of the waiters and toasting the beautiful woman in front him.
The group conversation continued on for a few more minutes before Zhang and the Ambassador were finally dragged away by one of the many assistants for a photo call for the magazine covering the event. As both Thomas and Hank watched her walk away enjoying the view the Texan was the first to speak.
"God Damnit, Son. This Turkmenistan business is a mess!" Hank said with his typical directness looking him directly in the eyes.
"I know, Hank," Thomas replied, his mind back firmly back on the business at hand.
"I have agreed with my partners to pick up the slack for your LNG plants in Korea," Thomas continued.
"Spot!" Hank replied with force, just as Thomas expected. "Jesus, that means we have to put the price up as I am certain you and Korean buddies sure as hell won't take a haircut," he said just a touch too theatrically for Thomas's liking. "You sure you cannot resolve this issue with this Balysh?" he queried with a look that showed he already knew the answer.
"No, not for the moment" Thomas answered.
"So, where's that product that you lost going?" Hank asked.
"To a plant in Ukraine that his wife's sister owns," answered Thomas.
"So Europe gets it," Hank responded with a shake of the head. Thomas nodded.
"The Japs are going scream murder," said Hank with barely veiled anger putting his empty glass on a waiter's tray as he walked past. "Maybe it's time to kill that rattler before he raises his head," he said again using one of his many Texan sayings he liked, to tell Thomas to take care of Balysh and be decisive in it.
"Stay and enjoy the party!" Hank said over his shoulder as he walked off in disgust. Well and truly letting Thomas what he thought of the news.
Left alone. Mikhail joined Thomas at his side having watched the interplay discreetly from behind him.
"That Dowling is a snake," he said with his typical understatement.
Thomas looked at his friend and smiled but didn't say anything with regard to Mikhail's correct observation. He just nodded.
"Shall I tell Barak to bring the car to the front?" Mikhail asked, figuring Thomas would leave the event now his business was concluded.
"No," Thomas replied with a small smirk as he gripped his old friend by the arm to let him know he had other plans. "I think I might stay a while," he continued as his gaze zoned in on the beautiful Chinese lady that he had met earlier standing with a group of men and women to the side of the room.
"I can't guess why," replied Mikhail with a wry smile.
Although Thomas was absolutely certain there was chemistry between them both, he did not chase Zhang around the ballroom and nor did he bid for the right to have a date with her, much to her disappointment. Instead, he had chosen to spend the same amount that Hank had spent on that honor on a set of Herb Ritts black and white photographs of another famous model from the 1990s.
It was a purchase that had instantly bought a look of fire in her piercing green eyes when their eyes had met again for the umpteenth time that evening.
They both felt the friction as the courtship ballet began as they played the game with each other, moving from party to party, appearing to catch up with old friends, whilst every so often allowing their eyes to meet. At the end of the evening Thomas exited the ballroom but not before making sure Zhang saw him do so.
Now standing alone at the end of the hotel bar nursing a Vodka Martini and listening to the piano player playing Gershwin songs in the corner he waited to see if she took the bait.
Thomas drifted as he listened to the pianist. He hadn't felt like this in years. Here he was like a giddy schoolboy waiting at the end of the bar for the time required to drink a cocktail, or maybe two having had a bet with himself that at some point the object of his desire's curiosity would get the better of her and seek him out.
"Maybe I losing my touch," he mused after she still had not appeared after twenty minutes. "Ships that pass in the night," he thought ruefully, before feeling guilty, something that was a common occurrence whenever he had spent the night with a woman and found her in his bed the next morning and not Nara.
Close to finishing the drink and now feeling even guiltier that he had wanted to cheat on Nara's memory, Thomas decided it was time to signal Mikhail who, ever the professional, was by the exit threat-assessing everybody who entered the room, to let him know he was now ready to leave. Before he could do so a sultry voice uttered, "I believe you English say a penny for your thoughts do you not?" interrupting his troubled thoughts, stopped him.
Thomas looked up to find the beautiful woman placing her clutch bag on the bar next to his drink and mounting the raised bar stool to his side providing him an incredible view of a young creamy leg as she did so.
He smiled and then replied.
"Yes we do, Zhang."
"You are a very interesting man, Sir Thomas," she said without reticence as she turned her stool to face him. "You tease me all night with your soulful eyes and hidden messages. Then you run away from me and purchase a poor investment," she challenged with sparkling eyes.
"Run away?" he queried playing along with her as the barman came approached them ignoring her quip about his auction purchase.
"Yes run away," she answered before ordering a whiskey sour from the youthful barman.
Thomas smiled again enjoying the banter that was starting to take place between them.
"So you don't think Herb Ritts is a good investment then?" he quipped and asked at the same time.
"Not as good as an evening with me," Zhang answered without hesitation and plenty of promise.
They fell silent for several seconds as the barman returned not once did they break their eye contact as he placed the drink on the bar. The burden of initiative firmly at his feet, Thomas's body responded. Aggressive, intelligent, elegant and sexy women were always his kryptonite. His mind toyed with doubt for a moment. Nara entered his mind, only to disappear when Zhang lifted her hand to his bowtie and gently pulled it loose. She released a low giggle, to Thomas ears it felt as though it was a confession of naughtiness and pleasure at the same time.
"That would have been part of the service," she whispered as she leaned forward, eyes looking straight into his as she slid closer into his space.
"Service?" answered Thomas falling for her trap only to have the trance between them broken by the click of her fingers.
"But not for you tonight, Sir Thomas Litchfield," she said, getting up with grace and elegance, firmly putting him in his place for attempting to tease her all night.
Thomas's eyes momentarily slipped down to the uncovered thigh of her long leg. Then he looked back up her. His heart raced as Zhang bent down to him as if to gently kiss his cheek.
"Next time we meet, I will cost you far more!" she breathed into his ear and stroked his face lightly before leaving him and offering Mikhail a seductive smile on the way out.
Thomas watched her leave to the sound of the pianist playing, "My Baby Just Cares for Me," the song made famous by Nina Simone. He chuckled. It was something Mikhail immediately spotted as he joined him.
"So old man, what do you feel like doing now?" Mikhail asked with a small smirk on his face. Thomas laughed.
"I think that I would like another drink," Thomas answered coyly. "Join me," he said as he raised his arm to call the barman to order a drink for him and Mikhail.
Moments later, the female concierge of St Regis, a delightful and always helpful blonde called Maria appeared at their side interrupting their banter.
"Excuse me, Sir Thomas," she said as Mikhail threat assessed her.
"Yes, Maria," answered Thomas warmly, having spotted her nametag.
"A young lady asked me to give you this," she said with a warm smile as she handed him a watermarked business card with her name on it.
Thomas thanked the concierge then read the message.
"A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers." Zhang
&nb
sp; Thomas laughed and as he did so for the first time in a long time Mikhail saw light in his eyes. It warmed him.
"What that does that mean?" Mikhail asked who always had a habit of using sayings in his life after reading the message.
"It's a Chinese proverb," answered Thomas. "A life lesson that means you should not go around picking flowers so your hands will smell good, but instead doing something nice for someone else makes you a better person." Mikhail handed back the business card. It told Thomas well and truly that if he purchased an evening of her time instead of a set of photographs it would have killed two birds with one stone, helped the charity of the evening and the evening with her would have made him a better person.
"You're definitely in trouble, old man!" Mikhail answered with authority as he picked up his large shot of thirty-year-old Macallan.
"This one knows how to push your buttons," he continued as he toasted Thomas's health in Hebrew.
Having been searched by a member of the Secret Service before being allowed into the suite, Hank was met by the Secretary of State with an outstretched hand containing a tumbler of E.H. Taylor small batch Bourbon Hank's favorite pour.
A little act that the Texan concluded that the prissy man had used as part of his power play in order to show him the extent of his, reach and power.
"So what's Litchfield got to say for himself?" asked Young foregoing any form of greeting to Hank's annoyance who believed in all circumstances that good manners were everything whether you were ripping apart or trying to do