Author's usual notes and disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and solely own the ideas of my stories and the developments I've let them go through.

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Author's note and summary: After so much sport I had to do something with a grand party. Though I'm not wearing skirts or dresses anymore since I was 12 I've recognised a wonderful but simple dress somewhere on TV (doesn't matter where) and the idea to this story popped into my head.

Here's some fluff for you. Enjoy it.

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Ruby

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He successfully had talked her into another event. It had become quite a habit recently. Against good advice she had agreed again and had come to Howenstow since she already knew a few people and would not be solitarily standing in the corner anymore when nobody from the family would have time to care. Letting her eyes wander across the crowd of expensively dressed people she sipped at her champagne and wondered why on earth she could not say no to him. Deep in her heart she already knew the answer but was not yet ready to admit it even to herself.

She sighed and turned her attention back to the young man next to her who was talking about his extraordinarily uninteresting hobby of fly fishing. Against her mood she smiled at him. Despite his young age he was quite a good dancer and she just needed a rest. And as long as the host was busy elsewhere she had decided to keep on the right side of this boy. But she could not at all keep concentrated on his boring monologue.

He was not a patch on the host to this ball. Her boss, the Detective Inspector, the eighth Earl of Asherton, Tommy Lynley. Sir. That was how she still called him. Even after all this time they have been working together. Even after all this time they shared this strange friendship. Even after she had accompanied him to a few theatre plays and functions and - she counted - to three grand balls so far. This was the fourth. Usually he would have- Barbara had to smile when she realised that she was thinking that there already was a 'usually' in her thoughts. Well, usually he would have danced with her by now. She even once had taken dance lessons just to make sure that she would be able to dance at all. Those lessons had been after the first and shortly before the second ball. It was heaven to finally dance with Lynley. She could lay her arms around him and feel his arms around her and she was able to indulge in the proximity of the dance. Never would she dare to think she could be that close to him outside of a dance floor. They were working partners. They solved crimes and arrested criminals. Yah, well, meanwhile they also had spent much time after work but still...

He was her boss. Full stop.

But, seriously, he was her attractive boss. Every time, always decently dressed, he even looked classy when he was in sweat pants. She knew, she had seen it. But tonight he was of course wearing a dinner jacket with a crisp white shirt and a vest and his green tie showed off an embroidered emerald Asherton crest as well as his signet ring and the golden cuff links. He mingled with the guests and was the perfect host. She admitted to herself that she had blatantly observed him. Another bad habit of hers. But he was a sight to look at. Being polite to everybody, dancing with a few rich looking women, giving her the usual stings of jealousy. Not that she would not enjoy watching him but unfortunately she was not a patch on those women with their perfect hairdos, their expensive tailor-made dresses and their sparkling jewelleries. And she simply did not fit into this world of hereditary peerage and old rich families. With just hair on my head, no jewellery except those old golden ear studs and especially not in that dress that's pinching everywhere and is at least one size too small. Bloody Marks & Sparks salesgirl...

"Barbara!" his familiar voice shook her out of her thoughts. "Here you are. Hello Andrew, you enjoy yourself? Barbara, I thought... may I have this dance?"

The tall handsome man smiled one of his irresistible boyish smiles and held out his hand for her. His brown eyes beamed invitingly at her and with his other hand he stroked back his unruly lock of hair. Stuffed in that tight dress Barbara almost swooned but agreed anyway. She really could not say no to him. He was her fate.

Apologetically she nodded at Andrew and vanished in her dream world on the dance floor.

Unfortunately Barbara was in his arms for only a short time before Tommy spotted his uncle Fester returning from the bar totally drunken. He had to keep him away from the ball and away from his sister Judith, who would get in a row with Fester without a doubt, and excusing himself he kissed the back of Barbara's hand before he rushed to his uncle. His mother Daze already was by his side and together they managed to navigate him up the stairs and into one of the guest rooms.

He cursed his bloody drinking uncle when he returned into the grand hall and could not find her immediately. He just wanted to have another dance with her. In fact he wanted to dance with her for the rest of the evening. He had come to the opinion that he had payed enough duty for tonight and, being the host to this ball, had danced enough with all those other dull women - forever. If it were up to him he would not dance with anybody else anymore, only with Barbara. Now it would be his turn to enjoy the ball and he only needed his feisty Sergeant for that. He could tell that she had taken lessons somewhere after the first or second ball he had been able to invite her to and it always felt like heaven to have her in his arms. And actually he never wanted to have anybody else in his arms for the rest of his life, if he was honest.

Shocked at this realisation he gulped the rest of his champagne and took a new glass from the tray that hovered past him in that moment. His sister Judith already had made her jokes towards him that he should finally make it official but he still had refused to confirm it - there was nothing to confirm. Nothing was going on between them, really. Unfortunately. Barbara Havers was just a good, a very good friend and nothing more. That was what he had said to his sister. And then he had thought it over. It was not the whole truth.

He had started to observe her a lot after Judith's words and he had dared to recognise that Barbara maybe felt a bit more than just friendship towards him. A pensive look here, an unnecessairy touch there, frequently enjoyed pints after work without other colleagues, even a night at the opera once, when, after a flirty look she had given him, he almost had tried to put his arms around her shoulder if not his sister would have disturbed them in the privacy of his loge. His snogbox, like Peter once had called it. He missed that bloke tonight but was glad he finally was professionally treated for his drug addiction.

This was another thing. Barbara was the reason for this cure and for the alleviation of the tension between the two Asherton boys. She had forced him to talk with his brother, have a real conversation, and signalise him that he would be trying to help not only with money. Somehow it had worked. That little prickly woman who always seemed to struggle to keep her own life together was giving the best advices. Plus she was beautiful. Tommy sighed. Even in her unmatching oversized clothings at work which had become better recently. But tonight...

Ah, there she was. His eyes spotted her in a small crowd of chatting people, wearing that appealing black sheath dress that was tighter than anything else he had seen on her small frame. She was wearing deep red heels - of course not too high, she probably was not able to walk in stilettos - and they were extremely sexy in tandem with that dress and corresponding with her red hair. Like always she wore no visible make-up, if any at all, her hair was pinned up but still somewhat messy. Probably fixed in a hurry seconds before she had rushed down. The image made him chuckle. Small golden ear studs graced her earlobes but her throat was naked like always. He swallowed when the flash of a naughty thought crossed his mind. And no jewellery was there to distract his eyes from her alluring cleavage. Gods, was he staring at her upper body? Check yourself, boy. There it was again - he had found himself not only once being distracted by her appearance. He swallowed drily and went to get two glasses of champagne since he had recognised that hers was empty like his. And after the refreshment he would dance with her again. And again.

During the evening when he had talked to her or even when he had danced with her this one time he only had seen her front. Which was in fact very nice. When he had spotted her across the grand hall, seeing her standing with one or the other or a few people, he always had seen her face and most of the time even caught a glance from her as if she was searching for him or would have wanted to keep him in sight. Or as if she was watching him the entire time.

Now, carrying two glasses of champagne, he returned from the bar in the entrance hall and looked out for her. Her boisterous laughter could be picked out everywhere and so he diverted his way into the direction of the group of some of his younger cousins. He saw her red hair first and smiled about the fact that she was going along quite well tonight with 'his lot'. Approaching the group a couple went to the dancefloor and gave away the view to her back. Tommy's eyes widened, his pupils dilated, he swallowed and hesitated. The back of this dress was cut high and decent and even her shoulders were covered. But her bottom seemed to be moulded into the matt cloth. Her thighs, her hip, her waist and her chest formed a gorgeous female curve of a kind he never had expected to be Barbara's. And the most appealing thing on that black dress was the shimmering deep ruby red stripe in the back, going from the neck all along her spine and across her bottom down to the hem of the not too short skirt and being repeated in a black line on the heels of her deep ruby red shoes.

Catching himself with sudden lustful and very un-decent thoughts about Barbara Tommy almost fell when he tripped over his own feet and spilled some of the champagne over his chest.

Judith had grinned all the time since she had seen him leaving after a pensive and long look into the direction of 'his Sergeant'. She had watched them the entire evening thinking about what on earth it could be that still kept those two apart. They loved each other, it was painfully visible. They were eating each other alive when they thought themselves safe from being watched by the other. Judith never would have thought that Barbara would be a dancer at all and of course she really did seldomly dance if it was not with her brother but when they danced - and at the previous two balls they almost had done nothing else and with nearly nobody else - they almost were glued together. She had watched them during multiple events now.

Tommy had brought her to four balls (including this), Barbara had accompanied him to a few functions, they even once had met in Tommy's private loge where she had felt like a fifth wheel but she truly had not known he would bring Barbara into his snogbox. Judith had popped by unannounced and would have loved to disappear straight after the lights had gone out but that would have been too obvious. After the interval she simply had not returned but the next day when she phoned him to give a feeble excuse for her leave she had learned that nothing had happened. That call had been the first time she had directly asked him if and what it was exactly that was going on between them. Her brother had told her that they were just colleagues with a strange but wonderful friendship. Well, if he says so...

But that would not explain why he always brought her here. Anyway, actually it did not matter as long as Tommy and Barbara were happy with it. And it really did her good. Barbara was not the bristly shy little sergeant anymore that she had been when Judith first had met her. She had grown more and more self-conscious without losing her loose and sharp tongue and even her appearance had aligned but she was still keeping her own style. Though Judith could not help but notice what at least half of the other women probably had noticed - Barbara still had no great variety in her wardrobe, she did not let her hair be done by a stylist and she wore no jewellery. But apart from that or better because of that, and Judith acknowledged it without envy, Barbara was of such a simple natural beauty most of the women of her own lot would never be able to imitate.

Barbara almost always had one or the other man around who bowed and scraped - though she seemed innocently unaware - and her brother obviously admired her with a hint of jealousy towards the other men when he had to play the host and could not be near her. During this evening she knew exactly that there was more than just a strange friendship he felt for her. And vice versa. There was a longing in their eyes they could barely hide. A few moments ago Tommy had crossed the grand hall carrying two glasses of champagne - it was clear for whom one of it was - and he had a determined look that had turned into some unseemly open desire at one point. Then he had stumbled and spilled the champagne over his chest. Deeply blushing he had turned away and passed her with the mumbled words that he had to go and clean his tie. She could not help but laugh at him.

Now that he returned he had not cleaned his tie but instead changed it for a deep ruby red one with a matching pocket square. Judith recognised it to be of the same colour like Barbara's shoes and the sassy stripe on her dress. She raised an eyebrow at her brother but he did not seem to see her at all. With an even more determined look in his eyes than before he walked past her and straight into the direction of the group of people Barbara stood with. This time without champagne. Tommy came to a halt right next to Barbara. He stood close. Very close.

Barbara sensed him standing next to her before she could even see him. The warmth from his arm and his personal aftershave she could have spotted blind eyed filled her nose and mind immediately.

"Hiya." she said to him with a soft look. She was happy and relaxed and if he had not stood partly behind her she probably would have linked arms with him. Or at least she would have thought about that.

"Hello." he said only to her with his low voice. She could not explain the look he gave her in return but it went straight into her soul. "Do you enjoy yourself?" He just had asked her but he politely looked around and briefly chatted with his guests, smiling and nodding at them. The fingers of his left hand though found their way to her back. Lasciviously slow they traced the red stripe from her nape all along her spine and almost down to her bottom. She had stopped breathing in the instance his fingers had met the skin in her nape and while he had traced the line downwards she had involuntarily straightened her back. Fortunately she had not been talking at that moment or else she would have stopped dead in midsentence. She felt a shiver going down her spine and goosepimples all over her body and dearly hoped that nobody would have recognised that. A blushing heat crawled across her entire neck when his hand finally had stopped in the small of her back. She almost was disappointed that he had not gone further down. Why did he do this anyway?!

First he only had wanted to gently touch the short and soft curly hairs in her neck but then he felt that hidden under the red line in her back was the zipper to her dress so he could not resist ghostily hovering his fingers down that zipper stripe above her spine as if he was pretending to open it. He did not give a damn if anybody in the ball room could see what he was doing and he was rewarded with Barbara's reaction. She had straightened her back and sucked in air before she completely stopped breathing. The little hairs on her arm stood and a very sexy blush crept across her nape. His unseemly thoughts were about to dive into the gutter and if he had not stopped his fingers shortly above her tempting bottom he probably would have had to explain something. He could not keep up the meaningless chatter with his cousins with that woman next to him.

"May I have a word, please, Barbara?" Tommy was glad that the lump in his throat was not too big. He nodded towards the other guests and led Barbara away.

His mother had seen his fingers. She had seen how her son gently had placed them in her nape and after a second of hesitation slowly let them glide down the perky red stripe in Barbara's back. She seemed to stiffen but looked not at all displeased. Daze wondered if there was something going on between them and if so, for how long it might have until now. But had Tommy not always told her that Barbara was only a colleague, a good, well his best friend, but nothing more? Daze hissed shortly before his fingers stopped above her bottom. Well, at least...! He could not behave like that in public, she thought. Ah, well, but then again, he probably would not care about her opinion in that matter and really - the times they are changing. Her eyes followed Tommy and Barbara when he guided her through the crowd and onto the terrace on the other side of the grand hall. Well, well, where are they going to? The loving smile of a mother appeared in her face.

Then she caught the smirk from her daughter who obviously had seen everything too. She shot her a quizzical look but Judith only shrugged, nodded appreciative and grinned cheekily. Daze prayed that her daughter at least would show some decorum and keep her thumbs down.

She had to shake her head and roll her eyes when she saw the gesture of said thumb actually raised hidden in a strange grip around Judith's glass of champagne.

With his hand at her elbow he had guided them through the crowd to the terrace door on the other side of the ball-room. They stepped outside and found a quiet and private corner on one side behind a huge laurel bush. Barbara felt like he had searched a place where he could be alone with her. Where nobody could disturb them. Where everybody would see that the two persons in semi-darkness did not want company. First she thought it could be an urgent case but that would be something Tommy would have told her openly and of course he would not have chatted with his guests first. And what was that thing with his fingers tracing down her spine? Her back was still burning in the memory of his touch.

Wasn't this a green tie before?

Tommy's hand vanished in the pocket of his vest and he took out a little velvety sack. Barbara's expression went quizzical. He took a thin chain from it and without a word stepped closer while he opened the clasp. There only was irritation in Barbara's eyes. Then he placed the golden necklace with a small ruby, half undressed and half diamond shaped, around her neck. Surprisingly his warm hands stayed on her shoulders, his thumbs gently caressing her collarbones. She was terrified and stood still in some sort of positive shock. This isn't real, is it? Why was he suddenly so tender?

She saw him inhaling deeply.

"On the risk of making a fool of myself..." he started. "I'm..." He harrumphed and then deeply inhaled once more. "I'm in love with you, Barbara. Have been for years, I suppose. I can't keep it to myself anymore. And, umm... I'm going to kiss you now." He shrugged while he came still a bit closer. "I'm just saying..."

And then Tommy finally kissed Barbara. His lips softly but briefly - too briefly - met hers and his stomach made a salto when he realised that she did not back away. In fact she showed no physical reaction at all except for her hand that had shot up in search for a grip at the wall right next to her. Hands gliding down her arms and hanging at his side again his eyes searched for a response, looked out for some, for any reaction but mostly he saw confusion in her face. Confusion, fear, happiness, more irritation, relief - almost everything a human face was able to express all at once.

Funny feelings, twisted thoughts and simple physical reactions raced around in her body and mind. Her heart tried to sound out all the rational objections and denials which were trained over the years to protect herself from too much harm an unrequited love for her DI, for the 8th Earl of Asherton, would have caused. Obviously it was in fact a mutual feeling. Could she believe that? Could she trust him? Could she trust herself? The recently increasingly showing little signs of his affections she had herself forbidden to recognise darted through her mind, which, summated with their deep and long friendship and the comfortable ease she always felt when they were together, made him appear in a very different light, gave him a very loving appearance and it led to the - still a bit anxious - result that she indeed should try and declare herself towards him. Her lips involuntarily spread into a small smile of hesitant relief.

"For aeons, Sir." she silently answered.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, will you start calling me Tommy?" He stepped even closer and dared to place his arms around her waist. He was more than joyful when she placed her hands on his upper arms and leaned into his embrace.

"Of course. As soon as I've gotten used to kissing you I'll work on getting used to calling you Tommy. Sir."

"Oh, bloody, please shut up, now will you, Havers." His last words were tenderly whispered before he gave her another kiss, this time answered with a soft response from her lips. A soft response that turned their kiss into a deeper and longer connection than the previous kiss had been. A soft response that at some point let all the years of suppressed feelings surface on both sides and end in a desperately desirous kiss.

After about ten minutes in which they were doing who knows what on the terrace Judith started to think they would have been gone upstairs. Her mother indignantly just scolded her daughter when she voiced her assumption aloud. "Judith!"

"What?!" she asked as innocently as possible. "Have you seen the looks he had given her all evening? He was eat-"

She stopped midsentence. Her eyes had been on the doors to the terrace while she had talked with her mother.

"Hallelujah!" she mumbled. Tommy and Barbara came back into the ball-room. His hair was slightly ruffled and her eyes were glued to the floor. But both were trying to suppress a broad grin. And they were holding hands. It was not the holding hands of a man leading a woman onto the dancefloor. Not at all. Their fingers were entwined and they seemed to have decided not to deny anymore that they belong together. This gesture was as much as an official announcement.

There was another difference Judith spotted in an instance. Broadly smirking she approached her brother and his love.

"Well, Tommy, so you've finally found where grandma's ruby belongs?" she said. "It was about time."

Tommy only grinned happy like a fool and Barbara tried to beam against the ruby red glowing jewel around her neck.

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Author's note: Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing!

Tess