The door creaked open and Dempsey looked up from his book and grinned. Harry locked the door behind her making some comment about overzealous colleagues having brainwaves at inappropriate times. Dempsey jumped out of the chair and retrieved the ice bucket containing a bottle of vintage Champagne and two glasses from the floor on the far side of the bed (out of view of any visitors) The rooms were quite small and apart from the en-suite toilet and shower contained one double bed and just one armchair and a small wardrobe.

Their earlier encounter had served to satisfy that initial passion that had been burning within; now Dempsey just wanted to have his love back in his arms to hold, protect and support and despite the few weeks they had been together properly Harry felt incomplete without him there, at her side.
Harry looked around the bare room and Dempsey threw all the pillows and small cushions into a pile in the centre of the bed by the bed head. He passed Harry her glass of champagne.

"Boy I've missed you" he sighed and, taking her free hand guided her to follow him onto the bed. He sat back against the pillows and as was his habit opened his legs so she could lean back into him.

He placed his glass down on the bedside table and wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling his head into her neck and savored the moment. No words were needed; to have and to hold her was everything he had been missing. Her perfume rose and tickled his smell and delight flicked across his face and lit it. Harry took a sip of her champagnes then placed her hands over his, ensuring his clasp stayed tight.

"It's been a tough week" she whispered

"You're a tough dame"

"And my father's the toughest fighter of them all"

He squeezed her hand and kissed her neck. "I wish I could have been there to hold you through those long nights" She enjoyed the touch of his lips on her neck.

"Sitting in London wouldn't have made any difference to the outcome"

"I know, but it was hard for you"

"I missed you"

"Me too; Dave just wasn't up for the kissing and hugging"

Harry laughed "They got 95% of it out" she said "he was walking around telling anyone who would listen to his stories about when you found the missing jade" she laughed at the scene "It sounds so incredulous no one believes him for a moment"

"He's gone home yeh?" his fingers were running through her hair

"Oh he's gone back to Winfield Hall to enjoy the grounds with all the staff to fuss around him." She was just enjoying his caresses and care

"Let's spend the weekend there" Dempsey was keen to see Lord Winfield, having kept away when Harry had told him to mid row. Apparently according to his sister he shouldn't have taken any notice of that but right now that was all in the past.

"It's Louise's wedding on Saturday"

"Is that anywhere near Winfield Hall?" he asked

"I guess we could stay Friday night, then it would be a shorter drive on Saturday morning" It was an idea that had already run through Harry's mind

Unexpectedly Dempsey continued "I lost my dad oh so long ago I don't want to lose a second dad too soon" Harry involuntarily jerked forward at the implications that ran out of his words; she drank some more champagne to cover her movements and let her mind race full circle before she decided to park the statement in her memory and come back to it some other time. She reached back to feel his face

"Tell me about Karen – did you manage to get a decent amount of time with her?"

Dempsey grinned wickedly and although Harry couldn't actually see his face at that moment she knew. She turned to look at him and burst out laughing. "James Dempsey spill the beans!" The champagne was going down nicely; they both drank more before he started

"Well Dave wanted to learn from the master"

"Of undercover?"

"Of pulling women, he wanted top tips demonstrated in picking up ladies … And me being a married man and all that…" Harry looked at him perplexed "well spoken for" Dempsey corrected himself when he noticed Harry's face "– I wasn't really up for his nights out on the town especially when I was so worried about your dad" his tone quietened as his story telling went down an unplanned path. "I think, actually I know, I was a drunken pain in the ass until I heard he had come out of surgery"

Harry kissed him lightly on the lips and he returned to his original narration. "I arranged to meet Karen in a bar. Dave and I were drinking, she came in and I picked her up." He grinned; he knew Harry would have frowned at him taking Dave for a ride too often but it really had been so hilarious to do "I gotta tell you babe it's very wrong picking up your sister." He smirked again recalling Dave's face "Did a bit of chatting with her and Dave about how New York and Liverpool are the same sort of cities." He paused and sidetracked again his wistful recollections glazing his eyes "You know the docks in New York…" Harry touched his lips with her fingers "One story at a time please" she gently rebuked him "Karen?"

His hands rubbed her shoulders and upper arms and she sipped her drink as he told how he invited Karen to a night club and she had asked Dave to come along as well saying she had no problems with taking on two guys since she was very difficult to satisfy.

Harry spluttered on her drink "Karen?"

"Yeh, she played a real game" Dempsey sounded so proud of his sister

"And Dave?"

"Didn't want to show his lack of experience in front of me I guess"

"And?" Harry was gobsmacked; she smiled as she tried to imagine the scene

"He went back to the hotel"

"What would you have done if he'd been up for it?"

"Oh there was never any danger of that" Dempsey sounded cocksure of himself

"How do you know?"

"This is Dave we're talking about. I know he's better than Fry but he spends so long dreaming about cars and women he never gets around to practicing with them"

"I'm sure you're better informed than me"

"Anyway I played hooky the next day and went out with Karen" Harry's eyes looked reproachful

"Well Dave had plenty to be going on with"

"You were supposed to be teaching him" she chided

"Yeh?"

"Dempsey you do know…"

"Too right! Well me and Karen had the time of her life following him, checking up on him. I even used Karen to get Filbert across his path!" Dempsey was not going to be rebuked

Harry looked very doubtful "You didn't put your sister in danger?" She half asked, more hoped, to confirm

"She had a ball! Found out more about her big brother's work in one day than in a lifetime of me coming home from the NYPD"

"Even so" Harry was cautious

"Harry you gotta live life, have a bit of fun" then he went quiet remembering why she had stayed in London. "And we caught up on home, mum, the other guys and stuff as we went around"

"She's not gone back yet has she" Harry felt she should be able to remember the dates, but she couldn't; her father had preoccupied all her thinking for the past two weeks, only now he was home did she feel released to concentrate on other things.

"No, she's been doing this conference in Harrogate – she got back real late tonight but I arranged to meet up tomorrow." He thought for a moment "– you never saw her come into the bar?"

In a flash Harry understood the weird phone message thing "Dave doesn't know does he?"

"Know what? About us? No way!"

"And" she let her grin speak for itself "he doesn't know that she is your sister" she swung herself round some more "Just tell me that I have the brains"

"You have the brains; I've no idea what your point is so you must have the brains, just remember that I have the nose"

She grinned "Dave saw her and got me out of the room so your date didn't see me! Oh James Dempsey what a tangled web you weave, when first you practice to deceive"

She was laughing as she took his glass and put it down alongside hers and looked at his eyes, then mouth, then her gaze followed down his body. She undid his shirt buttons, returning her gaze to his eyes then his mouth. He followed her lead and started to work on the tiny pairs of buttons that went the length of her blouse; she laughed at him

"You might have put something on that was a bit easier to take off!" he pouted.

She helped him by taking it off over her head, and leaned across his chest to kiss…