"Hail to the Tutweilers. Charles, Anne, hello. So good of the American embassy to send a contingent to the polo match. And who might this young man with you be?"
Marc looked up at the imposing figure astride the equally massive and magnificent horse. Charles had told him who the rider was before he'd broken away from his team after the first chukka and had ridden over to where the Tutweilers and Marc were sitting under umbrellas at the Greenwich field.
"Munitions sales. Old, entrenched family," Charles had reminded Marc earlier after also reminding Trent for the umpteenth time that his cover name for this operation, Marc, ended in a "C" rather than the usual "K." "Our target," he needlessly added. Charles, who supposedly was control for this caper, seemed more nervous about it than Trentâcurrently Marcâwas.
Lord Harkwood was a solidly built man exuding confidence and very much taken by his own importance. He had commanded the polo field like a monarch. At some six-and-a-half feet of solid muscle, despite his evident early fifties age, it was reasonable for him to expect the deference others gave him. His piercing, steel-gray eyes, rugged, yet well-cut facial features, the wavy black hair shot with gray and matching mustache and Van-Dyke beard, gave him the look of a medieval monarch as well. He sat astride his steed like he commanded whatever he had between his thighs.
"Good wishes to you, Lord Harkwood," Charles answered. "We did promise to come watch the polo, and here we are."
Harkwood was looking at Marc while Charles was answering and it wasn't lost on the young man, whose real name was Trent Wilson, that Harkwood asked who Marc was and Charles hadn't responded yet. Marc knew Charles was gauging just how interested the target was in him, which seemed to be considerably so. Marc felt the man's eyes already were undressing him.
"Damon," the man astride the horse responded to Charles. "Call me Damon. We've had enough dealings to be on first-name basis, Charles. In fact, it's long past time you visited Falconcroft for a shooting weekend. You've been on assignment in England entirely too long not to have experienced a country estate retreat. And this young man with you. Has he experienced an English weekend in the country yet?"
Harkwood still had his eyes glued to Charles' young colleague.
"Oh, sorry, Damon. Of course, this is Marcâending in a 'C' rather than a 'K'âMinor. He's the son of friends from Washington; here for a Ralph Lauren photo shoot."
Marc smiled and gave a little tilt of his head to Lord Harkwood in recognition of the introduction and to give him an initial return of an interest that went beyond social politeness.
"A male model, are you then, Marc with a 'C'?" he asked, the first time he directly addressed Marc, a sparkle in his eye and the look of some other form of speculation too. "Aren't you a bit young for modeling?"
The young man laughed. "I get that a lot, I'm afraid. I'm out of college now. Just modeling until I can take up a profession. Foreign affairs major at the University of Virginia. That's why I'm staying with the Tutweilers during the Ralph Lauren shoot. Seeing how the world of diplomacy fits. I might go for that myself."
Marc, who was really Trent, used the cover of male model a lot. It usually went over well with the target; it certainly did this time, as it seemed to heighten Harkwood's interest. There also was a certain bias in common thought about the preferences of a male model. It served Trent's purposes if a target got the thought early that he took cock.
"Diplomacy can be a demanding and dirty business," Harkwood said, with a small laugh. "I hope you have the stomachâand the ballsâfor what it takes." Turning then to Charles Tutweiler, he added, "Which reminds me that we seem to have more to talk about before coming anywhere close to a mutually beneficial understanding, Charles. Perhaps a weekend in the country will also suit to hammer that out. Maybe the weekend after next, at Falconcroft. Have you been up to Yorkshire yet? Oh, and who's this then? Sayed? I must say that if you hadn't agreed to play with the other team there wouldn't have been any competition for me today at all."
Another rider had ridden up, one in stark contrast to Harkwood. He was on a white horse that contrasted with the silky black of Harkwood's steed, and he was a world apart from either Harkwood or the others conversing in a group at the side of the field. Obviously Middle Eastern, Pakistani, Marc was to learn, Sayed Khan wore a startling white thawb, a neck-to-ankle robe, rather than polo gear. A black keffiyehâheadscarfâcovered his head and flowed to below his shoulders in back, crowned with a white egal, a silken rope crown, holding the keffiyeh to his head. He was slim and not nearly as tall in the saddle as Harkwood was. Marc immediately went on guard, though, as there was a devilish look about the Pakistani, piercing black eyes, a studiously swarthy complexion and thin beardâthe look of a hawk.
Another possible target in the field now?
"Do I need to introduce you?" Harkwood said to Charles, as Khan brought his horse up beside Harkwood and quieted it down.
"No, we are acquainted already," Charles answered, and Marc could feel in the tightness of his voice and the steam coming off his body as Charles stood close beside him, that whatever dealings Charles and Khan had were ones of adversaries, not friends.
"Charles was just introducing young Marc, with a 'C,' to me, Sayed. He is visiting from the States. Has completed college, he says. Modeling now, as I think you can well imagine him doing. Is considering diplomacy."
"Is he, now?" Khan said, turning his steely, assessing gaze on Marc. "A child prodigy to have finished college so soon?"
"No," Marc answered, with a laugh. "I think it may have taken me rather longer to get through college than shorter. I majored in sports more than foreign affairs."
"Obviously," Khan said, his eyes still assessing the cut of Marc's body. "And modeling. I can see that you must be in much demand in that. Quite a sport, I can imagine."
If Marc thought that Harkwood had undressed him with his eyes, he now got the impression that Khan was going much further than that with his assessing stare. The young man felt himself blush at the fantasy of Khan's hands on his naked body, gripping his hips and raising his pelvis to the Pakistani's hard need. Khan wouldn't be a big, overpowering man, but he would be an expert cocksmanâand probably cruel. He had a short, multithonged leather whip in his hand which he kept flicking against his horse's withers. That too conveyed an impression to Marc that aroused him. Marc made no effort to hide the blush. Being able to do that easily added to his persona of being virginal.
"I've invited him to come with the Tutweilers for a country weekend with us Friday after next. We'll have to show him how we hunt in England. You are free for that weekend, aren't you, Charles and Anne?"
The Tutweilers nodded their agreement in harmony. No one bothered to consult Marc on his availability. But then, of course he would be available for a weekend at an English country estate. Getting close to Harkwood was the whole idea.
"Until next weekend," Harkwood said, as he turned, responding to the trumpet call for the next chukka. Even as he was turning his horse, though, he was maintaining his gaze on Marcâas was Sayed Khan.