Vampires Are Foreve(28)

Much to her shame, they hadn’t concerned her overly much at the time. She’d rather thought it served him right since her neck was still a bit tender to the touch, but now that he’d explained how he was the way he was…

Inez stared at him silently, fighting the urge to offer to let him bite her again. Had it been a wholly altruistic urge, she might not have fought it so hard. She did hate to see others in pain, and really now that he’d explained, she wasn’t so angry about his biting her. She didn’t care for the idea of being “cattle” for an immortal as he’d put it, but it was really no different than donating blood to the blood bank, or for a friend. Except for the delivery of it…and therein lay the problem and the reason she was struggling with the offer. It wasn’t wholly altruistic. Inez had enjoyed the experience; his kisses, his touch, his scent, the passion that had flooded her, and part of her was eager to experience it all again.

If this was how she was going to react to the man biting her, she really needed to work on getting herself a social life, Inez thought with self-disgust. Obviously her lack of one had made her desperate if she was willing to be bitten just to enjoy the passion that went along with it.#p#分页标题#e#

She heard Thomas take in a deep breath and glanced his way to see that he was letting it out slowly through his nose. Inez recognized at once that it was an effort to ease the pain he was suffering and opened her mouth, the offer to let him bite her again trembling on her tongue when the seat belt sign suddenly came back on.

“We’re losing altitude,” Thomas said as he did up his seat belt. “We’ll be landing soon.”

Inez closed her mouth on the offer she’d been about to make and quickly ducked her head to peer around for her seat belt. There was no need to make the offer if they were nearly there. Part of her was relieved. Another part was disappointed indeed.



Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam was just as busy as Gatwick had been, but Thomas had less patience for it. The crowds shifting around him ramped up the cramps he was suffering. Eager to escape the press of bodies, he rushed Inez through the airport to platform one, relieved when he saw that a train was pulling in. Pausing at a ticket machine, he waited impatiently for the young man already there to finish his purchase, then bought their tickets and hurried Inez onto the train, boarding just before the doors closed.

The main floor was three-quarters full, crowded to Thomas in his state of mind. When Inez moved toward a pair of empty seats along one wall, he urged her past them and to a set of stairs leading to the second level. As he’d hoped, the upper compartment was much less busy. Thomas steered Inez to an empty table for two and dropped his knapsack on the floor by his feet as he sat down.

“I’m surprised Bastien didn’t arrange for a car to collect us,” Inez said with a breathless laugh as she dropped into her own seat.

“He offered to,” Thomas admitted. “But the train is probably faster. Besides there isn’t a lot of car traffic in Amsterdam. Most people walk or travel by bike. We’ll take the train into the city, and then catch a tram to the hotel.”

Inez nodded, her gaze sliding out the window to watch the passing scenery as they moved out of the train station. There wasn’t much to see. It was night, and dark with a scattering of lights. That was all. Apparently no more enchanted by the sight than he’d expect her to be, she turned back to glance at him and asked curiously, “Have you been to Amsterdam before?”

Thomas nodded. “Many times. You?”

The way she quickly shook her head made him smile and he suggested, “Scared off by its reputation?”

Inez smiled wryly and nodded.

“It isn’t what it’s famous for,” Thomas told her quietly.

Inez tilted her head and raised her eyebrows dubiously. “Pot isn’t legal here and there is no Red Light District?”

“Well, yes, and yes,” he admitted with a grin. “But that’s just one aspect of the city. It’s really a lovely place. There aren’t a lot of cars in the city. Most people walk or bike around, and then there are the trams and buses. The lack of cars keep the pollution down and the buildings are older than you’ll find in London, very picturesque. I think you’ll like it.”

“We’ll see,” she said noncommittally.

Thomas nodded and glanced out the window, then back to her to say, “Bastien was having some clothes and necessities delivered to the hotel for you.”

When her eyebrows rose, he shrugged. “I reminded him that you would be flying without luggage.”