"I don't need to go anywhere special. Maybe we could just come here?"

"Barbara, I am flexible with most things but I am not spending our honeymoon with my mother!"

"I don't know where to choose. Where do you want to go?"

"Come on, there must be somewhere in Europe you have always wanted to see. Now's your chance. It's a chocolate cake hiding under there just waiting for you to decide," he said temptingly.

Tommy was trying to force her to choose but Barbara had no idea where to go. She had barely been anywhere and they would probably spend most of the time in their hotel anyway, at least she hoped they would. She picked up the pin and closed her eyes then stabbed it down randomly hoping that she had not picked the ocean.

"Interesting choice," Tommy said, "I'm sure we will enjoy it. We'll have lots of excuses to snuggle close."

She smiled as if her choice had been intentional then looked down. She had skewered the Alps and had frosting on her fingers which she licked off as she contemplated honeymooning in Switzerland. Fear struck her instantly. "I don't want to go skiing!"

Tommy looked at her puzzled. "Well technically we could at a few of the higher mountains but I agree it would be much more pleasant to hike in the summer."

"Hike?" She did not like the sound of that at all. "What about a scenic train or something? Or a nice mountain hotel?"

"See, you do know what you want to do. Would you like to develop our itinerary or will you trust me to select something appropriate?"

"Surprise me," she said with uncharacteristic spontaneity, "but no hiking!"

"So what is the maximum distance Lady Asherton will walk before requiring a carriage?"

"I can walk. I just don't fancy some Sound of Music trek across the mountains."

"They were Austrian," he replied and she knew he was making fun of her.

"Whatever. Are you going to cut the cake or just sit there?"

The rich, velvety chocolate cake was delicious and Barbara ate Greece and most of the Balkans and had her eye on the Mediterranean. As she ate her nerves settled and her heart rate dropped back to a regular pace. She had expected life with Tommy to be structured and orderly but he was charmingly unpredictable. She was beginning to realise that her horizons where going to expand beyond the Met and London and she would need to adjust rapidly. It was daunting and she had expected to feel overwhelmed but she was actually excited. "You spoil me you know."

"I like spoiling you. You deserve it and it helps make up for all the times I should have spoiled you and didn't." He rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her as they watched the ocean. The sun had moved lower in the sky and was casting a bronzy glow across the surface that made the cliffs look almost black.

Tommy insisted on clearing the lunch and repacking the basket while Barbara walked over closer to the edge of the cliff to watch a pod of dolphins frolicking in the waves. She turned back to see Tommy stretched out on the blanket watching her. His soft, romantic expression had been replaced by a more sensual longing that compelled her to lie beside him. He kissed her softly and slipped his hand under her jumper to caress her back.

"I had it all worked out," he told her, "I was going to propose right here and then make love to you for the first time. I wanted it to be memorable and special."

"It would've been lovely but last week was memorable and special too. I'm glad we didn't wait; I don't think I could have stood the tension any longer. I kept hoping after Greenwich and when you played me Turandot that it was heading that way but you certainly made a lady wait."

"I wanted you to understand I was serious about you and I wanted it to be perfect." He closed his eyes as if remembering. "That night at the opera, when you took my hand, that's when I knew you felt the same way and were ready to let me love you."

"You make me sound like Turandot! I don't think you had to melt my icy heart Sir. Anyway," she said impishly, "at the moment I'm very ready to let you love me. It would be the first time outdoors, for me at least."

"Hmm, me too Havers," he muttered absentmindedly as he nibbled seductively on her ear.

Despite the growing pressure of anticipation in her abdomen their movements were unhurried. Tommy sat up to pull off his boots and socks and then carefully undid her laces and slipped off her runners. He traced circles around her ankles and then patiently massaged her feet as Barbara lay back on the rug enjoying the tingling sensation that ran up her legs. Tommy tracked his hands slowly over her legs and hips then tucked his fingers under her jumper and encircled her waist. He pulled her gently towards him until she was sitting then as he kissed he used his thumb to drag her jumper up her body as he inched his hands up her back. Barbara tugged anxiously at his shirt, prying it from his trousers before unfastening his buttons which allowed the shirt to hang freely. Her hands traced the outline of his chest in a way she knew made him quiver. They broke their kiss as he lifted the jumper over her head and off her arms. He expertly undid and removed her bra as they sank back down onto the red and white checks.

"What if someone comes past?" she asked, suddenly worried that the open air was more exposed than she had thought.

"I doubt they will but the risk of being caught adds a certain spice to it don't you think?" he asked as he shucked out of his shirt.

"It's only been a week and you already need added spice do you?" She kissed him rather erotically, even by their recent standards, and reached down to undo his belt.

"No, not at all," he said emphatically, "especially if you keep doing that."

It was not long before they had managed to shed their remaining clothes. Tommy was kneeling behind her, nuzzling her neck. She arched her back which pushed her breasts firmly into the palms of his hands which had been gently supporting them. He moaned softly in her ear and she placed her hands over his and guided them down her stomach, over her scar. She tried to guide them further but he stopped and gently pulled her down onto the blanket and kissed her tenderly. Barbara tried to reposition herself to find just the right level of friction against his leg but he reached out and stopped her.

Tommy stopped kissing her and lay up on his elbow and trailed his fingers lightly over her scar as she lay beside him. He seemed distracted and had lost the enthusiasm of earlier. "Tommy, what's wrong?" Barbara asked him concerned by his sudden seriousness.

"Nothing; absolutely nothing. In fact everything is perfect," he replied although she could tell he clearly had something on his mind.

"But…" she prompted.

"Yesterday, in the shower," he started, "I was wondering why."

She was suddenly back in his car the day he told her Helen was pregnant. She remembered his face and how haunted it had been. It had been obvious to her that it had not been planned, at least by him. "Oh Tommy, sorry I shouldn't have done that," she said apologetically, "it was a spur of the moment thing. I just wanted you so desperately and...unconstrained. It will be fine though, we won't have any undesired consequences. When I get back to London I'll see the doctor so that we can have moments like yesterday without worrying. I don't expect you to repeat it today. We can revert to what we were doing." Despite the intimacy of their relationship she found it embarrassing discussing contraception with him.

He frowned at her. "I don't want to," he said in a slow, uncertain voice, "and you don't need to see the doctor."

"Okay…" Barbara was confused and not sure how to respond. Was he telling her he had had a vasectomy? Surely then they wouldn't have needed to worry all this week.

"Well," he said hesitantly, "it is probably far too early to say this without scaring you but I want those consequences."

Barbara was not quite sure she understood what he meant. "What are you saying Tommy?"

He took a deep breath and spoke as if he were confessing to a crime. "I felt it yesterday and I feel it again now. Each time we've made love it's as if we become one and…well I want to create a little person who is made up of both of us and will forever be the embodiment of that love. I have to tell you now or I'm not being fair. I know it is too early but yesterday and even more now I want to make you pregnant."

That was the last thing Barbara had expected him to say. "Oh." It was the only reply she could manage. She suddenly felt extremely vulnerable lying naked on a hilltop discussing children. Surely this was a conversation for when they were married, clothed and rational.

"I want to be there with you for everything. I want to be nervous when you first suspect it and we watch to see the lines change colour. I want to be there holding your hand when you have morning sickness. I want to be excited to go for the scans and to see our son or daughter for the first time. I want to watch your stomach grow and then feel the baby kicking you. I want to support you when you're writhing in agony giving birth…"

"Great, you make it sound so attractive," she cut in. He looked deeply hurt by her comment and she regretted her joke. She had had no idea it was even on his mind. In all the rush of the last month she had not even though about having children.

He sat up and continued but in a slightly lower tone, his voice almost cracking. "I want to share the joy when we first hold the baby and then all the milestones as they grow up. Perhaps give them a sibling or two. I had hoped you wanted that too." He looked down at the ground, defeated.

She had not meant to trivialise it she had simply been shocked and self-conscious. How had they gone from nervous first kiss to discussing having children together in a week? She sat up and hugged him but he did not return her embrace so she leant back and looked at him directly. He looked up expectantly with the same haunted look she had seen in the boy would needed to be loved and it broke her heart that she had caused it. His mother's voice rang in her ears. Don't push him away. "Oh Tommy, I'm so sorry. I do want that too." They were not just words; she meant it.

"Don't just say it to make me feel better Barbara."

"I'm not. You'll make a loving father. I hadn't thought about a child actually being the essence of us in that way but it is lovely to think someone would carry both of us around their whole life, where every cell is a merger of you and I. But it scares me. What if our age and the shooting have an impact? What if it doesn't happen? What if I'm a lousy mother? I will've let you down." Now she was sad and concerned.

"No, you won't let me down," he said sympathetically, "you are terrific with children so they'll have the most perfect mother. And if it doesn't happen then it wasn't meant to be. I'm not after an heir Barbara, this is much more spiritual. I never had that with Helen and the baby. She never involved me, I felt as though it was hers and I was just the sperm donor. It only became real when she lost it. Anyway that's irrelevant; I only care about what we want."

Barbara looked at him with the most loving face she could muster and pulled him slowly down on the rug on top of her. "Tommy, nothing on earth would make me happier than being your wife and the mother of your children. It would be perfect if making love up here, this afternoon, created our child."

"But?"

"If you don't come here and kiss me we won't be creating anything!"

Tommy grinned at her as only he could. "You have no idea how much I love you."

"Show me then."

When they returned to the house Daze and Judith were out the front playing with the dogs. "I was about to send out a search party," his mother scolded. Barbara noticed that his shirt was not done up correctly and she blushed noticing that Daze had also seen it. His mother kept a straight face but her glance towards Barbara conveyed delight. It seemed his mother did approve of the affect she was having on him. Nonetheless she made a note to ensure they checked themselves more carefully in future. Today after their discussion they had lost track of time. They had lost track of everything except each other.

They showered, separately to avoid temptation, and were ready for dinner just in time. The others asked about their picnic and Barbara described the beach and Tommy's romantic poetry reading and honeymoon cake which seemed to astound his sister. "Tommy organised that? Our Tommy?" Barbara nodded and laughed at the sheepish look on her lover's face.

"Steady on old chap," Matthew said, "don't set expectations too high or George and I will never keep up."

"We're not competing for the same woman." Tommy was smiling but his voice had the same cool edge of warning that he had used at the restaurant when they first met Matthew. She was flattered by his jealousy but it could be awkward so she rubbed her foot against his leg to reassure him.

Daze broke the mood. "Barbara, has Tommy told you about our obligations tomorrow?"

"Obligations, er no."

"Mother, Barbara is not obligated to do anything," he said then turned to Barbara, "we go to the Nanrunnel Easter Dawn Service and then host a breakfast in town before the morning service in the church. I'd be happy if you join us but if you prefer to stay here that will be fine." He looked at his mother as he emphasised the last words.

"No, I'll come. Happy to," she replied reassuring both Lynleys.

"All settled then," his mother said ending discussion on the topic. "We'll leave just before five." Daze looked around the room and everyone nodded.

Tommy excused them and they retired to their room where he apologised for his mother's ambush. He was clearly annoyed. "She does that and it annoys me. There is ample time for you to adjust to 'our obligations' as she so charmingly put it."

"Tommy, it's fine. I don't mind. Now come here so we can get some sleep."

They snuggled in and she was almost asleep when he spoke. "Barbara I've had an idea."