by Rhoda Baxter
Don't worry Darling. You are, were and always will be, the love of my life. What do I need a good-looking man for, when I've got you?
Lou
##
From: James Edwards
To: Louise Edwards
Dammit woman, you always win me over with your sweet talk.
I love you too.
Jim
Chapter 10
From: Polly
To: Jane Porter
Where are you? Are you working late AGAIN? It's no fun watching Desperate Housewives on my own!
Pol
##
From: Jane Porter
To: Polly
Sorry! We've only got 4 days until we have to report to Susan and I still haven't found anything that Marsh can use. I've got about 30 articles to look through in the hope that one of them has a throw away comment about combining drugs.
To make things worse, I can't keep my mind off Marsh. It's really quiet at this time of night and the office walls are so thin that I can hear him talking into his Dictaphone. Just knowing that he's so close is driving me insane.
And my head hurts.
Jane
##
From: Polly
To: Jane Porter
You're working too hard. That's why your head hurts.
Come home. Have a glass of wine and watch Desperate Housewives with me.
Pol.
##
From: Jane Porter
To: Polly
Maybe you're right. I'll go pick up the last research paper I've printed out and I'll call it a day.
See you in a bit.
Jane.
* * * *
Jane stood and stretched. Her back was stiff from sitting still. She rolled her shoulders, trying to loosen them. The walk to the shared printer in a room around the corner would do her good.
The floor was quiet. Everyone else seemed to have gone home. It seemed strange to see the place so still, when it was normally buzzing with people. She heard a door shut somewhere. So, there were others working late.
She paused at a window. It was another cold night and the beginnings of fog were starting to thread through the streetlights down below. She shuddered, and forced herself to look away from the street, up at the other tower blocks. A number of them had lights on here and there.
She ran a hand over her tired eyes. She didn't know which was more depressing, seeing the enormous amount of reading she had to do, or nearing the end of the list and still not finding anything of any use. Once she got home, the last thing she'd want to do was read, so she'd try to read the remaining document on the way.
Jane turned into the print room and found Marsh kneeling, loading paper into the printer tray.
He looked up and smiled. "Still here? I thought Keith and I were the only ones mad enough to stay this late."
"I was just thinking of heading off, actually," said Jane. "I'm nearly at the end of the list."
Marsh pushed the drawer shut, stood, and dusted off his knees. "I guess you haven't found anything." The printer whirred into life.
"Nothing. I've started dreaming about patents." She sighed. "I think I'm losing the will to live."
"I know that feeling," he said. Printed pages began emerging and falling into a neat pile.
Jane's mind had gone completely blank. When a page shot out of the printer and slid off the top of the pile, they both reached for it.
Marsh's hand grazed hers. An electric thrill ran up her arm. Her breath caught and she looked up, straight into his eyes. The paper fell, unimpeded, to the floor.
Held in his gaze she couldn't move. He was so tantalisingly close.
Marsh drew a breath and blinked. He cleared his throat. "Sorry," he murmured.
He picked up the paper. "I think this is part of yours." He hesitated, looked at it more closely. "Looks like it might be relevant." He sorted through the rest of the printed papers, making two piles. "These are yours too."
"Thanks," she took the pages, careful not to touch him again. What now? Did they walk back to the office together? Did she go first, with him behind her? What?
"I...er...was just going to get a cup of coffee," he said, and walked around her to the door.
"Right," said Jane, relieved. "I'll see you later then." She noticed his coffee cup was still sitting on the counter beyond the printer.
"See you later," he said.
"Right," she said again, but she doubted he'd heard her. He was nearly running down the hall toward his office.
Jane returned to her office, trying to get her thoughts in order. Once she got there, she looked at the document she'd printed out. She skimmed the front page.
Marsh had been right. It did look relevant. She came to a halt in front of her desk and, still standing, she started to read.
There it was. Buried in the conclusions was a sentence suggesting that combining two classes of drugs might lead to more effective results. Just the thing she was looking for.
She stared at the paper for a moment. All these hours of wading through patents and research papers and she'd found it. Quickly, she flicked to the front to find out the publication date. She cross checked the date to see if the paper had been published before the patent had been filed. Her heart sank to see that the date was one day after the date she needed.
She was just about to put the paper into the pile of others that she'd already read when she caught sight of a small line of text. Published on the web and a date that was a full two weeks earlier. Which meant that it had been available to the public for several days before the patent had been filed. So the inventors could have read it before they put the patent in.
She gave a little squeak of excitement. Without stopping to think, she headed toward Marsh's office.
He was at his desk, clearly tidying up to go home. "What's up?" he said, when she rushed in.
She thrust the paper into his hands. "Paragraph before last." She tried not to jiggle up and down with excitement.
A smile crept across his face as he read. "When was it published?" He flipped to the front and his smile faded. "It's a day too late."
Jane leaned across and triumphantly stabbed at the date it was published on the web. "There!"
Marsh looked where she pointed. "Fantastic! This is perfect! Jane, you're a genius."
When he looked up at her, she was still leaning across his desk. Too close.
Her eyes focused on his mouth. If she leaned forward just a little bit, she could kiss him. She knew it wasn't strictly appropriate, but there was no one else in the office. Who would know?
She wasn't sure if he liked her. What if he didn't?
Somewhere in the middle of her next thought, Marsh kissed her.
Her heart stopped for a second and then restarted, hammering hard and fast. She'd been right all along. He wanted her just much as she wanted him. She kissed him back with passion.
Marsh moved around the desk so she was no longer leaning at an awkward angle. He moved his hands to her waist.
Jane ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer. Her heart pounded, almost deafening her.
Somewhere a door slammed. They jumped apart. Footsteps sounded in the hallway, coming towards Marsh's office. They stared at each other, with lips parted, both breathing hard.
"Evening," said Keith. "I see we're all still here."
She took one step away from Marsh as she turned to look towards the door.
"What's going on?" Keith said, looking from one to the other.
Jane was sure her cheeks were flaming. She glanced at Marsh, whose lips had clamped into a line. "I...found this paper." She picked it up. "I thought it was relevant."
Keith took the paper and started to read.
Marsh
winced.
Jane bit her lip. She wanted, more than anything, for Keith to go away and leave her alone with Marsh. But there was little chance of that.
"Hey, this looks very interesting." Keith flipped through, looked at the date. "Bugger. It's a day too late."
"Is it?" said Marsh. "What a shame." He shut down his computer. "I guess that's me done for the day."
Jane suddenly realised he hadn't wanted Keith to know about the paper. She wondered why. Surely, they were all on the same team.
"Oh hang on," said Keith. "It was published online two weeks earlier. It could still be relevant."
"Certainly could be." Whilst Keith read the relevant paragraphs, Marsh continued to pack up.
Jane fidgeted, wishing Keith would leave.
"Well, this is brilliant. Just what we were looking for!" He folded the document in half. "This calls for a celebration. Let me buy you a drink."
"I...er..." Out of the corner of her eye, Jane could see that Marsh had frozen in the act of putting on his suit jacket. "That's really nice of you, but I have a terrible headache." She frowned in what she hoped was a convincing display of pain. "I was thinking of finishing up here and heading off."
Keith looked from her to Marsh and back again. "Actually, it is quite late. I'll walk you to the tube station. We don't want a repeat of yesterday's incident, do we?"
She gave him a weak smile.
"I'll meet you in the foyer in ten minutes."
Jane couldn't think of any way out. She would have to let Keith walk her to the station. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said to Marsh.
"Yes. Have a good evening." Marsh surprised her with a smile. "See you tomorrow."
"Not running today then?" said Keith, as they trooped out of Marsh's office.
Marsh held the door for him. "I decided I couldn't be bothered." He looked over his shoulder at Jane and twitched an eyebrow.
She stared at him, not sure what he meant, but he merely smiled and followed Keith out.
Jane returned to her office, confused. She relived Marsh's kiss. Just the memory of it weakened her knees. To her surprise, she realised that she hadn't experienced that melting feeling in years. Not since she'd first got together with Ashby.
At least now she knew that Marsh liked her. But what now? It was only one kiss.
And he'd pretended nothing had happened after Keith walked in. In fact, he had been almost anxious to get away from her.
From what she had heard of Dominique, she wasn't surprised that his previous experience had made him cautious. Without thinking she touched her lip. Was she supposed to pretend it had never happened?
She had no idea where this was going to go. If all else failed, at least they were going out for dinner next week. She was about to email Polly when her phone rang.
"Hello? Jane Porter..."
"Jane, it's me," said Marsh, speaking quickly. "Just wondered if you wanted me to wait outside for you..."
"Yes please," she said with a smile. "That would be nice."
"Do you think you can get down before Keith catches up with you?"
"I'm on my way."
"Brilliant. See you in a minute."
Jane ran for the lift, pulling on her coat and scarf as she went. She glanced anxiously at the glass doors, fearing that Keith would appear and catch her. She watched the numbers, willing the lift to move faster. It arrived at the same moment as Keith walked into reception. He stopped to sign out and didn't appear to have noticed Jane. She leapt into the lift and closed the door before he saw her.
Marsh was standing just outside the building, waiting for her. "He's right behind me," she said.
They walked quickly towards Holborn, side by side, but not touching. Marsh wasn't wearing a coat and had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his suit jacket.
"Where are we going?" said Jane, when they stopped on a kerb to wait for a lorry to emerge from an alley.
Marsh looked sideways at her, the streetlight casting his face into shadow. "My place?"
The lorry was nearly out now. Jane cleared her throat. "Um... funny business?"
His eyes sparkled in the streetlight. "Absolutely."
* * * *
When they emerged from the underground station into the suburban night, it was cold enough for Jane to see her breath, but she felt warm with anticipation. As the train left, Marsh took her hand and his palm burned against hers. They walked faster.
At his apartment building, they practically ran up the stairs. Marsh let go of her hand, so he could open the door, but dropped his keys. For an instant Jane felt a stab of worry that he might be one of those men with unsteady hands. But Marsh managed to let them in, kick the door shut and start kissing her all at the same time.
She wrapped her arms round his neck. His long body pressed against hers. She lost all sense of time as his mouth moved against hers. She felt his runner's muscles under her fingertips when she laid her had on his chest. His kisses grew more frantic as he pulled her towards the bedroom, leaving a trail coat of coats, hats, and scarves.
When it came to it, Marsh's hands were not unsteady. Not one little bit.
Chapter 11
An alarm beeped and someone turned it off. Jane sank back into sleep.
Sometime later she woke up again. She wasn't in her own bed.
Barely a second later, she remembered whose bed she was in. A thrill ran through her. Eyes still shut, she savoured the morning. She heard a shower running. She was wearing one of Marsh's t-shirts, with a faded logo for a university running event. It was clearly a well loved t-shirt. Somehow, that seemed endearing.
She hauled herself upright and looked around. The curtains were drawn, but the bedside lamp shed enough light to see pale blue walls holding a couple of framed photomontages. A large wardrobe and chest of drawers made the room feel cramped. On the other side of the room were a wicker basket with a shirt hanging out and a plastic basket holding loosely folded clothes. A sock that had missed its mark lay between them, as though unsure which pile it belonged to.
She remembered Polly's definition of heterosexual men when she saw the line of clothes lying where they'd dropped them on their way to the bed.
The sound of the shower stopped. Jane leapt out of bed and scrabbled around to find her underwear. When she heard the bathroom door open, she jumped back into the bed and hurriedly finger-combed her hair.
Marsh came in, buttoning his shirt. "Morning," he said with a smile.
He looked so delicious with his hair wet and his feet still bare. Jane felt herself melt all over again.
"Hi," she said, and knew she'd gone bright red.
He picked a pair of clean socks out of the basket on his way to the bed. "Did you sleep okay?"
Jane thought of the night's activities. "Well..."
Marsh laughed. "I meant after that." He leaned forward and kissed her, very gently. "I'll go get you a cup of coffee."
Jane wondered exactly what one said the morning after the first night. It had been much easier with Ashby. They'd just fallen into bed together and stayed there for three days. Today she'd have to go back to work.
She closed her eyes and groaned. "Work. I'd forgotten about that. Can I use your shower?"
"Sure. There's some of Stevie's stuff in the cupboard, just use whatever you want." He went to the door. "I'll go put the kettle on."
The top shelf of the bathroom cupboard was full of shaving foam and other male toiletries The bottom shelf had a few half used bottles from The Body Shop, and, rather incongruously, a very expensive perfume. Jane lifted the lid and breathed in. Marshall's sister certainly had sophisticated taste in fragrance. Why had Stevie chosen to leave her posh perfume behind? She carefully put the bottle back and looked through the various scrubs and lotions for shower gel.
Feeling much more awake after the shower, she dressed in the only clothes she had. Fortunately her shirt wasn't too wrinkled. Once she'd pulled her hair into a ponytail, she checked her appearance in the mirror outside the
bathroom. There was a glow about her and her eyes sparkled.
Marsh was tapping away at his laptop in the kitchen. "I've made toast."
He closed the computer and ushered her towards the breakfast bar where a pile of toast and an assortment of jams was waiting. "I wasn't sure what you liked on your toast." He put a mug of coffee in front of her.
"Jam's fine," said Jane as she began to butter toast.
After several minutes of silence, Marsh said. "Well, this is awkward."
Jane looked up. "But, not in a bad way."
"No, not in a bad way."
They both munched their toast for a moment without making eye contact. Finally Marsh cleared his throat. "Jane."
She looked up.
"I... really like you." He didn't quite meet her eyes. "And I'd love to see you again...you know...outside of work."
"But?"
"Well, there's work. Like I said before, the whole inter office relationship thing. I've already been cautioned about it once and..."
Was he going to say he didn't want to see her again, now that he'd slept with her? She chided herself for thinking that the night before had been anything more than a one night stand. How could she have been so stupid?
She looked at her plate to hide the tears that threatened. "I understand that. I don't want to get you into trouble. So, if you don't want to meet like this again..."
"No, no," he said, eyes wide. "That's not what I meant. I meant... can we keep things discreet at work? You know, pretend nothing's going on?"
"Of course, I can do that." She knew her relief showed in her voice. "For a moment there, I thought... Never mind."
Marsh reached across and took her hand. "I really, really like you." He looked into her eyes. "I have from the moment I ran into you in the street. And each time I get to know a bit more about you, I like you more. I wasn't going to suggest we treat last night as a one-off." His dimple appeared. "I don't think I could bear that."
"That's good. I kind of enjoyed myself last night too." She felt another blush creep up her cheeks.
Marsh brought her hand up and placed a gentle kiss on her palm.
Later, as Marsh packed up his bag, he said, "Jane, what happened to that paper you found last night? Is it still on my desk?"