Dempsey had the quickest shave he'd ever had in his life, praying that if he was quick enough to freshen up, Harry wouldn't change her mind… particularly about the 'wild and reckless' part!

As he wiped his face with a towel and tuned to the mirror to splash some aftershave on, he noticed the stupid grin on his face; he hadn't stopped grinning since he'd rushed up the stairs. He stopped for a moment to think. Maybe he was getting a bit carried away, I mean, what did he expect? He doubted that she would end up sleeping with him. Still, who knows what could happen on a wild and reckless 'Harry' night? Maybe he'd get to kiss her. Now, there was a thought! A real passionate, sizzling, hot kiss with Harry. Grrrr, now he was getting carried away again. He turned from the mirror and headed back to the bedroom to change his clothes.

Dempsey descended the stairs to the sound of both Harry talking on her cell phone in the hallway, and Eddie honking the car horn outside. Harry looked up at Dempsey, covered the mouthpiece of her cell phone and said,

"Can you tell Eddie I'll be two seconds; it's the electrician," she said, pointing to the phone in her hand.

Dempsey nodded and left Harry to her phone call, heading for Eddie's car which was parked on the side of the road outside his house.

"'Ello there guvner," Eddie said, rolling his window down and touching his cap as Dempsey approached. Dempsey chuckled to himself. Eddie was taking his chauffeur roll very seriously.

"Hey there," he replied, climbing into the back of Eddie's Ford Escort. "Thanks for doin' this," he said.

"It's a pleasure my old son. Anything to keep her ladyship happy." Eddie grinned, turning around in his seat to glance back at Dempsey. "Question is, are you going to be keeping her happy tonight?"

Dempsey looked thrilled at the thought. "I certainly plan to."

Eddie's grin grew.

"So what's the plan?" he asked.

"Plan?" Dempsey questioned. "Just bein' my usual charmin' self," he replied.

Eddie looked slightly concerned. "Tell me something, did you two ever…" he coughed, "you know," he said, hoping that Dempsey understood what he was intimating.

Dempsey understood. "No," he replied.

"What? Not even…" Eddie went on.

"Nope," Dempsey confirmed, "Nothin'."

Eddie looked shocked. "Alright, so I don't wish to interfere, but maybe you should rethink your strategy," he suggested.

"I've tried every strategy I know," Dempsey answered. "What works with other women, don't work on her."

"Hmm." Eddie thought about that. "You're probably right, but look, a lot of women talk to me; think it's because they know I'm not going to pull a fast one," he chuckled. "But if there's one thing that women like, it's to know that the guy is interested in her, as a person, not just her …. other assets." He shrugged, "just a top tip from moi."

"Yeah," Dempsey replied wryly, "but the other assets get me distracted. It aint my fault," he said holding out his hands in appeal.

Eddie tutted and shook his head at Dempsey. "Stay focused my friend," he warned, contemplating how to advise him further. "Let's see, you've known Harry for a while, so I'm guessing that you already know the basics about her, like favourite colour, favourite food, best…" Eddie reeled off, stopping when he glanced up to see the look on Dempsey's face. "You do know those things, don't you?"

Dempsey looked slightly perturbed. "Well, it don't exactly come up in conversation, like, 'follow that nice blue car, it's my favourite colour,'" he pointed out. "What d'I wanna know that for anyway?"

Eddie covered his face with one hand and shook his head. "Dear, dear, what did I just say?" he dropped his hand. "You've got to understand how women's minds work…"

"If you've figured that out, you deserve a damn medal," Dempsey interjected.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I have figured it out, and I don't even really need to know all this stuff! Take it from me, those little things make a big difference. You know the lady's favourite colour, you can buy her a beautiful silk scarf in the correct shade and blow her socks off," he pointed out.

"That will 'blow her socks off'?" he said with disbelief. It couldn't be that easy.

"That you know her favourite colour will, yes," he insisted.

"Alright, so what's her favourite colour then?" Dempsey asked.

"Ah now," Eddie pointed at him. "That's cheating. You have to find out for yourself; it helps with the whole getting to know her better process. But, you can't ask her outright; that would sound odd," he frowned. "You have to figure it out another way. Be subtle," he advised.

Dempsey thought about it. "Yeah, shouldn't be too hard to figure that one out; I'm a detective aint I?"

"So you are," Eddie replied. "So you have an advantage. Ooops, shhh, here she comes," he pointed out as Harry made her way down the front steps of the house.

"Sorry about that," she said, opening the door and sliding into the back seat. "I just had to literally beg the electrician to come back tomorrow. He wasn't too pleased that I missed him," she cringed.

"Right, are we ready?" Eddie asked.

"Yep," Harry replied.

"Well, first things first," he began, "Here, open this," he said, picking up something from off the floor of the empty front passenger seat and hauling it backwards to them. It was a bucket of champagne on ice.

"Ed, you didn't need to do that," Harry said, watching as Dempsey grabbed the bottle and began to open it.

"Great idea," Dempsey commented.

Eddie shrugged. "It was left over from the function last night," he said, passing Harry two glasses. "Besides, if Doug knew that it was for you Harry, he'd let you have it anyway."

Dempsey shot Harry a look. "Good old Douggie boy."

"Well, it was a lovely thought," she said, leaning forward to give Eddie a kiss on the cheek.

Dempsey's attention was drawn to Harry. "Hey, where's my kiss?" he asked.

"You didn't bring the champagne," she replied.

"Ed, stop off at a liquor store will ya?" Dempsey came back.

Eddie laughed. Those two were so entertaining together; it was going to be a fun night for him too.

"So, where we going first then?" Eddie asked.

"Drive past the village, of course," Harry answered, "and, I don't know, I'm feeling spontaneous tonight…"

Both Dempsey and Eddie glanced at her, impressed.

"…keep driving towards town and just stop at the first pub we come to," she instructed.

"Really? The first pub?" Eddie asked.

"Yes, why not?" she replied.

"Okay," Eddie said, turning back around in his seat and starting up the car.

Harry tried to remember what the first pub they came to would be, but there were so many pubs in that area that she couldn't think.

As Eddie pulled out into the road and began their journey towards town, Harry's eyes kept flicking towards Dempsey's attempts to open the champagne bottle.

"It's a tough one this," he said, struggling to free the cork.

The longer he struggled, the more Harry anticipated the bang and became slightly concerned about the cork shooting out of the bottle in the confines of that car! She sat tensely, watching. It would have to pop soon. Soon… soon… sometime soon?

BANG!

Harry nearly jumped out of her skin.

Dempsey rose an eyebrow, but it wasn't until a second later that Harry realized why. In her panic, she had reached out blindly and hung onto the first thing that her hand and come into contact with: Dempsey's thigh. She gave a small laugh and withdrew her hand sheepishly.

Dempsey's thigh tingled, spreading a heatwave upwards. He wondered how he was going to make it through that night when he was already in the mood and fired up to take her to bed!

Trying his best to ignore the effects of his raging hormones, and her hand, he filled their glasses with champagne and handed her one, saying,

"Here's to… a wild and reckless evening eh."

"Indeed." She clinked with him and he was delighted to see something like a wicked grin on her face.

While they enjoyed the champagne, Eddie drove down the winding country roads, through the tiny village and past The Green, with a few local shops, two pubs, the post office and a tiny church. He then headed down the hill until they hit a main road, which led to a duel carriageway taking them directly into the nearest town.

During the drive, Eddie inquired about Harry's need for an electrician and Harry explained that it had been Jackson who had cut the power and that, although they had thought she was up to no good, it had all been a misunderstanding and that the case was now closed. Eddie was curious, but he knew better than to ask more questions. It was a top secret case after all.

Finally, Eddie left the duel carriageway and turned into the suburbs, heading for, where he knew to be, the first pub they would come to.

"Oh," Harry said when he pulled up outside the pub. "I'd forgotten about this one."

They all peered out of the car windows to see an inner city pub situated on the high street, with the typical deep red bricks, high windows, dark woodwork and stained glass displaying the name of the pub in coloured letters: The Bricklayers Arms. What was most disconcerting however, were the rows of motorbikes parked outside and the studded, leather-clad bikers who were ominously hanging around the building.

Dempsey turned to Harry. "You sure you wanna go in there?" he said, with a thumb gesture over his shoulder.

She bit her lip, but then nodded her head. "Yes, the agreement was the first pub we came to."

Dempsey took another glance out of the window. "You," he stressed, "Want to go in there?"

"Yes Dempsey," she insisted, "wild and reckless tonight, remember?" she said, opening the car door decisively and getting out.

"How good ya gonna be at helpin' me peel off the Hells Angels from Harry?" Dempsey asked Eddie.

"Get in and out there as quick as you can," he urged. "Good luck!"