So,' Dempsey turned his attention back to Harry after ordering the wine he knew she preferred, 'what does your father want to discuss with me? Take it slow Harry cos I never got married before and I certainly never dated anyone from the British aristocracy so it's gonna be all Greek to me.

Harry hoped that James wasn't going to take exception to what she was about to say because she'd never mentioned her inherited responsibilities before. She hadn't expected to get married after the first debacle and had naturally assumed that if her father died and she was unmarried and childless, then her cousin Gregory would get the estate as it would be entailed to the male heir. She took a deep breath to steady herself and then got to it.

My father is the current Lord Winfield and my maiden name was Lady Harriet Winfield, coppers don't usually come from the aristocracy so I just used my married name when I was in the force. I obviously won't do that when I marry you.' She paused as she accepted a glass of wine from the waiter who was hovering over them attentively.

'Okay, with you so far,' he responded encouragingly, nodding in thanks as he picked up his glass of wine and raised the glass to her. 'Seems simple enough, cheers!'

Harry looked focussed as she mulled over the next part. 'In fact, I'll probably revert to Winfield hyphen Dempsey. I've thought of shortening that to Winfield at work because if we have a son he will be the future Lord Winfield irrespective of your name.'

'Now wait a minute are you saying the kid will take over the Hall?' Dempsey's jaw squared, it was a hell of a responsibility he hadn't really thought they'd have to take that on.

'Only if we have a boy if it's a girl then, no. The estate would then go to my cousin Gregory. Gregory, unfortunately is somewhat wild and I know my father is very dubious about that option and he's been gently prodding me to marry and get on with it for years. He doesn't say much but I know he feels very strongly about it.'

Dempsey frowned and realised he needed to be clear about the terms she was using; a kind of po-ta-to po-tah-to thing. He'd found from years of working with the British it wasn't safe to assume. 'When you say estate what does that actually mean? In my family that would mean a bit of money in the bank and your life insurance policy.' He took a fortifying sip of the wine. 'And what's that bit about a pre-nuptial agreement,' his dark eyes searched hers and he could see she was feeling a bit awkward.

'Well,' she demurred her gaze flashing to his focussed expression, 'there is the Hall as you know, and there are the contents of the Hall and various other properties up and down the country that Freddie owns as well as considerable agricultural land with largely tenant farms. We have our own farm at Winfield Hall you must have noticed that when you've visited. In the prenuptial agreement, you will have to agree not to make claims on the estate if our marriage fails, naturally you will be given a reasonable sum of money for your trouble and you will have to sign to say that I have full custody of any children we have.' James' jaw had squared in a very familiar manner and Harry was feeling a little uncertain as to how this would go down and it did look as if a spoonful of sugar was necessary.

'I ain't signing away any kids of mine and I don't want your money so you can leave out that part.' Dempsey glowered. 'And I don't want to be discussing our divorce before we've even got married, it's like jinxing it.' He might have known things with Harry were going to be complicated, where'd she been hiding this for the last three years?

'I understand that James,' Harry put her hand over his soothingly. 'It's just that there are a lot of responsibilities that come with a male heir.'

Dempsey looked down at their hands and gave hers a squeeze, 'you want an heir huh? They hadn't really talked about kids.

'I'd like to get on with that as soon as possible,' her blue eyes searched his, 'I want to be a mother, how do you feel about being a father?' To Harry, marriage meant planning a future and that meant a family, a life together.

Dempsey ran a hand through his hair in a characteristic gesture, 'never really given it much thought. To be honest, I always felt that being on the front line like we are, it was kind of wrong to have kids if there was a good chance you might not be around to see them grow.' His dark eyes were steady on hers. 'Saw a lot of army and police widows in my time, kind of put me off.'

'You're a Chief Inspector now though and you don't see as much action as you used to, well not the undercover work which is the most dangerous aspect.' Harry was pleased about Dempsey's promotion because the Crazy Joe incident had seriously troubled her.

'If you want a kid Harry then I've got to think about that, got to give that some serious thought,' he hadn't thought that they'd be setting up a nursery immediately that kind of freaked him out.

In Harry's view, it was best to get all the issues out on the table so she decided to tackle the custody issue. 'On the issue of child custody if we divorced then I as the mother would get custody as a matter of course. In this case, it's a little more complicated as my son would need to learn the process of being the next Lord Winfield from his early life onwards. It's easier that way, it's a way of life, however I wouldn't wish to make you a stranger to your child James, you must know me better than that. I believe we've built up a bond of trust over the years and if the worst happened I hope we would still be amicable for the sake of the children.

'Oh, there's more than one now,' he responded sarcastically. 'How many were you thinking of blessing me with,' he saw the waiter hovering and they stopped the conversation to order their food.

Well we need a boy so that may not happen the first time,' she offered her gaze became speculative, in her mind they were planning a life together not having a party and going back to being buddies with sex thrown in. 'And I had thought three or four children would be nice,' she noted Dempsey had just swallowed hard.

'I see, got it all mapped out. You never thought of discussing these dynastic ambitions with me before, and from what you're saying you want us to live at Winfield Hall which is a challenging commute. I thought you wanted to be Police Commissioner one day and now we're turning into a snooty version of the Waltons?'

A bubble of laughter erupted from Harry, even in difficult circumstances Dempsey could still make her laugh. 'I do want to go as far as I can in the force which is why I would want to have children as soon as possible.'

'You ain't already in the family way are you D.I. Makepeace; do we have an undignified gallop up the aisle in our future,' Dempsey's plans for marital bliss had been more in the line of Harry in a negligee or that pretty lingerie she wore.

She held up her wine glass, 'hardly. No thanks to you though, if I let nature take its course I'm sure I'd be in for quads by now,' she remarked in a sarcastic manner.

Dempsey smiled at that as she had a point, but then he frowned and gave her a direct look. 'Are you trying to put me off princess, I mean hitting a guy with all that just after he's proposed seems like you're hoping I'll head for the hills.'

'And are you heading for the hills James,' she rested her chin on her steepled fingers and observed him. 'I have family responsibilities and if I marry that's part of the deal, so to speak.'

'Yeah, I'm getting that,' Dempsey responded. 'So, how would you feel if I said I wanted to go back to the States to look after my Mom and I asked you to sign up for a green card,' his dark eyes challenged hers.

Harry looked very conscious of the family baggage which came with her marriage and gave a small smile. 'When you put it like that it does sound daunting. I'm sorry James maybe I should have introduced the subject earlier.

James gave her that look that said she should definitely have introduced the subject earlier but then again, their courtship hadn't exactly been in the normal style and she'd always said that she hadn't thought he would propose for real. If he didn't agree to all this what would happen, would she back out of the marriage and look for someone who was up for the challenge.

'So, if I don't agree with all that what happens,' his starter arrived and he thanked the waiter and then turned back to Harry.

Harry sighed softly, 'I would hope we could work something out. I do want children James, that's the main issue. I don't anticipate our divorce and the pre-nup is about protecting the estate that's all.'

'Nice food,' he responded playing for time as he mentally churned through the detail she'd just hit him with and he imagined a talk with Harry's Pop was going to be equally illuminating. 'When do we go and see your father,' he glanced over at her and could see she looked a bit off centre.

'I thought this weekend,' she responded softly, 'if that's all right with you,' she didn't look too sure of his compliance. He was obviously finding the information given, something of a challenge. In her mind, she had a dinner table full of Dempsey juniors and she liked the idea.

'It's nice to be consulted,' he drawled in a dry tone. 'I guess that's step one in the masterplan ain't it?'

'Perhaps we should delay it until you're sure you still want to marry me,' Harry responded in a hurt tone, 'I don't want to push you into anything you don't want. I mean you're not even English so it must seem very strange to you.'

'You got that huh,' he finished the first course and gave her a searching glance, she looked a little bit upset and he didn't want to hurt Harry. 'It's okay, we'll go this weekend and I'll go through it with your father, want the full facts of the case so to speak.'

Harry was secretly dreading the encounter and wouldn't have minded putting it off for a couple of weeks but it was better that James had all the details because she didn't want to be continually pushing him towards a future he didn't agree with. She'd have to ring her father and tell him that tact was needed and also ask him not to invite their nearest and dearest, a couple of her close relations were more difficult than her father and the idea that she was marrying someone who was not in their set would probably go down like a lead balloon. And certainly, Gregory's mother, Aunt Thea would be venomous.