Dempsey hadn't got to his late thirties without having a certain experience of the female of the species so he knew Harry had the hots for him and he was aware that she was struggling with that. So, what was the game plan now? Back off, occurred to him. I mean it was kind of insulting that she liked him so much physically and then she was treating him like some schmuck she didn't want to give the time of day to, so maybe he should back off and leave her to it. He'd still exert the sexual charm needless to say but she could starve for the end product.

Meanwhile, Harry having established that she had a boyfriend felt she could relax a little and decided to attend the Commissioner's Garden Party on her own as her father was going to be there and a number of friends so she didn't feel she needed air cover from the opportunistic American.

To her immense annoyance James turned up with her friend Angela in tow and the brunette looked stunning.

The blonde buzzed straight over and eyed the pair of them with annoyance. 'What on earth are you playing at,' she hissed at Dempsey. 'You're supposed to be my boyfriend and you turn up with my best friend, this is beginning to feel like déjà vu.'

'Well, it isn't,' Angela responded totally unfazed by an irate Lady H. 'We bumped into each other in the parking area. Basil and Millicent know Mummy and Daddy so I've been dragooned into attending and so have a lot of people judging by the size of the crowd.'

'I'll get you a drink, name your poison,' Dempsey offered as Angela looked bereft without a glass in her hand.

'Anything with fizz in it,' the brunette answered with a saucy smile. She turned to her friend and could see Harry was in a snit. 'What is the problem, H? And its news to me that you're dating our hunky American friend you always said that anyone that fell for Jim's line of patter was a brain-dead moron.'

'Good to know,' Dempsey came back from the bar with two glasses and handed one to Angela. 'I'm charming and the ladies like me, what's wrong with that? A little flirtation makes the world go round. I mean the way Harry acts you got to wonder what she's saving it for?'

'I'm with you there,' the brunette clinked her glass with Jim's. 'You're only young once and all that.'

'Basil, is Harry's new boss and he got a bit of a thing for her so I helped her out and as far as the Commissioner is concerned, we're a couple ain't we sweet cheeks?' He ran his arm around Harry and hugged her into his body.

'Why are you even here?' Harry pulled away and looked at him her eyes sparkling with fury. 'I certainly didn't invite you.'

'Nah, well the Commissioner did and since you didn't get in touch, I guessed you weren't attending. The Chief has given yours truly relationship goals in my yearly objectives so I have to turn up and schmooze the top brass. In addition, I also get to head up one of those sexism and racism objectives he used to give to you.'

'Well, you should take the sexism objective you'd achieve that without getting out of bed,' Harry responded in an acid tone.

Angela laughed at that, 'I assume you've got to reduce the ism, not turn a blind eye to it. I've just seen Jeremy, who's my latest romantic challenge, I'll see you both later,' she headed off.

'It'll look funny if we don't spend time together,' Dempsey looked amused at Harry's obvious lack of enthusiasm for his observation.

'I suppose it will,' she linked arms with him. 'I had supposed I'd done enough to establish my lack of availability to the Commissioner so I thought it was safe to attend on my own.'

'Bit mean ain't it, you know how I love a good party,' he drawled as he unlinked with the blonde and ran an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer. 'You look pretty, taking a bit of a risk ain't it looking like that? I'd've thought you'd've played it safe?'

'It's a warm summers day and this is a summer dress, I don't think it's in any way inappropriate or overly inviting.' Harry looked down at her body and was annoyed that her nipples seemed to have decided to perk up and the thin material wasn't hiding the fact.

'Only take me a minute to get you out of that,' he responded tongue in cheek as he guided her towards the gardens.

'If I got dressed up like Houdini, you'd probably say that,' she responded to their familiar banter.

'I've always pictured you in handcuffs and chains,' he laughed at her derogatory response to that. 'Okay, truce. Since we're both attending, we'd better look friendly,' he guided her through to the marquee where a jazz band was playing and a buffet was being served.

Harry was intrigued by Dempsey having relationship goals in his objectives and she had to ask. 'Which ism are you getting then,' she selected a couple of hors d'oeuvres, and looked at him curiously.

James sighed. 'Well to tell the truth I think Spikings is holding a gun to my head because he wants me to recruit female officers for SI10 and unfortunately there's a couple of the fairer sex who look good on paper.' He picked up the mini-cheese burger which looked more appealing than the cheese and pineapple on sticks.

'In that case you should interview them, you were happy enough working with me once I managed to meet your exacting standards,' her blue gaze challenged him, 'and Joyce has worked out well after the initial teething problems.'

'Teething problems, she was nearly crippled,' Dempsey forcibly reminded her. 'You were okay cos I took you in hand, I can't do that with every female D.C. or D.S. that has a half decent resume.'

'God you're so annoying, I rather think I ended up having to retrain you,' she fumed. 'You were an absolute ass for the first year…

'Yeah, well I'd had a hard time in the States and you know the rest, I wasn't in a good place,' he reminded her and then decided that he'd had enough of this conversation. 'The band is cool,' he strolled over to get nearer and left Harry to follow him.

The blonde could see he didn't want to take the conversation forward and followed him standing next to him. She reached out and took his hand, 'I know that time was difficult for you James, I understand that. However, I do think you should recruit women into the team. We bring a different dynamic and I promise you'll see benefits.'

'And you're gonna be there to help me deal with my feelings if a dame under my command ends up with a label on her toe in the mortuary, is that right? It's dangerous work Harry,' he squeezed her hand. 'Got to confess I'm glad you're out of the firing line, sweetheart.'

'I was good at my job,' she protested.

'No argument there, you were the best,' he took a mouthful of the sparkling, champagne, 'don't stop me having nightmares about a couple of occasions though.'

Harry sighed as she acknowledged there had been a few occasions when she'd felt the same way about him. 'It's part of the job, comes with the territory as you would say. I still think you should give good female recruits a chance; they know the risks when they apply for the job. It's their decision and you should recruit on the basis of the individual credentials of the applicants not whether they are male or female.'

'I'll give it some thought. Can we enjoy the music now cos this is a really good band,' he applauded the guys at the end of the song and proceeded to engage with them even joining in on a number.

Harry was always amazed at the American's chameleon qualities, once he was up there you would think that he was part of the performance. She clapped as he finished the song and he re-joined her.

'Great bunch of guys, c'mon I'm supposed to schmooze the top brass and you probably know them better than I do, let's get the glad handing over with.'

-oOo-

Harry's father greeted her as she joined him for coffee at Eton Square on Sunday morning. 'Hello darling, you look very bobbish, I've got a bit of a head. The Commissioner's port I'm afraid. I know I shouldn't indulge but it's very difficult refusing a fine wine it feels impolite.'

'Yes, well I didn't indulge in the port,' she responded wryly. 'It was rather a pleasant affair; I was expecting it to be a bit dull.'

'Your Yank makes an excellent boyfriend, doesn't he? Perfect for the part I'd say. Of course, I could warn Basil off if you want me too but it's much more comfortable having Dempsey foil any romantic leanings the old fool has.'

'Are you fishing, Freddie?' Harry was used to her father's way of trying to extract information from her.

'Yes,' he responded with a gentle smile. 'James seems rather keen on you but perhaps I'm mistaken. He's an excellent fellow you know, you could do far worse.'

'I have done far worse,' Harry responded in a self-deprecating tone. 'Dempsey is annoying me at the moment, he's rather opportunistically used the situation to change the basis of our relationship and I'm not happy about that.'

'You seem to me to be more vibrantly alive when you're with James, it's as if a light has been switched on inside you.' He picked up his coffee cup and sipped the aromatic brew. 'Just an observation but what would I know,' his blue eyes twinkled at her.

Harry was rather winded by that observation. 'It's complicated,' she responded awkwardly. 'You don't know James that well and he can be very bossy and domineering. I've spent three years working with him and it takes a lot of effort not to be swept along by his total belief that he's always right.'

'Well, it takes a strong man to deal with a strong woman and in my experience, women don't like a man to be weak.'

'Women don't like being bossed around either. Dempsey is a committed chauvinist, he's reluctant to accept any more women into SI10 and that annoys me. I've had to fight that kind of sexism all my career and I'm as good as any man.'

'You are darling girl and you've proved that many a time but you're also a woman and a beautiful one at that. Don't waste your youth Harry, there's more to life than work. I know your ambitious but it wouldn't do you any harm to consider the positive aspects of a fine romance.'

'Thank you for the advice, Freddie, I'll bear it in mind,' she took a sip of her coffee and frowned slightly. How on earth had Dempsey managed to get her father on side, I mean he'd make a strange addition to the Winfield social fabric yet her father seemed to thoroughly approve of James. She sighed; life sometimes seemed awfully complicated.