Page 5 of Her Guarded Hero

“Sunshine, stick with me.”

“Hmmm?” She opened her eyes again and shook her head then sat up straighter. She grabbed at the t-shirt as it slipped down her back. “Sorry about that. I’m here. I won’t go to sleep on you, again.”

Dalton brushed the hair back from her face and looked at the butterfly bandages. There was some leakage, but not too much, but there was a hell of a bump forming on her forehead.

“Aurora, can you look me in the eye?”

“Checking for a concussion?” she asked with a smile.

“You got it in one.” He nodded.

“I think I’m good. This doesn’t feel like one.”

Shit, if she’d had one before, she was more susceptible to having another one. “When was the last time you had a concussion?”

“Four and a half years ago.”

Dalton relaxed. Good, it wasn’t in the last year. Also, her eyes weren’t dilated. Both things were good news. Aurora pushed her back against the tree, bracing her feet against the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she asked with a slight grin. “I’m getting up, Ironman.” She pushed off the silver blanket but kept the coat on. The sleeves fell past her hands and hung down almost to her knees. She must have unrolled them at some point to get more warmth over her hands. Dalton kept one hand under her elbow, the other around her back. He pulled out his cell phone again. Still no signal.

“Can you check to see if your mobile is getting service?” he asked.

“No can do, it was in my saddlebag.” She gripped his bicep and grimaced.

“How are you feeling? Are you dizzy?”

She looked around. “Nope, not dizzy, and the good news is, there’s only one of you. Last time when I flagged down a cop beside the side of the road after my car rolled, there were three of him.”

Dalton sucked in a deep breath, bloody images flashed through his mind. “You were in a car accident?”

“I lucked out. The other driver fell asleep at the wheel and drifted into my lane. I swerved and went down an embankment. It could have been a lot worse.”

“Were they drunk?” he asked numbly.

“No, they’d been behind the wheel too long. Poor judgement on his part.” Aurora took a deep breath.

Dalton tried to decide if she was nauseated or she was remembering her close call.

“Come on, we need to go find Siren,” she prompted him.

“What we need to do is get you someplace safe and warm, then talk to the police. After that, I’ll go find your horse.”

Her shoulders sagged. “I don’t know what I was thinking. You going and trying to find Siren is ridiculous,” she sighed. “What was I even thinking? Hopefully she’ll be cold and hungry and head for the barn, or she’s long gone, and I’ll have to gather up some ranchers to help search for her.”

“What happens if neither of those things work?” Dalton asked.

“Oh, as soon as I get home, I’ll put in a missing horse report with the sheriff. Brody will put the word out to the other law enforcement in and around Tahoe. Granddad will work the phones. He’s owned Valhalla for forty-five years, he knows everyone.”

“Valhalla?” Dalton asked. He watched every step she took being sure to guide her along the flattest part of the forest floor.

“That’s the name of our horse ranch.”

“Is it safe to assume there is a little bit of Norway flowing through your veins?”

“Oh yeah, you could definitely say that. My great grandfather had fishing boats that went up and down the coast from Oregon on up to Alaska. Granddad was supposed to take over, but he was a rebel, he came to Lake Tahoe and fell in love with the land.” Her tone was wistful.