I didn't mean to leave it so long between chapters, but I got stuck! Hopefully I'm out of the rut now. Hope you enjoy.

The next morning they drove into work together. "I have an event on Friday night," Harry said as he turned right. "To introduce the Russians to London," he added, rolling his eyes. "I have to go and I have a plus one. Will you come with me?"

"Of course I will," she said, smiling at him. She reached across and put her hand on his thigh, squeezing gently. "You don't even have to ask." Harry tried to focus on the road, rather than her warm fingers, but it was bloody difficult. He removed her hand reluctantly.

"I don't want to crash the car," he explained and she smiled. The smile vanished slowly, when she thought about the issue she wanted to talk about. The one they needed to talk about, but she'd been pushing out of her mind and by the looks of things, Harry wasn't going to bring it up of his own free will either.

"How long were you sleeping with Elena Gavrik?" At that, his foot hit the accelerator rather harder than he'd intended, nearly hitting the car in front. "You had to have been sleeping with her," she continued. "A woman like that doesn't just abandon her newly married husband to tell British intelligence her husbands deepest secrets."

"Yes," he said after he'd got his heart rate under control. "I was sleeping with her."

"How long?"

"Years," he said shortly. "Don't be upset," he said.

"I am upset, but not for the reason you think," she said. "Were you married? At the time you had a prolonged affair with a Russian spy."

"Yes," he said, though he thought she already knew the answer.

"That is what worries me," she said. "I'm not going to accept being cheated on Harry. Not ever."

"With Elena?" he asked, feeling he would be more likely to fly to Jupiter than become entwined with Elena Gavrik again.

"With anyone," she said, eyes wide. "I shouldn't have to tell you that."

"I was a terrible husband," he said. "I didn't love my wife. And I met someone I had to turn to our side. For our benefit. The greater good." He spoke that phrase as if it were a curse. "Elena was newly married, but she didn't love her husband. She married him for protection. It was illicit, exciting and forbidden at the time. And I didn't care."

"Harry…" she said quietly, thinking that if that was the type of woman Harry wanted, what in the world was he doing with her.

"Twenty five years ago or more, that was what I wanted. I wanted dangerous and…. Well. I don't want that now. The thought of her… disgusts me, to be honest with you."

Ruth looked at her hands. "Are you just saying what you think I want to hear?"

"No," he said honestly. "If I'd never met you, I still would have no interest in her. My desire for her burnt out a long, long time ago."

"And… Sasha?" He looked at her sharply. "I can count Harry."

"He's not my son," Harry said firmly. "Elena lied to me when she found out she was pregnant. I believed it at the time, but I've had DNA tests done. He's not mine, but she thinks I believe that he is." Harry shrugged slightly before carrying on. "Elena is a dangerous woman. She always was, but I never allowed myself to see it. I don't want her to know that I know she lied about Sasha. She's unpredictable, and at the moment it would achieve nothing."

"Okay," she said quietly. She let it drop for which he was very grateful. God, he loved this woman so much, and he'd yet to even tell her.

Work was pretty straightforward over the following week, and Harry knew what was going to happen. He couldn't give too much away without looking crazy to his team, but he had told them that Marcus Collison, the attempted assassin, was to be refused entry. And all his aliases too. Harry didn't think the loss of Ilya Gavrik would be a bad thing, but he didn't want to start messing around with things that might have unknown consequences. No. He was going to have to stop him from being shot. For the time being at least.

Ruth had looked at him strangely when he'd announced the identity of the assassin, but he couldn't explain it to her. He was just thankful that she didn't pursue it.

On Thursday morning he heard that Jim Coaver had taken up his position at Grosvenor square and he arranged a quiet meeting.

When they were settled, Harry said what he had planned to tell Jim. "You need to get out of London," he said bluntly. Jim looked at him over the rim of his glass with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Why should I do that?" he asked.

"Because if you don't take the first flight back to Washington, you will never return to America alive," Harry said fervently.

"Are you threatening me?" he asked, voice turned icy cold.

"No," Harry said. "You're one of my good friends, in spite of the different countries we serve and protect. I'm warning you. It is not safe for you to be in London when the Gavrik's are here. It will end badly for you Jim. Go back to Washington."

Jim studied Harry for a moment, then inclined his head slightly. "I can see that they wouldn't like my company in London," he conceded. "But to give up my post? Go back to American in disgrace because I can't hack it here? You know I won't do that Harry. I was given this post because of my old connections with the Russians. I can't walk away for the same reason with nothing more than your hunch to go by."

The way Jim said "Russians" with distaste and bitterness made Harry's gut clench. "Look, I'm not the one who makes decisions in UK foreign policy," Harry said honestly. "This partnership will never work. But I have a professional duty to support it, no matter what I think privately. The Russian's cannot be trusted, those two in particular. They will kill you Jim. And they're going to try and ruin me too," he added, thinking of Ruth. At the echoed feeling of her dying in his arms he clenched his fists and closed his eyes briefly, before finishing off his whisky.

"Why do they want to ruin you?" Jim asked.

"I slept with Ilya's wife for five years, I'm sure that's self explanatory," Harry said dryly.

"Ilya knows?" Harry nodded, but didn't elaborate. Even if I leave the UK, some other irritating American will be in my place." Harry felt something inside him relax as he realised Jim was giving this serious consideration.

"Send someone here who has no history with the Gavrik's," Harry suggested. "It's the only way."

"I'll consider it," Jim said and Harry let the subject go. That was going to be as much of an answer as he'd get, and he knew that before he'd spoken one word to Jim this morning.

"Thank you," Harry said. "Another round?"

"This early?" Jim questioned, his lips forming a slight smile anyway. "Why not?"

"So, how do I look?" Harry's jaw dropped open as Ruth walked into her kitchen. Ruth wore a full length dress in a deep green colour, which nipped in at the waist, showing off her figure. It had two thin straps over her shoulders and her arms were completely bare and it revealed more of her upper chest than he'd ever seen while she was fully dressed. She wore minimal jewellery, just a silver necklace and some small earrings, but she didn't need more. She was breathtaking.

"You look…" he breathed out heavily. "Wow."

"Good enough to compare with your glamorous former lover?" Ruth asked, not even attempting to hide the fact that she disliked Elena from only the security photos she'd seen and what she knew about the woman's past.

"Absolutely not," he said, eyes still going up and down over her figure. "There's no comparison at all." Ruth smiled at what was clearly a compliment, judging from Harry's eyes which were bulging slightly. He walked towards her, put his hands on her waist and kissed her deeply. "You will be the most beautiful woman in the room."

"You do know how to flatter a girl," she said, pleased nonetheless. "Thank you."

Harry kept kissing her, deeply and passionately, making her heart race as his hands tightened on her body. She tore her mouth free and whispered, "We're going to be late."

"I know," he said with a grin before kissing her again.

More soon. Thanks for reading and it would be great if you could spare a few seconds for a review. Thank you.