Archie the Royal Hot Water Bottle

  Chapter 19

  When Jeff returned from his restorative sojourn at the seaside, sure he'd been under some strain with the Jade affair and been imagining things, his life protecting Crystal settled into a routine. Both of them were grateful for some normality after the events of recent months. However, 'a normal routine' for Crystal was very different to the average person's experience.

  During the week Jeff waited for her in the once again pristine Range Rover until she arrived in the courtyard, ready to be driven to her classes at the university. 

  She always sat up front with him, another officer in the back. The following car carried two further protection officers. Jeff varied the route as much as he could to avoid security issues and to minimise boredom. Crystal sometimes chatted about her classes or something she was reading and found Jeff a good listener. He'd studied some of the subjects Crystal was taking so they talked about philosophy and political theory.

  Gradually the drives took a bit longer as he dallied on the way, engrossed in conversation with her. When he dropped Crystal at the campus two protection officers remained with her, shadowing her through the day, always at a distance that allowed her some freedom to move but they were very careful with her because of the sheer number of people on the campus who were impossible to screen. Jeff took a couple of campus shifts a week and was always there to drive Crystal back to the Palace in the afternoon.

  Through her classes she'd made a number of new friends and they were all investigated. Everyone was all right so far. One was a student from Australia; he'd come over really to play rugby for the university but was ostensibly studying history.

  'It's always rugby,' Jeff thought, 'Bloody rugby.'

  Crystal's new friend became very attentive to her, buying her coffees during breaks, waiting outside her lecture hall and then taking her to lunch. One weekend at the start of the new season she went to watch him play. Jeff was on duty, wearing casual clothes and keeping a discreet distance.

  He watched the match with interest. The fellow, Brendan Burke, was a natural at fullback. He had speed and agility and he could kick. At the end of the match he made a point of coming over and speaking to Crystal before he went to the locker room. Her cheeks were flushed and she followed him with her eyes as he trotted off with the rest of the team to shower and change.

  Then the dinners and movies started. Jeff sat through a number of things he'd never watch himself, Fast and Furious 84 or the equivalent and when Crystal made the choice, romantic comedies. As the autumn progressed they went out to dinner and nightclubs, partying until the early hours. He drove them around or followed in the Range Rover when Brendan collected Crystal in his gunmetal Aston Martin.

  Brendan was the son of a rich grazier who'd diversified the family's pastoral interests into an international foodstuffs conglomerate. The family was socially accepted being very old money and not tainted by any recent scandals. It was only a matter of time until one Saturday Brendan was invited to tea with Her Majesty and Crystal's grandfather and the real scrutiny began.

  'I wonder what the old man will make of him,' Jeff thought, for he always respected Crystal's grandfather's assessment of people. The Prince didn't suffer fools and made his views known when he detected a fake.

  Jeff was a little disappointed when Brendan seemed to pass the test and he was invited to spend a weekend with the family in the country. It seemed Crystal had a new love but she didn't ask Jeff to bring him into the Palace under the radar which surprised him because they'd been going out for a couple of months. 

  Another thing that surprised Jeff was the physical change in Crystal: she'd shed all her puppy fat, rather late admittedly, and was turning into a shapely, beautiful young woman. She'd revamped her wardrobe and was more adventurous: the skirts were shorter; the jeans cut lower and tighter. Before she came down in the morning Jeff began to wonder what she'd be wearing.

  Routine is a wonderful thing especially when it's enlivened by a love affair but routine is one of those things made to be broken, shattered even. Crystal and Jeff's routine was shattered one morning when she came downstairs and asked the second protection officer to ride in the following car. He looked at Jeff who nodded, closed the doors after Crystal got in and went back to the follow car.

  Jeff started the engine and moved off. As he drove out of the gates Crystal said,

  'I want to talk to you Jeff.'

  He glanced at her, she was looking at him with a frown on her face,

  'Fine, what it is it?'

  'I want you to stop watching me.'

  Jeff was startled for a moment, watching Crystal was what he did. What did she mean? How could he stop doing his job? Men are often a little slow on the uptake so Crystal, who, with hindsight was still somewhat in the dark herself, said,

  'Brendan doesn't like the way you look at me.'

  Jeff pulled the car over, turned off the engine and looked at Crystal with those beautiful blue eyes she'd always admired. 

  'They're like the kind of pool you want to dive into and have close around you covering and wrapping your skin in a ....' Crystal pulled herself back from her dream as Jeff said,

  'Fuck Brendan,' and started the car. He drove to the university and dropped her off without another word and then went back to the Palace.

  The atmosphere in the protection office that day was black, due entirely to Jeff's mood, which infected everyone.

  The new clerk, a pretty little thing who thought Jeff was rather hot and fancied her chances with him, took a second look that day and decided he was probably too much for her to handle. His whole body was icy; his manner when he gave her something to research, hard and nearly as cold as his face.

  'What's up with him?' she wondered as did some of the others. None of the guys had an answer, except the information that Crystal had asked to ride alone with Jeff that morning. She'd done it before, when she wanted Jeff to do something for her, but as far as anyone knew nothing out of the way had happened.

  There was some whispered speculation about what Crystal said in the car but it in the absence of anything tangible to feed it the gossip petered out by lunchtime.

  As Jeff's day wore on and he considered what Crystal had said and how he'd responded, which at the time had surprised him, he realised what his problem was: he wasn't ready to deal with Crystal's challenge. She'd thrown down the gauntlet at his feet, do you care about me or not; he could either pick it up or lose something he hadn't as yet admitted he wanted.

  'Bloody hell,' he said to himself. 'What do I do?'

  He spent the rest of the day completing paperwork and then got into the Range Rover to pick Crystal up from the campus. They didn't look at each other as she got into the car, nor did they speak during the trip home. Thompson, sitting in the back, felt like he was intruding on a private fight. When they arrived at the Palace Crystal slammed the door after her and went inside, still silent, her face set in a mask. Jeff finally turned and watched her walk away.