Moments upon Moments
Barbara slid into their usual booth at the pub that she and her boss preferred when it was just the two of them. He joined her after a few moments, carrying her beer and his glass of whiskey. "Well," he said.
"Well, that was a surprise, Sir, wasn't it? For both of us. I had no idea you had turned down promotions." She smiled ruefully. "I'd thought that being paired with me had stopped your rise to the top. And you didn't know that I had passed the inspector exams." She went on chattering, unusual for her, because she was devastated, and nervous.
"And also turned down a promotion," he said, eyebrows raised. "And for the same reason."
"Yeah," she said, looking down at her beer.
"We both liked the status quo. We didn't want to stop working together."
"We're a good team," she said warily.
"We are," he agreed, "But it's more than that."
"It is?" Not meeting his eyes. He reached out and put his hand over hers. "You know it is, Barbara, and from Hillier's attitude, he knows it too,"
"Yeah, what did he mean by 'our devotion to one another?'" She pulled her hand out from under his. "I found that offensive. I mean, our devotion is to the job!" Barbara flushed under Lynley's gaze. For years, she had turned to "the job" to deflect any personal gestures he had made towards her. She remembered when they were supposed to be on leave, staying at Howenstowe, but wound up working on a murder case nearby. He had questioned her almost tenderly – "How are you bearing up?" he'd asked. He had put his hand on her arm, adding "you would tell me if you weren't, wouldn't you?" She had flushed and immediately told him something about a suspect, steering him back to work. She knew that he had been horrified when she'd been shot, but she didn't want him to pay attention to her that way. It had taken her a very long time to keep her feelings for him under control, and she resisted letting those feelings show when he would touch her, act protectively, or even hint that there was more between them than a professional partnership. As he was doing now. As Hillier had done, explaining that it was time to separate them, break up the team, promote them both. She knew in her heart and soul that nothing could come of their deepening friendship, their acknowledged attachment to one another. Not because he was her boss, that could change very soon. It was the earl thing, the education thing, the wealth thing, the being of two different worlds thing. If she resisted any change except not working together, as hard as that would be, they might still be friends. She loved him too much to risk losing him completely.