Undercover (9 page)

“I don't want to be an ambassadress,” she said fiercely. “I'm twenty-two years old. I have a life and a job here. I'm not going with you, Daddy. I don't care what you say. This doesn't work for me.”

“Ariana, you're all I have,” he said sternly. “I'm not leaving you here. I would worry about you too much.”

“It's safer than Argentina. They kidnap people there.” She just threw it out for good measure, but he had already discussed it with the president.

“We'll have bodyguards at all times. And no foreigner has been kidnapped there in years. We have nothing to worry about,” he reassured her, and a moment later she hung up. She went to discuss it with him again that night, and got nowhere, and she went back to her apartment furious with him. But the reality was that he was a seventy-year-old man, who had already had some serious health problems, had lost his wife a year before, and he was her father. She didn't feel right about letting him go alone. She thought about it for a long time and by the next morning decided it was a sacrifice she had to make, for him. The last thing she wanted to do was go to Argentina and give up her job in New York, but maybe he was right. Maybe she'd enjoy it and be glad she'd done it. Given how determined he was to go, she felt she had no choice.

It nearly broke her heart to give up her job at the online magazine that she'd enjoyed so much. Her editor couldn't have been nicer and told her that there would always be another assistant's job when she came back, and the editor suggested she do a blog from Buenos Aires. It was harder telling her new boyfriend Ian that she was moving to Buenos Aires with her father, but he was a lot less upset than she'd hoped he would be, which told her that he considered her a passing thing. He gave her a big hug and told her to stay in touch, and maybe he'd visit her there sometime.

Her father told her to do as much shopping as she wanted, since she'd need lots of pretty clothes when they entertained, which was small consolation for the life she was giving up. She was depressed about it until they left New York, and she knew it would be winter there when they arrived in June. They had shipped some things ahead, and she had eight suitcases with her when they took the flight to Buenos Aires. She was painfully quiet on the trip, flying first class with her father. She couldn't begin to imagine their new life, and he was grateful that she hadn't put up much of a fight, although he knew she was unhappy about it. She had made it plain, and he had promised to make it up to her in every way he could. He wanted her to have a fabulous time.

They moved into the Four Seasons Hotel in Buenos Aires until the embassy was ready. They had already been warned before they arrived that the embassy needed some “help.” Ariana and her father went to see it the next day, it was on Posadas in the Recoleta district. It was a spectacular building with beautiful frescoes, moldings, and fireplaces, and what it required was furniture, lots of it, to fill the empty rooms. Beautiful curtains were already there, and her father's new secretary gave Ariana a list of fine antique stores where she would find what they needed and offered to go with her. Ariana could see that she'd be busy for a while, getting the embassy ready for her father, and she was touched by their warm reception by all his staff, who were equally helpful to her. Both of his secretaries came to the hotel with them, one to work with each of them. And the younger of the two handed Ariana a stack of invitations from well-known hostesses in Buenos Aires, and almost every embassy in town. Everyone wanted to give a dinner for them, a luncheon, or a ball, and present them to everyone. Local hostesses were vying for the honor of entertaining them first. They had enough invitations to be out every night for the next month.

“Oh my God,” Ariana said, looking overwhelmed as she sifted through them, but she had been part of her father's social life for the past year since her mother's death, and knew she had to be now, hosting dinners with him at the embassy, and going to social events with him. It was why she had come. Eugenia, the young woman who was assisting her, was only a few years older than she, beautifully dressed with perfectly groomed hair, and small diamonds at her ears, and came from an aristocratic family. And she was already explaining the most important local families to her, and the various ambassadors and their wives. The social life in Buenos Aires appeared to be extremely busy, and Eugenia pointed out that they would have to entertain a great deal.

The next morning, Ariana was at the antique stores with Eugenia, and her father had given her carte blanche to buy everything they needed for the embassy. He could easily afford it, and Ariana was shocked at how low the prices were, compared to New York, for beautiful antiques, many of which had come from France originally. But many of the old families were in desperate need of money, and several of them were selling off their belongings for next to nothing. Ariana almost felt guilty buying them for so little. By lunchtime, she had bought enough pieces to fill several rooms, and two beautiful Aubusson carpets in pale pink tones, and light blue.

Eugenia spoke perfect English and had gone to college in the States, and she promised to find a teacher so Ariana could brush up on her Spanish. Now that she was here, Ariana was ready to do whatever she had to, to make things easier for her father and play her role well. She was being a good sport about it, and wanted to make him proud of her. She wanted the embassy to look beautiful, and their dinners to be the most elegant in Buenos Aires.

They went to a black-tie dinner that night at the French embassy. The food was fabulous, and the women were exquisitely dressed in evening gowns. Everyone was warm and welcoming to her and her father. There were liveried servants behind every guest, and dancing afterward, and Ariana had never seen such beautiful crystal and china in her life. It was like going back to another era, when everything was elegant and luxurious, and people were beautifully mannered and lived a life that no longer existed in other parts of the world. People loved going out here, and entertaining exquisitely.

The French embassy was matched only by the dinner they attended the following night at the British embassy, followed by the Italians, the Germans, the Spanish. They were out literally every night, and met all the most aristocratic and important people in town, who then took turns entertaining them at their lavish homes. And even if they had less money than previously, they had armies of help and beautiful homes, entertained fabulously, and were fashionably dressed. The women were the prettiest Ariana and her father had ever seen, the men handsome and dashing. There were many Germans, Italians, and Irish, and even those born in Argentina had foreign names, as so many people had come from Europe to settle there in past generations. It was a city that never slept, entertained constantly, and danced all night. And every handsome man in town was dying to dance with Ariana and teach her the tango, while her father stood proudly by and watched, smoking Cuban cigars with the other men. But there Ariana drew the line. She took one gently out of his hand, kissed his cheek, and whispered, “No cigars,” mindful of his health and the problems he'd had. She knew her mother would have done the same.

The local hostesses were just as enchanted with her father as the men were with her. Beautiful women flirted with him at every dinner party, and were delighted to dance with him. They were the most sought-after couple in town, and even Ariana had to admit after the first two weeks that it was fun. She was meeting young people she liked, girls who were fun to talk to who invited her to their homes, and boys who flirted with her and were very handsome and well dressed. It was hard not to be seduced by the charms and beauty of the city, which everyone was dying to show her. She had never felt so welcome or had so much attention lavished on her in her life. She wanted to write a blog about it for the online magazine in New York where she'd been working. But she was so busy decorating and furnishing the embassy and going out at night that she never had time.

And as the antiques she'd bought were delivered, the embassy began to take shape. She put it together as quickly as she could, with what she purchased and what was at hand. Six weeks after Ariana and her father arrived, they gave a beautiful party to thank everyone for their hospitality and for the many invitations to both of them. And her father was very proud of the evening Ariana had organized. She had even hired a wonderful band with the help of her new friends.

By the end of August, both Gregorys were feeling at home. Robert was thoroughly enjoying his job as ambassador, liked the people he was dealing with, and was learning the ropes from the career diplomats on hand. He was having a ball and liked the challenge of learning about the country. And Ariana had a wide circle of friends who invited her constantly for dinners and lunches, to watch the boys play polo, and to go to their clubs. She was invited out every night, with and without her father, and in September she admitted to her father that he'd been right, and she was glad she had come. Her Spanish was improving, and she loved their home and her new friends.

“I never thought it would be like this. Everyone says it's like Paris used to be,” Ariana said to her father. He was happy that she was happy there. She went to Punta del Este, in Uruguay, for the weekend with some of her new friends. It was the favorite beach resort of the rich and aristocratic Argentines, and she had a wonderful weekend. Her father made her take two bodyguards with her, just to be safe, but she felt silly with them. She didn't need them at all, and went out without them, with her friends. Some of them had bodyguards too, but they never used them at Punta del Este, only when they went to their country homes in the more provincial regions, where bandits tended to roam and held people up on the roads.

Ariana's father surprised her on a weekend in October. He said that they'd been invited away for the weekend by friends. It was a family Ariana particularly liked, with three daughters close to her age, and two handsome older sons. It was a constant party at their house. And even more so at their country home, their
finca,
two hours outside of Buenos Aires, where many of their new friends had homes they went to on the weekend. And on Saturday, after lunch, her father and their hosts took a little drive. There was a beautiful property adjacent to theirs, which her father wanted to see, and as soon as they got out of the cars, he told her he had rented it.

The family who owned it had moved to the States, and were happy to rent the property to them for several years. It was impeccably maintained and the house was empty, although there were seven servants living there. It was another home for her to decorate, and Ariana could instantly visualize the weekend parties they would give there with their friends. There were a dozen bedrooms in the main house, several smaller guest houses, and separate quarters for the help. Ariana's friends were as excited as she was, to have them as neighbors, and the following week she began shopping to fill the house so they could use it as soon as possible.

By Christmas, which was the Argentine summer, she had turned the rented house into a wonderland of elegant comforts and delights, with beautiful French antiques and pastel colors, and airy comfortable bedrooms with canopied beds. Her father had hired half a dozen more people to serve them, and they took the embassy chef with them when they went. They gave their first weekend party there on New Year's Eve. They had twenty guests in the house, and all their neighbors came, and they danced until six in the morning, and then had breakfast on the terrace, and everyone went home at eight, to sleep all day. It was a decadent, opulent, thoroughly addictive life, and it was hard to believe they had already been in Argentina for six months. The time had flown, and Ariana's Spanish was close to perfect by then. And she kept Eugenia busy with her decorating, entertaining, shopping, and going out with friends. There was always something new to see and do and buy, and people to meet, visitors arriving from the States whom Ariana had to plan embassy dinners for. She had never been so busy in her life. At twenty-three she was one of the most sought-after young women in Buenos Aires, with her elegant blond good looks and classic aristocratic style, perfect manners, and easy laughter. She was fun to be with, and she was turning into one of the most expert hostesses in town. Everyone adored her and her father.

She planned another weekend party in mid-January, two weeks after her now legendary first weekend at their
finca
over New Year's. Those who hadn't visited the
finca
yet wanted to see how she'd decorated it, and to spend the weekend there. She invited a dozen young couples, and had just started dating one of her close friend's older brothers, and they were all planning to be there. Her father said he had to stay in Buenos Aires to catch up on some work, and he wanted to give the young people a chance to have some fun on their own. He reminded Ariana to take both bodyguards with her, since the road to their
finca
was notoriously peppered with the bandits people talked about, but with the bodyguards she'd be safe. And in the end, she took only one, since the other had a bad case of the flu, and she felt mean dragging him along. And she took the embassy chef in the car with her, to cook for the large group. She left the sous-chef in the city for her father, and she was busy making lists and doing table seating as they drove out of town. The chef fell asleep in the backseat, and she stayed busy for most of the two-hour trip to their new country home.

She was excited about the weekend and liked all of the group she'd invited. They had been driving for nearly two hours and were almost there, when the car came to a sharp stop with a jolt. She looked up from her notepad, and saw that an old military truck was blocking the road. A half-dozen men were standing behind it in front of her father's car, and she could see more men in the back of the truck. She glanced at the bodyguard to see if he was concerned. The doors were locked, and she wondered if he would drive around them, or wait for them to move on. The men in a motley array of military gear walked slowly toward them as Ariana realized that all of them were holding guns. The bodyguard at the wheel of the car didn't move and remained calm.