Addison Fox - The Rome Affair

Her raised eyebrows let him know exactly what she thought of his statement, but she kept her voice level. “I thought the note that arrived with your flowers suggested otherwise.”

“I don’t know. I’ve always found a little spirited poking is healthy for business.” He leaned forward, pleased when her crystal-blue gaze stayed level on his. “Nothing like a sense of competition to keep a person engaged.”

“I have no interest in being poked.”

“Oh, really?” He couldn’t hold back the smile.

“Really.” The light flush that was visible at the V of her blouse suggested she wasn’t unaffected and he couldn’t resist one more attempt at ruffling her. “Because partnership does have its benefits, Kensington.”

“I’ve got enough partners, Jack.” The fingers of her right hand trembled ever so slightly before she wrapped them around her coffee cup. “What I want is the opportunity to work with new business prospects.”

“What if I can offer you that?”

“Excuse me?”

He’d spent the past few days thinking about the solution he was about to offer her and could only curse himself he hadn’t come up with it sooner. “Business partners. It makes sense.”

“I don’t need a business partner. My brothers and sister and I run the House of Steele as a family. We’re not selling.”

“I’m not suggesting anything of the sort, especially since I’ve no interest in selling or merging Andrews Holdings.”

The sharp set of her lips faded and the same shrewd sense—the one that had allowed Kensington to lead their family enterprise into a wildly successful business in a handful of years—took over. “What did you have in mind?”

“You and I went up against each other on the Rome job.”

“As well as Memphis, San Francisco and Hong Kong.”

He ignored the litany of their recent skirmishes, instead focusing on the reason he’d come. “I’m talking about Rome. I met with the Italian embassy on Monday and was smugly told I nearly didn’t get the assignment.”

“Why not?”

“I maintain a small firm, by choice. Seems the Italians were looking for something a bit more expansive. There was a fair amount of infighting among the selection committee before I gained the nod.”

“I still don’t see how this involves me.”

How did he explain it to her? He prided himself on reading his adversaries—and he typically put clients in that category until proven otherwise—but the meeting with the embassy’s staff had caught him unawares. “They’ve changed the scope of the assignment.”

“How so? It’s a pretty straightforward protection detail with a bit of snooping on the side. Eyes and ears on the ambassador and his surroundings on his upcoming diplomatic mission.”

“The Italians have begun to suspect Hubert Pryce of some unsavory practices.”

Confusion stamped itself immediately on her face, but underneath he saw the flicker of interest. It was subtle, he’d give her that, but it was there all the same. She leaned forward a bit more eagerly and a small spark lit that vivid gaze. “I’m not following. A host country has to accept an ambassador from another country and can, at any point, dissolve the relationship, declaring the diplomat persona non grata. It’s a basic tenant of the Vienna Convention.”

“The Italians think it would be worth their while to follow Ambassador Pryce for a bit longer.”

“Why? He comes from a small country in central Africa. If they’re concerned, and I can’t imagine why they are, they need to remove him from his post. They’re within their rights to do so and no explanations are needed.”

Jack briefly toyed with filtering the limited information he had but realized it was, at best, unfair and, at worst, dangerous to keep her in the dark. “Tierra Kimber may be small, but the country has seen incredible growth in the past decade as a major center for both diamonds and fashion.”

Kensington took a sip of her coffee, her expression thoughtful as that interest honed to a sharp point. “They’re not even a top-ten player in Italy’s economy. I realize Pryce’s family background is European and he’s spent considerable time cultivating a reputation across the region, but the Italian government is under no obligation to allow him to remain in Italy if they have any concerns whatsoever.”

“Hubert Pryce is the tip of the iceberg if what the Italians suspect him of is true.”

“And what’s that?”

“If they’re correct, he’s smuggling diamonds through the Italian wine trade.”

* * *

Kensington exhaled a harsh breath, shocked at Jack’s suggestion. “The man is incredibly well respected. What proof do the Italians have to even suggest something like this?”

Jack pulled a small tablet from his pocket and turned it on, flipping to a document before handing the device to her. Their fingers brushed momentarily and her gaze landed squarely on his at the contact. She swallowed hard as that intense, dark brown gaze captured hers.

Because she’d already overplayed her hand with the scrutiny, she decided to go for broke and look her fill. The hue of his eyes was a color match for his almost-black, close-cut hair. She saw some threads of gray at the temples and wondered at that. Her research indicated he was no more than thirty-six, but the lines at the corners of his eyes added to the gray, suggesting a man who worked and played hard.

“How much research did you do on Ambassador Pryce prior to the assignment?” Jack asked.

“I put together an extensive dossier. Although born in the small nation of Tierra Kimber, he’s from a well-respected European family and was educated in the United States. He spent his formative years at Choate, then on to Yale. He spent another decade in the U.S., working in the New York office of his family’s financial firm before returning to live in Tierra Kimber. His reputation is sterling.”

“Well, the Italians don’t think so. They’ve become increasingly convinced his interests aren’t quite on the up-and-up and that he’s been abusing his ambassadorship to move diamonds.” Jack pointed to the tablet. “Take a look at that document.”

She flipped through the various pages, immediately lost in a series of email exchanges that had obviously been intercepted and cobbled together. Although nothing about any individual email seemed off, taken as a whole it was more than obvious something was afoot. “An ambassador’s communications are protected. How’d they get these?”

“They didn’t share that information with me.”

A strange, unwelcome panic gripped Kensington, twisting her stomach into knots. “Jack. You shouldn’t have this.”

“They’re my client. What I probably shouldn’t be doing is sharing this with you.”

“No, I mean you shouldn’t have this. Pryce has full diplomatic immunity. He’s not subject to the same laws as others and possession of this communication is violating another basic tenant of the Convention.”

“It’s my job. Would have been your job had you won the bid.”

“We’d have stepped out of it.” Even as the words left her lips, she knew that wasn’t entirely true. She and her siblings had built their business taking on the jobs others didn’t want or weren’t capable of.

And connections like the Italian government—connections who needed outside help and who would sing the House of Steele’s praises for a job well-done—were always worth her time.

“You’d have really walked away?”

“I’d certainly have taken it to my family and we would have considered it as a team.”

“The buck stops with me at Andrews Holdings, which is why I have team members who act as operatives, not partners. I’m not walking away from the assignment, but I’m not bullheaded enough not to realize when I need help.”