Girl of Vengeance by Charles Sheehan-Miles Page A

surprised.
    Wendy didn’t look fooled. She raised a skeptical eyebrow right back. “Yes. His wife. I think she’s afraid of him. You know her too, don’t you, sir?”
    George-Phillip frowned. “You don’t miss very much, do you, Miss Li?”
    She shook her head. “Very little. Is there something there we should be worried about?”
    George-Phillip grunted. On the one hand, it wasn’t an appropriate question for a subordinate to be asking. On the other—she had a point. “No. There might have been, many years ago. But that’s long since over.”
    The look of concern didn’t leave Wendy’s face. But she wisely chose to steer the conversation away from Adelina. “Thompson has been the Ambassador since last October. It’s been a difficult time—with the spying revelations, relations with China and the US are souring rapidly.”
    “Indeed,” George-Phillip said. “Spying is one thing. Nuclear secrets are another. It’s difficult to blame the Americans for their response.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Ninety minutes later, George-Phillip and Wendy Li arrived at the US Embassy compound and were cleared through the gate. He felt somewhat refreshed after the shower, but nothing would completely do it other than a lot of sleep. Which he was unlikely to get in the next couple of days. So be it. He had a job to do, and sleep wasn’t in the job description.
    George-Phillip and Wendy were late, but not too much so. It never hurt to be close to the last to arrive anyway. As he walked into the ballroom in the Embassy, his eyes scanned the room and the sixty or more guests who were crowded in various circles and groupings.
    He immediately recognized some faces. Rick Smith, the Australian Ambassador to China, and of course Ambassador Ronald Easton, who stood next to his American counterpart—Richard Thompson. Thompson stood in profile to George-Phillip. His expression was grave as he and Easton spoke. Richard had aged, his hair gone grey in the dozen years since they’d encountered each other. He must be in his mid-forties.
    Adelina wasn’t standing with Thompson, which was a good thing. After a moment, George-Phillip found her. She was standing near the back wall of the ballroom, talking with a young girl. Adelina’s back was to George-Phillip. She looked much the same, her back still well toned, exposed in a backless dress. After five children, her body had changed, of course—broader hips and larger breasts. She was lovely. He froze, unable to focus clearly as he looked at the young woman.
    Fourteen , he guessed. Curly brown hair, large pretty eyes. Julia. She wouldn’t remember him, of course—she’d been a mere toddler when he last saw her. She’d turned into a beautiful young woman.
    For a moment he gave into a fantasy that she was his daughter, that he and Adelina could have had children. But of course, that was impossible. Five children. He wondered if she’d finally been emotionally seduced by her husband.
    For the last decade and more his mother had constantly harped at him. Get married. Have a child. But he’d kept a false hope, all along, that one day she would leave him, that a miracle would happen and he would be with the woman he loved. But at the moment he saw her again for the first time, he didn’t feel that longing, he didn’t feel that love. What he felt was anger and hurt and grief he hadn’t imagined he was capable of.
    “Your Highness! Welcome to Beijing.”
    Startled, George-Phillip averted his eyes from Adelina and Julia, only to come face to face with Ronald Easton, the US Ambassador, and Richard Thompson.
    Automatically, a smile lit across George-Phillip’s face, though it was no more sincere than the friendly face Thompson showed.
    “Ambassador Easton! Ambassador Thompson! A pleasure to see both of you again!”
    Easton smiled. “Prince George-Phillip, I’m pleased to have you here. So you know Richard?”
    Forcing his thoughts away from Adelina, he replied. “Indeed. Ambassador