The Perfect Temptation (55 page)

enough, fast enough, to escape the truth.

"Princess?" Barrett repeated, very
slowly straightening to

his full height, his movement mercifully
distracting and

drawing Aiden from the swirl of horrible
realization.

Vadeen
lifted
the muzzle of his weapon
to
follow Barrett's

progress, but the larger part of his
attention remained

on Aiden. "There are many things you do
not yet know. I

will put down my weapon if you and your
friend will set

yours aside, as well."

''We'll lower them," Aiden conceded, his
stomach cold

and hard. "But that's as far as we're
going to trust for the

moment. You'll have to earn any more than
that."

"A wise and acceptable compromise,"
the other said, his

smile revealing bright white teeth. The
muzzles of his guns

inched downward at precisely the same angle
and time that

Aiden and Barrett's did. "Do you have a
name?" he asked

when all the weapons were aimed at the floor.

"Aiden." He barely motioned with
his head. "My friend is

Barrett."

He made a similarly restrained nod of his
own, indicating

several mounds of hay and some barrels
against the wall on

his right. "My home is a humble one, but
I invite you
to
sit

and make yourselves comfortable. The story is
long and will

take some time."

It
wasn't too late
to go.
If
he turned around
and left, supposition

and educated guesses would
be
all he really had. He

could go back to Alex and … pretend that
there was no danger.

Pretend that he knew enough to keep her safe.
Pretend

that they were the only people in the world
and that they

alone shaped their fates. He could pretend
that he wasn't living

a lie. A lie that could well get Alex killed.

The
three
of them moved, the Indian backing, the two of

them advancing; always at the same time,
never glancing

away from the gun in the other's hand.

"All right," Aiden said, easing
down on a barrel opposite

Vadeen, the gun resting in his lap, his hand
still wrapped

around the butt, his finger lying along the
side of the trigger.

Barrett settled likewise on a barrel to
his
right, and Aiden

nodded crisply and added, "Start
talking. I'm listening."

''With great suspicion," the other
pointed out, his smile

even brighter with the distance closed.

''Can you blame me?"

His smile disappeared. "No, I cannot. A
suspicious man

lives longer than one who readily
accepts."

"Begin the story, Vadeen."

"And start with the princess
part
of it," Barrett added.

"It is too soon for that," Vadeen
replied, his gaze darting

to Barrett only momentarily.
''I
will
come to it when
it is

right to do so."

"Fair enough," Aiden allowed,
resolutely willing his emotions

to the farthest, darkest corner of
his
awareness and

then sternly admonishing himself to
concentrate on the details.

Being able to separate truth from deceit
depended on

his ability to sort it all quickly and
accurately,
to
match what

Vadeen said with what few facts he already
knew.
If
there

was a way out of the maze,
he
had to find it. The alternative

was too dismal to even contemplate.

"Five weeks ago," Vadeen began,
"the enemies of Kedar

at last moved against him, their goal to
murder him and seize

his throne. By the power of Vishnu, they
failed. One of the

conspirators was killed. His name was Kalin.
He was a

cousin of Kedar. The other escaped in the
chaos. His name is

Hanuman. He is the younger brother of Kedar
and of Sarad."

They were the right names, the same ones
attached to the

same relationships that Alex had given him
yesterday afternoon

as they'd rolled down Fleet Street.

"Kedar does not know where Hanuman has
fled, but fears

he may come to London to take the prince and
princess prisoner

or do them grave harm. I was sent here to
find Hanuman

and to see that he dies before he can act
again on the

evil in his soul"

Or so he claimed, Aiden silently countered.
Vadeen could

just as easily be Hanurnan's agent and here
to
see that Alex

and Mohan died. "Speaking of death and
evil . . . Did you

know the two bastards who tried to take Alex
out the back

door of the Blue Elephant?"

"No, I did not," came the instant,
easy response. "I came

here on the ship that brought the crates for
Princess Alexandra.

The men who delivered them to her told me of
Lal's

return to India. They also told me of your
presence
in
her

house.
As
I did not know of your ability, I feared I might be

required
to
abandon my search for Hanuman to take up the

duty of Lal. Not certain of what to do, I
chose to watch and

wait.

"In the night I found this place and in
the morning I saw

the two men make their way along the walk and
toward her

shop. I did not like the look of them, and
thinking they might

enter, I went after them.
It
was my thought to intervene if

they proved
to
be
immoral."

Immoral? That was one way of putting it. A
rather too polite

way.

Vadeen's smile grew by slow degrees and then
he added,

"It
was through' the
window that I learned you are a most

capable man and understood that the prince
and princess

would be best served
if
I kept to my duty to find Hanuman."

Flattery was nice, but it didn't necessarily
mean a man

was telling the truth. Even gilded words were
still nothing

more tangible than air. ''The last bastard
standing looked past

me. I
think
he saw you at the window and recognized you."

"He did see me," Vadeen admitted,
his smile fading as he

nodded. "As I saw him. But
in
his fear, at a distance, and in

the truth that to Western eyes
all
Indians look alike ... I believe

it was Hanurnan he thought he saw. It is his
way to use

others to achieve his depraved ends. I cannot
prove it, but I

am certain those men were serving
him."

"All right," Barrett fairly
growled, inserting himself into

the exchange. "Since you can't prove it,
we'll let that go for

now and move on to the next obvious question.
Why did

Kedar send his brother's bodyguard? Why
didn't he send

one of his own?"

"Many of his trusted men were killed in
protecting him,"

Vadeen answered, his gaze holding Aiden's.
''Those
that lived

were needed where they were. I was chosen
from Sarad's men

because I speak English and can be
trusted."

"And the next one," Barrett went
on.
"If
you're supposed

to
be
looking for Hanuman, why are you following Alex?"

Again, Vadeen didn't look at Barrett when he
replied. "It

is the princess he wants. As he comes to her,
he will come to

me. I have followed her to keep watch and to
stand between

Hanuman and you, Aiden. I know what Hanuman
looks like.

You do not. I am the one who will see the
danger first. It is

my thought that should I fail to stop him,
you will be warned

in it and more prepared
to
protect her."

Aiden cocked a brow. "Aren't you at
all
worried that Hanuman

will come after Mohan?"

"I mean no disrespect to Prince Mohan,
but the princess

is the most valuable prize. She is the one
that Hanuman most

wants."

Barrett asked the question before Aiden
could. "Why?"

"The throne is lost to Hanuman now, but
he will not accept

his failure with grace. He seeks to cause as
much pain

as he can. Prince Mohan is the first son of
Kedar's first wife

and he will be the next raja. His death would
be tragic and he

would be mourned. But there are other princes
and there will

be another raja after Kedar. Princess
Alexandra is the daughter

of Kedar's heart. She cannot be replaced. Her
death

would tear the soul from his body."

"And we're to the story of the
princess," Aiden said,

wishing they weren't but knowing deep in his
gut that the

truth couldn't be ignored. God, his heart was
beating so hard

and fast it
was
going to
fly
apart.

Vadeen considered
him
for a long moment and then nodded.

"When Kedar was a young man and not yet
the raja, he

was sent by his father to live for a time
with his mother's

brother in Delhi. He
was
to learn what he could of British

ways so that when his time came to lead his
people, he could

do it well."

Just as Mohan had been sent to live in
London, Aiden

silently added. A family tradition.

"It was in Delhi that he met a young
English woman. She

was the daughter of a British East India
officer. They fell in

love. Her father discovered their love and, being
a man of