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development?”
    â€œI’d estimate thirty-two million pounds,” said Franks. “I’m only interested in a class development. That’s always been the keynote.”
    â€œAt a rough conversion, forty-eight million dollars, although there’ll obviously be currency fluctuations,” said Nicky. “That doesn’t seem to be a problem, to me.”
    â€œSure?”
    â€œIt’s my business to be sure,” said the lawyer. He smiled. “I asked around, to test the feeling. Chase Manhattan and Manufacturers Hanover are interested and said the talking could start at twelve percent. Citibank wants to come into any discussion and thought eleven might be the price if the borrowing were over twenty million dollars.”
    Franks’ irritation at the lawyer already having made approaches was only momentary; there would have had to be some discussion in advance of their meeting for Nicky to be able to say whether or not he could broker the deal. He said, “Pretty much in line with English banks.”
    â€œThey’ll do better, now we’ve got specific figures,” insisted Nicky.
    â€œHow much better?” demanded Franks.
    â€œTen,” predicted Nicky. “Maybe not for the whole amount but for the majority.”
    Franks guessed his English financiers would demand a split commitment, too; pegging the development costs but putting a half or maybe a whole point higher on the money necessary until everything was operational. “Why don’t we set up some meetings, to see what they’ll do?”
    Nicky pushed away his plate, hesitating. Then he said, “I’ve also gone to sources other than banks.”
    â€œPrivate investors prepared for a forty-eight-million-dollar deal?” asked Franks.
    â€œI’ve known people prepared to invest for a lesser immediate return. And sums greater than forty-eight million dollars,” assured Nicky. “People prepared to wait to see their investment mature and stay good. Hotels are bricks and mortar; permanent. Some people are attracted to permanence more than the uncertainty of the stock market.”
    â€œNo harm in exploring that, too,” conceded Franks. What about his unbroken principle? he asked himself at once. It still wasn’t a commitment, he thought, in reassurance. And it would all make useful bargaining material when he went to the British banks.
    â€œTook a chance on your saying that,” said Nicky. “There are some guys in town I’ve acted for on previous occasions. Give them my personal guarantee. Two from Chicago and one from Houston. The Chicago guys are going back tonight; they’re locked into a meeting there tomorrow. So I’ve set up a conference this afternoon, back at the office.”
    â€œThought you weren’t hustling,” said Franks, unsettled at the speed with which things were moving.
    â€œThey couldn’t change their plans,” repeated Nicky. “It seemed ridiculous to lose the opportunity; we’d arranged to go back after lunch anyway.”
    Franks tried to avoid the thought but he couldn’t; Nicky was very much in the subservient role. He said, “Okay. But just because of the circumstances. From now on let’s take things a bit slower; I want to talk things through and make my own decisions how to proceed, not have them made for me.”
    â€œYou’re always going to be the one who calls the shots,” reminded Nicky, unoffended by the rebuke.
    â€œYou’ve acted for them before?”
    â€œAll of them,” assured Nicky. “Like I said, I can personally guarantee them. One, Roberto Pascara, is a friend of my father’s, from the early days when he set up the trucking business.”
    He’d go to the meeting, decided Franks. But from now on he’d insist that Nicky do everything at his pace. He was the one in control, after all; and he was determined to stay that way.
    Even before