It's been seven months since he left the Palace but it takes James Hill only two hours to track down Jasper Frost, even though he's 5,000 miles away in a different continent, a different time zone and has assumed a new name.
Which is weird considering she's pretty sure that Marcus is in Ireland using the same name and yet James reports that he is nowhere to be found.
When he tells her that she gives him a sharp look. She's deeply suspicious that the reason Marcus can't be found because James doesn't want to look.
When she questions him again about Marcus he just gives her the same reply again and she sighs heavily.
"Shall I arrange the jet to depart tomorrow Princess? We'll need to fly to LA and then its a short drive to Santa Barbara?"
Eleanor nods, resigned. She's tired and she doesn't have the time or energy for a fight with someone she now considers her best friend. Maybe her only friend.
"Tell them to have the plane ready to fly out a couple of hours after we arrive. We need to be there and back within a day. I do not want to be away for any longer at present," she instructs.
If she's going to get her way - and she has to get her way because she doesn't want to fail in this particular mission - then any begging she has to do had better be in person. And preferably with a stiff whiskey and a line of coke before she speaks to him once more.
On this particular day he spent two hours in the office catching up on emails and paperwork before he begins one of three site inspections he has planned today.
He acts as an independant security consultant for events and businesses, reviewing and audited security plans and giving (expensive) advice on all manner of threats.
As far as jobs go, he doesn't mind the work, it's actually pretty interesting and certainly easier than some of the jobs he's had to deal with. Or some of the people he's had to deal with in the past.
When he left England he knew he had to get away from everything - from her, her family, his family, his former less than honest way of life and everything in between that reminded him of any of it. Especially her.
At first she was all he thought about, and no matter how hard he stared at the maps of store layouts and event plans, it was only her face and her voice that came to mind.
But gradually over time things improved and he wasn't thinking of her every waking moment. Now he only thinks of her maybe a dozen times a day. And even if its always her face and her body that comes to mind when he's with another girl, he feels as if he's finally making progress here.
So he thinks he'll keep this job and he'll keep this life because its the best he can do if he can't have the thing he really wants.
It's precisely 3.15pm when former Scotland Yard detective Mr James Hill re-enters his life.
Jasper spots him as he appears suddenly on the edge of the reserve as he discusses the best location for the band and security with the event coordinator at an upcoming public concert.
Jasper does a double take and wraps up his conversation then walks brisquely towards Mr Hill. He's scanning the reserve carefully because if James is here, there's a faint possibility the Princess may be in tow somewhere nearby.
"I would appreciate a word Mr Frost," James tells him.
"Of course," Jasper replies, poker faced, as if its perfectly normal for visitors to pop over on a twelve hour flight, several thousand miles for a quick chat.
Mr Hill starts walking quickly towards the car park and Jasper keeps stride with him.
James opens the door of a black Jaguar with tinted windows and gestures him inside.
He slides himself in.
From the front seat the Princess turns her head around and gives him a long look which is accompanied by total silence.
Both of them stare at each other, startled even if the encounter is not entirely unexpected for either of them.
Eleanor's wearing a fitted black three quarter length mesh top and a black mini skirt and her hair falls in tumbled curls over the car seat. He's pretty sure she's taken something because her pupils are dilated and her chest is rising and falling quickly like her hearts pumping double time.
She swallows. "I appreciate your speaking to me today," she starts.
The next bit is hard for her to say but she steels herself to do it because all of this has to be done.
Over the past year, she'd attempted to reconstruct her life and become something better, cleaner and more substantial than the selfish Princess she had been.
But it had taken only one blow and two weeks to undo everything she'd achieved. And now all her addictions were back with a vengence - the alcohol, the drugs, the men.
"I know that I was the one who asked you to leave. And that I said I didn't want you to come back. But I'm here today to ask you to come back to be Liam's security detail. And I know that you have your own life here now and its a big ask to expect you to drop it and come back to the Palace but everything has changed and we really need you now," Eleanor tells him.
He doesn't miss the way her voice quivers or her lip trembles.
She wants him to come back to be Liam's security detail and that we need him, but he wants her to tell him something that's true about them. That she misses him. That she wants him back. That he meant something to her.
That is was a relationship.
His jaw tightens.
"If you want me to drop my life here, if you want me back, you have to be honest with yourself Eleanor. If you want me, there has to be an us again, otherwise I'm not putting myself through any of that again," Jasper tells her and she knows that he is still angry with her for everything she put him through.
"I'm not -"
Eleanor interrupts him. "This isn't about me or you, or us if there ever was such a thing. This is about Liam. His new security detail is godawful and gloomy and he makes me depressed just to be in the same room as him. Liam needs you back as his security. He needs a friend."
If Liam wanted the moon right now, she'd try moving the earth closer to its orbit. But what he needs is someone he can count on, a friend his own age who'll be there for him now.
"Liam has lots of friends," Jasper tells her, frowning.
"I know he has friends but they have their own lives and their own jobs. They can't be with him 24/7 when he needs support. And he's going to need a lot of support," Eleanor tells him.
It's not part of an act or a calculated move to get his sympathy when she reaches forward to clasp his hand. She does it because she desperately wants his help and she can't help herself, because once upon a time she thought she could count on him. She even thought she loved him.
"You have to understand that Liam's ill. He has leukemia," she says and she also can't stop herself when the tears pool in her eyes and start to trickle down her cheek.
