Thanks for the reviews, I've written most of this story it's just chopping it up into chapters and editing it and that takes time. I'm self-indulgent when I write for myself so I always work over the material before I share it. I hope you enjoy it and will try and get the second part of the visit to Winfield Hall up over the weekend.

Dempsey was on fine form as he swapped banter with the other guys in the office as it would be difficult to dent his spectacularly good mood after the Harry/shirt incident.

Spikings hated Dempsey's noisy exuberance and would have liked to quell it but had to admit the officer was a good copper and therefore should be afforded a modicum of leniency. His gaze moved to Makepeace who seemed brighter than of late, she looked refreshed which was something of a relief; she was occasionally glaring at her ex-partner which suggested that his demeanour wasn't necessarily down to any weak behaviour on her part.

He had a bi-weekly meeting with his three senior officers this afternoon where they summarized their activities; he'd take them to the pub afterwards. As SI10 expanded, the workload increased exponentially and Fry who was now Spikings runner had a difficult time negotiating his passage between the irascible Chief Inspector and his unorthodox team, even Jarvis could be a challenge if he was so minded.

'Nice office,' Dempsey murmured as they entered Spikings newly refurbished lair and admired the make-over, the picture of the wife was a new one and the American smirked.

The Chief Inspector ignored the smirk because he had some sympathy with it. The older man hated family photos on his workspace but Jane had insisted and since she was quite capable of mounting a spot check he'd capitulated. He lit a cigarette and viewed his senior team, 'we'll start with you Harry, how is the Winchester case progressing? I understand you're working with Inspector Parker from Fraud as he's been hanging around here like a bad smell.'

Harry ignored the Parker odour issue and gave a quick synopsis of the case and said they had enough evidence for a review and she'd booked time in the Chief Inspector's diary to do that.

'What about the values audit how are we shaping up with that nonsense from upstairs,' Harry was the Chief's go-to girl for all the politically correct initiatives which the feet on the street treated with derision.

'Damage limitation on the McIntyre case was efficiently dealt with by D.I. Dempsey but I think we'll have to throw them a bone of some sort,' she took the smirk from all three gentlemen in her stride. 'I've agreed that we will take part in a psychological analysis of the team; Belbin is terribly popular at the moment and by using the psychological profiling we will be able to evaluate whether we have the correct mix of personality types which will guide future recruitment.'

'Sounds like a way to recruit more dames or guys in touch with their feminine side,' Dempsey remarked in his usual macho manner.

Spikings took a drag on his cigarette, 'I'm looking forward to what the Belbin, psychological profiling will make of you Dempsey should be an interesting read.'

'I'm a fascinating guy,' the Yank responded with a charming smile.

'Did you find your shirt by the way,' Chas butted in, 'no other pilfering has been reported; I got Fry to check.'

Dempsey looked over at Makepeace who had suddenly dived into her handbag to locate something. 'Yeah, bottom of my locker; tired I guess, missed it completely,' he lied convincingly.

'Good let's move on from Dempsey's inability to dress himself; D.I. Jarvis you have the floor…

-oOo—

A bottle of beer and a packet of dry roasted peanuts arrived in front of Dempsey as he lit a cigar in the pub. 'Thanks,' he looked up his eyes hooded against the smoke. The beneficiary was his own little piece of paradise, D.I. Makepeace.

'I rather think I should thank you,' she responded sitting down fully appreciative of his covering her derriere that afternoon on the issue of the shirt.

'I don't tell anyone about the intimate details of my life,' his eyes smiled into hers, 'always been discrete about the matters of the heart.'

Harry smiled pleasantly as she prepared to make a peace with her ex-partner. 'I'm going down to Winfield Hall this weekend; Freddy has a shoot; large affair. Would you like to come as my plus one?'

Spikings sat down so Dempsey didn't have a chance to respond but he was pleasantly surprised at her asking him. Nice if they could get back to some kind of harmony the last few months had been tough.

He caught Harry up at the bar as she went to get drinks for Spikings and Chas, 'what does being a plus one involve and will I need special clothes to shoot stuff. I'm guessing it's those stupid birds that wander about like God didn't bless them with a brain.'

'Succinctly put,' she placed her order. 'Well you don't usually bother what you wear to shoot stuff although a tuxedo would be out of place and so would a donkey jacket. Any retail outlet selling shotguns would have the usual apparel I would imagine but don't go overboard, get whatever is in your style then you'll get more use out of it.'

'Tuxedo for dinner is my guess,' he followed up, 'or is it a black-tie affair?' He had both so that didn't present any problem, years of being Harry's buddy had meant his wardrobe had expanded somewhat.

'Black tie,' she answered, 'casual for the rest of it as Freddie doesn't stand on ceremony. And plus one means you're my partner for the weekend so to speak.'

'Okay sounds good.' Dempsey's spirits lifted, they used to do this kind of stuff all the time but lately they'd been in a kind of Mexican stand off and that had been hard. 'I'll drive you down there; my car's more comfortable than yours. I like your Pop it'll be nice to see him again.'

'Good well that's a date then,' she smiled enigmatically and returned the drinks to her colleagues.

-oOo—

Jarvis and Dempsey were in the men's locker room changing after a shoot-out that had been unexpected and high on body count; they were decompressing from that by reverting to every day chat about the weekend approaching.

Laura's asked if you'd like to come to dinner, her chief bridesmaid's been lined up to make up the party,' Chas wasn't one to drop his mates into a blind date.

'I can't this weekend going shooting with Lord Winfield,' Dempsey was a bit more open with Jarvis than the other guys in the office.

'You and Harry buried your differences then,' the dour Scot was somewhat intrigued by the ups and downs of the duo's relationship. He liked a quiet life himself so Dempsey and Makepeace were like two members of a different species.

'Not sure,' the American thumbed his nose. 'Harry's a difficult dame to figure, never know what she's really thinking. You think it's going one way and then she changes direction.'

'Got a game-plan then or are you playing it by ear?' Chas picked up his discarded clothes and stuffed them into a holdall.

'Not playing at all, I'm seeing where she goes with it, balls in Harry's court. She's handed out the olive branch so I'm waiting to see what that means exactly.' Dempsey towelled his hair and ran his hands through it.

'Good luck with that then,' Chas didn't seem to think Jim's laissez faire way of approaching the matter was likely to work. Women in his opinion liked a man with clear intent.

'You think I should take charge,' Dempsey considered that. 'Nah, she'd just knock me back if I did,' he was intrigued by that thought though.

'You're both defensive in nature, waiting for the other to give in and make the first move. Three years of, 'will she won't he,' both strong characters may never happen. See you later,' Chas left the room after dropping that pearl of wisdom. It wasn't like him to say much or interfere but he agreed with the guvnor that the two of them seemed determined to misunderstood each other.

James had to admit that Chas had a point, he'd told her he wanted her but hadn't said more than that. She'd kind of admitted she felt the same but was fighting it. Then she'd got all wound up about Suzanne whom he'd just been civil too when it came down to it. Did she still see him as some kind of womanizer with a commitment phobia cos that wasn't true? He'd been committed to Makepeace for longer than he cared to admit. He decided he'd better give some thought to the weekend as he might have to do better than see how it went.

-oOo-

Hargreaves eyes narrowed when she wormed the weekend plans out of her friend D.I. Makepeace, 'I need a plus one because there are a number of gentleman who will relentlessly pester me if I don't have a man in tow.'

'So you chose Dempsey as body armour,' a derisive snort followed that remark. 'So you'd rather be relentlessly pestered by Jim then.' Joyce as usual didn't pull her punches. 'Strange choice but then who understands the mystery of biological attraction.'

'James won't pester me,' Harry responded and tried for conviction. 'We've been friends for years and he hasn't crossed the line on previous occasions.' Her skin coloured slightly when she remembered a couple of occasions that couldn't strictly be called platonic.

Another derisive snort came her way, 'you've simulated love making which crossed the line, he's a man isn't he? You're either deluding yourself or even worse you want him to make a move, God help you.'

'Thank you for that Sergeant Hargreaves,' Harry responded icily pulling on her D.I. persona.

'You're welcome Ma'am,' Joyce responded sounding amused at Makepeace's way of shutting her up. 'If you'll excuse me I have a bet to place.'

Harry's outraged expression made her laugh out loud and she relented and made them both a cup of tea.

-oOo—

The conversation was somewhat stilted as the couple made their way to Winfield Hall as both occupants were busy working out where they were versus the weekend.

Harry kept stealing glances at Dempsey and her blood heated at the sure way he handled the car, James had an innate kind of confidence that had always impressed her. She liked his hands and the way the skin was paler at his wrist where the watchstrap had deflected the sun. Her gaze dropped to his thighs and she swallowed hard and yanked her eyes back to studying the scenery rather than drop to his groin which she'd grazed over a couple of times.

Luckily for Makepeace, Dempsey was oblivious to her fascination with his masculinity as he was thinking about what Chas had said and debating whether or not to put the moves on Harry in a subtle fashion, nothing too obvious but enough to encourage her to get closer. He decided to get some coffee as he'd been driving for a while and pulled into a cutesy, rural village, coffee shop and looked at Harry who seemed to be staring at his dick. He had a horrible feeling his flies were undone until he distinctly remembered zipping up after his last visit to the john.

Harry quickly unbuckled and grabbed her bag and scrambled out of the car hoping her ex-partner hadn't noticed her eyes had zeroed onto his masculinity. Oh no, he was grinning like a bloody monkey, he'd noticed all right.

'Told you denial made it worse,' he opened the door of the café for her and let her go ahead of him. 'You'd be better off dealing with it honey, when you get round to sleeping in a guy's used shirt you've got it bad.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about Dempsey, I thought we'd dealt with the shirt incident,' she ordered tea and he chose black coffee and an iced doughnut.

'Kind of intimate surrounding yourself with my scent, wrapping me metaphorically around your body; I mean come on Harry, who does that?'

'Me apparently,' she acknowledged wryly as she sat down at the table. 'I'd take it as a kindness if you'd shut up about it.'

'Well, I think we should explore it further and I guess you do too since I caught you staring at the crown jewels,' he gave a warm laugh as her tea went down the wrong way and he handed her a napkin.

'Thank you,' Harry was icily polite. She'd began to realise that her denial was making her look like an idiot and betraying her into behaviour that was really not Harriet Makepeace.'

'So does this plus one thing mean I get to kiss you or do I just accept the fact you're physically fascinated with me and you don't want to act on it.' He bit into his doughnut and regarded her with some amusement as she struggled to maintain her composure.

'The plus one thing is to deflect the admiration of some of the gentleman, and I use the term loosely, who will be attending the shoot.' She stirred her tea for something to do.

'Guess we need to be convincing then,' he offered her a bite of his doughnut and wasn't surprised when she shook her head. 'Although in your current state, of shall we say appreciation for yours truly, you could end up giving everyone an intimate glimpse of the bedroom.'

'I most certainly would not,' Harry hotly denied that accusation. 'And anyway what would you suggest, I suppose you think we should 'do it' until the fascination wears off.'

Dempsey leant forward and gently ran his finger around the curve of her jaw, 'you're wrong.' He felt a stirring of sexual interest as her blue eyes darkened at his touch.

'Why,' she asked crossly moving her jaw away from the disturbing caress. It was annoying that the slightest gesture from him sent her up in flames.

'Cos I don't think it would wear off, we'd just become more comfortable with it.' He drank down the coffee. 'Denial just makes it all hotter,' he got up and paid the bill leaving Harry to think about it. The prospects for making out seemed to be good as far as he was concerned as Makepeace was in trouble and she knew it.

Dempsey was right, Harry did know it and she was debating what to do about it. Should she give it a chance or should she shamelessly flirt with someone else to show him just how wrong he was. Then she remembered the way Dempsey had looked at Fry and a shiver went down her spine.

Harry tensed as his hand rested on her lower spine as they went back to the car and she gasped somewhat as he pressed her back against the vehicle. 'What are you doing?'

'Kissing you,' he dropped his head and grazed her soft mouth with his. 'Nice don't you think?' It was a tease and he knew it.' He was a bit annoyed when she slapped him and he looked down into her disturbed blue gaze.

'I'm sorry,' she looked appalled at what she'd done. 'James, have some patience with me. I'm finding this difficult.'

'It ain't difficult Harry, it's just a kiss,' he dropped his mouth again and coaxed her into it. This time her lips trembled and softly parted and he deepened the kiss until he knew everything about her sweet mouth. He pulled her lithe body against his and just indulged in having Harry in his arms and his hands caressed the soft curves of her body. God, he'd wanted to touch her for so long.

Harry broke the kiss to get some air and then moaned as he kissed her neck. 'Dempsey stop it, we're in the middle of the car park in broad daylight,' her eyes closed with the pleasure he was bestowing, she was drowning and the only thing to hold onto was him.

The American pulled himself together and opened the car door and coaxed her into it and strode around the other side and got in. 'That was some kiss, Makepeace.'

Harry didn't answer. What could she say, it had been a fantastic kiss and she hadn't wanted it to stop. In fact, she just wanted to go somewhere and indulge in the sensations that kiss had elicited. Whatever this feeling was she had for Dempsey it was extremely strong and had a powerful hold on her. And she'd stupidly invited him for the whole weekend and he'd have the room that adjoined hers! 'This is a mistake we should cancel the weekend,' she looked at her hands willing him to agree with her.

'No, we're not doing that,' he started up the engine annoyed that she kept backing out of the inevitable. 'I've bought a jacket for the shooting and I'm not missing out on that cos you're running scared.'

'I-am-not-scared,' she rounded on him furiously her anger exacerbated by the fact he was right and she was in denial. 'I'm just annoyed at myself for having some kind of fascination with a womanising lout.'

'Thank you,' he said dryly. 'Nice to know you have such a high opinion of me, I'll try not to take up too much of your time this weekend.' He squared his jaw and drove the rest of the way in silence.

-oOo—