Ok, here comes chapter 4. Nearing the end now – or I better be cos I'm getting no real work done!

Keep forgetting – any names are made up and are not meant to represent anybody real and the characters all belong to Kudos.

Chapter 4

"It's ringing out" said Beth.

Tariq looked at his screen, "It's in her room but she's not, she's in the hotel grounds."

"And Harry?" asked Lucas. They all turned to Tariq.

"He's….." Tariq smiled. "He's.. in the grounds."

"Thank god for that. Hopefully they'll manage to say more than two words to each other and figure out what's going on" Beth was relieved.

"I wouldn't hold your breath" said Lucas.

They were beautiful gardens, well manicured but with borders rich with natural flowers. It was cold but fresh and the air was welcome. He'd drunk too much whiskey. What the hell, who was there to reprimand him. No one. That said it all.

Ruth sat on a bench gazing out over the lake. It was lit. It looked beautiful. For a moment she was by the river, sat on a bench with Harry and all was right. But it wasn't right, it probably never would be again.

'That's it' he thought, 'she's said no, she's shown you in every way today that there's nothing between you anymore. Face it. Move on. And get a bloody grip!'

So he had moved on. Whatever last night was to him, he had made the move away from her. And why shouldn't he. She had given him no hope. Now she came to think about it she'd spent a lifetime with him offering snippets of hope, morsels of temptation and almost always retracted them whenever he made a move towards her. If she was him, she would have given up on her long ago.

Harry had paused, leaning against a large oak in the gardens, he was enjoying the peace and quiet, the simplicity.

"Hello" the voice was warm and attractive.

He turned, surprised and smiled.

"Hello to you. What are you doing out here?"

"I needed the air and the view out here is so much better" She looked at him as she finished her sentence.

She was so attractive. He smiled again.

Ruth stood and walked back to the house. She had analysed the situation and found herself unfair, harsh and unreasonable. Harry clearly wanted someone in his life, if it wasn't her then he would find someone else and she had to make peace with him soon so that might stand any chance of working together in the future without biting each other's heads off. She resolved that this is what she would do.

Alessandra Del Piero did look beautiful. She stood close to him, against the tree and he felt her hand brush up the underside of his jacket. It felt good to be touched.

"It's a little cold now, do you feel like coming in and getting warm with me?" He didn't need to be a mind reader like Ruth to know that his luck was in.

Ruth crossed the gardens with a sense of purpose. She heard dim voices and although she could see little past the lit path there was something that caught her eye. It was a white dress, there by the oak tree. She paused, she couldn't have said why.

She pressed herself against his chest. She smelt as wonderful as she looked. "So, Sir Harry. Shall we?" This woman didn't do subtle. It was refreshing.

To hear them had been one thing, but to see Harry outside in the moonlight pressed against what she could never hope to be, an attractive, clearly confident, Italian… she'd run out of decent turns of phrase, all the rest was hate, jealousy and abuse. She wanted to see no more, she turned away and fled.