The Rogue Hunter (15 page)

"I somehow don't think the Canadian Tire stays open until ten o'clock," Decker said dryly. "Besides, I won't have the blood arrive, the power go out, and this batch be ruined as well."

"Right." Bricker nodded. "Makes sense."

"Thank you, I have been known to make sense once in a while," he said dryly and then glanced from Bricker to Mortimer, his eyes narrowing. "You're already starting to looking pale. I suspect you're both going to have to bite someone in town."

Mortimer turned a firm gaze on Bricker. "Not Sam or her sisters."

"Scout's honor," the younger immortal said, holding up a hand as if giving an oath. He then moved to the window to peer out toward the cottage next door. "I hope they don't take too long, I'm—"

"—hungry," Mortimer and Decker finished for him at the same time.

Chapter Eight

"I love food."

Sam chuckled at Bricker's words as she peered at the cart he was pushing across the parking lot toward their vehicles. It was stacked full of bagged groceries, as was the cart Mortimer was pushing. The men had acted like they hadn't eaten in days when they reached here, throwing everything and anything into their carts. She now saw why they'd insisted they'd need two large coolers of their own on top of the one Sam and her sisters had planned to bring, to store the perishable food for the hour-long ride back to the cottage. The men apparently had hearty appetites.

"I can't believe you bought all this," Alex said. "How long are you guys staying anyway?"

They exchanged a glance, and then Mortimer shrugged. "Awhile. How long are you staying?"

"Two weeks," Jo answered, and then added, "So you'd better not drag your feet."

Sam narrowed her eyes, scowling at her sister's teasing grin. Slowing a bit, she dropped back to walk beside her and muttered, "I'm not riding back with Mortimer and Bricker. I rode here with them. You get to take a turn for the ride back."

"Oh, but—" Jo began in protest, but Sam held up a hand to silence her. She was not going to lose this argument. While the wet dream featuring Mortimer had been extremely exciting and made part of her want desperately to engage in a real affair with the man, the other part of her was realistic enough to know she didn't have a chance with him. He was simply out of her league. Of course, he was kind and concerned when he was around her, sticking close and constantly taking her arm to steady her, but Sam wasn't foolish enough to think that was a sign of attraction. The man was just a nice guy, a protective type who appreciated their inviting him and his friends to share their meal last night, and obviously was determined to look out for her like a kid sister as a thank-you.

At least that's what she feared. Sam just couldn't believe that a man as drop-dead gorgeous as he would find her attractive. She'd decided to preserve her heart, not to mention her pride. The easiest way to do that was to avoid him as much as possible. That was why she'd suggested she and her sisters should take their own vehicle as well. Of course she'd used the excuse of needing the extra vehicle for space to accommodate the groceries and coolers. Much to her relief, Jo and Alex had agreed at once, and she thought she'd succeeded at neatly avoiding having to make the longer journey in the SUV with the men.

At this point, Sam still wasn't sure how she'd ended up riding with Bricker and Mortimer. Well, she did but couldn't believe it had turned out so wrong. The problem came when they'd decided to do their shopping in Huntsville. It was a forty-five-minute drive away, but also a larger town with several grocery outlets, restaurants, and fun little tourist-type shops for them to wander through.

That had been fine until Bricker had asked where Huntsville was and Alex had decided the easiest thing was for one of them to ride with the men and show them the way. Her sisters had voted Sam should be the one to ride with them, and here she was. She'd spent the majority of the ride desperately wishing herself anywhere else in the world but in that vehicle. Not that the men weren't perfectly charming and nice about it. In fact, they'd both made an effort to include her in all conversation during the journey.

With Bricker driving, Mortimer had even turned sideways in his seat to include her. They'd been entertaining and funny and made her laugh several times on the way, and if it weren't for the fact that she'd found herself inhaling Mortimer's scent with every breath, unable to look away from him, her eyes traveling again and again from his beautiful silver-green eyes, to his soft but firm lips, to his hands, which in her dreams had given her so much pleasure, and then to the chest that had looked so strong and beautiful in moonlight… Well, the ride had been hell, and one she wasn't repeating for the forty-five minutes back.

"I am not riding back with them," she said now, firmly.

The glare she was gracing her little sister was brought to an abrupt end when a ringing started in her purse. "What's that?" Jo asked suspiciously. "You didn't bring your cell phone, did you? You were supposed to leave that at home."

Sam ignored her and reached into her purse to find her cell phone. Pulling it out, she read the name, mouth flattening when she saw it read Clarence Babcock, the senior of the senior partners and her boss. Sam briefly debated not answering. She was on vacation after all. The phone rang again, sounding strident to her sensitive ears. It might be important, Sam chastised herself. She should answer.

"It's work, isn't it? Don't you dare answer that," Jo said grimly. "You deserve a holiday as much as the next person. Sam!" she snapped, and marched off after the others as Sam flipped her phone open and put it on her ear. She simply couldn't not answer. "Hello?" she said warily.

"Oh, Samantha! Good, good, you took your phone with you. Listen, I hate to bother you on vacation, but we need a quick favor of you. It shouldn't take long. Just a few moments, I'm sure. It's the Latimers, you see."

Sam's eyes widened. The Latimers were the firm's biggest clients. They were also old friends of her boss, who happened to be their daughter's godfather. But they were in Europe at the moment, and she couldn't imagine what favor they would need of her.

"Martin and Trisha Latimer are in Europe right now, but Cathy, their daughter, is up at their cottage in Minden and they can't seem to get ahold of her. They're a bit frantic so called me, and I said you were up that way and that I was sure it wouldn't be a problem for you to drop in on the girl and see she's all right and maybe tell her to give her parents a call so they stop worrying. It isn't, is it? A problem, I mean?"

Sam stood completely still. She even held her breath. Minden was more than an hour away from where they were now, and more than two hours from the cabin, which meant more than four hours round trip just whatever amount of time it took to talk to Cathy Latimer. Part of Sam wanted to tell him to go to hell, that this was her vacation, that she worked eighty-hour weeks for the firm, that this was some very precious time off she dearly needed and she had no intention of haring off to check on some spoiled brat who couldn't be bothered to call her parents or even answer their calls. But then her more sensible side kicked in, reminding her that her hard work had taken her from an internship to junior partner in less than a year, something previously unheard of. If she just bit the bullet and kept her nose to the grindstone, in a couple of years she would make senior partner and then she wouldn't have to work so hard, and her life wouldn't be ruled by constant running and bowing and scraping and…

"Of course it won't be a problem, sir. I'm afraid I'm in Huntsville right now, but we should be heading back to Magnetawan soon. Once we get there I can rent a car and drive to Minden. I should be there in…" She paused as if she hadn't already worked it out in her head and then said, "Let's see, it's almost an hour back to Magnetawan and then more than two hours to Minden from there… I should arrive there in a little more than three hours and will call you right after I talk to Cathy Latimer. Will that do?"

There was a pause on the opposite end of the phone, and she knew the man was taking note of the length of the drive and the trouble involved to handle this "small favor." Sam wasn't stupid. There was little use letting yourself be roped into these kinds of things if they didn't have a clue what they were asking of you. Her boss now knew exactly how much effort she would be expending on his behalf—on her vacation. "Thank you, Samantha," he said finally, sounding very solemn. "I appreciate this, and I'm sure the Latimers will too. I'll let them know how far out of your way you are having to go to help ease their minds. It will mean a lot to them."

"Not a problem, sir," Sam said simply, but wondered if making senior partner was really worth all this hassle. Did she even want to be senior partner? Pushing such doubts and uncertainties away, she said good-bye to her boss and signed off.

"I didn't just hear you agree to do business on your vacation."

Sam grimaced at Alex's irritated tone and turned with a forced smile. "Actually, it's not business. It's a favor for the Latimers. Their daughter's up at their cottage and they can't reach her. I'm just going to drive by and check on her."

"You're just going to drive to
Minden
to check on her?" she asked dryly, and Sam grimaced. She'd rather hoped Alex hadn't heard that part.

"She's Mr. Babcock's goddaughter," Sam said, hoping that would ease some of her obvious anger. "And he's worried about her."

"Is Minden far?" Mortimer asked with a frown, drawing her attention to the fact that he, Bricker, and Jo had all returned with their carts to find out what was going on.

"It's about an hour and twenty minutes from here," Alex informed him and then added, "But it's more than two hours from the cottage. She won't get back from doing this little
favor
until after nine-thirty, ten o'clock, if then."

Sam frowned at this prediction and glanced at her wristwatch, startled to see that it was already four-thirty. Where had the day gone, she wondered, and then realized that it had been after noon when she'd woken up and headed over to get the sausage and eggs for breakfast. Then they'd stopped for brunch, followed by another stop at Canadian Tire for Bricker to buy the two huge coolers he was sure he and Mortimer would need to transport their food back to the cottage. Only then had they finally come here to the grocery store.

"We should get the groceries in the car," she said, trying to distract Alex from the subject. Her sisters were worried about her, about the hours she worked and the pressure she was under. It was part of the reason they'd planned this weeklong trip with her to open the cottage. It was supposed to force her to take a vacation. They'd talked her into booking the time off months ago, when she'd been delusional enough to think she'd be out from under by now.

Sam grimaced at the thought. She'd been as deeply buried in work by the time the vacation had come around as she had been before and had actually considered canceling the vacation in favor of work. The very suggestion had spurred such upset and anger in her sisters that she'd quickly changed her mind.

"I can take her."

Sam glanced at Mortimer with confusion. Had she heard him right? She wasn't sure. He wasn't looking at her. He was talking to her sisters.

"We can load the groceries and ice into the coolers and—if you don't mind taking Bricker and the coolers back with you—I can take Sam to Minden in the SUV. It'll be faster this way. It'll cut at least two hours out of the trip."

Like magic, all the stiffness and anger in Alex and Jo seemed to evaporate.

"Okay," they both agreed cheerfully, and then Alex said, "We'd best get these groceries in the coolers then."

Sam watched the quartet head for the cars and shook her head with bewilderment, wondering when she'd lost control of her life. Everyone seemed to be making decisions for her. She briefly considered refusing Mortimer's kind offer, but then realized she'd be cutting off her nose to spite her face. Accepting his offer
would
cut two hours off the journey. It also soothed Alex's temper.

Mind you, it meant she'd have to spend three and a half hours or more trapped in a car with Mortimer… That was rather dismaying, Sam thought, and almost called out to them to decline the offer after all, but then Bricker turned and smiled at her and said, "Everything's fine. It will be all right. Relax and enjoy his company."

Sam nodded slowly. Bricker was right, everything would be fine, but she had to wonder how he kept talking to her without his mouth moving. Perhaps she needed to get her eyes checked, she thought a little fuzzily, and crossed to help move the men's two coolers to Alex's Matrix and then unload the groceries into them. It was done amazingly quickly, and then she found herself in the front passenger seat of the SUV doing up her seat belt.

"Your sisters are worried about you," Mortimer commented as he started the engine.

"Yes," Sam agreed on an unhappy little sigh. The truth was, sometimes she worried herself. Everyone she worked with worked hard and kept long hours, but she had no idea how they coped. The stress was starting to get to her.

"They think you're ruining your health for this job," he added, sounding a tad unhappy himself.

"It's a career, not a job. And I only have to work this way until I get a senior partnership. I can slow down and let junior people do the grunt work."

Mortimer nodded solemnly, but then asked, "Is it worth it?"

Sam frowned. That was a question she often asked herself. She enjoyed the law, and for the most part, loved her job. Except for the long hours. And while she told herself that once she'd gotten a senior partnership, she could slow down and let juniors and interns do the work for her as her own boss did, she didn't know that she'd actually be able to. She'd be afraid they'd miss something and would simply double-check everything herself anyway. Sam had issues with control and knew it. Besides, having been there, she'd feel bad piling work on underlings like her own bosses did to her. Everyone deserved a life.

Releasing her breath on a small sigh, Sam shook her head. "Let's talk about something else."