"It's not a problem, Inez. I know you two are busy trying to locate Marguerite. This will leave you free to do that. Good luck with that by the way. Marguerite's a fine woman and I know Thomas is very fond of her. I hope you find her safe and sound."
"So do I, Wyatt," she said solemnly.
"Right. Well, I'll get off here and take care of that other matter for you," he said, then hesitated briefly before asking tentatively, "Will you be returning to work once you've found her?"
"Of course," Inez said at once, startled that he'd even ask the question.
"Good, good," Wyatt said at once. "I just worried that...well, Thomas lives in Canada and...Never mind. Good luck on your hunt. I'll see you when you get back."
There was a click as he hung up and Inez flipped her cell phone closed, but then just stood there staring at it, Wyatt's words ringing in her ears.
Thomas lives in Canada and...
That hadn't occurred to her. This lifemate business had seemed so perfect with the complete lack of a necessity to bother with awkward first dates and everything else, but it didn't resolve issues such as the two of them living in separate countries.
Surely, that wasn't really an issue though, Inez thought with a frown. She had a career here in the U.K. She was a vice president with an excellent salary and wonderful prospects while he just delivered blood in Canada and doodled music on a notepad.
No, it wouldn't be an issue, Inez decided with a faint smile at herself for thinking even for a minute that it might be. Thomas wouldn't have any problem moving here to be with her. Everything would be fine. She was just borrowing trouble in her usual manner, spotting possible problems before they could become problems.
Shaking her head, Inez slid her cell phone into her purse and started out of the room, coming to a halt in the hall when she heard the muffled sound of a door closing in Thomas's room. Not the soft thud of the bathroom door closing, but a suction type sound, the insulation around the door to the hall had made when it opened and closed.
Frowning, she moved to his door and pressed her ear to it, disturbed by the silence beyond the wooden panel. The shower was now silent and Inez didn't hear him moving around or anything.
Biting her lip, she knocked lightly at the door. "Thomas?"
Inez waited a moment, but when she got no answer, opened the door and peered into the room. The lights were off. She flipped them on, her gaze moving over the empty bed and to the dark and equally empty bathroom.
Cursing, she started toward the door leading out into the hotel hall, but then realized she didn't have her purse and hurried back to her room to collect it knowing she might need her pass and the key to the hotel suite. She hurried out into the hall through her own door then, pausing abruptly when she saw the elevator doors closing.
"Damn," Inez muttered, sure that by the time another elevator arrived he'd be exiting the lobby and lost in the crowds out on the street. She didn't know her way around Amsterdam and even if she did, had no idea where he was going.
That thought sent her back to the hotel room door. She used the card key she'd received when they'd checked in and rushed inside, heading straight for the table in the living room and the notepad on it. A smile claimed her lips when she spotted the bold writing on it. He hadn't taken the note. A quick glance told her they were the latest coordinates for Marguerite's phone and no doubt where he was heading.
Inez ripped the top page off the pad and whirled away to rush for the door. She'd need a map of Amsterdam before she could find the spot, but she would find it and then she'd find Thomas.
He'd probably be annoyed that she'd come after him, but if he was going to be her lifemate, he might as well know right now that she didn't like to share. She wasn't going to leave the foolish man wandering around alone megadosed on Immortal Spanish fly. Especially not in Amsterdam.
Chapter Six
Thomas tapped his fingers impatiently against his leg as he waited for the tram. He could have walked the distance from the hotel to the city center easily, but the tram would be faster, and the faster he got there the better.
He'd hoped that once he was out of the hotel and away from Inez some of the need coursing through his body would ease, but it wasn't working out quite that way. It was a struggle for him not to turn around and march the twenty feet back to the hotel and back up to their suite. The only thing stopping him was his worry for his aunt and the knowledge that if he did march back in, he wasn't likely to stop marching until he reached Inez. And then he would probably still keep moving, just taking her with him, stripping away every bit of clothing she wore as he went. If they reached a bed or some other soft surface before he had her naked, she would be lucky, because the moment he had them both free of their binding clothes he was likely to crawl all over and inside her body.
Thomas knew he wouldn't be able to help himself. He was now sporting a killer erection and one that wasn't going away anytime soon. He'd never experienced need like this before. He'd thought the hunger was irresistible when he'd gone too long without blood, but in comparison, the effects of the Sweet Ecstasy were devastating. He felt like he was dancing on the edge of a knife, need lancing through him in pulsating waves.
His gaze slid around the few people near him waiting for the tram, gliding over one woman then another, noting their interested smiles with complete indifference. Horny as the Sweet Ecstasy was making him, Thomas knew they couldn't slake his thirst, it was Inez he wanted. Sweet Inez with her full, pouty lips, her curved body, and all her passion. He wanted her naked beneath him, her warm body embracing his, her need as hot and unbearable as his own.
Of course, she wasn't likely to have any need for him at all yet, let alone one as unbearable as what he was suffering. She hadn't had any Sweet Ecstasy. If anything, the woman was more likely to be screaming blue, bloody murder...or to be more literal, rape, as he bore her down to the carpet in their suite.
Grimacing, Thomas glanced up the road, relieved to see the tram coming. The further he got away from Inez and temptation, the better. When the tram stopped, he allowed the others to board before him, then retrieved his pass and followed. Despite the hour, the tram was busy. Tourists traveled around the city at all hours of the night, enjoying the pleasures on offer like naughty children who unexpectedly found themselves free of parental supervision for a weekend.
Thomas glanced over the seats still available as he slid his pass back into his pocket, then moved toward a pair of empty seats near the middle of the tram. He dropped into the aisle seat to discourage anyone from deciding to join him. They would have to be a bold person indeed, since they'd have to crawl over him to get to the window seat. Just to ensure none of the women smiling so prettily at him felt a sudden desire to do so, Thomas crossed his arms over his chest and glared around briefly, before turning his gaze out the window to wait for the tram to move.
It didn't leave the stop right away, but sat idling for a couple of moments. Thomas had just noticed this and glanced to the front of the tram when the driver opened the doors again. Realizing he must have been waiting for someone running for the tram, Thomas turned his attention back to the window, mentally reviewing the map he'd purchased in the hotel lobby. Marguerite's cell phone had last been tracked to the heart of the oldest part of Amsterdam, De Wallen. It was also known as Walletjes ("little walls") or Rosse Buurt...the Red Light District.
Thomas couldn't imagine what Marguerite would be doing there. Not that it was what one would expect from the title. It wasn't grubby or seedy. All in all it was a rather unique neighborhood with rows of buildings on either side of the canals. Bridges crossed the canal at intervals, and walkways ran along each side, lined with bars and night clubs along with sex shows and the infamous red-lit windows displaying scantily clad women inside. Most people would be surprised at how clean and attractive it all was.
Still, it just didn't seem the sort of place Marguerite would go. He suspected she'd been passing through the area on her way somewhere else, and would be gone by the time he got there, but he had to check it out.
Thomas blinked and glanced around with alarm as someone began to squeeze through the small bit of space between his knees and the back of the seat in front of him to reach the window seat. His eyes landed on black business pants and stayed fastened there as he recognized the shapely, upside-down heart of Inez's behind. His hands started moving of their own volition, reaching for her hips as if to catch her and draw her down onto his lap, and then Thomas regained control of himself and forced them under his arms as she finally finished squeezing past him and dropped into the window seat with a little sigh.
"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.