"I think we went beyond our brief," Mary panted as Matthew thrust into her repeatedly, her head lightly hitting the headboard with each movement.
"Do you want to stop?" Matthew asked with as much sarcasm as he could muster between his gritted teeth as he continued his exertions. He could barely think straight and knew for a fact that they were beyond the point of no return. There was no way either of them would be able to stop what they were doing without losing their sanity.
"Don't you dare," Mary breathed, her fingernails digging into his shoulder blade while the other hand grasped at the bedsheets.
Matthew increased his pace, every ounce of energy diverted towards driving himself deeper, harder. His head dropped to her shoulder as he felt himself reaching the edge. Mary, arms loosely draped around him, urged him on with her high-pitched sighs and moans.
Eventually, both came crashing down; Mary's hips bucked involuntarily, seeking that extra millimetre of penetration to prolong her ecstasy, and Matthew released a low growl as he completely spent himself inside her. The sounds of their own heavy breathing rang around their ears as they collapsed side by side, each suddenly aware of how sweaty they were.
"We can't tell anyone about this." Matthew murmured, holding a hand to his chest where his heart was still beating rapidly.
"No shit," Mary retorted, lazily wiping her brow with the back of her hand. God, she needed a shower. "You act as if I'd be planning on shouting about this from the rooftops."
"Well you seemed to be shouting pretty loudly about two minutes ago." Matthew bit back, frustrated by her relentless superiority-complex. In fact, it seemed the only way he could get her to shut up was to...pleasure her in some way. Not that he minded much, of course, although he would never freely admit it to her.
"I'm surprised you could hear me over all the sounds you were making. It was like having a caveman perpetually grunting in my ear." Mary replied. She began shifting across the bed in order to reach over and grab her clothes from the floor. She needed to get dressed and leave as soon as possible. The argumentative banter was creating more sexual tension between them and she didn't think she'd be able to handle another round of what they'd just done. It had been foolish enough to do it in the first place.
Matthew rolled his eyes in exasperation. Nothing had changed, despite what they'd just done. But of course, nothing could change.
He watched as Mary sat on the edge of the bed and shimmied her jeggings on, her back to him. Was she even going to say anything to him before leaving? Didn't they need to discuss the situation a little more?
"I'm going." Mary said abruptly.
Clearly not, then...
"Alright." Matthew replied, unable to keep his tone totally devoid of petulance. It was rather irksome, how she could do that with him and still maintain her prior, dismissive demeanour. He doubted that all was unchanged beneath the surface, however. But what did he care, anyway?
This couldn't change anything, he reminded himself.
One month earlier
"I'm telling you, Mary, this is for the best."
Mary sighed again, much to the annoyance of the middle-aged man stood in front of her. "I'm afraid I still don't understand what you mean when you say that." She replied. Another middle-aged man, slightly to the left of the first one and slightly more aggravated, threw his hands up in the air.
"You'd think all that private schooling and Cambridge would've done some good..." He muttered.
"I beg your pardon?" Mary raised an eyebrow. She might be twenty-five years younger than these "political aides" and have much less experience in these matters than they did, but she wasn't about to be talked down to., especially when they were asking her for a huge favour.
"Nigel, please." The first man attempted to placate his irate companion. He turned back to Mary with a face full of determination that told her she wasn't going to get her way. "Look, I'm afraid this isn't up for discussion. Your father is about to enter into a coalition government with his political foe. The whole country's up in arms about it - you've seen the press coverage, haven't you?"
"I don't need to see the press coverage. I was in my parents' house when it got egged. I have first-hand experience of the public's displeasure." Mary deadpanned.
"Right, exactly." The first man, Eric, said enthusiastically, happy that they were finally on the same wavelength about something. "Your father, despite his good intentions, has upset a lot of people by forming an alliance with the Workers' League. The National Party's traditional supporters feel betrayed and nobody - on either side - can see how this coalition is going to work. We need to do everything we can to ease everyone's concerns. We need to show people that the two parties aren't so different after all."
Mary remained seated in her chair, unmoved by this explanation. After a few moments of silence, she asked, "How much do you get paid, Eric?"
Both men looked startled by this response. "Erm, I don't see why that's relevant..." Eric spluttered.
"Come on, Eric, there's no need to be shy. I could just as easily find out from my father but I'm choosing to ask you." Mary said.
"Well, I earn the usual stipend for a-"
"A spin doctor?" Mary interrupted.
"I'm not a spin doctor!" Eric said adamantly. He was clearly fed up of being tarnished with that brush. "I'm-"
"Yes, yes, you're in 'public relations', 'head of communications', or whatever, it doesn't matter." Mary waved a hand dismissively. "The point is - you're in the most senior position you can be in, for your department." Eric nodded somewhat proudly at this. "You're earning a six figure salary." Again, Eric nodded. "And you have this...assistant of sorts to help you." She gestured towards Nigel, who looked thoroughly perturbed at being referred to as an assistant. "And yet the best you could come up with as an idea to tamper this political storm - even with both of your brains put together - was to have the National Party's leader's daughter begin a fake relationship with the Workers' League's leader's son?" She asked, her voice dripping with exaggerated disbelief.
"Alright, I've had enough of this cheek." Nigel stormed over to her. "Mary, I'm sorry to put this to you so bluntly, but the fact is that nobody gives a damn what you think of our strategy. We have more important things on our mind than what some twenty-five year old socialite thinks would be a better idea. Your father will be prime minister in a matter of hours and it is his reputation, and that of his party - which is a 300 year old party, I might add - that matters most. Why don't you leave that for the grown ups to sort out, and you can worry about looking good in front of the cameras with your new boyfriend?"
If there hadn't already been enough drama going on in Downing Street, Mary would have kicked that man right in the balls. Instead, she nobly chose to glare at him with all her might while Eric attempted to interject.
"What Nigel says is true, Mary," he said calmly, obviously wary of her having a violent outburst, "Furthermore, we think that this approach could actually be of some personal benefit to you. Having a nice, sensible man by your side is likely to stop all those silly stories that have been going round in the magazines and tabloids. It could make your life easier."
As much as Mary hated to admit it, Eric did raise an interesting point. The media attention on her during the election campaign had been tiresome and invasive, and she'd been seeking some way of putting all the rumours to rest. Perhaps this was it. She sighed again, this time with a hint of resignation that Eric and Nigel immediately picked up on.
"What does this 'nice, sensible man' do, then?" She asked wearily.
"He runs a legal advice centre in East London."
Oh dear God. "He sounds like a hoot." She said sarcastically.
...
"This is definitely the best option we have at the moment."
Matthew crossed his arms across his chest, considering the proposal. "I understand why you think this might be helpful - and, of course, I'd be willing to do whatever it took to help my father in office - but I don't think I quite see how feasible it is." He replied politely.
"It really wouldn't be too much of a burden." Jacob, his father's aide, replied. "You'd make a couple of public appearances per week, at fundraisers and the like. Maybe throw in one low key appearance at a local cinema or something, just so it seems more realistic. Bit of hugging, bit of kissing. That's it, really." Jacob shrugged.
Kissing? "Wait, so I'd have to be physically intimate with this woman?" Matthew sat forward in his seat. He wasn't the sort of person who was used to snogging women that he didn't know, and he didn't fancy the idea of doing that in full view of the public and the national press.
"Not massively." Jacob shrugged again. "Just enough to suggest that there is a real relationship there. She's quite a looker anyway, so I'm sure you won't find it difficult." He winked smarmily.
Matthew frowned. He'd seen pictures and short snippets on the news about Mary Crawley, and he agreed that she was very attractive. Nevertheless, getting off with a stranger whilst deliberately positioned in front of paparazzi sounded pretty trashy to him. But then, he supposed, politics had always involved some trash. He sighed. "For exactly how long do I need to keep this up?"
"Just as long as it takes for this furore to die down. Soon, the public will move on from the initial shock and the focus will become more about the coalition's individual policies. The press will report on you less and less, until everyone forgets that you were ever a couple, and you can go back to your normal life." He paused for a moment until another thought struck him. "One thing your father mentioned to me, which Robert Crawley's team have no doubt also made clear to his daughter - under no circumstances whatsoever should this fake relationship turn into a real one."
"Er...OK." Matthew was slightly confused by this instruction. "Why would it? I don't know her and I don't plan on actually spending that much time with her."
"Just in case you start to get other ideas once you actually meet." Jacob replied. "The point of this plan is to provide a means of soothing tensions in the short-term, while this coalition lasts and your father builds up his support. For all we know there'll be another election in a year or two and the National Party are back to being the enemy again. We can't have any romance tying the two parties together."
"No, that makes sense." Matthew nodded. "I really don't think there's any risk of that being a problem, Jacob."
"Glad to hear that. Now, what do you say about it? I need to report back and confirm that we can go ahead."
Matthew scratched his jaw, weighing up the pros and cons. Not that he had a decision to make, anyway. It had already been made for him. This was merely a courtesy whereby he was being informed of his bizarre role in the new government. "Alright, fine. Tell them I'll do it." He said. After a moment he asked, "What does she do, again?"
Jacob, thankful that he could get on with the rest of the shitstorm-handling that he had to do that day, stood up to leave. "Oh, she's a socialite of some sort. Doesn't really have a job. You know what they're like in that party - more money than sense and everything's inherited."
Matthew watched in mild despair as Jacob left the room. Great. "She sounds just like my cup of tea." He murmured to himself.
A/N: I know I'm very naughty for starting a new story when I have so many that I haven't updated in months and months, but please let me know your thoughts! Please note that I'm taking some creative licence with the political world here - it obviously bears significant resemblance to the 2010 elections in the UK, but I've made up new party names and rules about when elections take place and general goings-on will probably be different, so take all of that with a pinch of salt! Thanks for reading xxx