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“You paid me money you owed me, for services rendered,” I answered. “You may have slept with me, but not recently, and you’ve shown no signs of wanting to do so again. If you care for me, you’re showing it in a mighty strange way. I never heard that ‘total avoidance aside from orders coming from flunkies’ was a valid way to show caring.” This was a jumbled sentence, okay, but I knew he got it.

“You’re calling Pam a flunky?” He had a ghost of smile on his lips. Then he got back to being miffed. I could tell because he began dropping his contractions. “I do not have to hang around you to show you. I am sheriff. You . . . you are in my retinue.”

I knew my mouth was hanging open, but I couldn’t help it. “Catching flies,” my grandmother had called that expression, and I felt like I was catching plenty of them. “Your retinue?” I managed to splutter. “Well, up you and your retinue. You don’t tell me what to do!”

“You are obliged to go with me to the conference,” Eric said, his mouth tense and his eyes blazing. “That was why I called you to Shreveport, to talk to you about travel time and arrangements.”

“I’m not obliged to go anywhere with you. You got outranked, buddy.”

“Buddy? Buddy?”

And it would have degenerated from there, if Quinn hadn’t pulled up. Instead of arriving in his truck, Quinn was in a Lincoln Continental. I felt a moment of sheer snobbish pleasure at the thought of riding in it. I’d selected the pants outfit at least partly because I thought I’d be scrambling up into a pickup, but I was just as pleased to slither into a luxurious car. Quinn came across the lawn and mounted the porch with an understated speed. He didn’t look as though he was hurrying, but suddenly he was there, and I was smiling at him, and he looked wonderful. He was wearing a dark gray suit, a dark purple shirt, and a tie that blended the two colors in a paisley pattern. He was wearing one earring, a simple gold hoop.

Eric had fang showing.

“Hello, Eric,” Quinn said calmly. His deep voice rumbled along my spine. “Sookie, you look good enough to eat.” He smiled at me, and the tremors along my spine spread into another area entirely. I would never have believed that in Eric’s presence I could think another man was attractive. I’d have been wrong to think so.

“You look very nice, too,” I said, trying not to beam like an idiot. It was not cool to drool.

Eric said, “What have you been telling Sookie, Quinn?”

The two tall men looked at each other. I didn’t believe I was the source of their animosity. I was a symptom, not the disease. Something lay underneath this.

“I’ve been telling Sookie that the queen requires Sookie’s presence at the conference as part of her party, and that the queen’s summons supercedes yours,” Quinn said flatly.

“Since when has the queen given orders through a shifter?” Eric said, contempt flattening his voice.

“Since this shifter performed a valuable service for her in the line of business,” Quinn answered, with no hesitation. “Mr. Cataliades suggested to Her Majesty that I might be helpful in a diplomatic capacity, and my partners were glad to give me extra time to perform any duties she might give me.”

I wasn’t totally sure I was following this, but I got the gist of it.

Eric was incensed, to use a good entry from my Word of the Day calendar. In fact, his eyes were almost throwing sparks, he was so angry. “This woman has been mine, and she will be mine,” he said, in tones so definite I thought about checking my rear end for a brand.

Quinn shifted his gaze to me. “Babe, are you his, or not?” he asked.

“Not,” I said.

“Then let’s go enjoy the show,” Quinn said. He didn’t seem frightened, or even concerned. Was this his true reaction, or was he presenting a façade? Either way, it was pretty impressive.

I had to pass by Eric on my way to Quinn’s car. I looked up at him, because I couldn’t help it. Being close to him while he was this angry was not a safe thing, and I needed to be on my guard. Eric was seldom crossed in serious matters, and my annexation by the Queen of Louisiana