Evie sank deeply into the rear seat when she saw the gaggle of press people standing around waiting for them, and Raschid's arm drew her tighter against him as he clipped out a terse order to his driver to run them over if he had to. Luckily such a dire response wasn't necessary; as the car drove towards them the rat-pack parted, their cameras flashing against the car windows as it forged its way
down into the relative sanctuary of the basement.
The car stopped and Raschid jumped out to stride around the car so he could open Evie's door for her. The lift waited; they entered it together and travelled upwards 'in complete silence. It stopped and the doors slid open directly into Raschid's private white marbled foyer.
Asim was standing there waiting for them. When he saw the way Evie was cradling her towel-wrapped arm he gasped in horror. 'Someone has harmed you, Miss Delahaye?' he asked sharply.
'I did it myself,' Evie dryly replied.
'Hot tea,' Raschid inserted tightly. 'From that urn you gave to her.'
It was a rotten thing to say, especially when poor Asim suddenly looked as if he'd poured the stupid tea over her himself. 'Stop taking your bad temper out on Asim!' she snapped. 'It's not his fault your life is in such a mess!'
'What a damned mess!' he had rasped at her last night.
And just now he had added an apt little rider to that with his, 'This is only the beginning of it all, not the end of it.'
Without waiting for instruction, Asim quietly bade Evie to follow him into the living room where he sat her down on one of the chairs then squatted in front of her so he could gently unwrap her burned arm.
The skin looked red, but it hadn't blistered, although when he touched a cool fingertip to it she jumped in pained response. 'It is still hot?' he asked.
Evie nodded her head, weak tears suddenly flooding her eyes.
'Do something about it!' Raschid grated from behind the older man.
'Of course.' As impassive as ever in the face of Raschid's anger, Asim rose up and moved quietly away. 'You're horrible to him,' Evie snapped out accusingly. 'Ever speak to me like that and I will slap your face!'
'Before you burst into tears or after?' he countered. Then sighed and turned his back on her, his stance taut and angry. 'I don't like to see you hurting,' he tagged on gruffly.
Well, I'm hurting in a whole lot of other places you don't even know about, Evie thought bleakly.
Asim came back. Raschid looked relieved. Squatting down in front of her again, the older man unscrewed the top off a jar and began gently smearing a clear ointment on her scalded skin.
It was delicious, so cooling. Evie sighed softly and relaxed back in the chair to close her aching eyes. A few minutes later a moist bandage was being carefully wrapped around her arm.
'The heat is receding?' Asim asked her. She nodded. 'Thank you, Asim.'
'We will repeat the process again later,' he said. 'But for now, Miss Delahaye, I really think you should lie down on the bed and rest. You are looking exceedingly pale ... ' 'But-'
'Good advice.' Raschid was suddenly standing over her. 'But. . .' she tried again.
'But nothing. To put it bluntly, Evie, you look dreadful.' She felt it too-shock, she assumed, the delayed kind of shock that was making her feel ever so slightly woozy. 'I haven't had a single thing to eat today,' she remembered as Raschid helped her get to her feet.
'Then while we get you comfortable in bed Asim will prepare something-what would you like?'
It was weird, but having felt her stomach growling for want of sustenance, it was suddenly churning for an entirely different reason. 'Oh, no,' she choked, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.
'What's the matter?' Raschid demanded sharply. But Evie had already broken free from him to run.
A single glass of water drunk at five-thirty that morning was no real problem to bring back up, but Evie remained leaning over the bowl in the bathroom for a long while afterwards, still feeling sick and dizzy enough not to dare to move away.
After a while, she straightened carefully and went in search of the minty mouthwash she knew Raschid kept hidden behind the large mirrored wall cupboard. Finding it, she shut the cupboard door and was just about to unscrew the cap when a reflection in the mirror caught her attention.
And it came as a shock to see that both Raschid and Asim were standing in the bathroom doorway gravely watching her.
'Oh, go away!' she cried out on a sudden loss of dignity. 'Can't a girl even be sick in private here?'
'We were concerned,' Raschid said.