"Good morning, Inez. I hope you"re feeling better this morning."
Inez stopped just inside the kitchen door, her head turning sharply to find the man seated at the breakfast table. Her eyes widened with surprise as she spotted Bastien Argeneau, seated at the table looking thoughtful. He wore jeans and a T-shirt that made him look no more than twenty-six or -seven. She"d never seen the big boss of Argeneau Enterprises look so casual. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable in the dark slacks and red blouse she"d donned on waking. Inez didn"t usually wear bright colors, but she"d dressed in the dark to avoid waking Thomas and had chosen her clothes by feel rather than color.
"Good morning, Bas- Mr. Argeneau," she corrected herself quickly. While Thomas, and now Etienne and Rachel, kept referring to him as Bastien, and she"d started to think of him that way, he was still her boss and as such was Mr. Argeneau to her."You can call me Bastien," he said with a smile. "From what I hear, we"re to be in-laws."
Inez blushed, but didn"t know what to say. No one had said anything about marriage to her. All Thomas had said was that he wanted to turn her and that she was his lifemate. Marriage hadn"t come into it.
Forcing a smile for Bastien, she shuffled her feet, and then asked, "Would you like some tea?"
"Thank you," Bastien murmured and then added, "I see you still have a bit of a scratchy throat. Did the honey not help?"
Inez"s eyes went round with mortification at the question and she scrambled quickly to the teakettle on the counter, her mind racing. What had Rachel and Etienne told the man? She wondered as she retrieved the jug, removed the lid, and set it on the counter, and then moved to the sink to fill it with water.
"Is there something wrong?" Bastien asked, sounding concerned.
"No," she squeaked out as she shut off the water. Inez then turned to move back to the kettle, coming to an abrupt halt when she found Bastien there. They both gasped as the water in the jug sloshed over the lip and down his front.
"Oh!" Inez cried in alarm and hurriedly put the jug on the counter to s.n.a.t.c.h up a dish towel and mop up the liquid. Jabbering away in Portuguese, she pressed the cloth to his chest, patting him with it and following the large wet spot downward.
"Good morning."
Inez glanced, red-faced, to the door to see a lovely woman with long chestnut hair, an impish smile and wide, amused eyes.
Bastien"s fiancee, Terri Simpson. She was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt that said, "I vant to suck your blooood," Inez noted, and she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. She"d met the woman in New York and liked her then. Knowing about their kind and seeing the T-shirt she now wore just made her like her more.
Continuing to mop at Bastien, Inez smiled and said, "h.e.l.lo, Ms. Simpson, I was just-Oh!" Inez s.n.a.t.c.hed away the hand holding the towel as she glanced back and saw that she"d continued blindly mopping at the water all the way to the man"s groin.
Flushing with mortification, she stared down at the towel in her hand, afraid to lift her head and see the expression on her boss"s face... or his fiancee"s for that matter. Stupid hand, Inez thought with despair. How could she be so competent in business and so incompetent in social situations? For heaven"s sake! She"d never done anything so foolish at work. Thank G.o.d for that. Surely, Bastien never would have agreed to her becoming vice president if he"d known what a twit she was when away from work. She was forever tripping over her own feet. He was probably going to fire her now that he knew what an idiot she was. He"d- "Inez?" Bastien said gently, taking the towel from her hand. "It"s all right. I don"t think you"re an idiot."
She glanced up warily to see amus.e.m.e.nt twinkling in his eyes as he peered down at her.
"No. He wouldn"t ever think that," Terri a.s.sured her, suddenly at her side, slipping her arm around her to steer her toward the breakfast table. "And we know you aren"t a twit. Bastien has been ranting for days about your being the best d.a.m.ned employee he has in England and cursing Thomas for taking you away from him."
"He has?" she asked with surprise.
Terri nodded. "Now, you just sit down and relax. You had enough excitement last night. I"ll make the tea while Bastien mops himself up."
"Thank you," Inez murmured as she sat down. She then sat watching the couple putter around the kitchen, moving in what almost seemed a ch.o.r.eographed dance around and near each other in the kitchen.
They worked together well, Inez noted. Terri refilled the jug while Bastien finished mopping himself up, then Terri slid by him, their bodies brushing and smiles exchanged as she set the jug back on the electric kettle"s base while he spread the dish towel on the counter to dry. They then encountered each other again exchanging smiles and brushing against each other as she moved to retrieve cups and Bastien found the tea bags. He had the container open by the time Terri set the cups down, and then dropped the bags in each cup and resealed the container while she fetched sugar from the cupboard. And, finally, they brushed bodies again in pa.s.sing as she headed to the drawer to retrieve spoons and he walked to the refrigerator to retrieve a carton of milk.
A little sigh slid from Inez"s lips as she wondered if she and Thomas would work as well together.
"I"m sure you will," Terri said as she carried the spoons to the table.
Inez stiffened as she realized the woman had read her mind, and then her eyebrows rose as she realized that both of them must have read her mind earlier to know she"d thought the words twit and idiot. They were poking in her head, she thought with dismay and not a little anger.
"We aren"t poking," Bastien a.s.sured her as he set the cream and sugar on the table. "I"m afraid you"re broadcasting your thoughts."
"He"s right," Terri agreed as she returned to the counter to wait for the water to boil. "I haven"t quite got the hang of reading thoughts yet unless they are broadcast like yours. It"s because you"re upset," she informed her kindly. "You"re uncomfortable and fl.u.s.tered because you aren"t sure how to act around Bastien now that you"re involved with Thomas, and embarra.s.sed by the whole drying-his-lap thing, so-in your upset-you"re broadcasting your thoughts."
"Oh." Inez sat back in her seat with a sigh. She wasn"t sure what broadcasting was, but believed she probably was doing it anyway.
"And just for the record," Terri added, picking up the jug as it began to boil and automatically shut off. "I liked you too when we met in New York, and still do, even if you aren"t wearing a cool T-shirt."
Inez blinked at this easy announcement and then glanced to her boss as he chuckled softly.
"Isn"t she wonderful?" Bastien asked when he noticed her looking his way.
Inez nodded at once, her eyes wide. She"d never seen this side of him before. At work, he was always cool and efficient as far as she knew. But the man obviously adored his fiancee... and was adored right back, she decided when Terri brought the three teas to the table and then kissed him. It started out a tender, affectionate brush of lips, but then started to heat up and Inez bit her lip and glanced away, wondering if she should leave the room. Also wondering if she and Thomas were this bad.
"I"m sure you and Thomas are just as bad," Bastien said wryly as he and Terri broke apart and took seats at the table. "And there"s no need to leave the room. In fact, I wanted to talk to you."
"Oh." Inez sat up a little straighter in her seat, trying to present a businesslike front. Oddly enough, it was difficult. She hadn"t even thought of work since Thomas had arrived in England and felt out of practice.
"It"s not business," Bastien said solemnly.
"Okay." Inez relaxed a little, but then frowned and said. "I didn"t realize the two of you were here last night too. I thought it was just Etienne and Rachel."
"It was." Terri raised her teacup to blow on the hot liquid lightly, before adding, "We arrived just before midday."
Inez nodded, but was surprised they had traveled during daylight. Thomas had gone through scads of blood the day they"d toured Amsterdam before leaving.
"We stocked up on blood," Bastien a.s.sured her, reading her thoughts again. "I brought enough on the plane with us to manage the journey and see to your turning too.""Etienne got up and let us in," Terri added.
"Yes, and then we stayed up a while and talked before going to sleep."
"Where did you sleep?" Inez asked with a frown.
There were only two bedrooms and both were occupied.
"Both couches in the living room pull out," Bastien explained.
"Which is a good thing," Terri announced dryly and then explained, "We finally got a hold of Lucern and Kate and they"re on their way here to help look for Marguerite. They should arrive sometime tonight."
"Lucern and Kate?" Inez asked uncertainly.
"Lucern is Bastien and Etienne"s older brother," Terri said helpfully. "Kate is his lifemate. He writes romances and she does too now, though she used to be his editor. She"s also my cousin."
"Oh. I think Wyatt has mentioned them," Inez said, but was thinking the townhouse was about to become very crowded.
"I hear someone moving around upstairs," Terri said quietly.
Bastien stiffened and looked almost alarmed as he glanced toward the ceiling. He sat stiff and still, listening for a moment, and then suddenly relaxed, saying, "It"s Etienne. Thomas was always a late sleeper."
Inez felt trepidation creep down her neck at those words. They seemed to suggest that his tension was because it might have been Thomas. Why would it upset him if Thomas got up?
"Because we want to talk to you before he comes down," Bastien said quietly. "In fact, I"m afraid if you hadn"t come below when you did, I would have slipped into your thoughts and brought you down."
Inez sat back in her seat, her eyes widening with distinct dislike at what she considered to be a threat. Having experienced being controlled, she wasn"t likely to look kindly on anyone who suggested they might do it.
"It wouldn"t have been anything like what happened to you last night," Bastien said quietly. "I would have eased your thoughts so you weren"t frightened."
"It still would have been forcing me to do something against my will," she pointed out coldly.
"Yes, I know," Bastien admitted apologetically. "And we generally don"t do it unless it"s necessary. With most mortals that const.i.tutes keeping them from learning something that could endanger our people or themselves."
"And with me?" she asked, her accent a little thicker with her upset.
"Because we needed to talk to you without Thomas," he said simply.
"Why?" Inez snapped the word, her wariness leaping back to full throttle.
"Last night Bastien and I came up with a way to find Mother," Etienne announced from the doorway. Walking into the room as they all glanced his way, he moved to the teakettle and began to make himself a tea with the just-boiled water as he continued, "But we knew Thomas wouldn"t even consider it and we wanted to see what you thought of it without him there bellowing "No!"
and drowning us out."
"And before you ask, yes, we are certain he won"t be pleased with our idea, because we wouldn"t be pleased if it were Terri or Rachel we were asking to do this," Bastien said, his voice quiet. "In fact, I"m not too happy to ask you to do it, but we couldn"t think of any other way."
Inez glanced slowly over each person in the room noting their grim expressions and thinking that they rather sucked as salesmen.
All they"d managed to do so far was scare her silly, and they hadn"t even yet said what they wanted her to do.
"You"re right, of course, we aren"t selling the idea well," Bastien said, a small wry smile briefly twisting his lips. "First of all, before we even mention it, I want you to know that you are completely free to say no. We won"t be angry or upset and neither your job nor your acceptance into the family will be affected. We"d just have to brainstorm and hopefully come up with something else."
"It"s just that this seems like the way most likely to succeed," Etienne added, joining them at the table with his tea.
"Oh boy, this gets better and better," Inez said dryly. "Please, just tell me what you want."
There was silence as Etienne and Bastien exchanged a glance and then Bastien faced her solemnly and said, "From what I understand, you"ve been controlled and mind-wiped twice and then controlled and nearly killed last night?"
Inez nodded slowly, that creeping feeling of trepidation turning into a fast march of all-out fear.
"He seems to have focused on you," Etienne pointed out.
"Probably because I"m the only vulnerable one," Inez said dryly. "He can"t control Thomas or any of you."
"We"re hoping he doesn"t know the rest of us are here," Etienne said. "He was presumably trailing you and Thomas around when Rachel and I showed up, and it was daylight when Bastien and Terri arrived."
He shook his head. "He won"t know we"re here... which is to our benefit."
Before Inez could ask why, Bastien continued, "The point is that he"s focused on you, and we"re hoping to use that focus to trap him so that we can ask questions and get answers out of him. We hope to find out where Mother is."
"You want me to be bait in this trap," she said slowly.
"I"m afraid so," Bastien acknowledged. "And we need to do it right away, before he realizes the rest of us are here, which means you can"t be turned until afterward... which leaves you somewhat vulnerable."
"Will you do it?" Etienne asked.
"No, she d.a.m.ned well won"t!" Thomas said coldly from the door.
Chapter Fifteen.
"I can"t believe you talked her into this," Thomas growled, his eyes fastened on Inez in the coffee shop across the street. He"d walked her there from the townhouse, stopping in a bookshop along the way to pick up a couple of books to make it look like a normal outing, and then had escorted her to the coffee shop, ordered two cappuccinos, and sat with her for about ten minutes before looking at his watch as if just thinking of something he had to do or someone he had to meet. He"d then got up and hurried out of the shop.
Thomas had walked two blocks in the direction of the townhouse, and then had turned the corner and backtracked up the next street to join Bastien and Etienne on top of one of the few modern buildings in York. The roof of this building was the reason they"d chosen the coffee shop he and Inez had visited the day before. The three men could-and were-lying on their stomachs on the flat roof, peering down on the shop across the street. Its position and the gla.s.s windows that walled the coffee shop gave them a perfect view of every inch of the building and everyone in it. Not that it mattered. Thomas didn"t care about seeing anyone else, he hadn"t torn his eyes from Inez since dropping to lie between Etienne and Bastien several minutes ago.
"We didn"t have to talk her into it," Bastien reminded him wearily from his right, his own gaze fixed on the coffee shop. "She listened to the plan, thought it was a good one and agreed to do it."
"Then I never should have let you tell her the plan," Thomas snapped. "I should have dragged her right upstairs and turned her at once."
"Why did you let her listen?" Etienne asked from his left. "I was rather surprised that you stopped yelling and bellowing, and settled down to let us explain what we were thinking of doing."
"Because I didn"t want her to think I was a b.l.o.o.d.y dictator," he admitted with regret, and then added, "Besides, I thought she had the sense to say no." Shaking his head, he scowled at the woman under discussion and asked with bewilderment, "How could a woman who is as competent and accomplished in business as Inez is agree to this nonsense of a plan?"
"Precisely because she is competent and accomplished and saw that this was really a very sensible plan," Bastien said through gritted teeth.
Thomas was so angry he finally tore his eyes from Inez and turned sharply on Bastien. "Sensible? You"ve thrown a helpless bit of bait in the water without attaching a hook first and are hoping that when the shark shows up, you can dive in and chase after it before it eats the bait. That"s not a plan, it"s a suicide mission and you sent my lifemate on it," he said heavily and then added bitterly, "And without letting me turn her first which-at least-would have made her harder to kill and given her a fighting chance."
"I know," Bastien said, guilt joining the weariness in his eyes as he met his gaze. "I won"t let anything happen to her, Thomas, I promise. But whoever this guy is, he seems to have focused on Inez for some reason. He has to be connected with Mother"s going missing." He glanced back to the building across the street unhappily. "It"s been seven days now since we"ve heard from Mother, we"re... I," he corrected quietly. "I am getting desperate. We couldn"t wait another day until she was turned."
"I"m worried about Aunt Marguerite too," Thomas said stiffly, his own gaze shifting back to Inez again. "But dammit, Bastien, I"m not willing to sacrifice Inez to find her. Especially if we"d just figured out what she figured out."
Bastien glanced at him with confusion. "What do you mean what she figured out?"
"Well, that"s why he"s focused on Inez," Thomas pointed out and then frowned. "At least I think it is. She must have figured out something. That"s the only thing that makes sense." Thomas watched Inez brush her hair behind her ear as she read the book she held. "We were talking about who the seven people in the group might have been."
"The seven people in the group?" Etienne asked with confusion, reminding Thomas of his presence. "What are you talking about?"
"With Aunt Marguerite," Thomas said and then explained the conclusions Inez had come to about the room request. "We were trying to figure out who the seven people were when Inez excused herself to find the ladies" room. I wondered if she hadn"t kept fretting over the problem while away from me and came up with the answer. I thought maybe he had controlled her, and sent her back to the table with her mind wiped because of that. Hoping, perhaps, that removing the memory would remove the problem, but then when we talked about it in the pub afterward..." He shook his head. "We were trying to sort it out and I went to get us more drinks and came back and she was gone. That"s when he tried to kill her."
"So you think because she kept coming up with the answer that he"d realized wiping the memory wouldn"t suffice and that he"d have to kill her..." Etienne reasoned slowly.
"Rather than letting her identify these seven people..." Bastien continued. "Which would lead us to Aunt Marguerite," Thomas finished with a nod. "Or at least put us one step closer."
A moment of silence pa.s.sed and then Thomas cast a quick glance to both his cousins. Etienne and Bastien had their eyes on the coffee shop across the street, but they also wore thoughtful expressions and he knew they were probably trying to figure out what it was Inez had sorted out. Scowling to himself, he shook his head and turned back to the coffee shop. It was his opinion that they should have been thinking about this before dropping Inez out as bait. They should have made her talk out the matter of who it could be and not let her out of their sight to ensure the b.a.s.t.a.r.d couldn"t get his hands on her again.
Thomas shifted his eyes to a woman with short spiky black hair as she walked past Inez, studiously ignoring her. He followed her with his eyes as she moved to the stairs and went below. It was hard to believe that was Etienne"s redheaded wife, Rachel. The wig and goth clothes she wore made her completely unrecognizable.