Courting Trouble Read Online Free PDF

woman. She waved a slender hand to emphasize some point she was making, and the gold bangles on her arm jangled seduction.
    A third member of the party was walking a pace behind Jed and the girl, but that didn’t surprise Esme. Ever since Jed saved Gupta Singh from drowning, Gupta had hero-worshipped Jed and imitated his style. If Jed was here in Bombaytown, it was on the cards that Gupta would be following him like an eager puppy.
    Although—Esme frowned—Gupta didn’t look happy today. In fact, he looked downright worried.
    Huh. Even Gupta disapproved of Jed taking up with the pretty young girl.
    She sniffed, ignoring the tight band that compressed her chest—it was simply an allergic reaction to some spice in the air. It was not her heart cracking. Jed could walk out with any girl he wanted. There had always been a lurking fear that he would find courting a suffragette irksome. How much easier to woo a woman who simpered and sighed, who simply adored him?
    As I do. Her breath caught at that painful and instantly banished admission.
    At just that moment, he looked around and saw her. His head went back as if he’d taken a blow.
    Guilt. Esme scowled and kicked down the stand on her bike, dismounting swiftly.
    Darn it. A man who’d professed to be courting her had no right to be escorting another young and personable woman along a public street. He ought to be at her house bearing roses, to offer his apologies for last night’s offences.
    He crossed the road a bare inch in front of a flower cart pulled by a fast-trotting donkey. The tub basket overflowed with carnations and willow branches from the gardens along the river, where the growers were busily preparing for Diwali, when flowers would be strung in garlands and strewn in houses and streets. Usually, it was one of her favorite festivals.
    “Esme.” Jed caught her arm. “What are you doing here?”
    “That is hardly any of your business.” She looked disdainfully at his hand on her arm. “Please release me.”
    His hand closed fast. “Don’t be ridiculous.” The width of his shoulders blocked the street from her view, creating an illusion of privacy at the edge of the busy market square. “I was just coming to see you.”
    “Huh. Since when have I lived in Bombaytown?”
    “I had to collect Lajli and Gupta first. They have a story to share with us.”
    “Me, I am Lajli.” The unknown young woman inserted herself into the conversation.
    Gupta plucked at her arm. “Come away. S-sorry, Miss Esme.”
    The young woman eeled out of Gupta’s hold. “I am Lajli. I am Gupta’s cousin.”
    Jed ignored her, his attention all for Esme. “Perhaps I should let you think I’m a cheating buzzard, it might be safer. Don’t argue. I saw that look in your eyes. As if I’d betrayed you. Sweetheart, I’d never do that. I might lose my temper and embarrass you. About last night…”
    “Never mind about last night.” She was suddenly conscious of Lajli’s fascinated stare, even as the band around her chest dissolved into nothing. “What do you mean, it might be safer to let me think you a cheating buzzard?”
    His eyes shifted away from hers, then returned determinedly. “If you thought I’d betrayed you, you’d steer clear of me, and that would be safest for you. On the other hand, everyone already knows how important you are to me. That wouldn’t change, no matter how you snubbed me. So you’d remain my Achilles’ heel, but I wouldn’t be near you to protect you.”
    She frowned at the inference she couldn’t protect herself but refrained from correcting his outdated notions. Her curiosity was too strong. “Protect me from what?”
    “From bad mens,” Lajli said triumphantly. “I was right. The papers are bad.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Nor do I, but I intend to.” Jed rubbed her arm, a reassuring caress. “That’s why I’m here. Lajli has some questions to answer.”
    Lajli pouted.
    “But not here.” For the first time, he seemed