The Harold Palmer Affair Part VII

[Silktie]

I see your plan, and raise you one


Harry stared at her, unable to believe that he’d heard correctly. But it was written all over her face; love. For him. Love for him. Their eyes held, and she saw the tears well up in his, saw his breathing become deeper and faster as he struggled to control his emotions. He turned towards her, and lifted a hand halfway to her face before dropping it again. Somehow, this moment was bigger than he’d anticipated, and mere physical contact could not ever do it justice. He stood, lost in his emotions and the love in her eyes, wanting to say something, to do something, but not knowing what the right words or actions were.

She rescued him, giving him a wobbly smile and reaching out to lay her hand against his cheek.
“Don’t, you’ll set me off,” she said gently, stroking his skin with her thumb.
Harry closed his eyes and laid his hand over hers, holding it to his face. He turned his head to kiss her palm, a long, long kiss, before she felt him smile. He looked back at her and this time his eyes sparkled with devotion. As he was about to say something, one of the horses wandered up and nudged Harry’s arm, hoping for an apple. The unexpected contact startled him, and they both laughed, the gravity of the moment broken and brought back to manageable levels.

Harry rubbed the horse’s neck, but held onto Ruth’s hand with his other. Still not able to find the right words, he lifted her hand and pressed it against his heart, before covering it with both of his. Hoping that she would understand what he was trying to say with the simple gesture. He looked entreatingly at her, and she understood. She nodded, and laid her other hand on top of his. They stood like that, enjoying the moment, enjoying each other.

Finally Ruth cleared her throat. “What do we do now?”
Harry squeezed her hand before letting go. “We get back to work. We finish this operation. And when it’s done, perhaps you’d like to have dinner with me?”
She put her hand back over his heart. “I’d love to.”
He watched her for another few seconds, before nodding and slipping an arm around her, turning towards the house.
“Come on then, Mrs Emmerson. Let’s get the show on the road.”

They walked slowly back to the house, where Harry retreated to their room and pretended to work for a while. Ruth was claimed by Sergei, who said he’d show her around the property and steered her away with a hand in the small of her back. Harry watched them go, a feeling of unease settling over him. He’d seen the lusty looks the other man had been giving Ruth, and he wondered what Fedorov’s intentions were. These worries inspired him to ‘work’ quickly, anxious not to leave Ruth alone with the man for too long.

He found them on the veranda outside, where Sergei was standing much too close to Ruth for Harry’s liking whilst elaborating about his plans to establish a vineyard on the property. When he approached, Ruth turned to him, relief evident in her eyes.
“Harold, darling! Are you done?”
Harry nodded and smiled, but the expression in his eyes was cold when they turned to Sergei.
“Thank you for entertaining Ruth, Sergei. You’ve been a truly wonderful host, but I think we’ll get out of your hair for the rest of the day.”
He took Ruth’s hand. “I thought we’d drive around a bit, see some of the countryside. That is if we could impose on you for a car?” The last bit was addressed to Sergei, who readily agreed.

Half an hour later they were on their way. Ruth took a deep breath as soon as they turned onto the main road and sped away from the house. She was finding the atmosphere increasingly stifling, and the attention Fedorov had lavished on her that morning was most unwelcome. She didn’t like the look in his eyes when they travelled over her, which they frequently did. Perhaps she should tell Harry, but she feared that he would overreact and compromise the mission. She hadn’t missed the cold expression when he’d looked at Fedorov earlier, and she knew that he’d also noticed the way Fedorov’s gaze lingered on her. It was up to her to make sure that things didn’t get out of hand, she decided, and resolved to stay out of the Russian’s way until the operation was over. For now she would put these thoughts out of her mind, and concentrate on how wonderful it was to spend a day in Harry’s company, with nothing more strenuous to do than sightseeing.

They hadn’t gone far when Harry turned into another smallholding, stopping in front of a small, charming house screened from the surrounding countryside by trees. He sat for a moment, surveying the house, before turning to Ruth.
“This is our safehouse,” he explained. “If anything should happen and we get separated, you come here. The key is under a loose stepping stone in the second step. There are emergency contact numbers hidden in the sudoku puzzle in the paper lying on the kitchen table. It’ll put you in contact with an old DGSE contact of mine, who’ll provide any help we might need. All right?”
Ruth nodded, surprised at the extent of planning Harry had put into this. She shifted uneasily.
“Harry… Why are you so worried about this weekend? What is your main concern?”

He reached out and took her hand. “I don’t know. Perhaps I’m being over-protective. I didn’t like the way he’s been looking at you, to be honest. Who knows how far he might try to take things? If he tries anything with you…”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but the ominous note in his voice left her in no doubt what Harry would do in those circumstances. She squeezed his hand.
“I appreciate your commitment to protecting me, I really do. Just promise me you’ll keep a level head, Harry. Please. You can’t wrap me in cotton wool all the time. You have to trust me to take care of myself out in the field. Don’t compromise the operation unnecessarily.”
Harry looked down at their joined hands. “I’ll try. I will. But I won’t let him hurt you, Ruth. Besides, I’m sure Harold wouldn’t let anything happen to his beloved PA,” he smiled wryly. “So protecting you won’t necessarily mean breaking cover.”

Ruth smiled at that. “I guess not. Just remember that Harold won’t necessarily know how to kill a man with a fork,” she teased in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Harry laughed. “Noted. Give me a moment to check the back of the house, then we can be on our way.”
He disappeared round the corner. After making sure that she hadn’t followed, he lifted the plant out of the third flowerpot from the right, and retrieved a small object wrapped in water resistant cloth from the bottom. He put the plant back, and unwrapped a small calibre gun, which he slipped into the pocket of his jacket before joining Ruth again.
As he started the car, he hesitated and turned to her.
“Do you think we can, for today I mean, that we can leave the legends aside?”
“I’d love that,” she responded, reaching out to rest her hand lightly on his thigh. “I’ve always dreamed of wandering around Provence with you.”
“Well then.” For once he allowed everything he was feeling to show on his face, before driving off. When she left her hand on his leg he couldn’t help the most ridiculously happy smile from spreading across his face. A glance at her face showed her sporting a matching expression, and he knew that they were both determined to make the most of this interlude.

* * *

It was early evening by the time they reluctantly returned to Fedorov’s house. They had wandered through the surrounding villages hand in hand, and Harry had happily allowed Ruth to drag him into any shop that took her fancy. A visit to a dusty bookshop selling old books had led to heated debate as Harry tried to talk Ruth down from buying armfuls of French books, arguing sensibly that it would be hard to explain to their Russian benefactor. She had relented reluctantly and in the end had bought only two, which was now hidden under their other touristy purchases, mostly bought to keep up the pretence. Harry had made a show of rolling his eyes as Ruth bought just about everything possible made with lavender, from soap, to bubble bath, to cookies, but was secretly hoping that they could use some of those products together. He was able to rather vividly imagine Ruth covered in lavender scented foam, her skin slick under his touch-
“Harry?” Ruth repeated, frowning at him as he failed to hear her the first time.
“Hmmm?”
“We’re here. You can switch off the car now.”
“Oh. Right.”
As she followed him into the house, she wondered where his thoughts had been that had caused such a blissful expression to settle over his features.

They went straight to their room, which Harry scanned once again to make sure Fedorov had not planted any bugs in their absence. Next he powered up the laptop and called up the hidden programme Tariq had loaded to check whether the Russian had taken the bait. He had. All the files pertaining to Harold’s work at UK Defence Electronics had been copied. Harry and Ruth smiled triumphantly at each other. Now all that remained was for them to extract themselves from Fedorov’s orbit for the operation to be concluded successfully.
“By tomorrow this time we’ll be done, Ruth,” Harry promised. He resisted the urge to kiss her, somehow wanting the next time he did so to be away from this place. When she didn’t answer immediately, he studied her, worried that something was wrong. She was deep in thought, staring off into the distance and clearly not paying attention to anything he was saying. Harry knew that look; it was the one she got when she was thinking through a complicated problem. So he waited patiently, keeping quiet. His patience was soon rewarded.

“Harry, I have a plan, but you’re not going to like it.”
“A plan for what exactly?” he asked warily.
“To get us out of here by tonight.” She looked at him eagerly. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? I know I would.”
He didn’t like the sound of this; he could also think of a way to get them out of there, but there was no way he would risk that just for an early exit.
“Yes, I would, but Ruth-“
She hastened on, trying to explain her plan before he had a chance to shoot her down. “We know Sergei is interested in Ruth. If I can get him to make a move on her-“
“No. Absolutely not.” Harry didn’t raise his voice, he didn’t need to. He had rarely sounded more determined than he did then.
Ruth sighed, exasperated. “It’s the perfect solution. You catch him trying it on with me, have a fall-out, and we can leave immediately. It also gets us out of future entanglements with Fedorov quite neatly.”
“I said no!” Harry began pacing, and this time he did raise his voice.
“Why not?” Ruth asked calmly.
“Because it’s bloody dangerous!”
“I’ll wear a wire,” Ruth continued stubbornly. “You can listen in and break things up before it gets out of hand.”
“For God’s sake, Ruth. Do you have any idea how many things can go wrong with this plan? Is it really worth risking all that to get out of here one day earlier?”

“Yes. It is.” Her answer brought him up short and he turned to her. Her voice rose as she continued. “I’m tired of this charade, Harry. I want to have tonight with you, Harry, rather than with Harold. I want to be away from this house, to speak and act on all these feelings that have built up since the start of the operation. I want to spend time with you before we go back to London and real life.”
By the time she finished speaking, she was standing right in front of him, and they stared at each other, the battle of wills continuing. Harry could feel himself weaken, and tried one last time to make her understand.
“I’m afraid for you,” he said softly, his hand coming to rest against her neck and his thumb stroking her cheek.
“Fedorov is… there’s a hardness behind those eyes. He might get violent before I can stop it, and I’ll never forgive myself if that happens.”
But Ruth was determined. “I want to do it. It’ll be all right. You and I… we make a good team. We can do this. Please, Harry.”
He looked into those beautiful blue eyes, and he was powerless to deny her. He knew that if he’d been here with any other officer, he would have suggested this course of action himself. And he knew that she knew that, too. The fact that she didn’t throw that in his face went a long way to deciding him.
“Fine. But I’ll decide when to interfere. I make that call, do you understand?” There was a note of fear underlying the urgency in his voice.
“Of course. You’re in charge,” Ruth reassured without hesitation.
Harry turned away, feeling sick to his stomach with worry.

tbc

[MrsHat]

Harry will make sure she's okay

Brilliant writing yet again!

[Fidget]

Really enjoying reading this but I am a little worried that we aren't going to get anything 'M' rated

[Tineke]

This can't go wrong now, or can it ...?

[Sparky]

Another lovely chapter, looking forward to the next update!

[Aria]

Wonderful, Silktie. I'm sure Harry won't let anything bad happen to Ruth!!

[cateau1]

Telephone number in the Sudoku puzzle - love it!

[A Cousin]

Great first paragraph. We all know that expression on Harry.

So now we add a horse to this list of beings inturrupting a moment. I wonder how long this list will wind up being? Hopefully, that horses timing will be just as good when Ruth entraps Fedorov.

Oh, Ruth, Ruth, Ruth.... Did you learn nothing from the Zoe debacle? Something tells me they are going to need that safehouse.

[Tea Lady]

Glad to see a horse in the story.

Just wondering if Harry and Ruth plan to spend the night together at the tax payers expense? If so, glad to see public funds are actually being used sensibly for once.

[HellsBells]

This seems like a very risky plan, Ruth always ends up getting hurt when she is 'in the field'. Looking forward to the next update, Silktie.