Eek! No reviews at all so far for the last chapter! Maybe I'm losing my touch. Hope this goes down better...
"I must admit I'm very pleased and surprised that you arrived tonight Ruth," Towers said with a raised eyebrow.
"Why?" Ruth said curiously.
"I rather cornered you the other day. I thought you'd call and cancel."
"I gave you my word Home Secretary," she said simply. "I don't go back on it."
"Look, I don't want to make your life more complicated," Towers said. "I think you should seriously consider a change of air. You've been in Thames House long enough now."
"I seem to remember a time when the politicians of this country were perfectly fine with seeing me disappear, assumed dead for three years," Ruth said accurately.
"I wasn't in office," Towers countered quickly.
"But we both know that in the circumstances you'd have done exactly the same," Ruth said. The silence was confirmation enough. "You don't ask uncomfortable questions."
"You've been working with Harry for too long," Towers said accurately. "I know how much he loathes politicians."
"True," Ruth said with a smile.
"Wouldn't you like to go home at a decent hour?" Towers asked.
"The problem I have with Thames House is that I feel like I'm living on borrowed time," she said more honestly than she'd intended to be before this meeting. "Apart from Harry, everyone I've worked with over the years has died. Almost everyone. I've been there a long time, and I'm wondering if my time is coming."
"You'd be my security advisor," Towers said. "You'd still spend time at Thames House. And as an added bonus, your salary would be twenty percent higher." Ruth raised her eyebrows in surprise. That was more than she'd been expecting.
"I'm tempted," she admitted. "However, if I take this job I need to know I will not be working against Harry in any way. Because if I'm being brutally honest, I just don't have it in me."
"We all want to protect the nation from terrorists," Towers said. "Why on earth would you think you'd be working against Harry?" Ruth smiled at that very diplomatic answer and was spared from replying by the arrival of her crème-brulee
"I will give it some thought William," she said seriously. And she was surprised herself by how tempting this job offer was.
Ruth had barely got her keys in her front door when she heard her phone ring. "Yes?" she said breathlessly as she raced to pick it up.
"Oh, you're home," Harry said in a low voice.
"Just barely," she answered. "Is everything okay?"
"How did dinner with Towers go?" He was getting straight to the point. He couldn't be bothered with veiled comments, not tonight.
"It was good," she said briefly. "Honestly, it's a good opportunity. I would be his security advisor, which would mean that I'd still visit Thames House frequently. I agreed to go tonight more out of politeness than anything else, but I was surprised."
"Are you going to take it?"
"I haven't made a decision," she said. "I wanted to talk to you first. I wouldn't want to… hurt you."
"This is important. You can't make a decision like this based on my opinion," Harry said, even though he felt his heart drop.
"I want to know what you think," she said honestly.
"Do I want you to take a job opportunity that would take you away from me?" Harry said sarcastically. "By all means."
"Come on Harry, don't be like this." But she was speaking to no one. He'd hung up. Ruth was so angry with him and frustrated that she stood there for a few seconds without moving. Then she grabbed her keys and left her house, intending to make him talk to her. Whether he wanted to or not.
She was still angry by the time she arrived at Harry's and she knocked on the door. Not loudly because she guessed Lucy would be asleep, but enough to gain his attention. He opened the door with sad eyes and without waiting to be invited in, she stepped over the threshold. "Wasn't expecting to see you," he said in a low voice.
"Well you should have been," she said sharply, going into his kitchen as he followed. "I don't give a damn what Towers thinks of me. I care very much about what you think of me. And I don't appreciate you hanging up on me either." She spoke in a low voice so she wouldn't disturb Lucy but there was no mistaking the anger bubbling underneath the surface and Harry felt slightly ashamed of his behaviour. He shouldn't have slammed the phone down. It was childish and infantile, but he thought it was preferable to saying things he would regret.
"Why do you want to work for Towers?" he asked. "I thought you were perfectly happy in Thames House?"
"I am," she said. "But I want to have a relationship with you. I want us to have something normal. And you know, it would be nice at some point in the future to come home and put work away and focus on us instead. Not talk about which Iranian spy we're trying to turn. I'd like to come home to you and be able to talk about my day, because you wouldn't already know every little detail. That is why I am tempted for this job Harry."
The silence between them was anything but comfortable. She realised she'd given away a lot of her private hopes for the two of them in those few sentences. What she hoped they would be in the future. She suddenly felt embarrassed by all her assumptions and looked down at the floor. She only raised her eyes when she had no choice. Harry had put two fingers under her chin and lifted her head so she was facing him. To her credit, she didn't look away, even under the force of the burning passion in his eyes. He dropped his hand and the connection between them still wasn't broken. Breathing suddenly became a problem for her. But then he kissed her and the whole world fell away. His lips were pushing against hers in a quietly demanding embrace. She responded to him and gasped as his hands pushed the hem of her blouse up a couple of inches and his fingers touched her skin so very gently.
"Oh Harry," she breathed when his lips caressed her neck softly. Her hands were clutching at his shoulders, trying to keep some grip on reality. Which was made much harder when he sucked on her pulse point firmly. He kissed her lips much lighter this time and then something seemed to occur to him.
"How much have you had to drink?"
"What? Only a glass, why?"
"Just making sure," he said, kissing her again, deeply. He had a hand on the small of her back and felt the instant that she tried to pull away from him. He stopped kissing her, but otherwise he didn't let go. Her eyes flicked briefly upwards, very clearly suggesting the bedroom. His body immediately reacted to her suggestion, even though his mind wanted to double check she was sure. As if knowing what she was doing to him she gently pressed her thigh between his, a slightly evil look on her face. He couldn't hold back the groan he let out at the contact. God, what would the rest of her feel like? Without layers of fabric between them? He so badly wanted to find out. So he kissed her with just a hint of a question, which she more than answered. He held her hand tightly and they both went upstairs.