'It's the only way you'll get into my dress.' Mattie made to leave the room, aware she was teasing, nay leading, Danny, on.

He reached out and caught her wrist, pulling her back.

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Mattie treated Danny like an annoying brother and he rose to it every time. It was a source of amusement to both Jean and Lucien as they watched the interplay between the two of them. Danny was plainly interested in the district nurse but she was either playing hard to get or maybe she wasn't interested.

She teased him about his batting at cricket, found a way to embarrass him when he danced with her and argued with him over corporal punishment.

Since Danny had come to live at the Blake residence he had come to regard Mattie as a skilled nurse, a bright and intelligent person, and a pretty girl who he would like to be seen with.

But she was always ready to put him down, he thought, he remembered when she had almost told him he was naive over the Manos girl, and maybe she was right, he'd fallen for her, hook, line and sinker, only to find out she was actually seeing the son of her father's rival in the Begonia Festival. So how was he going to handle her?

The verbal sparring between the two continued. During the case of the murdered gold prospector, Arthur Pike, he barely had time to speak to her. He would find her in the living room, listening to music and reading, and when he went into speak to her she got up to leave.

Now she was supporting her friend Edie as she headed towards the altar. She wasn't exactly pleased when Lucien engineered Edie's fiancé being arrested for Pike's murder. Danny liked her loyalty to her friends, even if she'd rather not dress up for them.

It turned out that Edie's fiancé was not the killer, just a fool who was trying to get money fast to treat his future bride to a honeymoon.

And now...

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Mattie looked up into his eyes, they were a lovely colour, clear and blue, and wistful.

Danny pulled her closer, holding her gaze until she dropped her eyes, suddenly shy. She let him slide his arm around her waist as if he was going to dance with her. He stepped forward, a small, almost hesitant step.

His head tipped down to hers and he nudged her face with his, tempting her to tip her face to his. His lips touched hers so softly she barely felt them. Then firmer but still gently he kissed her, not daring to put too much into the kiss until he was sure she was ready.

Mattie couldn't understand why she felt so ridiculously shy. She'd been kissed before, many times, but somehow Danny's tenderness was different, a difference she liked rather more than she thought she ever would, after all he was Danny, her housemate, the naive constable; or was he?

As he kissed her for the second time, she felt a surge she had never felt with her other boyfriends, a jolt through her core. She parted her lips ever so slightly and let his tongue begin to explore her mouth. She slid her arms round him and let herself be taken to somewhere she'd never been before, with a kiss.

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This is what happens when you have the DVD on while you're writing another story.