The pinwheel slowed slightly in its giddy spinning, as if the wind had suddenly lessened.
She lifted her chin and moved decisively across the room. She hopped on the table, smoothing her cranberry brocade skirt against the sterile dark blue plastic. "Sure, take your time." She swung her feet idly as she glanced around the room. It looked as sterile as the examining table on which she was sitting, and she felt a sudden chill.
Her father was rising from the chair and crossing the room. "That's a very pretty dress," he said, "but I'm afraid you'll have to take it off. I want this examination to be fairly complete, since I'll be away for over a month." He took a stethoscope from the drawer of the cabinet beside the table. "My assistant informs me you're fully recovered now."
"I am. I feel wonderful," she said brightly. "So there's no need for a complete exam. I just came to show you how well I'm doing." She paused deliberately. "And to receive your best wishes. I was married today."
"Raoul told me. Congratulations. That was quite a coup. I would never have suspected that a person of your impulsive nature would have had the patience to plan a maneuver like this."
Congratulations, not best wishes. The pinwheel design was visible now, the movement sluggish. "Maneuver?"
"Is the soreness completely gone?" He picked up her wrist, his gaze on his watch as he took her pulse. "No more bleeding?"
"No, not since the night of the fall."
"Are you experiencing any lack of energy or nausea?"
"No nausea. I've been very sleepy lately." She smiled. "I thought I'd ask you for some vitamins."
"Yes, of course. I'll leave a supply of multivita-mins and iron tablets here in the cabinet. However, the drowsiness would have passed shortly even without them."
"I would have thought I'd be completely over the shock by now."
"Oh, you are. You're fully recovered from the accident. The drowsiness is merely because of the child."
"The child?" she repeated with numb lips.
He was reaching into a drawer and extracting a blood pressure gauge. "You may experience some morning sickness during the next month. It's not uncommon during the second and third months of pregnancy. I'll leave you pills for that as well." He glanced up with a frown as he unrolled the bandage. "I do wish you would permit me to give you a thorough examination before I leave Sedikhan. Sheikh El Kabbar was most concerned about the safety of his child. I wouldn't like him to think I've been derelict in my duty."
The pinwheel shuddered to a stop. It didn't matter. It was suddenly only a tawdry toy anyway.
"He was concerned?"
"Of course." He was rolling up the long sleeve of her gown, not looking at her. "We both know how possessive the man is. Naturally he would be worried about his first child and heir. Why else would he rush you out of your sick bed to ensure the child's legitimacy?"
Breathtaking agony. "No reason that I can think of." Her voice was almost steady, she noticed. How odd, when the world was crumbling all about her.
He was winding the pressure gauge around her upper arm. "It was clever of you to play upon his possessiveness to get what you wanted. I was surprised to hear that the sheikh had decided to—"
"Shut up!" Her voice wasn't steady any longer. It was shaking with an agony and a wild rage that seemed to fill the universe. "I don't want to hear anymore!" She jumped to the floor, fumbling with the gauge on her arm. "Go away. Go to Munich, or go to hell. I don't care which." She had at last gotten the bandage off and she threw it on the floor. "Just stay away from me!"
She was running toward the door, trying to escape the cold, sterile room. Not that there was any place to run. The rest of the world was cold and sterile too. Tears were blinding her, and she didn't see Philip until she ran into him in the hall just outside the door. His arms closed around her, steadying her. "Whoa! You always go at everything full steam ..." The smile faded as he looked down into her face. "Pandora?"
She tore herself away. "Damn you. Damn you to hell, Philip!" Her eyes were blazing in her white face. "I could kill you." Then she was running down the hall away from him.
Philip's hands clenched into fists at his sides. He muttered a vicious oath as he threw open the door to the first-aid room.
Madchen was kneeling to pick up a pressure gauge that lay on the floor, appearing as impassive as ever. "You told her," Philip said with barely controlled ferocity. "You told her, dammit."
"Not intentionally. Naturally I thought she'd know by now." Madchen rose to his feet and straightened his spectacles. "It's been over two weeks, and I thought surely you would have discussed the birth of the child. How else could she have persuaded you to marry her?"
"Persuaded me?" Philip drew a deep breath and tried to control the rage that was flowing through him. He wanted to murder the son of a bitch. "No,I hadn't told her yet. I was going to do it in the next few days. But you blew it. You blew it to hell, didn't you?"
"I'm extremely sorry. If I'd known, I assure you I wouldn't have—"
"You don't have the emotional capacity even for regret, Madchen," Philip bit out. "Get the hell out of Sedikhan. Don't take a month, take six months." He turned on his heel. "By then I may be able to look at you without wanting to strangle you. It's not likely, but there's a possibility."
The door slammed behind him.
* * *
Pandora didn't look up from her packing as Philip came into the room. She had changed into jeans and a yellow tunic top, but her feet were still bare. The brocade dress was tossed into a silken heap on the bed beside the open suitcase. "You can stop packing," Philip said. "You aren't going anywhere."
"Don't worry. I'm not taking any of your expensive bribes," she said jerkily. "I'm only taking what I came with. I'm sure you have no use for an orange wig." She sat down on the bed and began to put on her white tennis shoes. "And it might come in handy for me."
"You're not going anywhere," he repeated grimly. For the first time she noticed he had changed from his white suit into black riding pants and a black sweat shirt. The somber color accentuated his air of menace.
"The hell I'm not." She tied the lace of the second shoe and stood up. "I'm going far and I'm going fast. If you don't want me to use the plane or the car, I'll walk." She slammed the iid of the suitcase shut and fastened it. "Or hitchhike."
"You're upset. I know that. Will you please listen to me?" He came toward her. "I don't know what your lovable father said to you, but I'm sure it was expressed in the worst possible terms. He has a talent that way.'
She whipped around to face him, flags of color suddenly flying in her pale cheeks. "He didn't try to present it any way at all. He just told me the cold facts. I'm going to have a child. Too bad neither one of you thought to inform me."
"There were reasons. If you'll calm down, I'll tell you what they were."
"I know what they were. I thought that you might be feeling sorry for me, but it was more than that, wasn't it?" Her eyes blazed up at him. "I was carrying your child. That made all the difference. You couldn't let me leave once you knew that. It would have offended your every instinct."