There was a sound from Raoul that was halfway between a chuckle and a cough. He turned away. "I'll make the arrangements at once," he said with sedate dignity. He abruptly turned back with a frown. "I'm extremely sorry. It completely slipped my mind. Dr. Madchen is waiting in the first-aid room. He's been there for over an hour."

"Really?" She felt Philip stiffen beside her, and she smiled reassuringly. It was sweet of him to be so protective, but not even an encounter with her father could dampen her spirits today. "Did you tell him why we were in Marasef?"

"Yes, of course." Raoul's lips tightened. "I also told him it was a most inconvenient time for an examination, but he insisted. He's going away to Munich on vacation tomorrow and wants to tidy up all the loose ends."

A loose end. How like her father to describe her in those terms. For an instant Pandora felt a familiar twinge, but instantly dismissed it. "Well, we wouldn't want to mess up his neat, tidy schedule, " she said with careful lightness. "I'll see him, of course. Perhaps you'd better tell the grooms it will be an hour instead of thirty minutes."

"You don't have to see him," Philip said quietly. "I'll go and explain that it's not a good time. He can see you when he comes back."

She shook her head. "I'll tell him I don't have time for a complete examination. Maybe if I let him see how well I look, hell be happy with a token checkup." She smiled. "It will be fine. The world's my pinwheel today. Remember?" She started down the hall in the direction of the first-aid room. "I'll meet you in the suite when I've finished."

Karl Madchen was sitting at the desk in the first-aid room, a cup of tea in his hand, his gaze on the medical journal on the blotter before him. He looked up abstractedly as she came into the room. "Good afternoon, Pandora. Sit down on the examining table. I'll be with you as soon as I finish this paragraph."

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."