by Lynsay Sands
“Oh, my. I had to run for the tram,” she said, flashing him a breathless smile. “You must have had to wait a bit for it or I never would have caught up to you.”
Thomas simply stared at her, his brain slowly registering its horror, and then growled, “Inez. What are you doing here? You should be back in the hotel.”
Inez frowned slightly as his obvious displeasure at seeing her, and then began to shift around in her seat.
Thomas winced and jerked his arm away as she brushed against him, leaning his upper body slightly into the aisle to prevent her touching him again as she slipped a hand into her pocket. It came out a moment later, holding a piece of folded paper that she silently held out to him.
He stared at the paper for a moment, and then carefully took it, avoiding any of his flesh touching hers. There was no way to keep her scent from drifting to him, however, and his nostrils flared as he inhaled her fragrance. Teeth grinding as every muscle in his body wound itself a little tighter, he unfolded the paper.
“You forgot the coordinates your friend Herb gave you,” Inez said quietly as he glanced over his own writing. “I thought you might need it.”
Folding up the piece of paper again, he tucked it in his jeans pocket, muttering, “I didn’t need it. I remember.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize,” she said, then shrugged and smiled. “Ah, well, better to be safe than sorry.”
“Exactly,” Thomas said grimly, “which is why when we get off this tram, you are going back to the hotel.”
She stiffened at the suggestion, but then smiled and said, “Don’t be silly. I’m here to help you. I’ll come with you.”
“You came to Amsterdam to hear the explanation about my people,” he countered at once. “There’s no need to help me here. I know my way around Amsterdam.”
“Nevertheless, I’m here so may as well help out,” Inez insisted.
Thomas turned a scowl on her, but his eyes landed on her lips and refused to go further. He found himself simply staring at her mouth, noting how full and soft it looked and recalling how good it had felt beneath his when he’d kissed her in the hotel. He’d like to kiss her again. He’d like to do more than that, he’d like to cover her mouth with his, and thrust his tongue between her lips even as he caught her by the waist and pulled her onto his lap so that she straddled him. And then he wanted to rip her top open and tug her bra off and bury his face between her full round breasts while he—
The ding of a bell, made him blink and glance around to see that the tram was stopping.
“Are you all right, Thomas?” Inez asked with concern, drawing his gaze back to her. “Your face is flushed and you’ve broken out in a sweat. Is that normal with Sweet Ecstasy? Are fevers a side effect?”
When she started to raise a hand as if to feel his forehead, Thomas lunged out of his seat, terrified that if she touched him he wouldn’t be able to prevent himself from doing exactly what he’d just imagined, even with a whole tram full of people watching.
Noting the way her eyes had widened in surprise at his reaction, Thomas muttered, “We get off here.”
He stepped closer to the door, silently begging it to open before she joined him and possibly touched his arm or innocently brushed against him. He was a vamp on the edge here, his mind running as wild as his body. Why the hell hadn’t he read the label on that blood rather than just slapping it to his teeth?
When the doors opened, Thomas immediately burst off the tram, instinctively sucking in draughts of fresh air to try to clear his head, or at least to clear her scent from his nose. Damn, he’d never known a woman to smell so good.
“Thomas?” Inez was suddenly at his side, her scent filling his nostrils anew as she gently touched his arm.
Thomas hissed and jerked instinctively away as if she’d burnt him, then controlled himself and turned to face her. The stunned look of hurt on her face made him want to pull her into his arms and comfort her, but he didn’t dare. Guilt now joining the barrage of other emotions swirling around inside him, Thomas frowned and glanced up the street, relieved when he spotted the tram coming up the street in the opposite direction to the one they’d just got off of.
“You need to take that tram to get back to the hotel,” Thomas said grimly, pointing it out to her. When he glanced at her, she wasn’t even following his gesture, but was staring at him with a silent determination that made him extremely nervous. Rather then try to take her arm, he gestured for her to start walking, saying, “I’ll see you onto it.”
Inez stood firm and shook her head. “I’m going with you.”
“Inez,” he began grimly.
“I know what Sweet Ecstasy is,” she announced, and when he peered at her sharply, she shrugged and admitted, “I called Wyatt and asked about it. You presently have the equivalent of four to six cocktails running through your system. I’m guessing one or two would make you feel very…er…friendly. Four or six probably isn’t leaving you thinking very clearly. I’m coming with you.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Thomas assured her, knowing she really had no clue what state he was in or what he could do in this condition.
“I’m not leaving you wandering around alone while all hot and bothered, especially not in Amsterdam.”
Thomas’s eyes widened. Had that been a bit of possessiveness he’d heard in her voice? He’d known she was attracted to him back in the hotel in London, but that was before she’d known what he was. He’d worried since then over how she was accepting his explanations. Possessiveness was a good sign, though.
“Lead the way, Thomas,” Inez ordered quietly, drawing him back from his thoughts. “Or I’ll touch you.”
Thomas blinked in surprise at the threat, but just shook his head and said, “Trust me, you don’t want to do that.”
On that note, he gave up trying to send her back and turned to head toward a dimly lit alleyway. He moved slowly at first, until she fell into pace at his side, and then picked up a little speed to stay a step ahead of her scent and discourage talking. Thomas was hoping that if she didn’t touch him and he couldn’t smell her and she didn’t talk, he could pretend she wasn’t there and his body might settle down a little. Every nerve in his body had been buzzing since she’d appeared on the tram.
It didn’t work, of course. Inez wasn’t one to be easily ignored.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Thomas glanced over the people walking around them. It was a busy alleyway, the street cobbled and people both heading in their direction as well as walking the same way they were going. Other than the occasional light overhead being electric rather than oil lamps, it wasn’t much different than it had been when he’d first come here one hundred and seventy-five years ago.
“Thomas?” Inez prompted.
“The Red Light District.”
Inez was very glad that she’d decided to come after him. The idea of his wandering the famed prostitution area of Amsterdam in the state he was in was not a happy one.
Her gaze slid over him as they passed from shadow to light. She had been surprised to see him boarding the tram when she’d come out of the hotel. Inez had been positive she’d have to find him by finding the location on the note he’d left behind. She hadn’t looked a gift horse in the mouth, however, but had immediately burst into a run to get to the tram before it moved off. Fortunately, the driver had seen her and waited.
Thomas had looked tense and unhappy when she’d first spotted him on the tram, and that was before he’d even seen her. He looked just as tense and unhappy now, or perhaps a little more so. It seemed obvious to her the man was suffering. He couldn’t bear to be touched, kept breaking out in a sweat every time she got too near, and seemed to be having a hard time even looking at her.
They turned out of the short alleyway and onto a street, or what she assumed was a street. One side was separated from the other by a wide canal with bridges crossing over it at either end. Inez found herself gawking around at their surroundings. M
uch to her surprise it was all quite pretty. The buildings were all pressed up tight against each other and all were at least three, and sometimes four or even five, stories high. Some were very narrow buildings with only two windows on each floor, others were wider with three, but every one seemed to have businesses on the ground floor and everywhere she looked, lights twinkled out at her. Even the bridges had lights running in arcs on the arches over the water.
They passed bars, clubs, and sex shops at the outer fringe of this area and then—
Inez stopped dead and gaped at the row of windows lit up in red. Some had their curtains pulled, the cloth glowing red from the light beyond and one or two held empty chairs with signs that said be right back, but most had women in them, all dressed in lingerie or some other scanty bit of cloth. It was like a glass candy display case with the women as the candy. Bemused by it all, Inez began to dig in her purse.
Thomas turned back when he realized he’d lost her. Returning to her side, he frowned and asked, “What are you looking for?”
“My cell phone,” Inez answered, checking the side pockets when she didn’t find it in the middle pocket. Feeling it at last, she pulled it out triumphantly. “Ah, ha!”
“Who are you calling?” Thomas asked with bewilderment.
“I’m not.” She flipped the cell phone open and started to raise it. “My phone has a camera built in. I want to take a picture.”
Much to her amazement, Thomas stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the windows.
“No pictures,” he said quietly. “It isn’t allowed.”
“What?” Inez asked with surprise and then glanced around. Spotting a man not three feet away with a huge honking camera in hand that he was focusing on the windows, she pointed him out. “Look, he’s—”
Her words died abruptly as a shriek rent the air. Glancing toward the windows, she saw a fully clothed, short, skinny older woman pushing her way past one of the young women in the windows to rush out of what turned out not to be a window at all, but a windowed door.
Inez’s eyes widened incredulously as she went after the man with the camera, berating him for trying to take pictures. The man was backpedaling away, his eyes wide and horrified.
“Move,” Thomas growled.
Inez drew her gaze from the dispute on the street and glanced toward Thomas. The moment she was looking his way he began to walk again, forcing her to either follow or lose him in the crowd. Sighing, Inez set out reluctantly after him. She’d really rather stay and see what happened here, but didn’t want to lose him.
“Why won’t they allow pictures?” she asked, glancing back over her shoulder where the man with the camera was offering money to the upset woman. Both Inez and the man flinched when the woman smacked the money away and continued to rage at him.
When Thomas didn’t answer, she glanced around, and spotted two large men now coming out of the open windowed door to join the little woman. She was suddenly very glad that Thomas had prevented her taking a picture. It looked to her like the man with the camera was about to be in even more trouble.
Realizing that Thomas was continuing forward without her, she hurried after him. “Thomas? Why are they so upset about his taking pictures?”
“Privacy,” Thomas said through gritted teeth as she caught up. “The women don’t want to be photographed, and neither do most of the men who visit them. It’s bad for business. Who would want to visit a prostitute if there was a chance his picture will be taken?”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Inez said quietly as she slipped her phone back in her purse. For a moment there she’d forgotten what the women did in those little rooms when the curtains closed. Somehow it’s all being out in the open like that had made it seem more like some sort of attraction at a fair than what it really was: prostitution. It was the atmosphere that did it, she realized as she glanced over their surroundings again. The area was well lit, and the setting almost romantic with the lights reflecting off the canal. The walkways were neat, the buildings tidy. There was no garbage lying around, no graffiti, all the buildings appeared well maintained and tidy in this light, and the people they were passing were mostly tourists, groups of men, couples, and groups of couples, all dressed in casual but nice clothes, laughing and talking as they walked along the street, peering in the windows with more curiosity than lecherous intent.
Despite the fact that they passed sex shops and peep shows, or live erotic shows interspersed among the window women, the atmosphere was almost that of a carnival rather than…well…a Red Light District.
Thomas stopped walking suddenly and Inez glanced at him curiously. “What is it?”
“This is the spot,” he answered, his head turning slowly as he surveyed the area.
“Here?” Inez asked doubtfully. They were standing in front of a sex shop with red-lit, women-filled windows spreading out on either side on both the ground and second floors. Hardly a place she’d expect to find Marguerite Argeneau.
“Herb said that she’d be no more than fifty feet away,” Thomas said with a frown as he glanced around.
Inez glanced one way and then the other, trying to judge how far fifty feet would be in each direction. There were no bars or restaurants in this little stretch, however, only the sex shop and red-lit windows.
Movement caught her eye and Inez glanced to the second-floor window in front of her as a pretty young blonde in white lace panties, bra, and stockings drew the curtains open. A man stood in the room with her, his belt undone and hanging open, his pants zipped up, and he was rushing to do up the buttons of his shirt. He was an average-looking man; average height, a little too thin, a little awkward looking. He also appeared pretty flustered about the woman having opened the curtains before he was dressed and gone, and Inez found herself embarrassed for him. She turned away, facing Thomas to give the man in the window privacy.
“She must have just been walking past here when they tracked her,” she said. “Call your friend and have him track her phone again.”
Nodding, he pulled out his phone.
Inez glanced around as she waited for him to make the call, her eyes sliding over the windows on the street, noticing that the women on the second floor all seemed to be just that little bit prettier than the ones on the ground floor. Most on the second floor also wore more expensive-looking lingerie, or leather compared to the women below, and she wondered if there was a price difference between the ones on the ground floor and the ones higher up.
Thomas began to speak next to her and Inez listened absently as he talked with his friend, Herb, and asked him to track the phone again. When he finished, she glanced his way in question as he flipped the phone closed.
“He’ll call back when he has the location,” Thomas explained, slipping the phone into his back pocket.
Nodding, she stepped out of the way of a large group of men gamboling down the walkway, singing some bawdy song. Once they were past, she turned to Thomas and suggested, “Why don’t we go find a pub up the street while we wait?”
Thomas hesitated and then shook his head. “If we go in the wrong direction, we’ll just have that much farther to backtrack.”
“Right,” Inez said on a sigh. She was exhausted. Her feet were sore and her ankles still swollen from the flight. She was also hungry again despite the fact that she’d eaten twice that day. And she couldn’t complain about any of the above since he’d wanted her to stay at the hotel in the first place. Grimacing, she walked over to lean against the railing that ran along the canal to keep the unwary and just plain drunk or stoned tourist from stumbling into the canal.
“You look tired,” Thomas said with a frown and when she merely shrugged, turned up the street. “Come on. It could be as much as an hour before he calls back. We may as well have a drink and maybe something to eat.”
Brightening at once, Inez fell into step beside him, finding a little energy at the prospect of a seat and drink in her future.
They hadn’t gone far when they had to
move to the side to make way for another large group, this one a bit rowdy and most definitely drunk or stoned or both. Thomas instinctively took her arm to move her out of the way of the group, having to pull her right into the mouth of a short narrow alley to get out of the way.
Inez tripped over the uneven path and though Thomas caught her, he was pulled somewhat off balance as well. They stumbled like a couple of drunks until she came up against the wall, her back slamming into it.
Grimacing, Inez lifted her head and found Thomas frozen before her, his face carved from stone, his eyes flashing silver in the dark alcove. Her own eyes widened and she found herself holding her breath as she peered up at him. It felt like a very dangerous situation to her, though she couldn’t have said why, and then his head lowered and his mouth covered hers and she knew exactly why. The need pouring off the man and evident in his demanding kiss was almost shocking. This kiss was nothing like the one in the hotel in London. That had been commanding and seductive, this was wild and out of control, an explosion of desperate need that was frightening in its intensity.
Shocked, Inez remained completely still under the initial onslaught. Like a computer overwhelmed with information, her brain blanked out briefly and then restarted as his hands caught her by the behind and lifted her up, pressing her against his hard need. Regaining her senses, Inez reached up to catch him by the hair and tugged viciously, trying to make him stop. When that didn’t work, she bit down on his tongue, not enough to do real damage, but enough to warn him off.
Thomas broke the kiss at once and she felt a moment’s relief, but then his mouth simply slid across her cheek to her ear.
