'I don't want you catching a chill,' he said wearily.

'Oh, get lost.'

'No.' He walked beside her, slowing his pace to match hers. 'Eve, we're going to have to go back to London. And when we get there, I'm being court-martialled and you're going back to St James's.'

'Thanks for reminding me.'

'And if I die, there's no one to help you. Even if you do get out, you'll have nothing. If I'm executed'

'Stop saying that!' How could he talk about it like that? And how could he not realise how much it hurt her to hear it?

'Eve, if I'm executed there'll be no widow's pension, but there's some money, enough to live on, at least for a while.'

'Widow's pension?' she said, giving him a sideways look.

'Aye, officer's privilege. If I die in the line of duty, you get money to live on.'

'Harker, I don't get anything, I'm not married to you.'

Harker said nothing for a moment, and Eve's blood pounded loudly in her ears.

'You could be,' he said. 'Marry me now, and you'll be an official citizen, you'll have more rights, and if I die'

'If you die?' Eve stopped walking and stared at him, incredulous. 'Harker, I don't want to be a widow. And I'm not going to marry you just in case you die.'

He stared at her, and she watched confusion, pain, and anger chase each other across his face.

'You'd rather spend the rest of your life in a POW camp or living rough because you've no money and no citizenship, than marry me? Even just for a couple of weeks?'

Eve gaped. How could he not get this? Offering to marry someone because you thought you were going to die had to be the most unromantic thing she'd ever heard of. And although she'd never pegged Harker for the hearts-and-flowers type, she still couldn't believe he was getting it this wrong.

'I won't marry anyone for a couple of weeks,' she said, 'and if you can't figure out why, you can find somewhere else to sleep tonight.'

With that she started walking for his quarters.

'It's my sodding room,' he shouted after her, but she gave no appearance of hearing him.

Eve didn't speak to him for the rest of the day. She even went so far as to take her dinner with Tallulah and Banks in their mess, and then he found her collecting her clothes and toiletries from his room to go and sleep in a spare cot in Tallulah's bunkhouse.

When he asked, begged, and ordered her not to go, she ignored him and went anyway, and Harker spent a miserable, angry night alone in a bed that was far too big.

In the morning, Daz told him Eve was probably well enough to travel, and Harker dully arranged with the Commodore for one of his ships to take them to Harwich, from where the road was secure enough to march straight into London. Concerned for Eve even if she wasn't talking to him, he organised a wagon to be waiting for them at Harwich to spare her an eighty-mile walk.

The computer was packed, carefully, in a crate, the squad assembled, and still Eve didn't make eye-contact with him. She spent most of the voyage in conversation with Daz about either her hand, or the computer, and when they docked refused Harker's assistance off the ship.

You've only got a few days left, he reminded himself, before she goes back to St James's and you get court-martialled. Don't waste what you've got.

The wagon rattled on as the sun came down and he sent Charlie and Banks on foot to scout for a decent place to spend the night. Packed in the wagon were three tents: one for Charlie and Tallulah, one for Banks and Daz, and one for Harker and Eve. He was determined to get her back in his bed at least once before the Damoclean sword fell on them both.

When they stopped for the night he set the others to making camp, and took Eve's arm to silently walk her away from all the others, into the dark woods, until no one else could hear them.

'In two days we'll be in London,' he said to her, 'and you'll be taken away from me and I'm not going to spend the time in between without you.'

'You're not without me,' Eve said, looking sulky, 'I'm right here.'

'Eve,' he said, gripping her arms and making her look at him. 'I want you to know I'll do whatever I can to get you out of St James's and make you a free woman. Saskia promised to help and Charlie will, too, you know she will.'

Eve looked wary. 'Well, thanks,' she said.

'And I know you won't marry me,' which hurt, it really did, 'but I'll do what I can for you anyway.'

Eve tried to pull away from him, but Harker held on. 'Look, let go of me,' she said, 'I'm not going anywhere, and you're starting to hurt me.'

He moved his hands instantly, which earned a small smile from Eve. Harker smiled back hopefully.

Then she said, 'You really are stupid,' which made his smile falter somewhat. 'Harker, it's not look, you said you'd marry me for a couple of weeks, because then you were going to die. Don't you realise what that sounded like? You're just doing me a favour, and then you won't have to put up with me any more, because you'll be dead.'

Put like that, she had a point.

'That's not what I meant,' he said, and Eve folded her arms.

'Then what did you mean?'

'I meant ...' Harker ran his hands through his hair. 'Are you angry because you thought I only wanted to marry you for a couple of weeks?'

She nodded. 'It's not exactly flattering, is it?'

'Eve, I want to marry you forever. I'm just saying, you have to understand that'

She put her finger over his lips, and he was so happy to have her touching him again that he smiled.

'Stop telling me you're going to die,' she said. 'You're a soldier. I've seen those scars. I know the risks of the life you have. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it, because I'm actually bloody terrified.' She blinked, and the fading light caught something glistening in her eye.

'Terrified?'

'I don't want you to die,' Eve said, her voice breaking slightly, and then to his surprise threw her arms around him. 'I don't. But please stop talking about it, because this is hard enough as it is.'

He held her, grateful to have her back in his arms again. He kissed her cheek, wet with tears, and then she kissed his mouth, her fingers in his hair, her body soft against his.

'I don't want to go back to London,' she whispered.

'Neither do I.'

'Then let's not.' She looked up at him, tense and earnest in the moonlight. 'We could go, right now, you and me. We could just run away, get on a ship or something and leave the country. Or just hide out, you've even got those fake papers, we could just leave, and be together ...'

Her voice trailed off, her eyes searching his, and for a second Harker actually considered it. Eve looked up at him, fragile and beautiful and everything he wanted, and her face changed as she read his. He watched the hope slide away and the despair creep in.

'But of course you never would,' she said sadly, touching his cheek. 'Major Harker never runs away from anything.'

He opened his mouth, but she stopped it with her finger again, and added softly, 'And if you did, I wouldn't love you half as much as I do.' She dipped her head, then looked back up at him and said, 'Can we just ... pretend for a while that we don't have to go to London and you're not in trouble and I'm not going to go back to St James's?'

He kissed her softly. 'Yes,' he said, and for the rest of the trip they did. The rest of the squad played along, and Harker figured Charlie had probably had something to do with that. By day he and Eve sat in the wagon and talked and kissed, and at night she sat circled in his arms by the fire, singing to them all until it was too cold, and Harker took her to his own private tent and made love to her, moving hot and perfect together in the dark.

It seemed to Harker that London had moved several dozen miles east, because they came upon it far too quickly. The fires of the Tower shone out through the late afternoon gloom, and Eve clutched his hand.

'What will we do?' she said, her voice pointedly matter-of-fact. 'Go straight to St James's, or the Tower, or what?'

'The Tower, I think,' Harker said, because there was always the possibility that he could talk Wheeler out of sending Eve back to St James's. It wasn't a strong possibility, but it was there.

When they came to the Byward Gate and the sentries recognised Harker, they exchanged uncomfortable looks, and one of them said, 'Major Harker, sir, we've been told to keep you here.'

'I can't go into the Tower?'

'Uh, no, sir. General Wheeler's on her way.'

Eve looked at Harker, trepidation in her eyes, and that cold ball of dread settled in Harker's stomach again.

He took Eve's hand, and said lightly, 'Always nice to get a personal welcome from your host.' To Charlie, who was driving the wagon, he said, 'Move us out of the way, then, we don't want to make the place look untidy.'

The sound of a few dozen pairs of boots marching came closer. Eve's fingers tightened around his, and when he glanced at her, her jaw was tense, her breathing shallow.

'Hey,' he said gently, and she looked up at him. She seemed to be trying to present him with a brave face, but she was making a terrible job of it.

'Don't say anything,' she whispered. 'You can't say anything that won't sound like goodbye.'

'I love you,' he said, and she gave a trembly smile.

'Like that,' she said, her voice breaking, as Wheeler came around the corner, followed by an outrageously heavily armed squad.

Boy, one little betrayal of trust and she turned into such a vindictive bitch.

'Miss Carpenter,' said the General, 'to me, please.'

Harker moved to get out of the wagon to help her down, and Wheeler barked, 'Not you, Major.'

'She can't get out by herself, sir,' Harker said to Wheeler, loathing her, and she motioned one of her guards forward to help Eve down.

Eve wrapped her arm around Harker's neck, kissed him, and Wheeler said tersely, 'Now, please.'

'I'm not one of your soldiers,' Eve snapped at her, and Harker was impressed at the steel in her voice. She turned back, her eyes met his, and Harker thought he might be in danger of starting to cry.

Eve touched her damaged right hand to his, nodded, and turned to the soldier waiting to help her down.

'Take her to St James's,' Wheeler said. 'Now.'

'She can't walk' Harker began, and Wheeler gave him a glacial look that had absolutely no effect on him. Eve was assisted on to a horse and led away, and the look on her face as she turned back and gave him a tiny wave broke his heart.

'I'll see you again,' he shouted after her. 'I will see you again!'

'Major,' Wheeler said, as the men escorting Eve turned the corner and she vanished from his sight.

He turned to her with absolute hatred. You did that on purpose, you cruel, stonehearted bitch.

'Escort Major Harker to my office,' said Wheeler to the man behind her, and he was horrified but not surprised to see that it was Sholt. He stepped forward, smiling oleaginously, and Harker got down from the wagon.

If I'm demoted and this creature becomes my senior I will have to kill someone, he thought, and it plainly showed on his face, because Sholt's smile faded slightly.

'This way, sir,' he said.

'I know the damn way,' Harker said, striding off, making Sholt and his men hurry after him.

'What a pretty girl she is,' said Sholt from behind him, and Harker felt his mouth twist. 'And so very co-operative, I'm told.'

Harker spun around so fast Sholt walked into him, grabbed the hideous little man by his collar, and lifted him clear off the ground.

'If you ever even look at her, you repulsive little maggot, I will cut you open and strangle you with your own slimy entrails. I am still your superior officer, do you understand? And you will go nowhere near Eve Carpenter.'

'My superior officer for how long, sir?' Sholt gurgled, and Harker gave serious thought to killing him there and then. But Wheeler walked past, gave him a disgusted look, and Harker let Sholt drop to the ground.

They left Sholt at the door to the Martin Tower, as Harker followed the General to her office, and was not offered a seat.

'You are in so much trouble, Major, that I'm not sure I know where to start,' she said, sitting down and putting on her glasses.

It begins with an alien falling into the river, Harker thought, and ends with her too.

He stared into the abyss, and jumped into it.

'Your trial will take place as soon as Lieutenant-Colonel Compton arrives from Leicester.'

'Yes, sir.' Wonder if Eve's made it to St James's yet? Wonder if she'll have the same room? Can I still go and visit her? If Coop's still on the gate, he might 'There has been massive fighting there, did you know?'

At St James's? No, wait, what was she talking about? 'Sir?'

'You were born in Leicester, were you not?'

'Yes, sir.' Stop trying to hurt me more, you vicious cow, you couldn't possibly.

'Any family there?'

'No, sir. Don't have any family now, sir.'

'No, I don't suppose you do,' Wheeler said, as the door opened and Saskia came in. She gave Harker a look that was part sympathy, part anger, and part exasperation.

'Major,' she said.

'Temporarily,' Harker replied. He was starting to feel slightly giddy.

'Captain Haran's setting up the computer in the main office, where there's more room,' she said, 'but he says he'll need a telephone line.'