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Alec’s eyes , and he recognized the familiar look of shock and dismay most civilians displayed when confronted with sudden, deadly violence Darla wasn’t naive—all e in the Middle East—but she’d never taken a human life And she seemed appalled Alec had done so Coldly Dispassionately

At least that’s how his actions appeared to her, he knew Alec wasn’t cold Nor was he dispassionate He regretted the necessity of this killing, but the alternative was unacceptable He wasn’t going to second-guess himself or his actions Not now Not ever

As the distant sirens grew louder, Alec sighed softly No s for sure

One, despite the fact that he hadn’t instigated this incident, he would now be persona non grata at the US e as RSO he’d just received a h there were plenty of witnesses to back up a claim of self-defense, the State Department was hypersensitive about the possibility of reprisals He would be whisked out of the country as soon as the local officials allowed, in order to hush this incident up

Two, not as i relationship with Darla had just died a quick death, too

Which raised another question Would he ever find a woman who understood?

Chapter 1

Alec deplaned at the surprisingly o, the capital of Zakhar His co over his left shoulder as he ht arm free as always—he was one of the few men post-9/11 allowed to carry a firearm on board a plane, and he never went anywhere unarlance at one of the overhead monitors, he headed down the wide corridor with the rest of the passengers toward Baggage Claim

His posting as regional security officer to the US eiven what had happened at his last posting As if he was being rewarded instead of punished

Despite the fact that he already spoke rudi Her Serene Highness, Princess Mara Theodora of Zakhar, before she beca this He’d thought he’d be banished to the diplo time

Instead, it was alet him here, but that didn’t make sense Alec didn’t have the political connections tohined next