"You look… nice," dared Harry.
Ruth felt like she was wearing an invisible dress.
"Not that you don't always look nice, I mean, you do, you always wear nice things," he muttered.
Please shut up, thought Ruth.
"And even if you weren't wearing something nice, you'd look good."
She blinked at him, horrified.
"I meant, if the thing that you were wearing wasn't nice. Not that you weren't, you know…wearing anything."
"And if I wasn't?" she said, feeling quite annoyed with him and happy to see him sqirm further.
"What?... … if you weren't wearing anything?…then…well.. then you'd look fantastic, like you did, do….obviously." His eyes had glazed.
Ruth stopped and didn't know whether to feel mortified, or delighted.
"Thank you," she said abruptly and walked to the bar.
Harry sighed, it was not the moment to have to be attending an official dinner. A dinner awash with the South Koreans, not to mention the Foreign Secretary and both Ambassadors , all of whom were glaring at him.
Still, Ruth looked stunning.
With or without clothes.
"Ruth, what are you doing?" hissed Ros.
"What do you mean?"
"All the suits are stood over there watching, and you two are dancing around each other, looking like you both want the earth to open up. You're meant to be insatiable."
"Oh, yes," said Ruth, "I forgot."
Ros shook her head, exasperated.
"Well, get over there and look like you can't get enough of each other."
"I don't think I can."
"Oh, for pete's sake," and Ros marched off to Harry.
Ruth sighed and reached for a glass of champagne. On second thoughts she reached for two. She needed both.
"Harry."
"Good evening, Ros."
"Harry, you and Ruth are meant to be an item. You look like you're both petrified of each other, get over there and keep the Koreans off your back while we figure out what the hell is going on with Chun- Sook."
"Okay," said Harry and left.
Ros raised her eyebrows and then smiled. That was easy.
"Ruth," his arm wound round her waist and he leant in, his lips millimetres from her ear, "go with me here, Ruth, we have to keep convincing them that we're…together."
He didn't move, he waited, waiting for her to allow him permission to continue.
He felt her hand touch his back and relaxed a little. And then he felt if slide slowly down, beyond his waist, coming to rest below his belt, on his right cheek of his bottom. Where it stayed.
Ruth could see Ros over Harry's shoulder.
She nodded encouragingly, her hand indicating something to Ruth.
Ruth's eyes widened in denial.
Ros nodded again.
Ruth sighed and squeezed.
Harry cleared his throat to hide his surprise.
Ros grinned, she was enjoying this.
But clearly not as much as Harry.
He had been falsely accused, set up, admonished and yet despite all that his day was just getting better and better.
