Page 69 of Her Guarded Hero

One of his friends pulled him back. “Why don’t you introduce us?”

She watched as Dalton gathered himself. She liked that he was affected by their reunion. “Aurora, these are two of my teammates.” He nodded to the man on his right, “this is Hunter Diaz,” then he pointed his thumb at the other man with the lighter hair. “This is Dex Evans.”

It took a moment for her to put two and two together. “I suppose I have you to thank for Dalton’s presence?” she asked.

Dex opened his mouth to answer, but Dalton spoke first. “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head,” he said baldly.

Her grandfather’s arm squeezed her gently as she waited for Dalton to continue, but he didn’t.

Dex and Hunter shared a look, then Dex sighed. “I was the one who was feeding Dalton information about Ned Little and his cousin Ricky. After Dalton came back to San Diego his mind was still hung up on you.”

Her eyes cut to Dalton. He was looking at her like his life depended on her. Dex continued.

“After Ned’s death in prison, Brody and I kept in touch, that’s how I knew about you being run off the road.”

“We would have been here as soon as it happened, but we were on a mission. Communication was practically non-existent,” Dalton said tightly. “Brody said you weren’t hurt, is that true?”

That was the first time she really looked at him. He looked awful. Awful and beautiful. She’d only ever seen him clean-shaven or with five-o’clock shadow, now he had scruff. He had bruises under his eyes from lack of sleep, and he’d lost weight.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine. You’re flushed.” He stared at her intensely. Then his eyes traveled downwards. She saw the exact moment he realized what she’d been hiding.

12

Pregnant!

Aurora was pregnant. In a trance, he moved forward. He speared a dark glance at Gunnar who gave back as good as he got. “Let go of her,” he Dalton growled at Gunnar.

“Calm down,” the older man growled back.

He saw Aurora blanch. She already had a sheen of perspiration on her forehead and seeing her face drain of color scared the piss out of him.

“Are you all right, Sunshine?” He was torn between gentle, frightened and angry. His friends read him, and Hunter put his hand on Dalton’s shoulder. He shrugged it off and took a step forward.

“Answer me. Are you okay? You look like you’re ready to fall down.”

He winced when Aurora grimaced.

“I’m fine Dalton.”

A woman he didn’t know pushed in front of Aurora. “Why don’t we take this into the kitchen? We can get her some ginger tea.”

“I don’t need any tea,” Aurora said irritably. Then Dalton saw her swallow convulsively.

“Come on Honey, I’ll get the kettle on.” Gunnar said as he started turning Aurora toward the kitchen, which was when she threw up her hands.

“Enough. I can walk all by myself like a big girl. I can also make my own tea. I just need out of this damn coat.” Dalton was riveted as she pushed off the man’s shearling jacket and her newly shaped body was exposed. Where she was once long and lean, she was now beautifully rounded with life. “Dalton, follow me, I don’t think we need an audience.”

She was ramrod straight as she held open the swinging door for him. After he entered, she started toward the stove.

“Sit down before you fall down,” he said as he pulled out one of the sturdy wooden kitchen chairs.

Aurora contemplated it, then looked up at him, nodded and sat down. “The tea’s in the cupboard to the right of the sink.”

Dalton went over to the front door and opened it, leaving open the screen door. He heard her sigh of contentment.

“That feels wonderful.”