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Caroline hurried quickly down the stairs. She was late for the meeting and she hated being late. She glanced at her watch and saw that she already almost twenty minutes late and she hadn't even entered the car yet. It was a fifteen drive, on a good day; there was no way she was going to make it.

Her phone rang and she slowed a bit to answer it.

"Hi, Gina," she said, "what a surprise."

"I know," Gina replied, "I am in the city and I wondered if we could meet for lunch."

"I can't," Caroline told her, "I have a meeting."

"I know," Gina said, "I thought that I would find you here but Reynolds told me that you were running late today."

Caroline slowed to a stop. "You're at my meeting?"

"I dropped by," Gina said, "to see how you were, to catch up."

"Really?"

"You're wondering how I knew that about the meeting, aren't you?" Gina laughed. "The fundraising world is so small and Linda can't keep her mouth shut about anything."

"Linda?"

"Reynolds' first wife," Gina replied, "we're old friends."

"I see," Caroline hadn't known about Reynolds' first wife; she didn't even know that he was married. "I have to meet with Mr. Reynolds, we have an important event next month and we've hardly done any preparation."

"The Summerton do," Gina said. "I know. I talked to Reynolds and we arranged everything; he's not expecting you anymore and I'm sure he's going to call and tell you that soon."

As if on cue, Caroline's phone alerted her to an incoming call and she saw Mr. Reynolds name flashing. "Hang on," she told Gina, "he's calling now."

"You talk to him," Gina said, "I'm coming over to your office now to pick you up."

000

"She just showed up at your office?"

"She called and said she was coming," she corrected him. She eyed Richard. "You seem worried."

"I didn't think they would be trying to get in touch with you."

"Maybe it's not related to Harrow business at all," Caroline suggested, "maybe she just wants to be friends."

"Maybe," he conceded but he didn't sound sure at all.

"I'm a good friend," Caroline told him, "ask any of my friends."

"I'm sorry," he apologised at once, "I didn't mean to imply that you can't be a friend. Although now that I think about it; I have yet to meet any of your friends."

"I haven't any of your friends either," Caroline told him, "do you even have any?"

"Of course I do."

Caroline just watched him her smile becoming wider and wider.

"Alright," he said, "but Gina and Gerry are joined at the hip so I think Gerry must know about it."

"So what?" she shrugged, "we just had lunch and talked about the puppies."

"Puppies?" he was surprised. "Honestly, I never pictured her as a dog person."

000

"Did you get in touch with her?"

Gina turned to Gerry. "You know I did. It was what you ordered me to do, after all. She must think I'm nuts."

"Who cares what she thinks?"

"I do," Gina told him, "I actually like Caroline."

"So do I," Gerry reminded her, "I like them both very much but we can't take any chances."

"I thought you had checked them out thoroughly?"

"We did, we have," he replied, "but one more test can't hurt, can it?"

"What are you going to do?" she asked, at his look she added, "and don't tell me that you can't tell me."

"We're going to see what she does about Reynolds," he said after a short pause.

"Reynolds?"

"He's one of their biggest donors," Gerry explained, "he's a hard man although but his grandmother likes the Bingley foundation and Charles and Caroline."

"So?"

"Did you read through the documents I asked you to give him?"

"No," Gina replied, "they weren't mine and as you recall you specifically asked me not to."

"Fine, don't get testy;" he said his tone softening, "we just changed some of the terms."

"You want to see how she'll respond."

"Donald came up with it," Gerry explained. "You know how much he likes mind games."

Gina nodded and hoped that Caroline would pass the test, whatever it was. She had meant she'd said earlier. She really liked her, she was the sort of person they needed in their group.

000

"Give me that," Caroline made as if to grab the shopping bag that Richard was peering into but he held it above her head. Why did he have to be so tall?

"What is it?" he asked. "And more importantly why don't you want me to see what it is?"

"It's just something I picked up at lunch today," she said, "now give it to me."

"You went shopping with Gina?" he seemed surprised, "now I really have to see what's inside."

"Okay," she sighed, he was never going to let it go, "go ahead."

Richard put the bag down and pulled out a skimpy outfit in bold gold and reds. "Is this what I think it is?"

"If you think it's a Scheherazade costume, then yeah, you're right?"

"It's amazing," he said, "but why do you have it?"

"After we finished talking about puppies, she says she's thinking of getting some and a cat as well, she said that they were going to have a costume party in a few weeks' time and that we should get our costumes."

"Try it on," he suggested.

"No."

"Come on," he insisted. "Let me see. I bet it looks amazing."

"I wouldn't know," she said, "I haven't tried it on yet."

"Now you really should try it on," he said, "if it doesn't fit you'll have to return it, I say the earlier you know the better."

"You'll just say anything to get me into that outfit, won't you?"

"You're the one who bought it."

"I can't believe I let her talk me into doing that," Caroline shook her head. "You know how careful I am about unnecessary spending."

"I wouldn't call this unnecessary," he told her. "The outfit looks great I can only imagine how good you'd look in it."

"What do you think she really wanted?"

'If I answer, will you try it on?"

"Yes." She took the outfit from him.

"I don't know," he replied, "but if, as I imagine, Gerry had something to do with it, then it can't be good."

Caroline pulled on the skirt and went to the ensuite bathroom to change into the costume. She looked at herself in the mirror, smiling slowly, it really did look good. Richard's eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

"Do you think they're still -?" the rest of the words Richard had been going to say stuck in his mouth. She looked amazing.

"Still what?" she asked him.

"Wow," he breathed at last, and pulled her to him, "you even look better than I imagined you would. Definitely not an unnecessary expense." He began to drop kisses on her neck.

"Still what?" she forced herself to ask again. She needed to ask before they forgot what they were talking about.

"…uhm, test," Richard said between kisses.

000

"So you were saying something about a test?"

"You're still going on about that?"

'Yes," Caroline said, sitting up in the bed, "Didn't you say that Donald liked tests a lot?"

"Yes, I did," Richard replied, "but if you remember I also told you that they said we had passed all the tests."

"What if it's another one?" she insisted, "a real life test?"

"Tell me exactly what happened," he suggested, "and let's try and find out."

"She went for your meeting?" Richard had been rolling her hair idly around his fingers as he listened to her speak but now he sat up as well.

"Yes, didn't I mention this?"

"No," he said, "you didn't."

"It did strike me as odd," she said, "but then we went costume shopping and I quite forgot all about it."

"What did they discuss?"

"I haven't gone through the documents that Reynolds' sent over later in the afternoon," she said, "I just put them on my desk and left."

"Good."

"Good?"

"If they're in your office then they can't interrupt the rest of our evening, can they?"

"No," she smiled wickedly at him, "no they can't."

000