“I see,” Inez said quietly.
Wyatt gave a chuckle. “It’s a good thing you noticed the S.E.C. before he had any. If he’d just slapped a bag to his mouth without checking you’d have your hands full.”
“My hands full,” she echoed, wondering what that euphemism meant. Was Thomas suddenly going to turn into some kind of ravening, horn-dog vampire, dry humping every piece of furniture in the suite? Or did problem mean—?
“I’ll call the Amsterdam office and have someone rush over some proper blood for Thomas,” Wyatt assured her. “With any luck they’ll have it there before he gets out of the shower.”
“No, that’s all right, Wyatt,” she said in a panic. “I don’t want to trouble you. I’ll take care of it. Just give me the number and I’ll call right away.”
“Don’t be silly. I’ll handle it. It won’t take me a minute to call.”
Inez bit her lip. She hadn’t foreseen this possibility, but should have. She thought frantically for a minute, and then said, “Oh, hang on Wyatt, there’s someone at the door.”
Inez pressed the phone to her chest and paced her room once, then twice, then lifted it to her ear and gave a laugh. “It seems I called you for nothing. That was the A.B.B. guy. Apparently he realized his mistake. We got the cooler meant for some place called the Night Club?”
“Ah,” Wyatt said slowly.
Perhaps it was her paranoia, but Inez was positive she heard suspicion in his voice. The funny thing was she hadn’t really lied about anything. Everything she’d said had happened, just not in the time range she’d claimed. Now she felt like she had to give him some kind of verification that she was telling the truth.
“Yes,” Inez continued, hoping her voice didn’t sound as stilted as it seemed to her. She had always been a rotten liar and felt like she was lying now, even if she wasn’t really, well sort of not really. “He’s replaced the blood, but I promised him I’d call and make sure he wasn’t in trouble for the mistake. He didn’t say who his boss was, though. Do you know?”
“Yes, yes, I’ll take care of that for you.”
“Thank you Wyatt,” she said, relaxing. He’d call, find out everything she’d said was true, and take care of her promise to keep the delivery guy out of trouble too.
“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.