Page 63 of Her Guarded Hero

Dalton shook his head, it felt like a train was roaring through it, he needed to clear it to be able to hear anything that Dex would say.

“I got an e-mail from Brody in my personal account. He knew I was keeping tabs. He knows my relation to you. She’s good. She’s fine. No hospital. Not a scratch on her. As a matter of fact, Brody said she was pissed as hell.”

Dalton’s breath hissed out.

“Are you sure?” He asked again thinking about when the sleepy driver had run her off the road and she’d been hurt.

“Man, I wouldn’t lie to you,” Dex said passionately. “Trust me. Your woman is fine. But somebody was out to get her.”

Relieved, Dalton could breathe now. Then rage roared. “When did this happen? Did they find the fucker who did it?”

“Four days ago. I would have known sooner except we were in the jungle. Now in answer to your next question, nope, they haven’t gotten him yet. She identified a black truck with California plates. They found it abandoned. It was stolen. Guess where from?”

Dalton slumped. “The rest stop in Placerville.”

Dex nodded.

It had been years since he’d felt so torn. He needed Wyatt to be okay, and despite all the shit that his team had given him, he couldn’t leave his young teammate. Never leaving a man behind wasn’t just a motto, it was a deeply ingrained belief that was tattooed on his soul. Somewhere in the inside of his lizard brain, Dalton didn’t think that Wyatt would come out of this whole without his ass planted here in the waiting room.

That stopped him up short.

“You need to leave? Want me to go get Gray?” Dex asked.

Dalton eased into the chair next to Hunter. “I’ll talk to Gray after we hear the good word about Wyatt.”

Hunter gave him a slow smile.

“Good man,” he said. “You being here will make a difference.”

Those words felt right. He’d changed. When had that happened?

11

Once again, she felt like she was in a trance. Mornings were no longer her friend. She pushed her hair out of her face, too tired to even throw it into a pony tail. On auto-pilot, she stretched past her grandfather for the coffee pot, then the smell reached her, and she shuddered.

“Honey sit down before you fall down.” Gunnar guided her to the kitchen chair and Aurora plopped down, resting her head on the table. Last night she couldn’t get to sleep, and this morning was awful. Suddenly, the wonderful aroma of ginger filled the air as her grandfather put a mug of tea in front of her. She heard the toaster ping, and she soon had some dry toast set beside her. She missed butter, but it was her enemy.

Slowly she sipped and chewed until her stomach settled and the fog lifted.

“Better?” Gunnar asked.

She smiled. “Much. Thanks for all of the T.L.C.”

“I love taking care of you, Darlin’. You remind me of your grandmother. She was still throwing up until the last month of her pregnancy.”

Aurora looked at him in horror. The idea of being big as a house as she heaved over the toilet made her want to cry. “Please tell me that’s not true.”

“Sorry, but it is. Each morning, I was on basin patrol, because she couldn’t make it to the bathroom.” Aurora felt sick to her stomach just thinking about it. “That’s why you need Dalton here to take care of you, Aurora.”

She looked at her Grandfather’s resolute expression. This was a familiar refrain, and despite all her attempts she hadn’t been able to change his mind.

Deflect.

Deflect.

Deflect.

“I can handle it if you want to eat some bacon today, the smell won’t bother me, really,” she smiled at him.