Shifting slightly, Robbie pulled Jackie closer into his side his so that her back was pressed against his chest, mouth falling to nuzzle against her shoulder. She let out a happy mumble, hand drifting down so that her fingers could entwine with his. "You're very affectionate this morning," she whispered.

"I'm in a good mood, finally got the girl I've been chasing."

"Chasing? Exactly when did you chase me?"

"I've been chasing you for the past eighteen months," he laughed. "I even asked you for a drink when we first met and you never took me up on it."

"You suggested a team drink if I remember rightly."

"Only because Stuart was in the room." He lifted her hand, kissing her palm before pulling a face. "Then you went and got involved with that army guy-"

"Andrew," she interjected.

"Yeah, him," Robbie muttered, frowning. "By the way what happened there, he just seemed to vanish."

Jackie gave a small shrug. "It fizzled out quite quickly, he was nice enough but very-"

"Dull?" he offered.

"That's not the nicest way of putting it but yes," she laughed. "I don't know suppose I was playing it safe and ended up going too far in the opposite direction. We didn't really have a lot in common, I'd make a joke and he'd just look at me, it got kind of awkward."

His fingertips traced over her hand, caressing her heart line and remembering what Sheila had said earlier that day about her having been hurt in the past and he knew that she'd been right on that score. Part of him wanted to track the guy down and throttle him, but the more rational part of him knew that it was in the past and right now he was more interested in the present, where he had her and he'd could make sure that she wasn't hurt like that again.

"Well he didn't exactly look like he had the greatest sense of humour," he commented, his nose wrinkling as he thought about the somewhat anal Major Graham. He really couldn't picture her playing the role of a dutiful army wife, she had too much spark, too much fire for that and God he loved that about her.

"It was just different," she replied lightly. "Anyway enough about him, we were talking about how you're idea of chasing someone is completely different to mine."

He gave a small chuckle, "I did chase you, it was just that you didn't seem to fall for any of my usual tactics, and then when I finally got you on my side I fucked it up, royally."

"You did," she agreed, laughing at his expression before stroking her fingers gently across his face and telling him, "But I don't think we need to talk about that either."

"Fresh start then?"

"Of sorts, we've still had a lot of times that I don't want to forget."

"The last few hours being top of that list," he remarked, smirking.

"God you're so full of yourself."

"With good reason, you said so yourself," he reminded her.

She wriggled round so that she was facing him and arched an eyebrow teasingly. "Yes but I'll be expecting that kind of attention each and every time, so you'll have to keep outdoing yourself."

"Now that's the kind of challenge I can get on board with," Robbie grinned, looking like all his Christmas's had come at once. He moved so that he was leaning over her, hand slipping round to the back of her neck and caressing the silky skin as he lowered his mouth to hers. Waiting until she was moaning into his mouth, hands roaming over the warm skin of his back, he gently pulled away. "And I think I know just the thing to use this time round."

"That sounded slightly ominous," Jackie replied breathlessly.

He grinned down at her, pecking her lips chastely before telling her, "You seem to have a surprisingly filthy mind. I really love that."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Why does that not surprise me?"

His arm still around her, he reached across and opened the bedside drawer, his hand rooting around in it for a few seconds before he made a triumphant sound and pulled out a small bottle.

Jackie arched her eyebrow. "Massage oil, how did you even know that was in there?"

He shrugged. "You told me to do something useful while you were in the shower, so I checked out what they put into a good drawer in the back of beyond and I can honestly say that it kind of makes up for the fact there is nothing to do in this godforsaken place."

"That's your idea of being useful," she laughed.

"I think that you'll be changing your tune and singing my praises again in a couple of minutes," he replied cockily.

"A couple of minutes, my my we do have an over inflated ego."

"Don't think ego's the word for it," he joked.

"You come up with the worst puns."

"You love them."

"I'm using my right to remain silent on that one, and out of interest is this time included in your couple of minutes?"

The hand that was still resting on her back began to trace lazy circles as he leaned closer into her again, telling her quietly, "Well if you want to play it that way." As he drew the covers away from her, his mouth twitching in amusement when she gave a small shiver. "It'll warm you up as well," he murmured, lowering his mouth to her pulse point, licking it gently before kissing his way down to the hollow of her throat as he rolled her onto her back, his thumb flicking open the bottle.

He drizzled a trail down the centre of her chest, palms flat as he let them glide across her ribcage, spreading the glistening liquid across her skin. When his thumbs brushed the undersides of her breasts, she inhaled sharply and arched herself closer into his touch, pulling him down to her for a short, sweet kiss when she saw his cocky smile at her reaction to his touch.

His touch varied between heavy and gentle caresses, stroking the soft, full flesh, fingers sweeping up to toy with her nipples, thumbs gliding over them, rubbing and pinching until she was wriggling against him.

Sweeping his hands down he fanned them across her stomach, placing a chaste kiss to just below her bellybutton. Picking up the bottle again, he squeezed some of the liquid down her thighs, rubbing and kneading the muscles, slowly moving upwards, listening as her breaths became shallower and she shifted restlessly on the sheets, fingers curling into the sheets.

His hand moved to between her legs she felt her skin flush and burn hot as he massaged her gently, fingers pressing against every swell and fold. Her hips bucked upwards as she felt heat rush through her, a moan tearing loose from the back of her throat as sensation broke across her and every muscle in her body seemed to convulse with it.

She sank back, limp against the pillows as her fingers unclenched from around the sheets and her eyes fluttered open. "Oh my God," she panted.

He chuckled under his breath and leaning over her again kissed her. "Just watching you is amazing," he told her almost gruffly.

Laughing under her breath, Jackie let her hand drift to grab the small bottle. "I like to return the favour though," she told him in-between short kisses. "So lie down." Shooting her a cheeky grin he did as she'd asked and gave a satisfied groan when she straddled his hips. Laughing she added, "You're getting ahead of yourself."

She squeezed a generous puddle of oil into the palm of her hands and leaning forward, her stomach brushing the tip of his erection, causing him to involuntarily jerk his hips, she pressed her hands against his shoulders. Her fingers found every knot and ran over them soothingly before moving to one arm and work her way down that before taking one of his hands within both of hers and rubbing and massaging the palm, and working up each finger. When she was done she placed his hand on her hip before repeating the process on his other arm.

Working her way down his chest, she followed her hands with her mouth, loving the feel of his warm, taut skin against her lips.

Her hands drifted to his length, encasing him, hands moving up and down, alternating between light brushes and squeezing. Picking up what he liked best from his reactions until he was thrusting into her hands, fingers tightening into her hip until he jerked one last time and gave a harsh groan.

When his eyes opened again he saw her discreetly throwing the piece of tissue paper into the bin. He drew her down into his arms, panting into her hair as her skin slipped against his.

After a few minutes of silence, he felt Jackie shift and glancing down at her, told her, "I can hear you thinking, what is it?"

"These sheets are an absolute mess thanks to that oil, and us lying here isn't helping."

He laughed under his breath. "Forgot how you like everything neat and organised, I have a way to fix that though."

"I'm listening."

"Joint shower, gets us off the sheets, gets us clean and there's waterproof condoms, it's a win win."

"God I love it when a plan comes together," she replied, smiling up at him.


Michael yawned as he stepped off the ferry first thing the next morning, before pasting a polite smile on his face as he approached the local police officer, who greeted him with a cheery, "Good morning, Sir."

"Morning," he mumbled in reply.

"So what's the plan of action?" he asked, his eyes alight with joy at the idea of actually getting to do something for a change.

"Checking out the stables up at the hotel first."

"For anything in particular?"

"Yes, I reckon the murder weapon might be in there, if not then I plan to do a sweep of the woods."

"They could easily have chucked it into the sea."

"Well we'll soon find out," Michael replied easily, straightening the sleeves of his suit as he did so.


Kneeling down next to the assortment of pitchforks that were hung neatly up on the wall, Michael turned to Alistair, asking in disbelief, "So you're telling me that you don't lock your stables?"

The man shrugged, looking concerned by the officers swarming around. "They bolt from the outside which keeps the horses in, but this is a small community, we know everyone, keys and locks didn't seem necessary.

Michael groaned, rubbing at his forehead in annoyance. "And that's worked out so well for you." He turned to one of the uniformed officers. "Bag all of these."

"Eh, are you allowed to do that?" Alistair asked, frowning.

"I have a warrant," Michael informed him, drawing the sheet of paper of his suit jacket and holding it out in front of him, letting the man's eyes scan over it.

"Suppose I can't stop you then, don't know what I'm meant to clean the horse's out with though," he commented.

"This is a murder investigation," Michael replied dryly. "So that isn't our biggest concern."

"But it is mine."

"If they clear the forensic testing then I'll have them sent back ASAP."

"Fine," he shrugged. "Take what you want, not like I can stop you anyhow," he grumbled before turning away and stomping out of the stables.

Michael watched him go, completely unconcerned by the man's hissy fit, he saw enough of them that now they were simply like water off a duck's back. Stepping outside, he frowned over at the exterior of the hotel, he'd been here for almost an hour now and he hadn't seen hide nor hair of either Jackie or Robbie. They were meant to be gathering information, and instead they were nowhere to be seen, he let out an annoyed huff of breath through his nostrils, they better not still be sleeping.


Robbie ran his fingers through Jackie's hair as they struggled to catch their breath, she turned her face, kissing his shoulder as she told him, "I don't think I'll be able to move after last night."

"And this morning," he reminded her proudly.

"Since we didn't really sleep it's kind of all merged into one," she replied, stifling a yawn against his skin.

"Now this is a honeymoon," Robbie laughed. "Never mind early morning walks." He frowned when she stiffened in his arms before giving a soft sigh and pushing herself away from him, turning onto her other side. "What's wrong?" he asked in confusion, leaning over her.

"This, I'm just a bit…concerned that we're getting caught up in this role-"

"And that that's all that this is?" he interrupted.

"Exactly."

His finger traced down her arm. "You don't have to worry about that," he reassured her. "Yeah this might have pushed us together but it just sped up the inevitable."

"And when we go back to the real world, what happens?"

"We can make it work."

"You don't do relationships," Jackie reminded him.

"I can for you though." He kissed her cheek. "Don't want to lose this." he told her, and for once he wasn't padding out the truth to keep a women in his bed. He loved her, he was sure of that, she was smart and funny and the spark between them was unbelievable, he'd do whatever it took to keep her by his side.

She tilted her head back and smiled at him, eyes soft. "You're just a big softy, do you know that?"

"Yeah, but don't tell anyone," he smiled. "You'll ruin my reputation."

"And we can't have that."

"No, although if you want to drop it in about the all night sex session then feel free."

"I'll keep that in mind," she laughed. "Now as fun as last night was…"

"That doesn't sound good," he groaned.

She shot him a warning look. "What I was going to say is that despite the fact that last night was amazing I think that we really should get up and go do some work, considering that that's why we here."

"God you look good when you get all bossy," he told her, sitting up behind her and wrapping his arm around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"If you're planning to pull me back into the bed you can forget it, we're getting up."

"You know me far too well," he grumbled.

"A blessing and a curse.," she joked.


Michael wasn't happy, he'd discreetly prowled around the grounds and the hotel and he'd not spotted either Robbie or Jackie. A few enquiries at the front desk regarding guests who were staying at the hotel revealed that they were still upstairs and hadn't been seen since the night before.

He repressed an annoyed growl, they were meant to be working and instead they were skiving off. Hearing a burst of familiar laughter from a short distance behind him, he turned from the front desk to see both Jackie and Robbie descend down the staircase, Jackie laughing at something he was saying.

His frown deepened when he noticed that Robbie's arm was securely wrapped around Jackie's waist and that he was leaning into her, almost whispering into her ear as they walked. His fingers tapped irately off the desk, he should have known that Robbie would milk this opportunity; man seemed to zone in on any woman within a ten mile radius who was remotely attractive and then switch the charm on. He supposed it made sense that while he was stuck up here he'd turn that charm on Jackie, he did smile at that, he was confident that Jackie had too much common sense to fall for that though.


"Oh! Mr and Mrs Ross!"

Jackie and Robbie turned as they heard, Mrs McCourt's voice call out for them, well Robbie turned, Jackie didn't react at first, getting used to another name wasn't as easy as it looked. So as it was she felt Robbie's arm stiffen around her waist seconds before she saw the reason why, Michael was standing at the desk, watching them intently.

She turned her face away, looking instead at Mrs McCourt as they moved towards the desk, after all they weren't even meant to know Michael. She flashed the older woman a polite smile. "Is there a problem?"

"No, not at all," the older woman clucked. "I just have a message from Laura and Sam for you both, they'd like it if you'd have dinner with them here tonight."

"That sounds nice, although we were still hoping to speak to Julie, thank her for putting that basket together for us yesterday."

Mrs McCourt's smile tightened. "I'm afraid she's not feeling too great today, but I'll pass along your message. Now will we say about six for dinner."

"Yeah that'll be fine," Robbie cut in. he could feel Mike's eyes on him and he didn't like it. His grip tightened slightly on Jackie's waist and he was so relieved that she hadn't tried to pull away from him.

"Good, well have a nice day," she smiled at them both.

They both nodded as they walked away from the desk, as they stepped out into the fresh air, both still aware that they were being watched.