Vampires Are Forever Read Online Free PDF Page A

uncertainly.
     
    “On the search for Aunt Marguerite,” he explained and when she looked blank, shook his head and said, “Bastien said he’d arranged for you to help me, that you knew the city and—” He paused suddenly, muttered something under his breath about Bastien and his sudden forgetfulness, and then sighed and explained, “Aunt Marguerite is missing. She flew to England about three weeks ago, stayed at the Dorchester a couple nights, and then headed north. She and Tiny were investigating—That’s not important. Basically, she was traveling all over England her first three weeks here and then stayed at the Dorchester again for a night. She apparently checked out the next morning, but we don’t know where she and Tiny went after that and neither of them have reported in since. I’m here to find her.”
     
    “I see,” Inez said slowly.
     
    “Bastien said he wanted you to help me, so, I thought we’d start with calling hotels to see if they just moved to another one for some reason. Failing that, we’ll try calling rental agencies, train stations, and so on to try to get a lead on where they’ve gone.”
     
    “Oh,” Inez said blankly.
     
    “Right…Well, don’t worry about that now. Enjoy your bath. We’ll talk about it after.” He started to pull the door closed, then stopped and added, “And don’t worry about rushing. I’m going to catch a couple z’s on the couch in the suite’s living room while you’re in here. Soak as long as you like.” He started to close the door again, and then paused once more and turned the inside lock, locking himself out once he pulled the door closed, which he immediately did.
     
    Clutching the towels and housecoat to her chest, Inez stared at the closed door for several minutes. Her mind was a blank. Well, not really. Her mind was awhirl with myriad thoughts and feelings, mostly amazement. She couldn’t believe he’d gone to all this trouble and effort for her.
     
    Her gaze slid to the bath he’d drawn and then to the trolley of food. Hers. It was all hers. And it was all so sweet. So thoughtful and considerate…Not what she would have expected from Thomas Argeneau or anyone for that matter. She tended to expect the worst from people so was always surprised by a kindness. And Thomas Argeneau had definitely surprised her.
     
    Inez frowned at her own thoughts. Really, she hardly knew the man so shouldn’t have any judgment of him yet. Her prejudgment was made up of one meeting and the fact that the few times Bastien Argeneau had mentioned his cousin Thomas, it had been with a tone of exasperation.
     
    From those two small things, Inez had assumed Thomas was a shiftless, lazy, thoughtless spoiled rich relative. She should have known better. Assumptions were bad, useless, a waste of time. But she had assumed, which made her an ass if she went by that old saying. And at that moment, it seemed to her the saying was true. She really did feel like an ass for making such obviously erroneous assumptions.
     
    Inez sank down on the side of the tub with a little sigh, her mind turning to the fact that he wasn’t there to loaf as she’d thought, but to find his aunt…and he seemed to expect her to help, but all she’d been instructed to do was collect him and see him to the hotel. She was just wondering what she should do about that when a phone began ringing.
     
    Standing again, Inez followed the sound to the counter, eyes landing on the cell phone lying there. Thomas’s. He’d obviously set it down and forgotten about it.
     
    She glanced at the digital display and bit her lip when she saw Bastien ID’d as the caller. After a hesitation, she set down the towels, picked up the phone, flipped it open, and put it to her ear as she headed for the door.
     
    “Hello Mr. Argeneau. This is Inez. Just give me a minute and I’ll take Thomas his phone so you can talk to him.”
     
    “No, that’s all right. I don’t need to talk to him,” Bastien