That Night at Howenstow

She'd just spent a fortnight on a grueling murder case and Barbara Havers was glad to have three days off. She was mostly glad to finally have some clean clothes and food in her flat again. Her first day off was spent cleaning and shopping, the next two, she decided; would be spent lounging on the couch watching the telly. Not exciting to some people, but it was cheap and relaxing and both were right up her alley. So that evening, she was more than a little miffed when her mobile rang and Lynley's name appeared on the screen.

"What?" She drug out the word, not trying to hide her exasperation.

"Well, good evening to you too, Detective Sergeant Havers" He laid on his posh charm extra thick just to yank her chain. She didn't bite back, though.

"Sorry, I was just getting ready to turn in…it's not a case is it? We are scheduled to be off you know."

"No it's nothing like that. I just called to see if you fancied a trip to the countryside? Howenstow to be precise."

"You want to drag me to another family gathering? That is not my idea of fun, Sir. You are a grown man you know, you can go by yourself." She heard him snicker.

"Yes, I do know that I can go by myself Havers. I have done so before, thank you very much. And for your information, the estate is empty right now, mother is on a cruise ship floating somewhere off the coast of Greece. So I thought you might like to have the place to relax after all we went thru to finish out our case. I making a trip there to pick up a few items to furnish my new place and I just thought you might like to get out of the city for a while. And with no one there, there's no pressure on you."

Barbara didn't know what to say. She needed a moment to think about it.

"So what do you say?"

"I, um.." A free trip to the countryside with an overnighter in a posh mansion, what was there to think about? She had lied to herself earlier. Anything beat two days in her jammies stuck on the couch.

"I'm in."

"Great, pick you up at seven?"

"Seven, yeah."

"See you then Barbara. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Sir."

She didn't read much into the invite. She's been invited to his family estate on a number of occasions in the past. Mostly as moral support for family gatherings though. Still, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth; so she set about packing a few things. It was nearly midnight and seven a.m. would arrive soon enough.

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Seven a.m. couldn't come soon enough for her. She told herself not to read much into the invite. But as she lay in bed, trying desperately to get some much needed sleep, she began to wonder. Why this time? There was no family gathering. He much as said he could go on his own. So why did he invite her? Was she just someone to bring along to fill the quiet? Thinking about it now, other than the rabbit hole he fell into after Helens death nearly three years ago; he never seemed to be alone. There was always his latest tryst, dinner or theatre with the St. James', or time spent on the family estate helping his mother. There was even time spent with her after work, the odd pint or occasional dinner at the pub. Safety in numbers she supposed?

She pondered this for the better part of and hour, looking for another reason, but that was it. She was a distraction, nothing more. Glancing at her phone on the bedside table, it was nearly one a.m. She turned away and pulled the covers snugly under her chin. At least now she could sleep.

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The next morning she found herself being awakened by the ringer on her door and not by the alarm she thought she set on her phone the night before. She sat up grabbed her phone and looked at the time…7:10 a.m.

"Aww crap! Crap, crap, crap" She threw aside her covers and rushed to the door without thinking.

He almost poked her in the eye when she opened the door the same time that his hand went for the ringer again.

"Good morn…" He was taken aback by the sight of her. It looked like… well yeah…like she had definitely just woken up. But that wasn't what bothered him. It was a toss up between her hair, which seemed to all be shoved to one side of her head and the thin thigh length pink cotton nightie which accentuated her curves and clung to her braless ample bosom.

He swallowed hard and let his hand that was still reaching for the ringer reach out to straighten her hair.

When his hand touched her head Barbara realized how she must look and what she was wearing. She immediately became self conscious and backed away.

"Sorry," she yelped out as she crossed her arms trying desperately to conceal herself. "Alarm didn't go off."

"I'll just…" he pointed back over his shoulder toward the car park.

"Yeah," she replied as she closed the door to a crack. "I'll be a sec."

She closed the door all the way and leaned against it, mortified. She was embarrassed about being caught off guard, half dressed and vulnerable. She hated that. But there was nothing she could do about it now, what was done was done. Shaking her head at her own stupidity, she blew out a heavy sigh and went to get dressed.

The ten minutes Lynley had to wait for her seemed like an eternity. Why did she have to answer her door dressed in that? The way she dressed at work he always thought she might wear some kind of muumuu or matronly floor length dressing gown. But that tight snug fitting nightie accentuated parts he never realized she had and then some. Of course his eyes were drawn to her breasts, he couldn't help it. He was a man. And she'd noticed that he'd noticed. The way she crossed her arms…Danm! This was an awkward start to what would surely be a very long trip.