“The capital of European yachting,” his lordship replied.

“And that’s where you sail your little yacht?”

“Actually, it’s quite a large yacht,” Wight replied testily. “And I don’t just sail it, I race it.”

“Tell me, Lord Wight,” Amanda asked innocently, “just how does someone amass enough of a fortune to buy a large yacht during a lifetime of public service?”

“Fortunately, my dear lady,” Wight said, smiling softly, “in my country the amassing of a fortune is not incompatible with a life in politics. One acquires knowledgeable friends who advise one on how to invest one’s money.”

Amanda winked at him. “One understands,” she said.

Her hostess joined them. “Amanda, dear,” she said, “you made me promise to tell you when it was midnight, and it is. You’re catching a plane?”

“To St. Bart’s,” Amanda said, moving forward in her seat in preparation for standing.

“Surely there’s no plane out of Kennedy at this hour,” Wight said, consulting a gold watch from his waistcoat pocket. “They do have noise regulations, don’t they?”

“Not at Teterboro,” Amanda replied. “One is fortunate enough to have friends with jets.” She stood up, bringing Lord Wight with her.

“My dear,” he was saying, “I do hope I can see you when I’m next in New York.”

“Of course, Lord Wight,” Amanda replied, fishing in her little clutch purse for a card. “I would be delighted to hear from you.” Any night but tonight, she thought.

She made her good-byes, collected her coat from the butler, and slipped out of the huge apartment.

Downstairs, her trusty driver, Paul, and her elderly Cadillac were waiting. Amanda slipped into the back seat, and in a moment they were moving. “The Trent, Paul,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Paul replied.

It was Amanda’s fiftieth birthday, though no one knew it; she was in spectacular shape, her firm body the product of a regular program with a trainer in her own little gym. Amanda allowed no other person to see her perspire. She placed two fingers on her carotid artery and glanced at her watch. Her resting pulse was normally forty-five; tonight, it was seventy.