Free Blood Stones by Evelyn Anthony

like that. We can have a quiet evening tonight, darling. I’m bushed too.’
    â€˜Well,’ he drew the word out. ‘Well … you might drop by Cartier sometime this afternoon. I’ve ordered a little something for you. No, darling, I’m not going to tell you what it is. But it’ll cheer you up, I promise. I just wanted to give you a surprise. So go along and get it. Bye, sweetheart …’
    Elizabeth put the phone down and picked up the letter. There hadn’t really been a conflict. She had learned her priorities from her own family. Her husband and her marriage would always come first with her. And she had the comfort of knowing that she had, in fact, succeeded. James wouldn’t see it like that. Business success meant so much to him. That was why she had lied … it was her decision, her choice. She didn’t want him feeling guilty because of what she’d missed.

3
    â€˜I think James should go to Paris and make contact with Karakov.’
    Julius Heyderman had opened the Board meeting with that sentence. He was met by a shocked silence, and then Kruger burst out, ‘Hastings? Why him? He hasn’t the experience, or the weight, to talk to someone like Karakov. No offence,’ he added, turning towards James, ‘but it’ll look as if you’re sending the office boy!’
    Arthur Harris winced. Kruger was making it worse; you could try persuading Heyderman, and he might listen. Bluster or question his judgement like that, and he’d see you in hell first.
    â€˜David is the best choice; he’s a diamond man, Karakov knows him … Even me, if you follow it through. We’ve been on the Board for years. We’re serious players. I say again, no offence to you, James, but you’re too young and too new—’
    â€˜Which is why I’m sending him,’ Heyderman cut in. ‘Karakov won’t listen to David, and certainly not to you, Dick. We heard this morning how he feels about the London office … that certainly includes you. Hastings is young, he’s new and Karakov will drop his guard, because of those factors. He’ll think you’re easy meat, James,’ he spoke to him directly. ‘And you’ll let him think so. Let him think he’s in control. He’s such a vain bastard he’ll believe it. Anyway, gentlemen, if Hastings is prepared to take it on, then I say he joins the Paris office on a three-month secondment. Longer, if necessary. Arthur? You support me in this?’
    It was a command, not a question.
    â€˜Only if I register my reservations,’ his brother-in-law said. ‘Yes, conditionally I support you, but I draw the line at more than three months. You said yourself that time was of the essence to stop this agreement with the Russians.’
    Julius looked at him with dislike. ‘If Andrews doesn’t cock it up again, Hastings won’t need three months,’ he snapped. ‘Agreed?’
    Nobody dissented. Kruger had shot his bolt.
    â€˜Good.’ Almost as an afterthought he turned to James. ‘You happy about this? Feel you can make a success of it?’
    The bright blue eyes were fixed on him, shrewd and probing. He hadn’t flinched.
    This was his chance, his golden moment. He took it as he’d taken every opportunity on offer to rise up in the world.
    â€˜I’ll give it my best shot,’ he said clearly. ‘And I don’t expect to fail. Thank you, Julius. When do I go?’
    â€˜See Reece,’ Heyderman closed the subject. ‘With Andrews. He’ll brief you both. Now, to the rest of business.’
    The meeting ended an hour later. Heyderman went out first, followed by Reece and then Arthur. Ray Andrews and James found themselves behind Kruger and David Wasserman. Johnson went off without wasting time; he had a lot of work to do.
    In the corridor, Wasserman stopped. ‘Well, Ray my boy, you got a dirty job ahead of you,’