Page 14 of Thomas
“Okay… So, why me? Why did you pay my fathers forme, specifically?” Did Thomas seem like an easy and weak target? Someone cheap and quick to acquire in Cameron’s haste to avoid total dispossession? He wanted to know the full truth of his circumstance.
Because sitting across from this broad, tall, obviously wealthy and attractive purebred man that smelled of ginger and honey, it didn’t make sense to him. Thomas was certain that Lord Ashford could have had anyone he desired.
So, how did they end up here?
Did it have something to do with whatever he wasn’t remembering?
Cameron hesitated and rubbed the back of his neck once more. A nervous impulse, Thomas noted. “Well, to be honest, I thought you might not be too… exasperating.” He lifted his light hazel gaze. Thomas stared at him in silence, utterly taken aback.
That was not the answer he’d been expecting.
“What does that mean?” Thomas asked.
Cameron lifted his palms. “Many purebreds within our aristocracy are very… chatty? Sometimes egotistical?—”
“Sometimes?” Thomas interrupted with his eyebrow lifted.
Lord Ashford smiled in a clipped laugh. “Yes, right. Almost always egotistical.”
“A more accurate estimation. Go on.”
“They’re constantly seeking validation from anyone and everyone, and I find that kind of behavior exhausting. I simply thought that you… might not be that way? Or, if youwerechatty, you’d at least have interesting things to say.”
Huh.Thomas quietly took that in, not knowing what to make of it. Why should he of all vampires have anything particularly interesting to say? He’d need to digest and unpack that later to decide how he felt.
“To be clear, I will not make demands of you,” Lord Ashford went on, hastily filling the silence. “You are free to enjoy the estate as you please, and my sincere wish is that you will be comfortable here. If there’s anything you need, you may ask Lennon and he’ll do his best to accommodate you. This is your home now, and as you mentioned, the bonding contract is paid and signed, so nothing further needs to happen.”
Thomas tilted his head. That last part was oddly worded, and it stuck out like a sore thumb. Lord Ashford was dancing around the entire objective of abondingcontract. Thomas met his gaze. “So, you do not wish to have sex, feed nor bond with me.”
Lord Ashford’s round eyes went impossibly wide. “No, we do not need to do any of that. Ever. As I said, the contract is secure, and my parents won’t contest it because on paper, I have a mate. And I’ve paid the dowry to your fathers, so I doubt they would care, either. However long it takes us to… or, rather,wouldtake us, if we were trying—but we’renot, to be clear—if we…” Cameron blew out a breath. “I’m making an absolute mess of this.”
Thomas was sitting across from a man who had specifically petitioned and paid to be in a bonding arrangement with him, and yet, he had no interest in bonding.
What a strange, horrific and fascinating life he was living.
“Please don’t take any of this personally,” Cameron went on, rambling quite brilliantly. “I don’t—I am not generally attracted to anyone, and I find that I am a strange vampire compared with my peers. But I thought… My hope is that we could live amicably? The blood bags you’ve been receiving from the boutique will be delivered here and paid for with my accounts, so feeding will never be an issue. There are no set responsibilities for you. Thus, you are free to live a life of your choosing. Perhaps in some ways, this could be a relief to you? Possibly?”
The openly pleading expression on Cameron’s face pulled at something fragile and small inside of Thomas. Constantly, he was angry at life for the cruel hand he’d been dealt. For his ill-fated first love, his torturous imprisonment and starvation, his vicious father and his being sold off without his consent like prized cattle.
But this man sitting in front of him was truly… sincere. Nakedly so, to the point where it felt shameful for Thomas to look at him dead on. As if his cynical mind and battered heart might be burned from the bright warmth of his earnestness.
Thomas didn’t know how to take any of this. For now, though, he understood that he should at least help the poor man to relax.
“Okay,” Thomas said simply, calming his features as best he could.
Lord Ashford blinked, uncertain. “Okay?”
Thomas attempted a weak smile. It felt foreign and probably looked that way, too. He’d forgotten how to do it. “Yes, all of that sounds fine to me. Thank you for explaining.”
It was as if a weight had lifted from Lord Ashford’s shoulders. He exhaled a breath and rubbed his palms down his face. “Okay. Good… and you’re welcome.” He dropped his hands, then liftedhis gaze. “Will you have dinner with me? If you’re not hungry, it’s fine—again, there is no pressure if you don’t want?—”
“Yes,” Thomas answered, stopping Lord Ashford before he could work himself up again. He stood from the loveseat. “We can have dinner together.”
The two sat quietly at the table. A comfortable silence. Thomas was lost in his own thoughts, processing their earlier conversation and this odd situation. Lord Ashford, he assumed, was probably thrilled to be left alone and not provoked into further discussion while they ate. Or not ate, in Thomas’s case. He had a bite or three.
Social anxiety…Thomas had never personally known a vampire with such a condition, but he’d heard of it before. When Thomas was younger and had ardently kept up with Eden’s social goings-on, he’d known of Lord Cameron Dwight Ashford, of course. In those days he was expected to know prominent names, faces and houses as part of his high-bred, aristocratic tutelage.
He knew of Lord Ashford, but never anything tangibleabouthim. He was a well-regarded figure, but rarely spoken of. Always floating just beyond the radar of the social scene and everyone’s attention. Clearly, this was intentional on Cameron’s part.
