Vampires Are Forever (27 page)

“Tom?” the man asked, eyes slightly narrowed.

“Thomas Argeneau, yes,” Thomas said, turning now to peer at the man as well.

Nodding the fellow turned back into the townhouse and slammed the door.

When Thomas turned surprised eyes her way, Inez shrugged and murmured, “Northerners.”

“Oh,” he said blankly and she chuckled softly.

“Southerners say that whenever someone from the north does something inconceivable or odd,” she explained with a grin. “I haven’t figured out what it’s supposed to mean yet, but give me another eight years here and I’m sure I will.”

Thomas smiled faintly and then glanced to the adjoining townhouse again as they heard the door open once more. Both of them watched as the man hurried out, rushing from the step in his stocking feet, clutching a piece of paper in his hand…and a key, Inez saw, as the man opened his hand to offer both to Thomas.

“There’s the key, son. My number’s on the paper if you need aught. Show yourselves in and enjoy. I’m missing my Baywatch.” On that note, he whirled away and rushed back inside his townhouse, slamming the door closed again. This time the sound of a lock clicking into place followed.

Thomas turned disbelieving eyes to her. “Baywatch?”

“We get reruns of all your best shows,” she said dryly.

Thomas shook his head as he turned to unlock the door. “I am Canadian. We’re not responsible for Baywatch. You can not blame that on us.”

“Just the Pamela Anderson part,” Inez suggested with amusement.

“Only partially, I’m sure her implants are American,” Thomas assured her as he opened the door and stepped back for her to enter.

Inez grinned and shook her head as she passed into the townhouse, flipping the switch to turn the lights on as she went. “I suppose we shouldn’t make fun. Baywatch is probably the only excitement the old guy gets on a night.”

“Old?” Thomas echoed with a wry laugh as he set her suitcase inside the door and followed her in. “He’s a baby compared to me.”

She must have had a stunned expression on her face because he frowned. “You knew that Inez. I told you I was born in 1794.”

“Yes,” she breathed and nodded her head. “I guess I just—It’s so easy to forget. You don’t seem old.”

“Because I don’t look old,” Thomas said with a shrug and moved forward to rub his hands up and down her arms. “Are you all right? You aren’t regretting—?”

“No,” Inez interrupted quickly and gave her head a shake, not even really sure herself why the realization that he was older than the man next door had startled her so. She supposed 1794 had just been a number to her until now. Forcing herself to relax, she managed a stiff smile and teased, “I’m sure I’ll adjust to dating an old fart.”

“Oh!” Thomas groaned and clutched his chest. “That one went straight to the heart. You’re a cruel woman, Inez Urso.”

“And don’t you forget it,” she said, her smile becoming more natural.

“I won’t,” he assured her.

“And I have a temper too,” Inez announced, turning away to peer into the living room beside them. It was a very neutral room; carpeted and painted in beige, the furniture all gray, and not a lick of decoration in it unless you counted a television as a work of art.

“A fine temper,” Thomas agreed, glancing over her shoulder into the room. His hand curved over her bottom and he added, “And a fine behind too.”

Inez slapped his hand away with a chuckle. “Behave, we have work to do.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said agreeably, following as she walked up the hall to the kitchen. They both stood in the kitchen doorway, peering over the cream and brown room with a distinct lack of excitement.

“It looks clean,” Inez said, trying not to be too critical.

“Yes, it does,” Thomas agreed with amusement, turning his back to the hall wall so that she could precede him back up the hall and to the staircase. She understood why he wanted her to lead the way when she felt his fingers brushing down the backs of her ankles, tickling the spot he knew was sensitive as he followed her upstairs. Pausing, she turned a scowl over her shoulder. “I’m mortal. You really don’t want me falling down these stairs and breaking my neck.”

“I’d catch you,” he assured her solemnly. “I’ll always be there to catch you, Inez.”

Swallowing, Inez turned forward again and continued upstairs.

There were two small bedrooms on this floor; one with twin beds and one with a double bed. There was also a rather large bathroom. Inez suspected the bathroom had been another bedroom before indoor plumbing became popular.

After testing the mattresses, she and Thomas settled on the room with the twin beds and retrieved their luggage to stow it there, then went down to check the kitchen for tea. Bastien had promised to have groceries delivered and apparently the old man had let the delivery guy in and put everything away. She supposed he’d forgotten to mention that in his eagerness to get to his Baywatch babes.

“Do you want tea in, or shall we go out and have a drink while everything is still open?” Thomas asked as they finished checking the cupboards.

“Let’s go out. Maybe we’ll get lucky and run into Marguerite while we’re out.”

Nodding, Thomas waited for her to grab her purse and ushered her out of the townhouse.

“I know you’ve never been to London before this trip,” Inez said quietly as they walked. “But have you ever been to York?”

“Actually, I have been to London before,” he informed her and then added, “But that was back in…” Thomas glanced skyward as he tried to remember. Finally he shrugged and said, “It was early eighteen something. I was in my twenties.”

Inez glanced at him curiously. “And you never returned?”

Thomas shook his head solemnly. “My uncle, Jean Claude, pitched such a fit I didn’t dare. He freaked if any of us even talked about going to England. He hated the place. I never figured out why,” he added with a frown, and then went on. “Marguerite was born here and it’s where they met. They spent a lot of time in England for the first couple of centuries. But…” He shrugged. “I don’t know what happened, just that some time before I was born he got a hate-on for the country, wouldn’t go near it himself, and tried to dissuade everyone else from going too.”

Eyebrows rising slightly at this news, she asked, “And he was so scary that no one disobeyed him? I mean, even for an immortal, twenty must be considered an adult. Surely, if you’d wanted to go…?”

“I wasn’t afraid of him, Inez,” Thomas said and then added, “At least, not for me. I no longer lived with him and Marguerite and could do what I wanted, but he’d take it out on her and Lissianna if I crossed him.”

Inez frowned as she digested this. She already knew that Lissianna was Marguerite’s daughter and Bastien’s only sister, but had never heard much about Jean Claude. He was dead by the time she started working for Argeneau Enterprises.

“Was he physically violent?” she asked quietly, wondering if Thomas had been an abused child growing up. If so, he’d come around well, but she supposed he’d had a lot of time to do so.

“No.” Thomas slid an arm around her waist and hugged her against his side. “Not physically. He was a drunk and mean as hell. The man could be vicious and could make everyone’s life miserable with little effort and absolutely no remorse.” Thomas sighed. “Marguerite and Lissianna were pretty much trapped at home with him. He wouldn’t let Lissianna move out until she found a lifemate, and he refused to allow Marguerite to work. And he wasn’t above using mind control to keep her there.”

“Mind control?” Inez asked with shock, coming to an abrupt halt. “You said lifemates couldn’t control each other.”

“Marguerite and Claude weren’t lifemates,” he said quietly. “He turned her, but he could read and control her from the start and used it like a weapon. Against all of us.”

“It must have made it hard for you growing up,” she said quietly as they started walking again.

“There are worse things,” Thomas said with a shrug and then glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and asked, “But I’m more interested in you. What was your childhood like?”

Inez smiled faintly and shrugged. “No one’s life is perfect, is it?”

“Mine is. Right this minute my life is absolutely perfect,” he assured her, and then frowned and added, “Except for the fact that Marguerite is missing.”

“Yes,” she said quietly.

“So,” Thomas said after they’d walked half a block. “What was your childhood like? Were both parents there? Or was it a single parent home?”

“Both parents were there, and I had an older brother. He was a pain as most older brothers are; bossy, superior, protective,” Inez said, and then commented, “You have one sister, right?”

“Jeanne Louise,” Thomas said with a nod, and then added, “I love her a great deal, but Lissianna and I are closer. We were close in age and grew up together.”

Inez peered at him curiously. “How old is Jeanne Louise?”

“She’ll be one hundred next year.”

“Only one hundred?” she asked with surprise. “God, you were over a century old when she was born. No wonder you’re closer to Lissianna.”

Thomas smiled faintly. “Immortals are only allowed to have one child every hundred years.”

“You mean the woman only ovulates once every hundred years?” Inez asked with amazement.

“No.” He laughed at the idea. “It’s a law, not a biological thing.”

“Oh,” she said, but then asked, “Whose law?”

“We have a council that makes our laws and that is one of them.”

Inez was curious about that, but figured she could learn more about it later. Right now, she wanted to know more about his family. “If Jeanne Louise is only a hundred years old, then your parents are still alive?”

“My father is, but my mother died when I was four. That’s why Aunt Marguerite raised me. Father didn’t have a clue what to do with a toddler.”

Inez relaxed a little. She’d wondered why—if his parents were alive—he’d been raised by his aunt. “So Jeanne Louise is your half sister? Your father found a second lifemate after your mother died?”

“Well, no, actually he didn’t,” Thomas admitted with a wry smile and then said, “It’s kind of complicated. Basically, my father seems to be cursed when it comes to wives. They just kept dying on him…Not an easy thing when they were all immortals,” he pointed out and then went on quietly, “After Jeanne Louise’s mother died, he just sort of gave up. He’s a recluse now and doesn’t see anyone. Jeanne Louise doesn’t even know what he looks like.”

“How sad,” Inez murmured quietly.

Thomas shrugged. “He has to deal with it in his own way. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to lose a lifemate. It’s something I don’t even want to contemplate,” he added, squeezing her a little tighter against his side.

Inez didn’t know what to say to that. She couldn’t promise he would never lose her, since she wasn’t sure he had her. She was growing more and more sure of her own feelings with every passing hour, but it just made her more certain that she couldn’t be his lifemate if he couldn’t love her back.

Deciding a change of topic was in order she said, “Tell me about your music.”

Thomas came to an abrupt halt, his head whipping her way. “How did you know about that?”

“Your binder was open when I brought the phone out to you the first morning,” she admitted solemnly. “You write music?”

Thomas blew his breath out and started to walk again. “Yes.”

She bit her lip at the reluctance behind the word and was debating whether to change the subject again when he began to speak. He told her about Marguerite teaching him to play, about Jean Claude’s jeering response to it, and his decision to keep his efforts to himself after that. And he had all these years. It seemed the man she was coming to love had a stubborn streak, at least about things that mattered to him. But that was all right, Inez decided. She could be a bit of a bull herself.

“How about this place?” Thomas asked suddenly, and Inez glanced around to see that while she’d been thinking they’d left the quiet residential area and entered the shopping section. The road around them was full of stores and restaurants, but the one Thomas was gesturing to was a small café on a corner. It was two floors, with glass windows running along both sides that looked out onto the street. Inez could see that it was a popular spot, even at this hour there were few empty tables.

“It looks promising,” she commented and they went in.

“Why don’t you tell me what you want and go find a table while I order?” Thomas asked as they reached the counter.

Nodding, Inez glanced over the menu on the boards on the wall behind the counter and said, “A latte and lemon muffin.”

“Not tea?” Thomas asked with surprise.

“I never have tea away from home. They never steep it long enough,” she informed him.

“Okay,” he said with a laugh, and then pressed a quick kiss to her lips and urged her away. “Go hunt us up a table. I’ll find you.”

Smiling, Inez headed for the stairs to the second level. There weren’t many tables on the main floor and the few there were taken. The second floor wasn’t much better. As she’d noted from the street, it was quite busy, but Inez managed to find an empty table by the window and settled there to watch the stairs for Thomas.