by Lynsay Sands
Thomas had spotted the collapsible cooler while in the shop and had purchased it, as well as a good-sized suitcase for Inez. Thomas had consumed several more bags of blood while he waited for Inez to pack, then had put the rest in the cooler and slung it over his shoulder before setting out.
He’d considered taking Inez to the Rijksmuseum, but one could easily spend a whole day there and he’d wanted her to see more of the city than just a museum. So they’d utilized the shadier areas and walked here to the offbeat and much smaller Kattenkabinet in a leisurely fashion, enjoying the sights and sounds of this most unique city. Inez had peered around at the seventeenth-century houses with wide eyes and Thomas had been a little wide-eyed as well since he’d never actually walked the streets here in daylight. It had been nice.
“You didn’t ask why I love cats,” he commented finally when she continued to ignore him and began to move toward the window to peer into the gardens behind the house, dedicated to anything and everything to do with cats.
“Why do you love cats?” she asked indulgently.
“Because they’re intelligent, independent, graceful, subtle, and mysterious…” Thomas tilted his head slightly and commented, “Rather like you in fact.”
“Me?” Inez asked, glancing at him with surprise and then chuckled softly and shook her head. “I’m not the least mysterious.”
“You are to me,” he countered solemnly. “And I like it.”
Inez met his gaze, and then glanced toward the window as one of the cats leapt up onto the sill and lay down in the sunshine. Reaching out, she petted the cat and said, “Well, I’m not subtle either.”
“You are,” he assured her.
She chuckled wryly, “I hardly think my berating you wildly when I arrived at the hotel was subtle behavior.”
“No?” Thomas grinned. “You berated me in Portuguese. For all I knew you were telling me I was the sexiest thing you’d seen in your life.”
“In your dreams,” Inez chuckled.
“Yes,” he agreed and, when she glanced at him in surprise, added, “And much about you is subtle. You are intelligent, but don’t flaunt it, quietly confident in your business abilities, you’re able to make refined distinctions and judgments, and then there is your beauty and sex appeal.”
Her lips had parted slightly with surprised pleasure at his words until the last one, and then they pressed together firmly and Inez shook her head and assured him, “I am no beauty and sex appeal is not even in my vocabulary.”
“You have both,” Thomas responded solemnly. “But both are delicate and understated, not the bold brassy stuff some women flaunt. For instance, you have lovely, wild hair.”
Inez grimaced with distaste. “I have wild hair, all right. I can’t do a thing with it.”
“But it’s soft and sexy and makes you look like you’ve just climbed from bed after making love for hours…and it makes a man think of making love to you for hours.”
Inez stilled, her head bowed, her hand unmoving on the cat.
“And your lips are full and soft and slightly swollen as if you’ve just been kissed. It makes a man think of kissing you,” Thomas continued, and then reached out to run his fingers lightly over the sleeve of the blouse she’d changed into for the flight home when they were back at the hotel. “And you favor silk blouses, wearing them buttoned higher than most so that just the barest hint of cleavage shows, enough to make a man wish he could see more.”
Thomas let his hand drop away, brushing it lightly over her derrière as he added, “And well-cut slacks in a draping material that fall over the curve of your behind, making a man wish to follow that curve with his hand.”
Inez finally turned marveling eyes to him and whispered, “Boy, you’re good at this seduction business. A girl could fall in love with a guy like you.”
Thomas caught her face in his hands and assured her sincerely, “Every word I’ve spoken is true, Inez. That’s how I see you and how I’m going to make you see yourself. I promise.”
Seeing the soft sheen of tears in her eyes, he lowered his head and pressed a gentle kiss to first one brow, then the other. He was about to press a kiss to her lips as well, when the tabby on the window sill suddenly stood and decided to join the party. Launching itself onto its back legs, it rested a front paw on his arm and head-butted his chin as if to say, “Hey, buddy! What about me?”
Thomas and Inez both chuckled at the demanding behavior and then she broke free with a laugh and said, “What was that you were asking me about jealousy? It looks to me like you were asking the wrong feline.”
He grinned and collected the cat into his arms to scratch it under the chin.
Inez shook her head at his indulgence and said, “Now, it’s behavior like that that has always made me a dog person.”
Thomas glanced after her with surprise, following when he realized she was leaving to head into the next room. “Are you really a dog person?”
“Of course,” she answered idly, running one hand along the built-in buffet in the dining room. “Dogs are loyal, affectionate, direct, kind, helpful, and playful. What’s not to love?”
“I’m loyal,” he informed her, watching her move around the room. “Affectionate too.”
“You’re also direct and kind,” she agreed. “And even helpful and playful.”
Thomas smiled as she walked to the door and then she glanced back and teased lightly, “You’re definitely a dog.”
Grinning, Thomas set the cat down on the floor and trailed her out of the room.
“Are you following me, mister?” she teased lightly when he entered the next room.
“Of course, it’s what dogs do,” he pointed and then added with a wicked grin, “They chase pussy.”
Inez burst out laughing. “Oh, you’re bad.”
“You started it,” Thomas said promptly and caught her hand to draw her against his side and steer her toward the door. “Come on. Let’s go find a café, I’m hungry again.”
“But there are two more rooms,” she protested.
“I’ll bring you another time,” he assured her, urging her to the stairs leading to the main level.
“Promise?” Inez asked quietly.
“Most definitely.” He hugged her to his side and then released her to descend the stairs.
They found a café with a few tables outdoors. Thomas settled Inez at one in the shade, took a quick glance at the menu, and waited for the waitress to take his order before excusing himself. He slipped inside to find the men’s room, then fed on a couple of bags of blood.
Inez was smiling faintly when he returned. When he raised his eyebrows in question, she gestured vaguely to the people passing by and said with a shrug, “People watching is just so interesting here.”
Thomas glanced around at the people walking and biking by.
“Like, look at that,” Inez said, pointing to a family riding by; mother and father, both with child seats on the back, occupied by young children. “And that.”
Thomas followed her gesture to an approaching couple. A smile curled his own lips as a woman appearing to be in her early twenties pedaled passed, craning her head slightly to see around a man of about the same age perched on the handlebars.
“Definitely a modern couple,” Inez murmured. “And look! A girls’ day shopping.”
Thomas turned his head again, his eyes twinkling as he saw three women riding together, shopping bags bristling from hands grasping their handlebars.
He glanced back to Inez to see her shaking her head in wonder as she said, “I think I love this city.”
I think I love you. The thought ran through Thomas’s head, startling him because it was true. He’d never met anyone like Inez before and while he hadn’t known her long, he’d come to know her well because of the circumstances.
The woman was fearless; standing up for herself and berating him when she’d thought he’d ignored her at the airport after her rush to collect him. Then there was her removing the knife fr
om his back, tending his wound and heading out alone in the middle of the night, in a strange city to hunt down his aunt when he couldn’t accompany her. He admired that courage.
Inez was intelligent too. It shone in her eyes and slipped from her lips every time she spoke to make a suggestion or observation.
And while she could be businesslike and commanding, she also had a good sense of humor, and a quick wit.
Thomas also knew he could depend on her to step up to the plate and do what was necessary in difficult situations. Exhausted as she’d been last night, she’d accompanied him into the Red Light District to help…without either irritation or complaint. She simply did what had to be done.
Yes, she was a special woman. The fates had been kind and wise in choosing her for his lifemate. Now he just had to convince her of it.
“I’ve been thinking, if—”
Thomas focused his gaze on Inez, but she’d stopped speaking and sat back. Glancing to the side, he saw that the waitress was there with their orders and sat back himself for her to set them down. Once the woman was gone, he raised an eyebrow at Inez and prompted, “You were thinking?”
“Well, you said Bastien had checked Marguerite’s credit card. Did he check this Tiny person’s credit card as well?”
“Yes,” Thomas said, his mood suddenly solemn as he was reminded of his missing aunt. “There is no activity on his cards either.”
Inez nodded. “So, has he checked the cards of the guy she’s working for?”
Thomas peered at her blankly. “What?”
“Well, either you or Bastien told me that the last place you knew Marguerite had been was the Dorchester Hotel? That she was there to meet with this Notte fellow who hired them to find his mother.”
“Yes,” Thomas said slowly. “She told Bastien they were hoping to get more information out of him, something useful to help them with their search.”
“Well…” Inez shrugged. “Maybe the reason neither Tiny nor Marguerite have used their own credit cards is because this Notte guy has joined them in the search and is footing the bill.”
“Jesus,” Thomas breathed, staring at her. It was such a simple suggestion, but neither he nor Bastien, nor presumably anyone else in the family had come up with it.
“What’s wrong?” Inez asked with a concerned frown. “You’re staring at me funny.”
“I’m staring at you thinking you’re brilliant,” he explained on a laugh and shook his head. “I can’t believe you came up with that. Actually yes, I can. What I really can’t believe is that not one member of our family came up with that. Christ, we’re supposed to have nano brains.”
Inez grinned and teased, “Would that be very tiny, little miniscule brains?”
“It would seem so,” Thomas said wryly, reaching for his phone.
Inez shook her head. “That’s not true, and you know it. You’re all just too close to the situation and too worried. You’d have come up with it on your own eventually.”
“Thankfully we’ll never know if that’s true because you came up with it,” he said, pushing the speed dial button for Bastien and raising the phone to his ear.
Inez began to eat as he talked to his cousin and told him what she’d come up with and Thomas found himself watching. His eyes followed every movement as she lifted the food to her mouth and slipped it in and he marveled at how dainty and sexy she was about it. As tidy as a cat, he thought and smiled to himself, then forced his attention back to Bastien’s words. The man was both excited by the suggestion, and full of self-disgust that he hadn’t thought it up himself and saved them this wasted time.
Thomas told him not to beat himself up, pointing out what Inez had said; that they were too close to the situation and their worry had clouded their thoughts somewhat.
“Does he have a way to trace Notte’s credit card?” Inez asked as he slipped his phone into his pocket.
Thomas nodded. “We have friends everywhere. And if we don’t, we can send someone in to make new friends.”
“You mean control them,” she said dryly.
Thomas nodded in acknowledgment, but they had both stopped smiling. He was thinking about the fact that she’d been controlled and had her memory wiped, and knew she was too.
“If Marguerite isn’t even here in Amsterdam, why control me and erase my memory?” Inez asked suddenly.
Thomas frowned as he tried to reason it out. “Herb said the location turned up the same the second time he checked it while you were on the way to the park. He said you should have found Aunt Marguerite there.”
“But it wasn’t your aunt,” Inez said quietly, picking up on his train of thought and then added, “It was that mugger who had the phone in the park. He couldn’t have controlled me or wiped my memory.”
“No,” Thomas agreed.
“So who did and why?” she asked. They were both silent for a minute, and then Inez said, “You don’t suppose someone was trying to keep me from discovering that the mugger had the phone, and not Marguerite.”
Thomas was so startled by the suggestion, that he dropped his fork. “Someone here in Amsterdam?”
Inez nodded.
He frowned at the idea and then said slowly, “But that would suggest that—I mean it was all just bad luck that the phone was here. Happenstance. The mortal mugged Marguerite and we followed the phone here.”
“And so long as we’re chasing the phone here in Amsterdam, we were on the wrong track,” she pointed out.
“Yes,” Thomas agreed, his own frown returning. “But if that’s why you were controlled and your memory wiped…”
“Then someone doesn’t want us to find your aunt,” Inez finished quietly.
Eleven
“Here we are.” The bellhop pushed the door open and held it with one extended arm for Inez and Thomas to precede him.
Despite the sudden nerves claiming her, Inez smiled at the man and led the way inside. She set her purse on the end table beside the sofa and moved restlessly to the row of windows, tugging the curtain open, and then peered blindly out over the twinkling lights of London at night. Her attention, however, was on the sounds behind her as the bellhop wheeled her suitcase with Thomas’s knapsack on top into the room. She heard Thomas thank the man and guessed by the bellhop’s cheerful response that he’d probably tipped him well for escorting them up, and then she heard the door close.
Inez didn’t turn around, but stood stiffly where she was, feeling like a virgin on her wedding night. They were back at the Dorchester.
Thomas and Inez had been relaxing in Schiphol airport, waiting to board their flight out of Amsterdam, when Bastien had called with the news that he’d not only traced Notte’s credit cards, but had called Christian Notte’s apartment, and when he’d received an answering machine, had then tried the Notte Construction offices. It was the business where the immortal worked in Italy, fortunately, a family-run organization despite it being a multinational company. His aunt Vita had answered the phone and Bastien had learned from her that Christian was in England as was his father, though she wasn’t sure exactly where the two men were. She also had no idea when they planned to return and hadn’t sounded pleased about it.
Bastien had then arranged to have both men’s credit cards tracked in England. He’d found a charge for two suites at the Claridge’s hotel here in London the night after Marguerite had checked out of the Dorchester. He’d also found a charge for five train tickets to York, where several charges had subsequently been made, the last of them occurring just the day before.
Bastien had immediately called the hotel, hoping to verify that Marguerite had been one of the guests in the suites, but all he’d learned was that Mr. Notte had requested three of the bedrooms in the suites have twin beds.
Deciding she had to have been there, he’d then tried to arrange train tickets for Thomas and Inez to York, but their flight from Amsterdam arrived too late for them to catch a train. He’d apparently checked into flights, but that wasn’t possible eit
her, so he’d booked them into the Dorchester Hotel for the night, reserving them a two-bedroom suite. They were to take a train to the walled city early the next evening.
Thomas had passed on all of this information in solemn tones, but then his eyes had flared silver as he pointed out that it meant they had a free night to themselves.
Inez had been a nervous wreck ever since; contemplating what was to come with an anxiety that had grown with each passing moment as they waited to be called to board their flight, on the flight, and during the taxi ride to the hotel.
Now the time was nigh, Inez thought with more than a touch of panic. Really, the anticipation was horrible. She hadn’t been sitting on the flight remembering what his kisses had been like and imagining what the rest would be like; Inez had spent the entire flight wishing she’d known this was coming a couple months ago so she could have chosen not to skip so many trips to the gym in favor of work. She also would have bypassed some of the muffins she’d had for breakfast, and…
The ands were endless; a manicure, pedicure, facial, body wax, body wrap…Anything that might make her look better while naked ran through her head as something she should have and would have done.
Once Inez had finished shredding any confidence she’d previously had in her body, she’d turned to her sexual technique, or lack there of. She was no virgin, but she really had neglected her social life in order to concentrate on her career, and while that had got her promoted to vice president, it had basically left her social life, or more specifically her love life, in the toilet. It had been a long time since she’d even dated anyone, let alone slept with them…A very long time. It wouldn’t have hurt to pick up a book that could give her a quick refresher course.
