Liaisons Undercovers

4/29/2012

Summary: Ambassador Endymion Duchaunt has just met a very curious young woman.

AN: I enjoy doing an occasional... I thought the word was smut, but I misspoke on the earlier version... a bit more than a WAFF, but kind of like a Harlequin? piece. This will probably be one of those. Nothing too serious but with a note of it all the same. I'm keeping with the T rating. T is after all for Teenagers.

–

Chapter 1

–

Endymion looked down into the slightly yellowed contents of his see-through drink. It was impeccable, refined, urbane, sweet. He was not much for white wines but this one did clench the palate and soothed his thirst. The same could be said about the woman he was being introduced to at this moment. She was on the arm of some gentleman that he had not met, nor knew of that ran in his circles.

She was taken and so his interest went no further. Or so he was trying to tell himself. But they did not introduce her with his last name, which could mean very little these days, nor did she wear a ring of any sort. That also did not give away too many private details. He longed for the days when it was clear to understand someone by what you could see. These days it was all 'Don't judge a book by its cover' and 'You don't know me unless I want you to know me'. She was actually refreshing in that she seemed to say what she thought and seemed to be who she appeared to be. Despite not wearing her life upon her.

Endymion felt old. He was only twenty-eight but he'd been living this life since he was born. Carting from one city to the next, surrounded by people but knowing no one, knowing them in order to judge and handle, but being connected with very few. He'd had nannies at first, but then those were whisked away when he was deemed old enough to take care of himself. His parents had enjoyed this life, dressing up in the best their money could buy. Talking with foreigners in both their own language and the other. It was no wonder that he longed for the feel of a car beneath his hands, something solid he could hold on to and manipulate.

When his parents died when he was twenty, he was the most logical choice to step in for them. At first he had to finish university but he was still balancing that with the occasional dinner party.

He heard a musical laughter and he glanced up again at the woman who had caught and held his attention all evening. He tried hard not to appear interested. She had arrived with someone and they had wandered through the party together, hardly ever leaving the other's side. The man on her arm looked good with her, Endymion allowed, his red hair an excellent companion to her gold. They looked like fire together.

She wasn't much of a woman. She was still getting her feet onto the ground, but she had no business in these circles. He hadn't caught what she did for a living but she was only in her early to mid twenties and couldn't have gotten very far in a political career or many others either. He would have been well aware of her existence before this if that was the case. He wished he could warn her to stay away, that her beauty would be ripped from her before she reached thirty if she kept up the pace that everyone else did. That her beauty would only open some doors but it was everything else that mattered more. If she had those skills as well, she'd be overworked and fought against by the men who didn't want to give an inch to a female, and not to a youngster such as herself. Even if those weren't issues, the bigger ones would be her opponents self-preservation, they'd do anything to keep their pockets well-lined. Throw anyone they could to get what they wanted. She wasn't old enough to understand or appreciate that. She was still a girl playing dress up and thinking her fanatical imaginations could compensate with how hard this world could be.

Yet she was all woman. Playing dress up suited her, it brought out all of her perfectly placed curves, flattered her hair and made her eyes shine with an inner warmth. The smoldering red color she wore clashed slightly with her partner's hair, but his gold shirt and white dinner jacket over black pants complemented hers. They appeared more like a couple in this way than if they had matched or wore rings. People must have felt their heat, for they flocked around them, trying to warm themselves up by soaking the couple in. They were trying to warm their cold recesses where a heart once laid. He wished them good luck in heating those husks with long corridors of whispering winds.

He wouldn't be like the others. He was too hot looking at her breathtaking smile as she flashed it to yet another male in the room. He fought for some place where he could cool down. He found it outside on a pavilion. He was not blissfully alone like he had wished, but it was heavenly out here. He leaned against a cool wrought iron banister and its connecting stone pillar. He even loosened his tie and unbuttoned the two starting at his neck. He felt much better now, as if he could finally think with a cool head once more. There was a reason he was here.

It was not the woman-child that had just found herself out here with him, stopping at his side in mild concern. "Dear, you looked utterly clammy." She held up a hand against his forehead and surprisingly it was on the cold side. It felt nice but he didn't sag into it or press it against his skin like he wanted to. He turned his gaze down to the smallest female he had ever seen. Her high heels gave her much of her height, without them, she'd be half her size. Her head came up to about his shoulder with them on, but without, it'd be more on level with his heart.

"I'm all right." He reassured her, taking her hand from his head into his and holding them for a moment longer than necessary. "Are you all right? Your hands are freezing!"

She laughed and it was that gorgeous laugh he'd heard from earlier. "Well you know what they say about that!" His answering smile had her sobering up for a brief moment as she held his gaze, unable to look away and she gave a slight frown at that. She tugged her hand back. "I am sorry. Where are my manners? I was going to go get a couple of drinks. Would you like anything from the bar?"

Endymion was about to say no, but then thought better of it, wanting to spend more time in her presence, for one and actually feeling parched for a second. "I'll join you."

She gave a bit of a nod and turned gracefully on those dangerously high heels towards the bar. He walked a few steps behind her, wanting to watch her as she went ahead of him. He was concerned over her breaking an ankle in them. But she walked without a falter and he was impressed at how she managed in them. He would have thought it was just easier to buy stilts. Those had to be safer than what she had on her feet. She murmured something to the bartender, he was stationed at the end of the pavilion where there were a few seating locations, but the majority of the party was intended to be indoors. It was too cool to be outside for long. There weren't as many people out here as he thought, and by the time he got his drink it was just him, the girl and the bartender.

She turned towards him and pressed something cool into his hands. "Please drink that." She picked up two more glasses and was beginning to walk towards the party one more time.

"What is it?" Endymion felt strange following a woman around. It had been a long time, if ever, that he'd had to seek out women. Usually if he did any movement with them, it was away. She turned towards him and for a brief moment she faltered, but she regained her balance before he could even begin to be concerned.

She gave him a half smile and he heard her words only because he was so close and he wondered if there was a bit of mockery in it. "Water."

He chuckled. "I should have guessed. That should have been what I needed to go for the moment I decided I was in need of a drink." He took a sip and since she was standing there, alone with him, she took a sip of hers as well. "Thank you for your concern and for getting the water for me."

"Of course. You are looking much better. When I first came out you were looking pale and on the verge of slumping." There was a hint of a tease in her voice and he responded warmly to it. A smile edging around his lips and he realized quite suddenly that it had been a long time since he'd smiled. "Now you look as if you could take on the world again."

"I was feeling rather hot inside. I feel as if the heat had been turned up, but I know that it is only because there are so many bodies within a tight space."

Her eyes roamed over his slowly at his words. She gave a brief nod when she reached his eyes, noting that he had wanted some kind of response, a delay to her returning in and being swallowed up by the others in attendance. "Somewhat like a mall." She gave a delicate shrug and he immediately moved her to a bit more of the selfish and vain variety. "No heater but in the winter they don't need it with how much body heat everybody gives off, then being bounced back by the concrete. Cheapest form of environment and economy colliding. It makes more sense than strip-malls despite the small business people's complaints." His thoughts were struggling to rearrange themselves as he moved her again. He was having difficulty in keeping her in someplace safe and guaranteed.

Endymion nodded, pleased by her example. "I see that you have an interest in such things?"

"Me?" She asked with a slight laugh. "Perhaps. Though I only seem to be echoing back what others have taught me over the years."

"That's how knowledge spreads. Though I do with you had specific graphs and sources in which to verify the conclusions which you have drawn."

"How very politician of you!" She laughed, but it was not a delicate laugh of the amused but upper class, it was a bit more full than that, but still quite beautiful. "Which campaign are you running? I will have to be sure to cast my vote in your favor. A man who can stand there talking to me and stil have his mind set on politics has to be one very dedicated to his cause."

Somehow he knew that she knew he was only putting her on. That he didn't care if she could substantiate her claims, but the fact that he'd said it all greatly amused her. He sensed security guards making their rounds off to his left, saw their dark figures moving against the back drop of the secure grounds which they were having this soiree. He had doubts that she didn't know his true position here, but since reporters had no chance of snagging a photo of them together here, he relaxed slightly. She wasn't trying to catch him in a compromised position. She was doing rather the opposite of that, giving every indication she was ready to leave him at a moment's notice. Or at least that's what she was trying to project. Her eyes lingered a bit too long to completely make him believe it. She stood at least three feet away from him and here, that was like a canyon had sunk between them.

He hitched up a smile on one side and gave her another warm look over as well. She took another sip of her drink. It fizzled a little so he thought it might be champagne though the class looked wrong. Perhaps the bartender hadn't known or ran out of the flutes. He'd have to have his secretary look into it. Endymion leaned casually back and teased her a little in return. "Shall you partake in a guessing game?"

"What will you give me if I guess correctly?" She asked, taking the tiniest step backwards. For her though, it might have been a leap. He was pleased to note that he unnerved her, though she was trying her hardest not to appear that way. Probably didn't want to give him any come-on signals when she was clearly here with someone.

That caused a sensation like ice water being dumped on him. He would never move in on someone else's territory like that. He had to make this easier for the both of them since she was on her end. "I'm not sure, it depends on whether or not you upset me greatly with your suggestions."

She cocked her head to the side, and revealed a long graceful neck. How did she do it? She had legs a mile long, a long graceful neck, more than adequate curves and a tiny cinched in waist. Yet she came in the tiniest packing that he could imagine. "Let's see... you wouldn't be wasting your time out here with me if it was an entry level position. No you would be wanting to get your name into everyone's head in there." She indicated where there was still quite a lot of noise. "In fact you don't seem too worried about your position at all. So either you're not running or it isn't coming up for a review for quite awhile." He didn't give her any indication that she was right either way and she sighed. "Or it could very well be that you know you have it in the bag and that no matter what scandal you could embroil, it wouldn't hurt your chances at all."

She heaved a sigh and he enjoyed watching the breath go through her body and how she moved in reaction. "I have a feeling that it is something of quite high standing. Morally if not politically." She tapped her finger against her lips. Such rich and lusciously full lips. He clenched his hand behind him in a move to stop it from reaching out and touching those lips himself. "A judge? Supreme Court?"

Endymion did laugh then. They were not even in America at the moment and he did not think he sounded remotely like a Yankee. She seemed a bit offended as he did so. "No, I'm sorry. Aim your sights a little lower." If he had that position, he'd never have to look for another job again. Speaking of which, why was it impossible to place her accent? Her vowels were clipped like an American but her constants were like, well, his. Though there was something off about them even then.

"A regular judge then?"

'No, I don't believe I have that kind of power."

"Have you just been elected as prime candidate for the prosecution office?" At a slight shake she sighed. "Mayor or whatever they call these men of the townships?" Another shake. "Police commissioner?" At the curving of his mouth, she knew she was wrong. "Oh there is something I am missing isn't there? For you're not a senator or parliamentary. Could you be the new PM opponent?"

"All right then, I cave. What would you like for my inability to appropriately guess your role here tonight?"

Endymion didn't even pause long enough to think about it before the words were out of his mouth. He really shouldn't have asked for this, especially not with what he'd been telling himself all night. "Your digits."

She gave him an odd look. "I'd like to, but I am preferential to my fingers being on my hands."

He shook his head with an odd sound coming from him. Was that a chuckle? "I meant your telephone digits. I would like a way to reach you in the future."

She gave him a sly look. "For support in your next campaign? I'd gladly give you my referral." She whipped out a business card, but all it had on it was her name and her telephone number. "But this is only to be used if you absolutely must."

"And if I wish to get in touch with you, otherwise?" He couldn't believe the way his mouth was running away from him tonight. What was it with this woman? "I mean, you don't-"

She was already writing a private number on the back and though she still kept a foot distance between them, she slipped it into his breast pocket. Her fingers made hot scorched down his chest even though he was sure her hands hadn't gotten any warmer and there was no way he could feel them from the layers. "You know, you still haven't told me what it is you do."

He was about to answer her and reached out to closet he distance between them and slid an elusive blond strand back into place when his name was called. Endymion looked up at the man and he gestured towards his watch. Endymion looked back at the girl-woman and wished he had done at least that, anything to feel her again. "I'm sorry, I have got to go. Perhaps I shall see you soon. Goodbye."

She didn't say it in return and he left, looking over his shoulder at her, but she was already heading in and others were filing out to take their spots, and get a few more refreshments as well.

–

EAN: This is the funniest thing! You have to check out Four King Hell. I'd give you a link, but then you'd go to page 70 and that's not what you really want is it? The four Kings are back in it and its a manga version type of thing but its funnier than heck. Lots of small details went into it to make it hilarious. I'll share one. "We really don't have much room." Mamoru. "That's all right, I'll make you some more. What's that?" I'll let you find that one out. "That's the closet." Mamoru. "That's where Kunzite sleeps." Jadeite. (I think he's the one who said that.) It's much funnier when you're reading it with the pictures. Oh god, their faces! Mamoru and his chocolate! AHHH! Usagi's adorable in it too. Exactly how the anime made her out to be. Adorably naïve. Aw...