The Perfect Temptation by Leslie Lafoy Read Free Book Online

somewhere and that
possibility tends to make
    me a bit nervous these
days."
     
    "I'll give the matter some
thought," she replied. Her smile
    brightened by a degree and she
slid a look his way. "I gather
    he--your father-disapproves of
something you've done."
     
    ''There's an
understatement," he answered. Unwilling to
    expand on the particulars, he
indicated the room's rear window
    with a nod of his chin and
changed the subject. "Is that
    the kitchen?"
     
    She looked up from her silver to
gaze out the window.
     
    "Yes," she said,
picking up a cloth and wiping her hands. Laying
    it aside, she turned and walked
past him. saying, ''Come
    along and I'll introduce you to
Preeya. She's our cook and
    housekeeper."
     
    There was only a few feet of
hallway between the door of
    the silver room and the one that
led out into the rear yard and
    the kitchen beyond. A brass coat
tree sat in the comer, laden
    with various wraps, but she
didn't pause to take one of them.
     
    She'd stepped outside when Aiden
felt the compunction to be
    a gentleman. "Wouldn't you like
a shawl or something?" he
    called after
her. " Tell me which you'd prefer and
I'll bring it
    along."
     
    She laughed again, precluding his need for a coat anytime
    soon. "It ' s
only a short distance and it's really not all that
    cold. At
least not by Himalayan standards."
     
    Expelling a hard breath to steady
himself, Aiden left the
    wraps behind and hurried to catch
up. "I've heard that the
    Himalayas are an especially
beautiful part of India," he offered
    as he fell in beside her on the
cleanly swept Walkway.
     
    "Is it true?"
     
    ''It's paradise. A bit closer to
the English version of it in the
    warmer months, though. A good number
of the British military commanders spend their summers in the region to escape
    the horrible temperatures of the
south. Winters are rather
    snowy, of course. One has to
expect that in high mountains."
     
    "Do you miss it?"
     
    Her smile faltered, and despite
her effort to keep it in
    place, he
could tell it was now forced and empty, of any real
    happiness. He'd
inadvertently hit upon a topic that troubled
    her and
he regretted it immensely. He liked the relaxed
    Alexandra Radford ever so much
better than ' the wary, defensive
    one.
     
    "You're a man of a thousand
questions, Mr. Terrell," she
    predictably replied as she
stepped ahead of him and seized
    the kitchen door handle before he
could. "Preeya," she called
    out as she entered . "I've brought someone to meet you."
     
    And that was the last he understood of anything she said.
     
    Alex Radford rattled on in what he presumed to be a flawless
    stream of Indian, gesturing to
him and to a plumpish, short,
    gray-haired woman working at the
stove. The woman-who
    wore a pair of flat, heavily
embroidered fabric shoes and what
    looked like a dozen yards of
draped cloth-abandoned her
    cooking to face him, put her
hands together before her, bow
    slightly, and
say something that sounded like "Namastay."
     
    He had no idea what it meant or
even if he'd heard it right
     
    But returning the greeting seemed
to be the polite thing to do
    and so he mimicked her. His
reward was a huge smile from
    her and an approving nod from
Alex Radford.
     
    And then they promptly ignored
him. Preeya went back to
    stirring whatever was in her cook
pot and Alex went on talking
    in Indian. No, he
corrected himself, remembering a long ago
    school lesson. The most commonly
spoken language in
    India wasn't called Indian. That
would have been logical.
     
    Hindi? Yes, that was it. They
called it Hindi. Of course, for all
    he knew, she could have been speaking one of the less common
    ones. His personal knowledge of
India was limited to
    having once seen a set of
navigation charts for the Indian
    Ocean.
     
    And he knew just as little about
Indian cuisine. One thing
    was certain, though, the scents
were sharp and strong in
    Preeya's world. He couldn't
identify any of those swirling
    around and seemingly through him.
Well,