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the door open for her. “I will only wear them if I see any reporters. Will that ease your fears?”
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    Kate Pearce
    She walked past him into the breezy evening air. “I’m not worried about you. I’m worried that you’d bring me down with you.”
    He grinned. “Don’t worry, my lady. I’d make sure I didn’t crush you.”

    Thea persuaded the restaurant to give them a discreet table at the back of the room.
    Despite her caution, since they’d sat down, every single server in the place had managed to pass their table. It was Sven’s fault. Dressed in black leather he was the finest eye candy she had ever seen. To his credit, he made no effort to acknowledge the constant stream of servers who offered him water, cocktails and dinner menus, his attention remained on her.
    After considerable thought, Thea ordered two large pizzas, a salad and a side of garlic bread. She hoped that would be enough to satisfy her dinner companion who sat quietly sipping his beer. His long legs stretched so far out under the table, his booted foot nudged hers.
    She propped her elbows on the red and white checked table top and smiled brightly at him.
    “So tell me, where were you born?”
    “On Valhalla.”
    She kept smiling. “Where exactly?”
    “Why do you wish to know?”
    Her smile slipped a little. “Because I’m making conversation. That’s what we do here on Earth while we’re waiting for our food to arrive.”
    He put down his beer. “I was born in a small village called Iron Fist.”
    “And how did you meet King Marcus?”
    “I met him when I was selected to be one of his bodyguards.”
    “How old were you then?”
    “Old enough to fight.”
    Thea sent up a prayer to the heavens for patience. “Old enough to miss your family?”
    He looked away from her, his mouth set in a thin line. “Old enough to have seen them all die.”
    She closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m sorry. You’re right. That’s none of my business.”
    He shrugged and returned his gaze to hers. “It is a common enough tale on Valhalla. My family contained several females.”
    She stared at him. “Is that supposed to make sense to me?”
    “On my planet, women are rare and highly prized. Other villages and tribes regularly raid their neighbors to secure females for themselves.”
    “That’s terrible.”
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    He shrugged. “That’s life. The desire to procreate, to have a child is deeply embedded in most societies, yes?”
    “I suppose it is, although most of the planets in our galaxy are trying to keep their populations down these days to preserve quality of life.”
    His expression was wry. “I believe the queen would call that ironic. We worship fertile women and other civilizations try to stop their females from breeding. My queen tells me that women on your planet are not always well treated by their men.”
    Thea paused as the server put the garlic bread on the table between them.
    “Statistically, there are more women than men on this planet. Most of the men seem to think that gives them the right to mess around with a woman and then move onto the next one.”
    Sven picked up a piece of garlic bread and swallowed it whole.
    “You sound bitter, Ms. Cooper.”
    She nibbled at the corner of her bread. “Please call me Thea, we’re not at work now.”
    He took more bread. “But you said this was a business meeting.”
    She glared at him. “I know I did but that doesn’t mean you can’t call me by my first name. As long as you don’t do it at work, I’m fine with it.”
    He nodded and his lips gleamed with garlic butter. She wanted to lean across the small space and lick them clean. “Then you must call me Sven.”
    “I suggest that we meet at five everyday and discuss the proposed members of the press team and the observation party. Will that work for you?”
    “If it is all right with the king and queen, I will be there.”
    Thea sighed. “The queen probably has a good reason to believe all the men on