They found a café with a few tables outdoors. Thomas settled Inez at one in the shade, took a quick glance at the menu, and waited for the waitress to take his order before excusing himself. He slipped inside to find the men’s room, then fed on a couple of bags of blood.
Inez was smiling faintly when he returned. When he raised his eyebrows in question, she gestured vaguely to the people passing by and said with a shrug, “People watching is just so interesting here.”
Thomas glanced around at the people walking and biking by.
“Like, look at that,” Inez said, pointing to a family riding by; mother and father, both with child seats on the back, occupied by young children. “And that.”
Thomas followed her gesture to an approaching couple. A smile curled his own lips as a woman appearing to be in her early twenties pedaled passed, craning her head slightly to see around a man of about the same age perched on the handlebars.#p#分页标题#e#
“Definitely a modern couple,” Inez murmured. “And look! A girls’ day shopping.”
Thomas turned his head again, his eyes twinkling as he saw three women riding together, shopping bags bristling from hands grasping their handlebars.
He glanced back to Inez to see her shaking her head in wonder as she said, “I think I love this city.”
I think I love you. The thought ran through Thomas’s head, startling him because it was true. He’d never met anyone like Inez before and while he hadn’t known her long, he’d come to know her well because of the circumstances.
The woman was fearless; standing up for herself and berating him when she’d thought he’d ignored her at the airport after her rush to collect him. Then there was her removing the knife from his back, tending his wound and heading out alone in the middle of the night, in a strange city to hunt down his aunt when he couldn’t accompany her. He admired that courage.
Inez was intelligent too. It shone in her eyes and slipped from her lips every time she spoke to make a suggestion or observation.
And while she could be businesslike and commanding, she also had a good sense of humor, and a quick wit.
Thomas also knew he could depend on her to step up to the plate and do what was necessary in difficult situations. Exhausted as she’d been last night, she’d accompanied him into the Red Light District to help…without either irritation or complaint. She simply did what had to be done.
Yes, she was a special woman. The fates had been kind and wise in choosing her for his lifemate. Now he just had to convince her of it.
“I’ve been thinking, if—”
Thomas focused his gaze on Inez, but she’d stopped speaking and sat back. Glancing to the side, he saw that the waitress was there with their orders and sat back himself for her to set them down. Once the woman was gone, he raised an eyebrow at Inez and prompted, “You were thinking?”
“Well, you said Bastien had checked Marguerite’s credit card. Did he check this Tiny person’s credit card as well?”
“Yes,” Thomas said, his mood suddenly solemn as he was reminded of his missing aunt. “There is no activity on his cards either.”
Inez nodded. “So, has he checked the cards of the guy she’s working for?”
Thomas peered at her blankly. “What?”
“Well, either you or Bastien told me that the last place you knew Marguerite had been was the Dorchester Hotel? That she was there to meet with this Notte fellow who hired them to find his mother.”
“Yes,” Thomas said slowly. “She told Bastien they were hoping to get more information out of him, something useful to help them with their search.”
“Well…” Inez shrugged. “Maybe the reason neither Tiny nor Marguerite have used their own credit cards is because this Notte guy has joined them in the search and is footing the bill.”
“Jesus,” Thomas breathed, staring at her. It was such a simple suggestion, but neither he nor Bastien, nor presumably anyone else in the family had come up with it.
“What’s wrong?” Inez asked with a concerned frown. “You’re staring at me funny.”
“I’m staring at you thinking you’re brilliant,” he explained on a laugh and shook his head. “I can’t believe you came up with that. Actually yes, I can. What I really can’t believe is that not one member of our family came up with that. Christ, we’re supposed to have nano brains.”
Inez grinned and teased, “Would that be very tiny, little miniscule brains?”
“It would seem so,” Thomas said wryly, reaching for his phone.
Inez shook her head. “That’s not true, and you know it. You’re all just too close to the situation and too worried. You’d have come up with it on your own eventually.”