The Kaiser Account by Louise Blaydon

Author:Louise Blaydon [Blaydon, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Erotic Romance Fiction
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Published: 2016-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Also available from Pride Publishing:

Shadow Play: Best Kept Lies

Helena Maeve

Excerpt

Chapter One

“You’re a son of a bitch, you know that?”

The crackle of red vinyl dragged across Grigory’s nerves, yet when he glanced up it was with a placid smile. No use antagonizing such a valuable asset.

Nathaniel wrinkled his nose at the cloud of stale cigarette smoke that rose from the bench seat as he sat down. He didn’t comment on the setting. He had more important things on his mind.

“Was it your people?”

Someday, Grigory mused, they would look back on this and laugh. Assuming they lived long enough for hindsight to lend a touch of humor to their clandestine meetings.

“Don’t you want to take your coat off first?” he inquired. “Make yourself comfortable?”

Nathaniel raised his eyebrows. He’d never come out and say ‘cut the crap’—crap being par for the course in their industry—but it was written in the disbelieving lines of his face.

“I won’t be staying. They’re expecting me back at the embassy in twenty minutes.”

“Then you shouldn’t waste time asking questions you know I cannot answer.” Slowly, Grigory raised his coffee cup to his lips and returned his gaze to the flat-screen suspended above the bar.

There was something vaguely offensive about a café in Rome displaying every feature of a New Jersey watering hole. Before Grigory could give it much thought, the ‘Breaking News’ logo flashed on screen.

Ten Downing Street seemed both larger and grayer on TV. The prime minister fared no better beneath the flicker and flash of tabloid cameras. Burly men in stretchy dark suits flanked him like hailers. With little finesse, they bustled him into the back seat of a shiny Mercedes as reporters shouted questions from behind the barricades.

The BBC feed lingered on that one last glimpse of Prime Minister Craft before he disappeared behind tinted glass.

He wore the face of a man on his way to the gallows. Her Majesty hardly warranted the sulk.

A blonde head blocked Grigory’s view.

“Good morning,” greeted the perky waitress, her English beautifully accented. “What will you have?”

She wore a pale coral shirt that matched the sign outside the café and a pair of cut-off shorts. From her apron dangled a hand-scribbled name tag that read Letitia.

“Nothing,” replied Nathaniel. Then, for Grigory’s sake, he repeated, “I’m not staying.”

“Chicken burger,” Grigory said, ignoring him. “And guacamole.”

“Would you like a beer with that?”

Grigory beamed. “Why not? Make that two.”

Punctuating their order with a flick of the pen, the waitress fluttered her lashes and turned on her heel. Her ponytail swung as she sauntered toward the kitchen. She couldn’t have been older than eighteen.

Watching her made Grigory feel impossibly old. Eighteen had been sweating over his university entrance exams and staring wistfully out of the window as neighborhood boys staggered out of their beds simply to trawl down to the public pool. Eighteen had been the certitude that if he hadn’t got into Lomosonov University, his life would have been over.

Eighteen was an eternity ago.

“You know I don’t care for Italian beer,” Nathaniel muttered under his breath.

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