Damn, another point lost; she'd made herself vulnerable again – driving with the handbrake on was going to come back and bite her in the behind endlessly and, as she feared, it reopened other wounds.
At first Dempsey had let it pass, all too easily Harry thought and then there it was! A car scrap yard was looming on the right...
"Now's your chance to show your skill sergeant"
"Sorry?"
"A handbrake turn into that scrap yard Makepeace" Dempsey shouted.
She flabbergasted him by doing just that, noting his temporary silence Makepeace grinned.
"Impressive" Dempsey conceded.
"Now why are we here Dempsey?" she demanded.
"Being crushed with you Sergeant – the idea suddenly took me"
'Bloody man' thought Harry it was not a position she ever intended to find herself in and yet there was this nagging urge at the back of her mind… Makepeace swung the car back around, revved the engine and hurtled back out of the scrap yard; she could just see the taxi making a left turn.
"For god's sake Dempsey we nearly lost him" she reprimanded.
"Nah – you'll catch him" Dempsey paused then started to bark instructions about 'getting up closer'; the only thing was that his mind was now picturing how much closer he could get to Makepeace – his words stopped when he started to imagine that bra.
Makepeace ignored Dempsey's futile instructions and enjoyed the peace as he fell silent. That was one thing – if there were moments of frisson like the earlier double-edged conversation there were more of these irritating and aggravating occasions when he seemed to think her nothing. She continued to follow the taxi as it sped away; two minutes after Harry was sure they had been clocked by Davis he was out of sight. "You lost it" Dempsey pointed out.
"THAT WAS THE BLOODY PLAN DEMPSEY" she shouted, frustrated at his constant criticism.
"I know" he grinned "sucker"
To his relief Harry burst out laughing, as they both recalled Dempsey's earlier comment to Spikings. Makepeace took the message from Charlie 12 and they made their way to the house boat.
********
Dempsey stood there, ranting on about corruption or something but all Makepeace could think of was how bloody hot Dempsey was.
They had done it together; in fact she felt unnervingly the same as if they had just done it. Her soft gaze, warm feelings and sense of deep satisfaction were directed to him in exactly the same way as if they spent the last hour in bed.
"Dempsey can I have your hat?"
He fired up, she wanted something of his – he would play hard to get, not too hard. He played innocent but her repeated question was warming him. He placed his hat on her head and he knew he wanted to see her in his shirt again - after he had made love to her. He glanced into her eyes – they were shining, he removed the hat – not so much for a tease but to give him the pleasure of placing it on her head for a second time.
Oh boy, his pulse was racing – as the door closed behind him he turned back and could just make out Makepeace with a fantastic grin on her face as he looked through the glass window. Impulsively he pushed the door back open "You wanna do lunch?" he asked.
They sat in the pub waiting for their food order. Dempsey, being Dempsey had sweet talked the pub into serving despite being half hour past last food orders. He chose a seat where they had a view through a window and whilst Harry looked out he looked on at her. The simplicity of his hat on her head drove him to distraction; Makepeace was acutely aware of his gaze, and at first felt grateful for it. After some time it unnerved her a bit and she asked him what he was thinking.
"That you look kinda cute" he replied without any air of embarrassment
Harry blushed with pride but had no idea how to handle it. She spotted an Evening Standard and passed it to Dempsey to read.
"You think I should read this?" Dempsey asked "It ain't big enough to have any news in it" he added as he opened the pages. On page 4 something sparked his memory – "Anyway" he said seemingly randomly "at least we spell things right."
"What?"
"We spell things right"
"Dempsey I haven't the foggiest idea what you are talking about"
"Labor" he explained and then added "….. and color" Dempsey became animated "give me your note book Makepeace" he demanded.
"No, use your own."
"You know I don't have one."
"Well you're not using mine."
"Just one piece of paper – oh forget it look I'll write it here on the edge of the newspaper." He looked around and felt his pockets.
"What now Dempsey?" Makepeace asked.
"A pen, can I use your pen Makepeace?"
She sighed and gave in. Dempsey wrote down two letters 'o' 'r' "or" he said he stood up and toured around a few other people sitting near by "excuse me but do you mind reading me this word?" they looked at Dempsey and the word in turn and wondered what his problem was, but each person decided the quickest option was to read it.
"Or"
"Or" Harry buried her head, as if to make herself invisible
"Or"
"Or"
"See what did I tell you!" he addressed Makepeace "Or" he said with a grin "or put it this way – just to make my point come home..." this time he wrote 'o' 'u' 'r' and made the repeat journey.
"Our"
"Our"
"Our"
"Our"
"Your point is Lieutant? Makepeace asked, using the English pronunciation.
Dempsey sat down triumphant and wrote 'lab' in front of each
"Look lab 'or' and lab 'our' am I right or am I right?"
Makepeace refused to give in, she raised her eyebrows "It's hardly my fault if you can't cope with the subtleties of the English language lieutenant" (she pronounced it the English way again)
"And that's another thing" Dempsey jumped in "where the he'll is the 'f' in lieutenant?"
"Dempsey don't you think you're a bit too grown up for this childish kind of arguing" Harry asked "or perhaps you're not" she added
The arrival of their food diverted the argument.