The magnificent Ivanoff emerald: It surfaced at Christie's at Geneva, "The Property of a Lady"--a lady now sought by powerful men intent on seizing a legacy that could tilt the world balance of power . . . The terrifying Ivanoff secret: She lived like a pauper with a royal ransom in gems, determined to carry her secret to the grave . . . until an act of love and a public auction brought the world--and the curse--to her door . . . The last of the Ivanoffs--pawns in a deadly game: The royal gems are merely the lure to the hidden billions for which nations are willing to kill. The last of the Ivanoffs should have died in 1917. Now, two generations later, they are the prize--and the prey . . . From war-torn Russia to New York's teeming Lower East Side . . . from Ziegfeld's Broadway and the Hollywood of the moguls to contemporary Washington, Geneva, and Berlin, Elizabeth's Adler's novel of passion, power, and royal privilege will command your attention to the very last page.

"Adler's evocation of fleshpots like  Manhattan and Hollywood is admirable . . . Wide-screen romance/intrigue."
--Kirkus  Reviews

Autorentext

Elizabeth Adler

Zusammenfassung
The magnificent Ivanoff emerald: It surfaced at  Christie's at Geneva, "The Property of a  Lady"--a lady now sought by powerful men intent on  seizing a legacy that could tilt the world balance of  power . . .

The terrifying Ivanoff secret: She  lived like a pauper with a royal ransom in gems,  determined to carry her secret to the grave . . .  until an act of love and a public auction brought  the world--and the curse--to her door . . .

The  last of the Ivanoffs--pawns in a deadly game: The  royal gems are merely the lure to the hidden  billions for which nations are willing to kill. The last  of the Ivanoffs should have died in 1917. Now,  two generations later, they are the prize--and the  prey . . .
From war-torn Russia to New York's  teeming Lower East Side . . . from Ziegfeld's Broadway  and the Hollywood of the moguls to contemporary  Washington, Geneva, and Berlin, Elizabeth's Adler's  novel of passion, power, and royal privilege will  command your attention to the very last  page.

Leseprobe
Prologue
 
Bangkok
 
The girl stepping from the air-conditioned taxi outside the Oriental Hotel was tall, with long, polished brown legs, glossy black hair that swung around her shoulders, and a face that was an elegant mix of the East and the West. Despite the blazing heat and humidity, she looked cool in an expensive linen dress and broad-brimmed hat.
 
She sauntered past the sparkling fountain and the quartet playing chamber music in the lobby toward the arcade of shops at the back of the hotel.
 
“My sister left a parcel here,” she explained to the assistant in the antiques shop. “She asked me to pick it up for her.”
 
Carrying the bag emblazoned with the name Jim Thompson Silk Shop, she strolled back along the arcade to the beautiful orchid-laden terrace overlooking the Chao Phraya River, where she ordered tea. With the bag on the floor beside her she sipped the tea unhurriedly, watching the busy floating traffic. Half an hour later she left the terrace, descended the steps to the river, and took a water taxi to the downtown area.
 
She walked quickly now, away from the river. After hailing another taxi, she asked to be taken to the Hotel Dusit Thanai.
 
In the ladies’ powder room, she changed into a plain white T-shirt and jeans, folded her smart black linen dress carefully, and placed it in the bag. She pulled her smooth hair into a ponytail, secured it with a white elastic band, and added a brighter lipstick. As she left the hotel by the back door, she covered her eyes with an expensive pair of Ray-Bans—not the cheap copies sold at every street corner in Bangkok—and took another cab to the Patpong Road.
 
The cab driver grinned slyly at her through his mirror. He knew all about Patpong, the honky-tonk area of red-light bars, seedy clubs, massage parlors, and sex shops, and he figured he knew what her trade was. After ignoring his attempts at conversation, she paid him off with a modest tip and threaded her way expertly through the maze of littered alleys. She paused outside a narrow gray building squashed among a hundred others on a side street, checking the name on a small, stained business card pinned to a board with a tack. Satisfied, she hurried past the clinic offering treatment for VD and other sexual “malaises” to the second floor, where she pressed the entry phone, waited for a reply, and then gave her name quietly. The door opened to her touch and she slid inside, closing it firmly behind her.
 
She was in a dark, narrow passageway smelling faintly of urine and chemicals, at the end of which was a second door. Unhesitatingly she walked the long corridor and pushed it open.
 
A small, high-intensity lamp blazed onto the surface of a shabby desk, leaving the man sitting behind it in half shadow, but she could see that he was immense, a grotesque caricature of a human shape. He lifted his head from the small pile of glittering stones he was studying and the light caught his face suddenly. “Come in, take a seat,” he said.
 
Her lips curled in revulsion as she sat opposite him. His features were porcine. The small eyes, lost in their folds of flesh, rippled over her like sunken gray pebbles. His accent was guttural and his tone rough as he said to her, “I already told you: You are wasting your time.”
 
She pulled a small twist of black tissue paper from the folds of bright Thai silk in the bag she was carrying and held it out to him. “I think not, Mr. Abyss,” she replied, watching as he unwrapped it quickly, noting his sharp intake of breath as he saw what it contained.
 
He shot a speculative glance in her direction, then pulled the high-intensity lamp closer. Holding the jeweler’s loupe to his right eye, he turned the gem in his fat, hairy fingers like a spider clutching a pretty butterfly. After a few minutes he removed the loupe and placed the stone on the square of black velvet in front of him. He leaned back in his battered leather armchair, folding his hands across his immense stomach. Her blue, almond-shaped eyes met his in the silence.
 
Finally he spoke. “There is only one emerald of this size and quality anywhere in the world. And that has been missing for more than seventy years. May I ask how it came into your possession?”
 
She shrugged. “You may not. Let us just say I am not working alone. My partners are very interested in your decision.”
 
Silence fell again as he surveyed first her and then the giant emerald lying between them.
 
“This is an exquisitely cut stone,” he said at last. “There is nothing I can do to improve on the artistry of the original cutter. So? What exactly do you want from me?”
 
Leaning forward, she touched the stone with a long red-enameled nail and said, “I want you to cut it into two equal pieces. Two emeralds instead of one.”
 
She thought she saw a glimpse of something like emotion in his leaden eyes: She had caught him off guard, touched a responsive chord in him somewhere.
 
“Cut a stone like this? Are you crazy?” He reached into a drawer and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a small, stained glass. He lifted the bottle inquiringly and she shook her head, watching as he filled his glass to the brim and to…