The Immortal Hunter(59)

There was something wrong with that, she thought unhappily. This life mate shared-pleasure business was like a drug and it was addictive as hell. She was already jonesing for him to hurry up and get to the table so she could see and touch him.

"It's pretty bad, isn't it?" Sam said suddenly, watching her closely.

Dani forced a smile. "Having Stephanie kidnapped is bad enough on its own, but by this animal it's just..." She shook her head helplessly, trying not to think what her sister might be going through.

"I didn't mean that, though that's bad as well," Sam said when Dani turned to her. "I meant this life mate business. Mortimer and I can't keep our hands off each other either." She shook her head. "I've never experienced anything like this. It's like a temporary madness."

"So it's not just me and Decker it affects like this?" she asked with relief.

"Oh, good Lord, no," Sam said firmly. "Apparently all life mates are... well-"

"Walking horn dogs and doggettes," she suggested dryly.

Sam burst out laughing, but nodded. "I was going to say wildly absorbed in each other, but your description is more fitting."

Dani smiled faintly.

"I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's really a good thing that Lucian assigned us to check the Penetanguishene area rather than where Decker found you or you'd still be in the clutches of those rogues too. Mortimer and I were pretty useless during the search. I couldn't think straight for wanting to touch him, and he was no better. I'm amazed we're even alive, or at least that I am since a car accident probably wouldn't have killed him." Her eyes were turned inward, and Sam murmured, "I still don't know how he avoided that little Toyota."

"The Toyota?" Dani couldn't resist asking.

Sam blinked and flushed at the question, and then sighed and admitted, "We got a little carried away at one point..." Her lips twisted with guilt as she admitted, "Well, we got carried away a lot and spent a good deal of time parked on the side of the road, rocking the pickup rather than doing what we were supposed to be doing, but the incident with the Toyota was different." She closed her eyes, looking dismayed by what had occurred, and then blurted, "We were driving down the highway and I just reached over to run my hand over his leg-you know, affectionately." She grimaced. "The next thing you know his pants are undone and I'm in his lap."

Dani's eyebrows flew up her forehead.

Her tone was dry when she suggested, "I recommend neither of you driving while the other's in the vehicle until the worst of this passes." Sam made a pained face and reached to rub her lower back, adding, "I probably still have the imprint of the steering wheel in my back. I know I'm going to be bruised for a long while."

Dani flopped back in her seat with amazement. That definitely beat her and Decker rolling around in the back of the SUV while Justin drove. Good Lord, if Sam and Mortimer couldn't even find the sense to pull over before she crawled in his lap, what chance had she had?

"That's way too much information, isn't it?" Sam dropped her face into her hands as if hiding from her.

"No." Dani reached out to touch her arm reassuringly. "I'm glad you told me. I've been feeling horribly guilty for enjoying Decker when Stephanie is out there somewhere suffering Lord knows what. I feel like I should be doing something to find her and instead am-"

"You shouldn't feel guilty. There's nothing you can do," Sam assured her firmly, raising her head. "From what I understand, Mortimer and Lucian think your phone is the best bet they have at the moment."

"They do?" she asked with surprise.

Sam nodded. "Trying to find them when he doesn't want to be found, especially in a city the size of Toronto, is like looking for a needle in a haystack. And they're not even sure they still are in Toronto. Mortimer said your phone and Nicholas are really the only chance we have of finding Stephanie and the man who took her."

Dani frowned. "Decker keeps trying to tell me not to count on Nicholas."

Sam considered that and said slowly, "He's probably afraid of getting your hopes up and then you taking a big fall if Nicholas lets you down."

"Maybe " Dani murmured, and then met her gaze and said, "I guess they used to be pretty close. It sounded to me like Decker was closer to Nicholas than his own siblings. They were partners too."

"Were they?" Sam asked with surprise. "Mortimer didn't mention that to me."

Dani was silent, her thoughts on the possibility that Decker might also be keeping her hopes down to keep his own down as well. She was pretty sure he'd been devastated by the man going rogue, and didn't think it was just because he blamed himself for letting him escape. She knew she'd be terribly upset if someone in her family had killed someone.

"I guess I'm not surprised," Sam commented.

Dani lifted a blank gaze. She'd been so distracted by her thoughts that she'd lost the thread of the conversation.

"That they were closer than siblings," Sam explained. "Not that they were partners."

"Oh." Dani tilted her head curiously. "Why is that?"

"Well, from what Mortimer said, every sibling would be at least one hundred years apart. That's quite an age difference," she pointed out. "I mean, I know people with brothers or sisters only ten years apart that you can hardly tell are related. I can't imagine having one a hundred years older."