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"Did you have any run-ins with anyone there?" Dane asked

"We helped women and their children escape abusive partners, so there were always threats They kept their address a secret, but even so, the deterle incident stands out"

They should have included her in on the case sooner Cooper saw that now Soive

Dane stared down at the folder "You called the police on the fifteenth of October about a man who threatened to shoot you"

Cooper felt his blood start to boil "Shoot you?"

Alea shrugged, an aniotten shot just walking down the street I disar ot there I don’t think he had me kidnapped He had no idea who I was or that I was a student at NYU, much less a princess from Bezakistan Hoould he have had access to stationary fro hi"

"But there were potentially a whole bunch of men who caued

She shrugged slightly "I guess that’s one way to look at it But, guys, I dealt almost exclusively with very poor people Didn’t I read so for rand every ten days? By the way, that was not five grand worth of upkeep The accommodations sucked ass, as they would have said back in New York"

He was actually taking her sarcasot a point, Dane I don’t think it was a person she encountered during her charity work Seriously, if it had been one of those douchebags, he would have either fucked her hi and bad, or he’d haveher place’"

"Nice way to put it," Alea said

He held his hands up "Baby, I’ you the way that kind of man would think"

Alea’s eyes narrowed on him, and it was all he could do not to shrink back She had a damn fine evil eye "Not you, too"

It was his turn to shrug He wouldn’t take it back "Yeah, you’re eous eyes rolled "I have a na to call you darlin’," Lan offered

"That’s not better," Alea said, shaking her head

"Okay, how about snuggle bear?" Lan returned "Or puddin’? That’s another real popular choice down South"

Alea sighed "Darlin’ it is, then"

Lan just sood to know she could be cornered Why hadn’t they tried this tactic earlier? Now that they had her alone and were establishing rules, everything seemed so much simpler It was as if her stress level had plu away fro

"Could we sort out the endearments later?" Dane asked, obviously annoyed "Just to be sure, I want you to write down the names of every man you came in contact with at that shelter I want Anthony Anders to check theroaned "Dane, I didn’t catch s like ‘Overly Hairy Guy’ and ‘Dude Who Needs Deodorant’ I had a very fluid role there I doubt that most of thoseor distributedyou all the reasons I’m pretty sure this is a dead end"

The curtain to the back of the cabin opened, and a heavenly sh Coop’s stomach rumbled The rich really did kno to travel

The hostess walked out with a s them "May I serve the first course of lunch now? It’s a lovely French onion soup, which will be folloith an herb salad with goat cheese croustades The undy, should pair perfectly with the wine fro up "It smells wonderful I hope you try it yourself"

The hostess inclined her head in a show of deference Staff tended to love Alea "I would be thrilled to try it, Your Highness You’re so kind If you would gather around the table, I will serve"

Dane frowned and closed the folder "We’re going to get back to this I’ to stop until we knoho did this to you"

"I’m sure you won’t," Alea conceded "But it can wait until after lunch Poor Landon is practically fainting"

Lan did look a little piqued He stood up "There was no meat with breakfast It was all bread and stuff I’lasses before them, each filled with a deep, ruby red wine "The pilot says that this vintage coion of France in which he was born Enjoy"

Cooper took a long sip of the wine It was rich and tasted just slightly sweet, with a hint of tartness Like Alea But he wasn’t ood beer any day But so far, the flight attendant hadn’t given the else to drink So he took another sip

They sat down around the table, getting ready to partake of their first full e that fact or not They drank and talked, theby

The first course was served, and Cooper felt his everyDane said, but suddenly sounds were strangely far away So was everyone in his field of vision Even his muscles felt heavy In fact, he couldn’t quite lift the spoon

Alea looked so happy, relaxed And he felt so…weird

He tried to push the glass away because so, but his hands wouldn’t work They kind of flopped around like fish out of water

What the hell was happening?

"Sir? Sir? Are you all right?" He could halfway hear the hostess She sounded like she was talking through a funnel