Perry Mason whistled a happy tune as he emerged from his meeting with Judge Whitacre and District Attorney Hamilton Burger. It had been a long day taken up with fraught negotiations, but now it was over, his client vindicated, and he was looking forward to getting back to the office. To Della. Over the past few weeks it had gradually dawned on him why he looked forward to going to work every morning; why even the dreariest of days seemed bright; why her scent permeated his senses whenever she was near.

He was in love. The final realisation had hit him when he woke up that morning. He, the great Perry Mason, man about town, never get deeply involved, break it off before it gets too serious, was in love. He hadn't felt like this since…he tried to remember…..since he and Eileen Bryce had shared their first kiss after the school prom and vowed eternal love. That had ended badly, he recalled, when he had gone off to law school, but this time….. This time he knew that he was ready at the age of 38 to settle down. He had never entertained the idea of settling down before, but somehow the notion of spending the rest of his life with Miss Della Street had become the focus of his dreams. Holding her in his arms, never having to say goodnight and part from her, making love to her, having a child with her. God, what had this woman done to him?

He wondered what she really thought of him. He had never believed in getting romantically involved with office colleagues. Too many complications. But recently he had found it increasingly difficult to keep his hands off her. Their eyes would meet, or their fingers brush as she handed him letters to sign, or he would grip her elbow to guide her through the throngs of reporters who always clustered round when he left the courthouse. She never objected or withdrew her arm. She seemed to enjoy the dinners they shared at Clay's Grill if they had to work into the evening. She happily accepted his offers to drive her home if they worked very late. But did she have any romantic feelings for him? He had no way of knowing for certain, but he would find out, and if necessary indulge in some good, old-fashioned courting. He would have this woman if it was the last thing he did, and have her forever as his wife.

It was nearly seven o'clock when he got back to the office. As he expected, Della was still there, typing up documents in her office. Her official working hours were nine to five, but she had long ago given up any aspiration to be able to leave at five on the dot. She smiled as he entered her office.

"Evening, chief! How did it go with Judge Whitacre?".

He withdrew his glance from the eau-de-nil silk blouse which hugged her figure. "Excellent, in the end, but it was hard-fought. Burger was determined not to give an inch."

"Well, if we go over your notes now, I'll get them typed up before I go home," she said.

"No, Della." He came and perched on the edge of her desk. "I'm too tired to do any more work tonight. Let's go down to Clay's for some dinner, then I'll run you home."

He smiled at her, but she looked away and stood up. "Thank you, Perry, but if you don't need me any more tonight, I think I'll just head home."

"Don't you want dinner?" he asked playfully. "I've never known you to turn down one of Terence's steaks?"

"No, thank you. I'll just go home, if you don't mind."

"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked, always wary of putting his foot in it when it came to 'women's troubles.'

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks. Just a bit tired. I'll see you in the morning."

She picked up her coat and he gently took it from her and held it open. Carefully she slid it on, but as he smoothed it over her shoulders, she almost recoiled at his touch.

"Della, are you sure you're ok? Come on, I'll drive you home."

"NO!" she almost spat out the word. "Thank you but I'll get a bus. Goodnight! I'll see you in the morning." And with that she headed for the elevators.

At first Perry was too stunned to react. What was wrong? What had he done to upset her? He had come back with such high hopes of furthering their relationship, but suddenly she seemed so distant. After a few moments' hesitation, he headed after her, but by the time he reached the entrance lobby he saw her disappearing onto a passing bus .Too late to do anything tonight, he thought. I'll sort it out in the morning.

The next morning he arrived at the office to find her at her desk as usual. She smiled at him as she bade him good morning, and she seemed her normal self as they prepared for court. When the lunch recess arrived, he suggested that as usual they ate together in the small bistro opposite the courthouse, but she shook her head.

"Thanks, Perry, but I've arranged to meet up with some girls I used to work with this lunchtime. I'll see you back here at one-thirty."

And so it continued. Every day there was some excuse. If they had to work late, she had mysteriously brought sandwiches from home; at the courthouse there was always some excuse - meeting an old friend, shopping to do, just not feeling hungry. A few weeks before, he had been ready to declare his love for her, confident that his declaration would not be unwelcome. Now he had the impression that she couldn't stand being alone with him in any but a work situation. He had tried as tactfully as possible to probe what was wrong, but to no avail. To his shame he had asked Paul Drake to snoop into her private life. Were there family problems? Was there a boyfriend he knew nothing of? But Paul came up with nothing out of the ordinary.

He now faced a dilemma. Should he confront her? Ask her what was wrong? Find out why she no longer wanted to share working dinners at Clay's? Why she always had an excuse not to spend her lunch hour with him? Or should he just forget his romantic interest in her and move on? She obviously didn't care for him. He was enough of an observer of women to pick up on tiny signals if his interest was reciprocated. Before this icy blast, he had convinced himself that she felt as he did, but now…..? At last he made up his mind. He had to know what had happened to change her attitude; what HE had done in all innocence to upset her.

He thought long and hard about how to approach the subject and decided that there was no point beating about the bush. At the end of a long day at the office, as she went to fetch her coat, he gently gripped her arm.

"Come and sit down, Della. I need to talk to you."

"Perry, I'll miss my bus. Can't it wait till tomorrow?"

"No, it can't." He took her arm and guided her back into his office and sat her down on the couch. He sat down beside her and noticed that she slid as far away from him as possible.

"Della, what's wrong?" he asked.

She stared straight ahead, avoiding his gaze. "Wrong? There's nothing wrong. What makes you think there's something wrong?"

" Something has changed and I want to know what it is."

"You're imagining things. Is there something wrong with my work?"

He noticed she was trembling in the grip of some emotion. "No. You are as efficient as ever. But you no longer want to have lunch with me. You refuse to go down to Clay's with me for dinner if we're working late. If I offer to run you home, you react as if I'd made an indecent suggestion to you. You didn't used to be like that. I want to know what's changed."

She was silent. Suddenly he had had enough. Almost roughly he stood up, pulling her to her feet and grasping her arms. "Della, you are very dear to me. I can't bear this coldness between us. Please tell me what's wrong."

At last she looked him in the eye. "Can't you see how people are talking?"

"What people?"

"People in the courthouse. People in this building. Just people.'

"I don't understand."

"I was down at the courthouse the day you had your meeting with Mr Burger in Judge Whitacre's chambers, filing the writs as you asked me. I was in the ladies' restroom and I overheard some of the other secretaries and clerks talking. They didn't know I was there. They were saying such awful things about us, Perry….. Disgusting things. They said it was obvious we were…sleeping together. It made me realise how it looked, the way we were together. The lunches, the dinners… everybody assumed that we were… I couldn't bear it, Perry. That they could think so badly of you. They actually called me a..…"

She burst into tears and he enveloped her in his arms. "Oh my poor love!" he nuzzled her hair. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to know. I was afraid for your reputation. For my reputation. I thought if I showed them that we were nothing but work colleagues they would stop."

He cupped her face in his hands and looked deeply into her hazel eyes. "Della, I love you. I was plucking up the courage to tell you when all this started. I don't give a damn what people say about me and my private life, but I will not have one word said against you. There's one way to shut them up. I don't know how you feel about me, but I love you more than I thought possible to love anyone on this earth. Will you marry me? If you don't love me now, maybe you can learn to care for me just a little bit."

"Care for you?" she said. "I've been in love with you since the first week I came to work for you."

"Oh my darling!" His mouth sought hers as he placed a long sensual kiss on her lips. "Will you be my wife?"

"Do you really mean it? You're not just doing this to rescue my reputation?" she asked.

He sighed in exasperation. "Della, I love you with every fibre of my being. I've never contemplated asking any woman to be my wife before . I was quite happy with casual affairs without any commitment. But then you came along and suddenly I knew that my work wasn't the most important thing in my life any more. I want a home life. Maybe a family. Someone to share my life with, body and soul. You're that woman, Della. Please marry me. I love you so much."

She looked at him, her eyes shining with love. "Yes, I'll marry you, Perry. But on one condition. I don't want to be stuck all day in some big house waiting for you to come home. I want to keep my job here."

"Agreed," he said. "I would be lost without you. Besides you do just about everything in this law firm apart from representing the clients in court. And I sometimes think you could do that as well as me."

"Perry…."

"No, Della, listen to me. I want you as my partner in everything. I am going to make you an equal partner in this firm. You already run this office, so you will be the administrative branch and I will be the legal one. What do you say?"

"I don't know what to say. What will "people" say?"

"Who cares?" Perry Mason smiled to himself as he gathered her into his arms. When they saw the size of the diamond he intended to buy her, the courtroom busybodies really would have something to gossip about.