Thank you so much for the reviews. I appreciate each and every one of them.

There's more steaminess in this chapter. If you want to avoid it, it starts when Mary plucks the report from Tom's hands.

Tom eventually left her room around three in the morning, pulling on his trousers and shirt and gathering the rest of his clothes in his arms, only for Mary to waylay him with more kissing.

'I have to go,' he whispered against her lips.

'Then go,' she responded, still kissing him.

'Then stop kissing me.'

'You stop kissing me.'

She felt rather than saw his grin. 'If we keep doing this, we'll end up back in bed.'

'And?'

'And, eventually, we'll fall asleep, and then before you know it Anna's drawing the curtains and the cat's out of the bag.' Tom laid out the whole scenario while still trading kisses with her.

'Anna will keep our secret.'

'Mary, you know it never works out like that. The more people that know, the more likely it is that you and I will end up in the scandal sheets with your father out for my blood and the Dowager giving us both the sharp edge of her tongue.'

'Hmm,' said Mary, kissing her way along his jawline, 'why do you have to spoil everything with reason?'

Tom grinned again. 'You know if I could, I'd never leave your bed.'

'Never?'

'Not for a good few days at least.'

'Goodness. Now there's a thought. Maybe we should pencil in a business trip somewhere far away from Downton and do just that.'

'Mary Crawley, you're shameless.'

'Not shameless, Tom. Practical.'

He chuckled at that then planted one more kiss on her before finally stepping away. 'I'm going. And you should put a nightdress on unless you want to shock Anna in the morning. I'll see you at breakfast. Goodnight, Mary.'

'Goodnight, Tom.'

Mary watched him slip out of her bedroom and close the door behind him. She picked up her nightdress and slid the silky material over her head before climbing back into the warm space he'd vacated. She fell asleep soon after, a satisfied smile on her lips.

When Mary awoke the next morning, the only sign that Tom had ever been there was the pleasant ache between her thighs. She stretched luxuriously, feeling totally refreshed despite having had less than five hours' sleep.

There was a quick knock on the door and Anna entered.

'Good morning, milady. Did you sleep well?'

'Wonderfully well, thank you,' Mary replied, sitting up in bed.

Anna opened the curtains and turned around, eyeing the bed sceptically. 'Really, milady? That bed looks like you spent all night tossing and turning.'

Mary swung her legs out of bed, turning away from Anna so she couldn't see her blush. 'If I did, I don't remember. Perhaps I was a little too warm.'

'Hmm, perhaps,' said Anna. 'I'll get your clothes laid out for you.'

Tom was already at the breakfast table, his plate piled high, when Mary got downstairs.

'Good morning, milady,' Carson greeted her, a warm smile on his lips and a cup of coffee waiting for her in his hands.

'Good morning, Carson.' She took the coffee graciously and sat down opposite Tom. 'Good morning, Tom. I trust you slept well.'

'Like a log,' he replied lightly. 'And you?'

'I slept the sleep of the righteous,' Mary told him, selecting toast from the rack. Tom bit his lip, suppressing a grin as Carson stood obliviously at his station.

'So, what's on the agenda today?' Mary asked, buttering her toast.

'Well, we need to go over the report from the developer and make sure we have all our ducks in a row for when Robert gets back.'

'Ah, a busy day in the office, then.' Mary swivelled her attention to her butler. 'Carson, would you be a dear and ask Mrs Patmore to make up a picnic basket for myself and Mr Branson? We have rather a lot to do, so it makes sense for us to eat luncheon in the office rather than come back to the house.'

'That's rather unorthodox, milady, but if that's what you'd prefer.'

'I think so on this occasion.'

'Very well. Andrew, please go down to the kitchen and inform Mrs Patmore of Lady Mary's request.'

Mary bit serenely into her toast as Andy departed, raising an elegant eyebrow at Tom as he fought back a smirk.

'Honestly, Mary, you're incorrigible,' Tom told her as he swung the picnic basket out of the car and pulled the keys to the office out of his pocket.

Mary scoffed. 'I hardly think Carson will equate a request for a picnic basket with an intention to let you ravish me on a desk.'

Tom opened the door and turned to quirk an eyebrow at her. 'And that's your intention, is it?'

'Yes. Or I might ravish you. I haven't decided yet. Either way, there will be ravishing.'

Tom grinned. 'Not that I'm not happy to hear that, but I thought having relations in the office was a little too modern for you.'

'I think I can safely say that I'm more modern today than I was when you first raised the possibility,' Mary said as she swept past him. 'That's what comes of going to bed with your brother-in-law.'

Tom followed her in and deposited the picnic basket on his desk before turning around to shut the door behind them. The next thing he knew, his back was against the door and Mary was in front of him, grasping the front of his jacket and crushing her lips to his.

Tom's hands came to rest on her waist as he went with it, enjoying her passion.

'Are we starting with the ravishing right away then?' he asked when she pulled back.

She smiled sweetly at him. 'No, I just wanted a good morning kiss.'

'Good morning,' he said, pulling her back in for another kiss, one that went on for some considerable time.

'Heavens,' Mary said, when she eventually came up for air. 'If we carry on like this, we might well be starting the ravishing straight away.'

'I'm perfectly fine with that,' Tom replied, leaning in to nuzzle at her neck.

'We can't, Tom. The report, remember?'

'Hang the report.'

'We have to read it and be prepared for Papa otherwise our excuse will fall to pieces.'

'Oh, Mary,' he said, with a twinkle in his eye, 'why do you have to spoil everything with reason?'

Mary laughed, pushing lightly at his chest to escape his hold. She walked over to the coat rack, removing her hat. 'Let's get to work now and then we'll have time for ravishing later, I promise.'

Tom groaned and made his way to his desk. 'You do realise you've made it virtually impossible for me to concentrate on this damned report now, don't you?

'Don't be so defeatist, Tom. I'm sure you can turn your mind to houses and plots and so on if you try. Think of the ravishing to come as a reward for a job well done.'

Tom gave her a look as he pulled the report in question from his desk drawer and handed her the map of the development.

As it turned out, it was Mary who broke first about an hour and a half later. 'None of these figures are staying in my head.'

'Scribble them down,' Tom advised. 'I find it helps me to remember things better.'

'What are you reading?'

'The analysis of the profits they're predicting.'

Mary pushed her chair from her desk and wandered around to where he was sitting.

'How fascinating,' she said, plucking the report from his hands and tossing it onto the desk. He looked up at her in surprise and she took the opportunity to slide onto his lap.

'I thought you said we need to read the reports.'

'I changed my mind,' she breathed, eyes shining. 'I think it's time for the ravishing to begin.'

'But it's -' he started before she cut him off with a kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Tom's arms went round her, and Mary sighed into his mouth, thoroughly enjoying herself. They traded kisses, switching up the rhythm and tempo, the heat rising between them. Mary shifted on Tom's lap, making him groan. A thrill shot through her that she was the cause of it.

She contemplated letting him take her there in the office, but then disappointment stole over her as she realised her birth control device was at the house.

'Tom,' she murmured.

'Hmmm?'

'Those little somethings you bought for the weekend; do you have them with you?'

Tom stopped kissing her to pull back slightly and look her in the eye. 'No, they're in my bedside cabinet. Oh.'

'Oh, indeed. Mrs Stopes' contraption is also at the house, so I think that kind of stops our trot.'

A slow, suggestive smile spread over Tom's face. 'Not necessarily.'

Mary frowned at him. 'Much as I would love to be able to oblige, Tom, I'm not willing to risk putting another little Branson in the nursery.'

'Don't worry, that's not what I was thinking. Stand up.'

Mary pushed herself to her feet, wondering what he meant to do. Tom followed her up out of the seat, looming into her personal space. He slid his hands up her legs, pushing her skirt up as he went.

Mary's eyes widened. 'Tom…'

'Sit on the desk and put your feet on the chair.'

Mary perched on the edge of the desk, Tom standing between her legs, and rested her feet on the chair behind him. Tom grinned at her then sucked two fingers into his mouth.

Mary's eyes grew wider as she recognised the gesture from the night before. 'You're not going to –'

'Oh, I most certainly am.'

He reached under her skirt, nudging aside her underwear to caress her, finding her already wet from the enthusiastic kissing they'd been doing.

'Oh, my Lord,' Mary murmured as fluttering sensations began to spread out from where he was fondling her.

Tom slipped a finger inside her as his thumb rubbed over her most sensitive spot. Mary closed her eyes, concentrating on the sensations he was creating and how they rolled through her body. She felt her nipples hardening and then Tom's free hand was tweaking and rolling them in turn through the material of her blouse. Mary moaned, gripping the edge of the desk.

She felt a greater pressure between her legs and realised dimly that he'd pushed another finger inside her, stretching her further. And then he crooked his fingers, hitting a most delightful spot inside her, and Mary nearly shot off the desk as the pleasure intensified.

'Oh, Tom, that's so good,' she sighed, wallowing in the delicious feelings coursing through her.

She felt his lips on hers and then he was talking to her, his voice low and rough and urgent.

'You're so wet, Mary. So ready for me. I'd like to get my cock out right now and push it inside you. You'd feel so marvellous around me, so tight and hot and wet, pulsing around me. Like last night when you were riding me, riding me so hard, and it was so good. I'd like to turn you round and bend you over this desk and shove myself inside you. It's like you're made just to fit me. I want to pound into you from behind and finger you from the front until you're ready to scream my name and beg me to let you come on my cock.'

Mary groaned, utterly scandalised, yet at the same time totally thrilled and completely aroused by the filthy words falling from Tom's lips. It was so unlike him, so naughty to voice all these things even as it felt so right. She trembled, panting and moaning as he touched her in all the right places.

'Open your eyes, Mary. Look at me.'

Obediently, she did as he told her. Tom met her eyes, his pupils blown wide with lust.

'Come for me,' he ordered.

To her shock, Mary did, his words tipping her over the edge as his hand continued to work beneath her skirt. She jerked and moaned and shuddered, her body not her own to control.

'Good girl,' he praised her. 'You come so beautifully.'

Mary shuddered again, both shocked and excited by the bluntness of his words. Suddenly, she couldn't take it anymore, and she grabbed his wrist, stilling his hand.

'Stop. No more. I can't…'

'You did well, darlin',' he said, pressing a kiss to her lips. That was the second time he'd called her darling a distant part of her brain noted.

Mary looked up at him. 'What about you?'

Tom looked down at his crotch and the obvious tenting there. Mary followed his gaze.

'Would you use your hand on me?' he asked tentatively, the authoritarian with the dirty mouth gone.

Mary reached for his hips, pulling him squarely in front of her, opening his trousers and drawing his shaft out.

'Lick your hand first,' he told her, that rough edge still tinging his voice.

Mary did as he said, noting with interest how his eyes darkened with lust as she did so

Then she wrapped her hand around him and began to stroke him. Tom's breathing hitched and he closed his eyes for a moment, only to open them again and stare avidly at her hand on his cock.

Mary licked the thumb of her free hand and rubbed it over the head of his cock and Tom swore. She carried on working him, noticing how his legs began to shake and the cursing got worse. Then he put his hand over hers and together they began to jerk him faster.

'Handkerchief,' Tom muttered hoarsely.

Mary reached up to pull the handkerchief from the breast pocket of his jacket and handed it to him. Tom snatched it from her and jammed it over his cock as he jerked and spilled into it and onto their hands.

He fell back into the chair as his legs gave way.

Mary lifted her hand up to examine the mess he'd left on it.

'Sorry,' he said. 'I was too late with the hankie.'

Mary raised an eyebrow at him and deliberately licked her fingers clean.

Tom groaned as he watched her. 'Jaysus, woman, you'll be the death of me.'

'I do hope not. Not for a good long while anyway.'

Mary hopped off the desk, rearranging her underwear and straightening her skirt. 'Now, wasn't that much more interesting than profit analysis?'

Tom chuckled, lifting his hips to pull his underwear and trousers up and tuck himself away. 'It was definitely more titillating.'

Mary wandered round to the picnic basket, opening it up to inspect the contents. 'I find I've worked up quite the appetite. It appears mutual ravishing is hungry work.'

'And it's not even lunchtime yet.'

'Maybe we should save some of the food in case there's more ravishing this afternoon.' Mary stopped suddenly. 'Oh, damn. I'd quite forgotten.'

Tom looked up, curious. 'What?'

'It's Wednesday. Rose's Russians are coming for tea this afternoon. We're both expected to be there.'

'Ah, so we are. It looks like that might be it for ravishing today, milady.'

'What a shame,' Mary said sweetly, beaming at him. 'Thank goodness we didn't miss out completely. I would never have learned what a potty mouth you have during sex.'

Tom grinned at her. 'I didn't hear you complaining.'

'No,' said Mary. 'As it turned out, I found it quite – what was the word you used? – titillating. And also quite informative as to how other ravishing sessions in the office may turn out.'

Tom's grin widened. 'Really?'

'Really. Provided, of course, that you hide a small stash of prophylactics discreetly in your desk.

'I think that's a marvellous idea, Mary. One of your best.'

'I do have my moments. Now, would you like a ham or an egg sandwich?'