The next morning in the office Joyce was determined to follow up the conversation of the previous evening. 'We've got to enter a team now just to shut up Dempsey and Watson, all the other chaps agree with them but aren't so honest about it,' Joyce filled in the form. 'The problem is getting enough women to make up a team with reserves we need at least eight preferably ten.'

Harry suggested some names and Joyce got on the phone and by lunchtime they had a full squad of ladies who'd had their fill of chauvinistic colleagues.

Joyce eventually tackled the elephant in the room which was the 'make out' session between the former partners. 'So you never mentioned your romantic encounter with Dempsey, what happened?'

Harry sighed and suggested coffee and they made their way to the canteen. They got their respective beverages and sat down at one of the tables. 'Dempsey outed me as a police officer to Mara Giardino's team because they were going to shoot me when they found me snooping around their premises in an attempt to find Dempsey and make him stand down. He wouldn't stand down which is why we got into the whole mess in the first place.' She took a sip of her drink. 'Anyway Danny Thompson was suspicious and Dempsey said that I was his entertainment in order to make sure I didn't get unwelcome advances from the other men. And I suppose to establish Johnny Lupino's badass personae so to speak. To cut a long story short we pretended to do it, Thompson barged into the room at one point to see if we were genuine so we had to look the part. It was highly embarrassing and I'd like to forget the whole thing.'

'So you looked convincing,' Joyce's cat like eyes narrowed, 'so I'm making the assumption Dempsey kissed you at the very least.'

'Yes he kissed me and I fought him off, hence the damage. It was Dempsey's idea to simulate sex and I acted in role with all the necessary female outrage.'

'Were you naked?' Joyce's eyes sparkled with humour. She knew the partners were good, undercover operatives and had to wonder how far they'd take it.

'I don't think any more detail is necessary,' Harry sipped her tea and managed to control the blush that threatened to colour her cheeks as she recalled the sensation of his warm skin against hers. She remembered every detail of that night and it permeated her dreams on a regular basis.

'He's an attractive man; well the girls in the typing pool think so anyway,' Joyce demurred. 'Is he a good kisser,' she tried to suppress a grin. There were amusing aspects to the Dempsey and Makepeace relationship and it was often discussed in the office.

'Well he certainly gets enough practice…. Harry remarked dryly. She avoided directly answering the question but yes Dempsey was extremely proficient at kissing and she often found herself unconsciously fixated on his mouth which was a bit annoying.

'And practice makes perfect,' the other officer responded with a wicked smile. 'Awkward when you break down those kind of barriers with a male colleague.'

'Very,' Harry agreed offering Joyce a shortbread biscuit, 'hence I'm pleased to get a break from the partnership. I found it very difficult to deal with. When Dempsey goes undercover he lives the part, that's why he's so good at it. I found it hard to find James when he was Johnny Lupino.'

'And you don't care for Lupino,' Joyce probed deeper as she was curious as to how different the American could be, personally speaking she found the office version challenging enough.

'No, I don't.' Harry concurred. 'Dempsey has fought his way through Vietnam and the NYPD he's tough, hardened by his experiences. We were in a life or death situation and he wasn't about to pussyfoot around any misgivings I had and so….

'He went for it and you fought him off?' Joyce began to understand the difficulties of the situation.

'We played our roles which is why he has the scars, he asked me to go along with it so it wasn't a sexual assault but it's difficult to be natural with each other after that.'

'Yes, I understand. So what will you do if Spikings put you back into the partnership?' That was the million-dollar question.

'I don't know. Get on with it I suppose,' Harry shrugged. 'I don't like being in this situation or the way Dempsey's treating me at the moment. He was my partner and my friend and now we're at each other's throats, it's very difficult.'

'Why don't you talk to him about it; he's probably feeling the same especially if he thinks you were disloyal. Or perhaps his feelings are hurt if he cares for you, if you're more than just a partner to him.'

Harry shook her head, 'I don't think it's that, he just likes his own way. He's a very strong character; it takes me all my time to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. And then he comes out with that chauvinistic rubbish about protecting me. If he'd wanted to protect me he would have come in when I told him to. I was his control and he just ignored my instruction and now we are where we are.'

'He is your protector though, he hauled Fry off you and he didn't like it when the Detective Constable put his arm around you either. He glared at Fry and Fry backed off; even with a skin-full of alcohol your erstwhile Romeo got the message.'

'Yes well, James can be intimidating,' Harry admitted ruefully. She'd seen the look he gave Fry too and it had sent a bolt of sexual awareness screaming through her body. It had made her wonder what it would be like to be his; and she'd dwelled on that somewhat in the small hours of the night.

'Well as a casual observer I would say that our Lieutenant has feelings for you Harry, even if he hasn't worked that out yet. And he's probably finding the current situation difficult too and the fact you went along with it and didn't protest to Spikings when you were split up could be understood as rejection.'

Harry coloured slightly but didn't respond, it was difficult to talk to Dempsey when he was in a bad mood, she supposed she could break into his flat and sit at the bottom of his bed until he deigned to speak to her but felt awkward about doing that. And besides knowing Dempsey he might shoot her for trespassing. She sighed and felt very gloomy; she wanted her partner back; life just wasn't the same without him.

-oOo—

Dempsey was enjoying the first decent night's sleep since the night he'd spent with Harry in his bed. He tried hard not to think how soft her skin had felt or about the perfection of her breasts the silk between her thighs the perfume she wore; he could almost smell it. He could smell it; what the hell…. He woke up and focussed and there she was sat on the chair near his bed her blue eyes watching him. 'What are you doing here Harry?' He rubbed his eyes and sat up the bedclothes just about keeping him decent.

Harry's blue gaze burnt over his warm, tanned skin revealed by the sheets falling down to his navel as he'd moved. She collected bits of herself together and took a steadying breath. 'I rather thought we should talk; and then I thought what would Dempsey do if he wanted to talk to me and then it came to me the normal protocol is you break in so I did. The night porter recognised me so he let me into the lobby.'

What the hell was this about; this wasn't like Makepeace. I mean she was the one who had abandoned the partnership not him, and she seemed quite happy with the change which he resented. He resented that a lot. 'It's three o clock in the morning,' he growled as he checked the clock and ran his hand through his hair

'When has that ever mattered,' she responded evenly leaning forward in her chair her gaze earnest on his. 'I hate how it's been between us lately and I wanted to talk to you about it. We've known each other for three years and we've become friends we must be able to do better than this.'

'You wanted space, I've given you space,' he growled thumping the pillow and turned on his side settling back down to sleep. He wasn't about to admit how much he missed her and he didn't want this conversation.

'It-was-a difficult-situation,' she bit out furious that he was attempting to ignore her and she got up and grabbed his shoulder and pushed him onto his back again. 'Stop ignoring me,' Harry got right in his face as she demanded his attention her agitated breathing warm on his skin.

Dempsey didn't want to talk cos she'd be wanting the conversation women always wanted about relationships so he decided to aggravate her into leaving. He relaxed back against the pillows and that meant Harry sank into him as she was pushing against him. His gaze darkened on hers and then he moved the attention to her mouth, she had a mouth that just begged to be kissed. Returning his gaze to hers he could see she had that confused look she sometimes had on her when they'd got closer than normal and her eyes had dilated and the signals he was receiving would have been a sure sign with any other female but then again with Makepeace you could never call it.

Harry got caught in Dempsey's gaze, her ex-partner could certainly switch on the charm offensive and she hardly noticed as his hand sank into her hair as he pulled her closer and his mouth brushed hers and then became more demanding.

She came out of the hypnotic fascination and gasped in shock as he deepened the kiss. His tongue was teasing hers in a highly erotic manner and the scent of his body was addictive; she was drowning in what could only be called unbridled lust.

James broke the kiss to get some air in his lungs. 'Good conversation,' he drawled sarcastically and wasn't entirely surprised when she slapped him. Denial was his guess cos Harry'd been hot and willing and the knowledge of that coloured his gaze. 'I love it when you play rough,' his voice was like warm chocolate but his dark eyes challenged her.

Harry's temper exploded as she was fully aware of what he was doing and why. 'You're just doing this to make me leave and I'm not going to leave until you talk to me.' Bloody man he could be so infuriating when things didn't go his way. His super, massive ego just couldn't take it.

Dempsey's smug expression said it all. 'You can stay as long as you like,' he pulled her back down and this time rolled over and dominated the kiss as he was above her and she was flat on her back.

Harry's temper rocketed as well as every single nerve ending as his kiss seduced her and her hands tightened on his shoulders but failed to push him off. He raised his head and looked into her eyes his gaze full of masculine confidence. 'I played our make out back a million times and I came when your body pressed up against mine, you did it again just then. When a woman does that it means she's ready for the guy.'

'I was trying to throw you off,' Harry defended herself hotly. 'You're just trying to make me responsible for your adolescent behaviour.'

'Okay well if that's the case you let me kiss you and you maintain your cool for fifteen minutes and I'll admit I'm wrong.' His expression was amused cos he knew Harry and she rarely backed down from a challenge. He could see the internal battle and wondered whether the sensible or competitive Harry would win and was kind of surprised when she pulled his head down and kissed him with an intensity that made his toes curl. He didn't think he could handle fifteen minutes of that without following through. He had to take charge here cos he wasn't letting her screw around with him again. His lack of self-control on that other occasion still made him cringe with embarrassment.

Harry had all but forgotten that this was supposed to be a test as James took the initiative away from her by breaking the kiss and moving the action to her neck area, his hot mouth seared her skin and she let out a soft moan that told him everything he needed to know about her supposed indifference. Her body had cleaved to his pressing against his lower body urgently and the memory of that other occasion was like a living thing in the room with them.

The hot passion that they'd both felt came as something of a shock especially to Harry and when James released her they were both breathing irregularly and Dempsey was hard as a rock from the way she'd been pressing against him.

Dempsey thought of anything he could to cool his reaction to Harry's response as he finally understood, she'd run away from their partnership because she'd realised that she wanted him despite herself. Got the hots for a bit of rough from Brooklyn, how very distasteful. He was her guilty pleasure and that made him feel sick to his stomach.

He took a deep steadying breath and pushed her away. 'We're even now. You can go home and stay in the bath til you're pruny and don't worry I won't tell anyone the shameful fact that you go for a bit of downmarket rough and find that hard to compute. You're a coward Harry get out!'

Makepeace rose up from her prone position on the bed and was totally humiliated by that analysis and at that moment she hated him. She had feelings for James and to have those feelings analysed as some prurient sexual urge hurt her unbearably. She ran her hand through her tousled hair and swallowed hard as she glared at him. 'I thought we'd made progress over the last three years Dempsey but apparently I was wrong, I came here to try and get back to some kind of understanding and all you've done is use sex as a weapon.

Dempsey's temper was exacerbated by frustrated desire and the pain he'd felt at her rejection as he perceived it. 'I ain't being used to scratch an itch babe, three years ago I'd've been a willing volunteer so I guess we did move on.' He sat up and they were inches away from each other as she was kneeling on the bed. 'I saved your ass and you turned your back on me cos you couldn't handle the fact you wanted me, couldn't face it so you scuttled off and hid behind Spikings and Hargreaves. I ain't playing the nicey, nice game so screw you and get out of my apartment before I throw you out.'

'You bastard!' Harry scrambled off the bed scarlet with fury and stormed out of his flat, it would be a cold day in hell before she'd speak to that pig again. She felt hurt and humiliated that he could think so badly of her after everything they'd been through. Tears welled up and she angrily brushed them away as she reached the sanctuary of her car, he was a bloody idiot and so was she for letting him through her heavily guarded defences. She'd been a fool to go around there, a stupid, stupid, idiotic fool.