Thomas managed to get them both out of the water, lifting Inez out first and then following. He crawled to her side and peered down at her face in the moonlight, frowning at her poor color. Swallowing back the fear tickling its way up his throat, he promptly set to work. Thomas tilted her head back and lifted her chin, then bent to listen for breathing. When he didn't hear anything, he pinched her nose closed, breathed into her mouth twice, and then placed the heel of his hand on her breastbone, placed his other hand on the first and pressed straight down fast and hard thirty times in a row before stopping to breathe into her mouth again, watching her chest rise as he blew in, then fall as he stopped.
"Come on, Inez," Thomas muttered as he switched back to compressions. "Don't you die on me. Come on!"
He bent to breathe into her mouth, jerking away when she suddenly began to cough. Turning her swiftly on her side, Thomas made sure her head was tilted back so her throat wasn't blocked and then simply rubbed her back as she continued to cough and began to spit up the water she'd swallowed.
When Inez finally fell back with a moan, Thomas reached down to brush away the damp hair plastered to her face and breathed out with relief.
Noting that her color was much better now, he took a moment to run his hands over her neck. Thomas was sure the other immortal hadn't got the chance to do an injury to her, but he checked anyway, relieved when her neck seemed fine.
Sitting back on his heels, he glanced up and down the path, but there was no one around. The immortal was long gone, and while he could see a couple of people walking across the bridge at the end of the path, they were far enough away they didn't even seem to notice he and Inez. Certainly no one appeared to have noticed them in the water and rushed to help.
Another moan from Inez drew his gaze back and Thomas leaned over her again. "Love?" he said quietly. "Are you awake?"
Inez's eyes fluttered open. They were full of confusion and pain until she recognized him and then relief filled her expression and she whispered, "Thomas."
"Yes, love. I'm here. You're safe now."
Her fingers clutched weakly at his hand, her eyes solemn as she gasped, "Thought would die before could tell you-"
Thomas felt his heart tighten as she broke off into a deep, painful sounding coughing fit. Slipping his arm behind her back, he lifted her into a half-sitting position, and then rubbed her back, trying to help her through it.
"Have to tell you," she gasped once it was over.
"Don't talk, love. Just rest," he insisted worriedly.
She shook her head with frustration and tried anyway. "I want you to know, I lo-"
Thomas rubbed her back again as she went into another coughing fit. He was sure she was trying to tell him she loved him, and while he wanted to hear those words more than anything in the world, he didn't want them at the expense of her health.
"You can tell me after," he assured her, scooping her into his arms once this fit ended. "When you're feeling better."
When she merely moaned and sagged weakly against his chest, Thomas held her a little closer and turned toward the stairs. He stumbled over something on the path and glanced down. Spotting her purse, Thomas stooped and rested Inez's legs on his knees as he picked it up. Fortunately, it was a zippered purse and hadn't burst open on impact. Slinging it over his shoulder, he slid his arm under her legs again and straightened to walk to the stairs.
Inez remained still and silent in his arms as he mounted the stairs. Thomas kept glancing down at her, his attention torn between the steps and his concern for her.
"Hang in there, Inez. I'll take you to a hospital. You'll be okay," he murmured.
Inez's reaction to the words was almost violent. Jerking in his arms, she raised panicked eyes to him.
"No.... No hospital," she protested, her voice hoarse and weak.
Thomas frowned at her upset, but said, "It's for the best, love. You nearly drowned."
"He'll find me," Inez cried, and the fear in her voice made his heart hurt. It also told him that the immortal hadn't bothered to wipe his taking control of her from her memories, but then, why would he bother? Thomas was sure the man had intended for her to die. He'd stake his life that he'd been about to snap her neck when he'd intervened.
Perhaps the hospital wasn't such a good idea, Thomas acknowledged. He didn't want her out of his sight for a minute from now on and couldn't guarantee they wouldn't try to separate them at the hospital or try to keep her overnight. The immortal might very well get his hands on her again and Thomas wasn't allowing that.
"No hospital," he assured her soothingly as she moved restlessly in his arms. "I'll take you back to the townhouse now."
A little sigh of relief slipped from her lips and Inez closed her eyes and went still in his arms, but her expression was still tight with fear. Thomas felt a slow rage begin to burn in him as he peered down at her.
No woman should have to live in fear, and he'd be damned if his was going to, Thomas thought grimly as he started up the stairs. The moment he had Inez back to the townhouse he was going to turn her. The immortal would still be able to read her until she was taught to put up-and keep up-guards, but she would be harder to read and control...and definitely harder to kill. At least she'd have a fighting chance.
The streets were relatively quiet. Thomas only past a few people on his way back to the townhouse and had little trouble wiping the memory of their passing from their minds. The last thing he needed was someone calling the police and telling them they saw a man carrying an unconscious woman through town center. Still, he was so relieved to reach the townhouse that he didn't notice that the lights he'd turned off on the way out were on again as he struggled to unlock the door and get Inez inside.
Thomas had just kicked the door closed and turned to carry Inez upstairs to the bedroom when that realization struck him. He stopped, one foot on the bottom step as adrenaline began to rush through him, then jerked his eyes to the top of the landing as the sound of a door opening upstairs reached his ears.
When no one appeared at the top of the stairs and he heard movement in one of the rooms, Thomas whirled and hurried silently across the hall and into the living room. He set Inez out of the way on the couch, then turned back and crept toward the door, slowing only long enough to snatch a lamp off a table and jerk the cord out of the wall, before continuing out into the hall.
Chapter Fourteen
"You can't turn Inez without her permission."
Thomas scowled as Etienne repeated that refrain and wished he'd never mentioned his plans, but simply gone ahead and done it. Actually, he wished he'd koshed his cousin over the head rather than stop himself at the last minute when he'd realized who had just walked out of the bedroom.
After leaving Inez in the living room, Thomas had crept upstairs, the lamp at the ready to batter some immortal butt. He'd been on the landing, just approaching the only closed door-the one with the double bed-when it had suddenly opened and Etienne had walked out.
Thomas had lowered the lamp with relief and then the two men had hugged in greeting and Rachel had come out of the bedroom as Etienne explained that he'd met his deadline and she'd managed to get some time off work and they'd come to help in the search.
The crotchety old man next door had let them into the townhouse when they arrived. He hadn't been pleased to be rousted from his bed in the middle of the night, but Etienne had slipped into his thoughts and erased the whole event from his mind before sending him back to sleep. When he woke up in the morning, the man would think he'd slept peacefully through the night.
When Rachel had then asked what they'd come up with so far, Thomas had recalled Inez and rushed back downstairs and into the living room with them on his heels.
Rachel had taken one look at the unconscious woman lying pale and soaking on the sofa and sent Thomas upstairs to fetch a nightgown or something for her to change her into. Thomas had rushed upstairs, opened Inez's suitcase, peered at the sexy black negligee that had been purchased and sent to the hotel in Amsterdam, and promptly closed the suitcase. He'd be damned if Etienne was seeing her in that. He'd then gone to his own knapsack and retrieved one of his shirts, sure that-short as she was-it would hang well past her knees. He'd taken it down to Rachel only to find both he and Etienne banished from the room as Rachel stripped the unconscious woman of her wet clothes and replaced it with the shirt.
The two men had waited in the kitchen until she was finished and then Thomas had given them a quick rundown of what had happened and the deductions they'd come up with before heading upstairs to change. On the way to the stairs, he'd looked in the living room to see that Inez was asleep and tucked under a throw on the sofa.
Etienne had approached while he was staring at her and had said quietly, "Bastien says she's your life mate."
Thomas had nodded. "She is and I'm turning her as soon as I finish changing."
"She's agreed to it already?" Etienne had asked with surprise.
"No, but I'm doing it anyway," Thomas had announced and turned to head upstairs.
Sucking in a sharp breath, Etienne had immediately chased after him to argue the point as he changed. By the time Thomas had finished and started out into the hall, the argument had been getting pretty heated. Only the sight of Rachel in the hall had calmed them both down. Unfortunately, it hadn't made Etienne shut up.
"You can't," Etienne repeated firmly, following him when he started downstairs.
"You turned Rachel without getting her permission first," Thomas growled with resentment.
"Rachel wasn't conscious. I couldn't get her permission," Etienne pointed out, on his heels. "And she was dying; it was the only way to save her."
"Well, Inez nearly died tonight," Thomas argued as he stepped off the last step and started across the hall toward the living room door.
"But she didn't," Etienne growled, losing some of his patience.
"Only by pure luck," Thomas said in a soft hiss to avoid waking Inez as he reached the side of the couch where she was sleeping. He peered down at her sleeping form with worry.
"Don't be so bloody bullheaded. When she wakes up you can ask her and if she agrees you can turn her."
Thomas stiffened and then wheeled around, his heart thumping with alarm at the suggestion. "And what if she refuses?"
Etienne halted and peered at him silently, obviously uncertain what to say to reassure him. It was Rachel who spoke. Following them into the room, she slipped her hand into her husband's, presenting a united front as she asked quietly, "Have you not discussed it with her at all?"
Thomas glanced away. "She knows she's my lifemate, and a little about the turning, but she hasn't agreed to either be my lifemate or be turned." His mouth twisted with displeasure as he admitted, "I wanted to give her time to consider it."
"Well, she's had some time to think," Rachel said slowly. "Maybe she won't refuse."
"But what if she does?" Thomas persisted and admitted painfully, "I don't want to lose her, Rachel, and if I turn her now, I won't."
"Are you sure?" Rachel asked quietly. "Turning her without permission might actually make you lose her. I wasn't happy to be turned without my permission, but when it was explained that Etienne had done so to save my life, I understood. Inez would be a different matter entirely. She might resent having her choice taken away and might never forgive you for it."
Thomas sagged and let his breath out on a sigh, knowing she was right, but...Raising his head he admitted, "I'd rather lose her from my life, but know she was alive and well than lose her altogether to death."
Rachel's eyes widened slightly and then slid to the side and back before she clarified, "You'd be willing to live alone and without a lifemate for the rest of your life just to insure Inez was well?"
Thomas nodded grimly.
"Then you must love her a great deal," she said quietly.
"She's the woman I've been waiting for all my life."
A sound to the side made Thomas glance to the sofa. He stiffened as he saw that Inez's eyes were open and she was struggling weakly to sit up, her eyes wide as she peered at him.
"Inez." Stepping quickly to her side, he lifted her in his arms and then settled on the sofa, settling her upright in his lap. Holding her there, Thomas pressed her close and rubbed her back, his gaze worried as he glanced over her pale face. "How are you feeling? Are you all right? You look so pale," he added fretfully.
Inez peered at him silently, her expression solemn and then nodded and turned toward Rachel and Etienne as a rustle of clothing accompanied their moving farther into the room.
"This is my cousin, Etienne, and his wife, Rachel. Aunt Marguerite is Etienne's mother. They've come to help us find her."
Inez managed a small smile and nod, but didn't try to speak as she offered her hand to the couple in greeting. Recalling that her voice had been hoarse and weak when she'd tried to speak by the riverside, Thomas asked, "Is your throat sore?"
Inez nodded again and then tried to say "yes" but it came out a painful rasp.
"I'll see if there's any honey or something to soothe her throat in the kitchen," Rachel said as she released her hand.
"Thank you," Thomas and Inez said together, but his voice was the only one to be heard. He scowled and said, "Stop trying to talk. You'll just hurt yourself."
"So turn me and stop the pai-" Her raspy voice died as she was claimed by a coughing fit.
Thomas barely noticed that Rachel had stopped in the doorway and turned around wide-eyed. His heart had leapt in his chest and his gaze was fixed on the woman in his arms. He simply stared at her until her fit eased and she fell against his chest exhausted, then lunged to his feet and held her close as he headed for the door. "You heard her. She gave permission."
"Just a minute," Etienne said sharply hurrying after him and catching his arm to stop him.
Thomas paused reluctantly between Rachel and Etienne and turned so that he could see both of them. Eyeing his cousin impatiently, he asked, "What now?"