"How lovely it is to see you again, Aiden."
"It's lovely to see you, too, Rose," he replied with what
Alex thought was a forced smile and too-careful politeness.
"You look radiant as always. How is Geoffrey? And little
Geoffrey?"
The mention of her husband and her s'on didn't keep the
woman from all but abandoning propriety. Using Terrell's
bands for balance, she stretched up on her toes and pressed a
kiss to his cheek. And her breasts hard into bis chest
''Both are-exceedingly well," she answered when she finally
drew back. Still bolding a blushing Terrell's hands, she
added, 'We have a daughter now. Elizabeth was born almost
two years ago. You must come by the house for dinner one
evening and meet her."
Alex watched him swallow, saw his mental wheels spinning
at a furious pace. His smile became even more strained.
"I promise to do so at my first opportunity."
"I’ll tell Geoffrey so that be can be sure to have your favorite
brandy on band for the occasion. Please feel free to
bring your companion."
And with that pronouncement Alex found herself skewered
on the woman's gaze. It was direct, certainly, but it was
also decidedly hostile. All the conversations she'd had with
the woman's maid and housekeeper, the transactions they'd
made, flashed through her mind. No, there was no reason for
animosity of any son. Discretion had been their watchword.
"My apologies, ladies," Terrell said, quickly freeing himself
of her grasp. He took Alex's elbow in one hand and, gesturing
with the other, said, "Mrs. Geoffrey Walker-Hines
Miss Alexandra Radford."
Rose Walker-Hines gave her a smile that only another
woman would recognize as venomous. "If you're with Aiden,
you must have the resilience of a saint."
"Hardly," Alex answered honestly before summoning an
utter lie. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
''And I yours," she lied in return before turning her full attention
back to Terrell. "The invitation is open and standing,
Aiden. As always, at your convenience. It's so nice to have
you back. We've missed you."
The smile that had been strained was most definitely edging
toward brittle as he bowed slightly. "Do give my regards
to Geoff."
"I will," she promised, turning and moving toward her
waiting carriage. Climbing in, she paused to wave and call
out, ''Until then, Aiden dear."
Terrell waved With his free hand. His stony smile didn't
falter and his lips didn't move as he said quietly, "Just as a
point of information, Geoffrey Walker-Hines is a waste of a
good suit."
"We agree on a second issue," Alex admitted as the driver
closed the door on both the carriage and the encounter. "I
never would have imagined the possibility."
He looked down at her, his hand still cradling her elbow.
"How is it that you know him?”
"I don't personally. Their servants have been selling off
heirloom silver pieces for the last six months to pay the
household bills."
"How do you know that?"
"I happen to be a silver broker," she supplied, thinking
that he asked more questions than most three-year-olds.
'That was half an answer," he observed with a slight
shrug. ''But I can deduce the rest. It doesn't take any mental
prowess to know why the Walker-Hinesesare in such unfortunate
circumstances. Geoffrey is a miserable gambler. And
he's always had a fondness for mistresses whose tastes he
can't afford."
Did John Aiden Terrell keep mistresses or did he prefer
brief liaisons With married women? Judging by the kiss Rose
Walker-Hines had planted on-Alex mentally shook herself,
appalled at the nature of her musing. Terrell's personal life
and proclivities were absolutely none of her concern.
''One can't help but wonder why she married him," she
ventured. hoping to mask the true direction of her thoughts.
"She decided that it was better being Geoffrey's wife than
being a-"
He bit off the rest, but she knew the words nonetheless.
She'd heard them countless times before. "Spinster," Alex
finished for him, pointedly drawing her arm from the
warmth and security of his grasp. "On that point, we will
never agree, Mr. Terrell. Better no marriage than spending
eternity in a state of misery."
His eyes instantly went dark and the lines at the comers
of his mouth deepened as he struggled to take a breath. His
voice strained, he retorted ever so quietly. ever so somberly,
"There are worse fates to endure than that of an unhappy
marriage, Miss Radford." With a motion of his hand, he indicated
the shop door and asked. "Shall we go in?"
Alex nodded and gathered her skirts. She didn't know
him, didn't much care for him, but cruelty, whether unintentional
or not, was unacceptable. Troubled by his obvious
pain. she ventured to ease it, saying, “Im sorry if I prodded
a heartache, Mr. Terrell. I didn't mean to."
His smile was weak but genuinely appreciative as he took
her elbow back in hand and pulled open the door. "Does Emmaline
know that Mohan's an heir to a throne?" he whispered
as he guided her into the shop ahead of him.
"She's the only one who does," she supplied, pausing to
stamp the snow off her feet. "I had no choice but to tell her.
Otherwise she wouldn't have known how desperately I
needed the services of a socially acceptable private investigator."
"So you have gone through all the others."
"I didn't say that."
From behind her he laughed softly. The sound rolled over
her, bathing her in a gentle, comforting warmth. Her body
relaxed as her mind-dully warned that Aiden Terrell's ability
to understand her was a danger unlike any she'd ever encountered.
A warm shudder slowly cascaded. down the
length of her, and she savored the depth of it, wanting to identify
the feeling it stirred. It most definitely wasn’t apprehension.
Neither was it anything even slightly akin to
repugnance. It was almost a hunger of sorts, a rather pleasant
kind of ...
Anticipation, she realized, her heart jolting and her
breath catching. Dear God in Heaven, what was wrong with
her? Distance. She needed to keep as far away from the man
as she possibly could. If only she'd spoken up when Barrett
Stanbridge had given her the chance. If only there was
someone else she could hire.
Alex drew her elbow from his grasp yet again and resolutely
set off toward the back of the store, saying crisply,
"Follow me, if you please," hoping that by some great miracle
he'd turn around and walk out of her life.
Chapter 4
Alex stood in the center of the front shop, her hands pressed
to her midriff and willing her heartbeat to slow. It was absolutely
ludicrous to run away from a man in your own home.
Especially a man who was there to protect you and th
ose for
whom you were responsible. She simply had to gain some
measure of control over her reactions to Aiden Terrell. She
was the employer and he was the employee. She'd been the
royal tutor, for heaven's sake; she'd had hundreds-perhaps
thousands-of relationships with subordinates before. This
one was no different from any of the others. She closed her
eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. "Cool distance," she
whispered. "Cool, cool distance."
The sound of his footfalls on the stairs sent her heart back
into her throat and shattered her mantra. Letting her hands fall
to her sides, Alex opened her eyes and faced him squarely, resolved
to take command of the situation before he could.
He was just coming off the last step when she gestured to
the goods surrounding her and crisply said, ''As you've no
doubt surmised, the main floor is devoted to the sale of
goods. I've tried to arrange things so that my customers can
easily visualize the various objects in their own homes."
He nodded and let his gaze wander over the displays. ''Did
you bring all of this with you when you came out of India?"
"Very little of that initial shipment remains," she supplied,
vastly relieved by the distant and impersonal tone she heard
in his voice. "I receive replacement goods from a trader in
Dwarka on a regular schedule. One is, in fact, due any day."
Casually rubbing a paisley cashmere shawl between his
fingers, he said, "If he knows where you are-"
"He's Mohan's favorite uncle and can be trusted."
Again he nodded. This time, though, the gesture was accompanied
by first a humming sound and then a pronounced
silence. After several moments, he turned to face her,
crossed his arms over his chest, and asked, "May I pose a
more personal question?"
"I suspect that refusing wouldn't make any difference in
whether you ask or not."
''True,'' he admitted with a grin that sparkled all the way to
his eyes. "Let me more accurately restate the question. If I
asked you a personal question, would you give me a straight
and honest answer?"
"I can't know the answer to that," she countered warily,
''until I know what the question is."
"Fair enough." He picked up an ornately carved picture
frame and studied it as he asked, "Why the shop? Why London?
Mohan's father could have bought a country estate and
tucked you both neatly away in safe seclusion. Why didn't
he? Why did he choose to establish his royal tutor as a merchant
in the heart of a huge city?"
He considered this a personal subject? God was indeed
merciful and caring. Alex leaned her hip against the writing
desk and relaxed, suddenly much more confident in her ability
to manage both the conversation and Aiden Terrell.
"While, in recent years, the East India Company may have
crumbled as a governing body of India," she said, "it's apparent
that British control isn't going to be surrendered anytime
soon. The rajas know this, of course, and believe that in order
to effectively exercise their power within those parameters,
they must understand the ways of Britain herself." .
He set aside the one frame and picked up another Without
comment or-most surprisingly-another question.
"Part of the reason for bringing Mohan to England," she
went on, watching him caress the carving with the pads of
his thumbs , "was to immerse him in British ways so that he
would be a better leader when his time comes. Ensconced in
at a country estate wouldn't have accomplished the larger
goal. London is the center of the empire and so it's London
that Mohan must experience in order to learn what he must
to rule effectively." "
"A partial answer. A quite acceptable one, actually. He
put down the frame and selected yet another. "Now if you'll
just as ably answer the other part. Why did he establish you
as a merchant? Why not simply put you in a house and support
you and Mohan in royal fashion?" .
''That was his intention at the beginning. I suggested that
Mohan would learn more of what he needs to know if he were
to experience a more common reality. In the end, the raja saw
matters my way."
"Do you always get your way?" .
"No, not always." He set down the small frame, but this
time didn't select another. Still, he didn't look at her. She
found it most odd; it didn't seem at all like him to approach
matters in this way. "Just usually." .
His gaze snapped up to meet hers as another of his heart jolting
grins lit up his face. "I'm not the least surprised by
Something had surprised her, though. Aiden could see It.m
the nervous edge to the smile she gave him in return. Despite
an apparently determined effort to appear unaffected, her gesture
was a bit vague and shaky when she indicated the back of
the main floor and said, "If you'll come this way, I'll show you
the other rooms."
There was nothing vague about the way she turned and
walked off. He'd seen squads of royal sailors make less obvious
retreats. He followed, puzzling over what he'd done
that had set her into flight. She'd been answering his questions
easily and forthrightly up until ... He'd given her a
compliment. Well, of sorts, anyway. That's when she'd gotten
flustered. And he'd smiled at her, too.
“'This is one of the three fabric rooms," she said, interrupting
his musing.
Aiden stopped with the space of the doorway separating
them and looked inside. There were shelves against 3ll the
walls from floor to ceiling. all of them packed with neatly
folded fabric. The floor was covered with a dark blue, richly
patterned rug. A huge library-type table sat in the center .of
the room and a discreetly draped dress form had been placed
in the comer. Everything was blue, green, purple, or a variation
thereof.
She didn't say anything but he followed when she moved
to the next room. As the first had been stocked with fabrics
at the cooler end of the rainbow, this one decidedly displayed
the warmer. Reds. yellows, oranges. From bright to
the merest hint of color. Another coordinating rug, another
table, another dress form.
The third room she showed him was, to his surprise,
something of a disappointment after the first two. It was visually
divided in half. Blacks and grays were on one side.
Whites to light camels on the other. The rug was white, the
dress form draped in black. He frowned, realizing that, as
strange as it was, the general absence of color made him feel
somehow cheated.
He was still pondering his reaction to the room when she
moved to the next. This one she actually entered and he dutifully
stepped in behind her. There were shelves in this one,
too. But it wasn't fabric she displayed. It was silver. Tea and
coffee services, trays, bowls, platters, pitchers, and silverware.
God Almighty, there was enough silverware in that room to
set the table at Windsor Castle. There were wooden storage
boxes of it everyWhere; some stacked one upon the other,
some of them opened to display the gleaming contents. If
there was any stolen silver in the mountain before him, he'd
have one helluva time trying to find it.
"I don't think I've ever seen a collection of silver this ...
extensive," he ventured.
She tweaked the angle of a tea service on one of the
shelves, saying, "It is a bit overwhelming, isn't it? I didn't
set out to be a silver broker, but the opportunity presented itself
and the profits are so attractive, I couldn't resist. It's
been very instructional for Mohan, too."
"I can't imagine a raja being all that concerned over what
spoons are used on the royal table," he offered, hoping that it
was a neutral enough comment. The very last thing he
wanted was for her to make a retreat into silence.
"Actually," she replied. moving objects around the shelves
as she spoke, ''the lesson comes in weighing public appearances
and private realities. Mrs. Walker-Hines is a perfect
example. Publicly she presents her situation as being the epitome
of financial solvency. Just this morning she had her maid
carrying purchases out of Emmaline's shop for all to see. Privately,
however, she's selling silver to pay those bills and
many others."
"With the servants doing the actual selling," Aiden supplied,