Page 6 of Her Guarded Hero

“Why do I think there’s more to that story?”

He wanted to keep her talking, her voice was still a little slurred and she wasn’t walking well. The best thing to do was keep her mind focused and talking.

“Huh?” she asked.

“You were going to tell me about Valhalla,” he reminded her. “You said there was a story behind your granddad ending up here.”

She looked up from beneath her lashes. “You’d be right, there was a love story.”

Shit. Really? Did he really have to hear about a love story after being embroiled in three others so recently?

“Okay, lay it on me.”

“You don’t sound very excited to hear about it.”

“You could say I’m kind of burned out on love at the moment.”

“Oh,” she whispered softly. “She must have hurt you a lot.”

Suddenly he was thinking of Lacey, and he didn’t mean to. He hated thinking of his dead wife. He slammed that door shut in his mind.

“No, I meant that three of my teammates recently fell in love. I was really beginning to think that there was something in the MRE’s.”

“Huh?”

“The Meals Ready to Eat, that they give us on missions. Dex, Hunter and Zed all got engaged or married in the last year. It’s been crazy. I was around for each one of their downfalls.”

Aurora giggled. “I guess that sums up your perspective.”

“What do you mean?”

“You just called falling in love a downfall.”

Dalton paused and replayed his words in his mind. “I didn’t mean it like that. For them it was the right thing,” he sighed. “For me, it wouldn’t be. That’s all.”

Damn, he hadn’t meant for the words to come out so harsh.

Aurora peered over at him, but she didn’t look offended or hurt.

“To each his own I guess. For my grandparents, it was definitely the right thing, kind of like for your friends.”

Dalton considered how much further they had to walk. It was at least another two miles to the road. He could do without hearing about another great love story, but if it would keep Aurora’s attention and keep her walking in a straight line, then he was for it.

“Okay, let’s hear it,” he said.

“Granddad had money that he’d earned long-lining. His father wanted to put him in charge of his fleet when he retired, but Granddad said to turn it over to his brothers Arvid and Einar instead.”

“What’s your grandfather’s name?”

“Gunnar.”

“I can get behind that,” Dalton smiled.

“I bet you can,” Aurora said cheekily. “A Sig Sauer is quite the weapon.”

Dalton almost missed a step as he did a double take. “You recognized the gun I had?”

“Sure. So, Granddad went hiking around Lake Tahoe and fell in love with this meadow,” Aurora said, continuing her story.