.

"Ah, Mrs. Fuller,"
he said, lowering the weapon as she

poked her head inside.
"Perfect timing. Would you please
be

so kind as to find a constable
for us? Tell him it's a bit urgent."

The older woman met Alex's
gaze for a second, then she

nodded crisply and withdrew,
closing the door smartly behind

her. Aiden expelled a quick,
hard breath and offered

Alex a smile that was both
reassuring and apologetic.

It served both intentions
well. And also fueled the temptation

of him.
,
"Thank
you for coming to my rescue," she offered,

sensing the danger in silence
and desperately hoping

to distract herself.
             

"I specialize in saving
damsels in distress," he replied, his

eyes twinkling with amusement.
"I thought you knew."

She hadn't, but then, she
hadn't known that a man's laughing

eyes could
be
so
powerfully seductive, either. And at the

moment, that particular piece
of knowledge was far more
im
portant

than any other. She needed
to
put some
physical distance

between them before she
blithely threw herself into the

enchanting trap. She turned her
head to look at the step,
think
ing

to move herself off his lap
and onto
it
if
space
permitted.

''No, Alex," he said,
gently taking her chin in his hand and

drawing her back to face him.
The amusement was gone

from his eyes, replaced by a
gentle resolve. "Keep your attention

focused right here, on me.
Don't look anywhere else.

And
talk
to
me, Alex. Let what's whirling around in your

head tumble out. It doesn't
matter
if
it makes sense or not."

He didn't want her to see the
carnage and she appreciated

his kindness, his continued
protectiveness. But
if
she were
to

give voice
to
what she
was honestly thinking. truly feeling ...

What would he do if she
stretched up and just grazed his

lips with, hers? Lightly, just
for a moment.
If
he asked why,

she could say it was a kiss
born of gratitude. It would be a

partial truth; she was
grateful beyond measure or words for

his intervention. But in her
heart she knew there was far

more to it than that. She
wanted to know what his lips felt

like, how they tasted.
It
was
the sweetest, most gently compelling

hunger; a need that unless met
would always linger

among her life's regrets.

To satisfy the yearning was to
risk opening a Pandora's

box, though. Aiden might
expect more than she was willing

to give. Might? It was a
given. Tigers never nibbled at their

prey and decided to abandon
it. Never.
If
she offered only a

little of herself, she had to
be willing to offer all.

It
was an odd, deeply unsettling mixture of emotion,
trepidation,

and hunger. Part of her wanted
to scramble out of

his arms and away from
temptation. Another part boldly urged

her to act on desire and
accept whatever consequences came

of it. And deep down inside
she hoped that Aiden would

make the decision for her. She
forced herself to swallow, to

think of something reasonably
appropriate to say.

"How did you know I
needed help?" she asked, focusing

her gaze on the second button
of his shirtfront.

Aiden considered her, frowning
and knowing that the

question had nothing
whatsoever to do with the confusion he

was seeing in her eyes.
"Mohan told me your rented thugs

were here and I
 
acted on a gut feeling," he
supplied, wishing

she'd trust
him
as
much now as she had in the hall.

"They were going to
ransom me for the silver."

It was a reasonable thing, a believable
claim. But doubt

niggled at
him
and
he glanced back to the window, remembering

how Alex's assailant had
looked that way, and the

man who had been standing
there in the immediate aftermath.

"Hiring them in the first
place was a foolish thing to do,"

she went on, pulling his
thoughts back to the present. "Horribly

foolish."

He wasn't going to argue with
her. She'd asked the bastards

into her world and they were
both dead for having

pushed the invitation too far.
But there was no reason to

agree with her, either; she
felt bad enough already. She shivered

and he tightened his arm
around her shoulders, drawing

her closer and asking,
"Are you cold?"

"I don't know," Alex
admitted, tears inexplicably welling

in her eyes again. Her
thoughts were suddenly swirling, jumbling

together, careening over and
through fragments of recent

memories. Her body trembled
with each flash of

recollection and she couldn't
stop the mental torrent or stem

her reaction
to
it.

"It's nothing more than
shock settling in," he assured her,

putting aside the gun and
opening his coat. Drawing her

closer, wrapping her inside it
and the circle of his arms, he

softly promised, "It'll
pass in time, Alex."

And when replaced by other,
more powerful sensations,

she realized. His heart was
pounding hard and fast and she

could feel the heat of his
skin through his shirtfront. And

he smelled so good. Like earth
and wind and heady spices.

She breathed deeply, bathing
her senses with him, letting his

strength fill and settle her
spirit.

''And how do you know that
it's shock?" she asked, shifting

in his arms so that she could
see his face. "Have you done this

sort of thing before?"

"Yes."

So simple an admission, so
full of quiet, aching regret.

And also an acceptance that
filled her with awe even as it tattered

her heart. "Oh,
Aiden," she whispered, freeing an arm

to reach up and touch his
cheek.

His conscience didn't even
bother to put up a fight.
Be
tween

her sweet invitation and his
simmering desire, there

wasn't any point. Aiden
lowered his head and brushed his

lips over hers, gently,
reverently. Her sigh was sanction, her

hand slipping to his neck an
undeniable command. His heart

racing, he accepted and
obeyed, deepening his possession of

her mouth, savoring the soft
fullness of her lips and the

heady wonder of her genuine
compliance .
.
Long-dormant

embers sprang to flame and he
gasped as the heat surged

through his veins.

Aiden drew back, reluctantly
releasing his claim
to
her

mouth, knowing that it was the
wisest, sanest course. But God,

he didn't want to be sane
where she was concerned. Her eyes

fluttered open and in her
dreamy gaze what remained of his

good judgment was almost
undone.

"You," he whispered.
his voice raspy, "are an incredibly

tempting woman, Alexandra
Radford."

"And you're not a
tempting man?" she countered, arching

a brow and trailing her
fingers through the hair at his nape.

He considered her and
struggled to find a bit of chivalry.

"Which makes this a most
decidedly dangerous situation

my darling duchess.
If
we
don't put some distance and