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Evelyn had taken herself to bed rather than risk running into Rick O'Connell again. The ruffian she'd met at the prison she'd been prepared to deal with. The handsome, intelligent man with the charming smile who had joined them on the boat had her somewhat flummoxed … and completely distracted. That kiss—that warm, firm, memorable kiss—took on an entirely different character in the face of this new O'Connell, and Evelyn found herself thinking about it, imagining what it might be like to be kissed again now that he was clean, and smelled good, and there were no bars separating them.

Firmly, she told herself not to be an idiot and proceeded to get ready for bed, letting her long hair down and beginning the always tedious process of brushing it a hundred times, one of the few concessions she had made to her aunts' attempts to mold her into their definition of a lady. They had given her up in disgust when it became clear she wasn't planning to give up on Egypt, or libraries, or a life of adventure such as the one that had taken her father away from his prim and proper sisters.

She picked up her History of the Bembridge Scholars and attempted to quiz herself on the facts it contained, in order to keep her mind off more worldly things. But it failed completely, as she could not seem to get the blue eyes and broad shoulders of Rick O'Connell out of her mind. She tried to hang up her dressing gown, missed the hook completely, and put down the book, completely disgusted with herself. "Oh, for heaven's sake, girl, it wasn't that good of a kiss anyway."

Resolutely, she turned back to the mirror. In the process of running the brush through her thick hair, she knocked the book off the sink and bent to retrieve it. When she stood up and looked into the mirror again, a man's face looked back at her.

He appeared to be Egyptian, was covered in tattoos, and had his hand on her throat before she could scream. Pushing her against the wall, he drew a wickedly sharp curved dagger and pressed it to her cheek.

"Where is the map?"

Terrified, Evelyn gestured toward it, disgusted with herself for giving so easily in to fear. So much for being an adventurer. "It's … it's there."

"And the key? Where is the key?"

"The key?" She'd have told him, if she'd known what he was talking about. "The key? What key?"

To her tremendous relief, she heard Rick's voice calling her name, and he burst through the door, guns in hand. She started toward him in relief, but the Egyptian grabbed her and put his arm across her throat. Another one opened the window, two guns aimed at Rick, who turned and immediately started shooting even as he moved across the cabin toward Evelyn.

One of the bullets caught the lantern on the wall. It shattered and fell, still burning, onto the settee, which burst into flames. Evelyn took advantage of the distraction to notice the candle in front of her, dashing the burning wax over her shoulder into the face of the man holding her.

He screamed and clutched his face and she hurried away from him, hiding behind O'Connell, who moved toward the door, still shooting, even as another Egyptian appeared in the window.

Reaching the hallway, Evelyn began running. Anything to get away from whoever these men were. Realizing what she was leaving behind, she stopped and turned. "The map! The map! I forgot the map!"

O'Connell grabbed her by the arm, dragging her along with him. "Relax. I'm the map. It's all up here."

"Well, that's comforting." It was, oddly, but she wasn't about to admit that to him.

Rick pulled Evelyn along through the corridor and out into a scene of chaos. Whoever these guys were, they were everywhere, and the fire he had inadvertently started was only one of the many they had set. The whole boat was in flames.

He picked up his bag of weapons and handed it to Evelyn. "Hold on to this."

Even as he reloaded his pistol, more gunshots thudded into the wall around the corner. Then bullets started coming through the wall next to him. He kept reloading until Evelyn grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to the side just in time to avoid the next bullet hitting him in the back of the head. Rick was equal parts grateful to her for keeping her head in the chaos and annoyed at himself for letting her distract him in the first place.

He raised both pistols, nodded to Evelyn to follow him, and charged across the deck, shooting at any of the invaders he could see.

They reached the side of the boat and he turned to Evelyn, holstering his guns. "Can you swim?"

"Well, of course I can swim if the occasion calls for it!"

Where did she think they were, a garden party? A burning boat under attack by strange men seemed like a good time for a swim to him. "Trust me—it calls for it." He picked her up and dropped her overboard. Lifting his bag, he prepared to follow, but one of the black-robed men charged over the railing and landed on him before he could jump.

Rick lost precious minutes in a fistfight with the attacker, who was surprisingly good at it, before he finally managed to kick him through a door into a burning room.

The warden came rushing up to him as he was turning back toward the rail. "O'Connell! O'Connell! What are we going to do? What are we going to do?"

Rick slung his bag over his shoulder. "Wait here. I'll go get help." He leaped over the side, following Evelyn, disappointed that the warden caught on only a moment later and jumped after him.

Once in the water, he called out for her. She didn't answer, and he was startled by the depth of the fear that clutched at him. "Evelyn!" This time he saw her, or at least a dark head he assumed was hers, swimming surprisingly strongly for the shore.

Quickly, he followed her, the burning boat behind them lighting up the Nile and making it easier to see.

By some good luck, he and Evelyn and Jonathan—and the warden—all ended up on the same side of the river … and everyone else landed on the other side.

"We've lost everything! All of our tools, all the equipment!" Evelyn looked down at her soaking wet nightgown. "All my clothes!"

Before Rick could respond, he heard a voice calling his name from the opposite shore. "O'Connell!"

Beni. Too much to hope that he could have drowned or been lost in the carnage.

"Hey! O'Connell!" Beni screamed. "It looks to me like I've got all the horses!"

Typical Beni. Seeing only what was in front of him and not the big picture. It was with no small amount of satisfaction that Rick called back, "Hey, Beni! Looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!"

There was no response to that. Turning to the others, Rick said, "Let's go."

"Where?" Evelyn demanded.

"Anywhere but here."