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She remembered reading somewhere that the ear had a lot of nerve endings, and all of hers were definitely screaming right now.
His brows drew together in a dark line of disapproval. ‘Your earlobe is bleeding; you must have one hell of a high pain tolerance.’
An image floated into her head of her in hospital, repeatedly pressing the pain-relief button that for weeks had never left her hand. ‘Not really.’ Actually, not at all, she corrected silently, thinking of the lovely floating feeling after she’d pressed that button. The pain had still been there in the background, but she had been able to float above it.
She felt rather than saw him looking at her.
‘I fainted when I had them pierced, although that might have been the...ouch, be careful!’
‘Sorry. Hold on, I’ve almost finished...’
Almostwas not soon enough. It seemed to take for ever for him to unwind the silver spiral. Her relief was so intense when he gave a grunt of triumph and leaned back in his seat that she would have punched the air in triumph had she not had such a tight hold of the steering wheel. Instead, she contented herself with heaving a huge sigh.
‘Cool!’ Eugenie, her earphones now dangling around her neck, leaned forward and snatched the silver spiral that dangled in her uncle’s fingers. ‘Where did you get them from? I’d love a pair.’
‘A friend of mine makes them.’
The girl moved forward asking eagerly, ‘Boyfriend?’
Aware that beside her Nik was now sitting with his head bent, fingers pressed to the bridge of his nose, she shook her head. ‘Her name is Layla.’ She slid Nik a sideways glance and lost the fight against her concern. ‘Do you have a headache? There should be some painkillers in the glove box and a bottle of water—’
‘I’m fine.’ He let his hand fall from his face and exhaled slowly. The headaches hit without warning, but he never took medication. Perhaps he deserved the pain, not that it ever left him feeling cleansed of his sins.
‘Uncle Nik is never ill. He’s bulletproof literally,’ she enthused with awe. ‘He never got a scratch when he was working in war zones,’ she chattered on, lifting the earring to her own ear and craning her neck to admire the effect in the rear-view mirror. ‘Mum says the only thing he’s got is survivor’s guilt...’ She stopped abruptly as her uncle caught her eye. ‘Well she might have said something like that but I don’t quite recall.’
Chloe couldn’t see Nik’s face but she could feel the raw tension vibrating off him.
In the back seat Chloe gave a sigh. ‘How much longer? It’s not mine,’ she added when the audible sound of a vibrating phone suddenly echoed through the car.
Nik swore. His phone had fallen in the gap between the seats and, eyes still closed, he reached out a long arm for it.
Chloe gave a grunt as an elbow landed in her ribs.
‘Sorry,’ he muttered and, delving further, he gave a grunt of triumph as he managed to get his fingers around it.
‘Your mother,’ he said to Eugenie after reading the text message, before switching his attention to Chloe. ‘Telling me not to bother, not to worry, that she arranged for someone else to pick you up... I contacted her when I started out but she must have sent this straight away. Looks like you’re calling the shots here.’
Embarrassed, Chloe shook her head. ‘You’re Eugenie’s uncle.’
‘My sister must really trust you, but it might take me a while to work my way back into her good graces.’
‘She’ll understand.’
He huffed out a laugh. ‘Why should she?’
‘It’s what family do. Where were you anyway? Not that I have any right to ask, I know...’
‘My secretary has the flu and her stand-in hadn’t charged my phone.’ Louise always did it for him. ‘And when I said I didn’t want to be disturbed I made the mistake of assuming she would know that didn’t include family emergencies. She let all Ana’s calls go to the messaging service and when I tried to ring her back there was no signal. Then when I asked her why she hadn’t put the calls through she just burst into tears.’
‘Poor woman, she was probably scared of you.’
He gave a snort of disbelief. ‘Then she’ll be much happier working elsewhere.’
Chloe was shocked. ‘You didn’t sack her!’
‘My father would have, whereas I’m a much more tolerant employer and, employment laws being what they are, I just shipped her back to the department she came from.’
‘You’re afraid to let anyone see you have a heart,’ she charged and, expecting to see him discomfited by her discovery, she turned her head to look at him, but found a very different expression on his face.
