Aurora laid a reverent kiss on his temple and then flashed him a soft smile. “I’m hungry. I’ll make some French toast and you’re going to tell me all about your wonderful daughter. I’m betting you have a picture or two in your phone, don’t you?”
God, when was the last time he’d shown anyone pictures of Reagan?
His heart felt a little lighter.
“You’re on.”
8
“Are you really that worried?”
“I’m just naturally cautious,” Dalton said as he pulled Aurora into his arms.
She smirked at him as she wrested away. “Yeah sure, that’s why Rhys and Luke said they’d be sleeping in the barn tonight, because you’re cautious.” Dalton grinned at her. “Your uncle brought over five of his horses for training, he wants you to teach your cousins how to break them. It’s a compliment.”
“That was only after I nixed the idea of spending the day with my Aunt Leah over at their place. Then suddenly they had that wonderful idea and all the males decided to come this way,” she scoffed. She pulled her sleepshirt off over her head.
Aurora liked how husky Dalton’s voice was as her breasts came into view. The fact that she could make a man like Dalton so aroused amazed her. Still, she wasn’t going to let him bullshit her. After the last two nights of lovemaking he had made her feel confident enough in her body to seduce the truth out of him. She sat down on the bed and put her legs out straight, then started to push down her panties.
“Why are my cousins really here?” she asked.
“What?” Dalton’s eyes were glued to her thighs and she loved it.
“Did you ask them to come?”
“Tate did.”
She kicked the pink silk off onto the floor, then traced patterns along the tops of her legs. “Are you watching?” she asked quietly?
He nodded.
“Are they here to keep watch?”
He nodded. Then his head snapped up, his gaze sharp. “Where in the hell did you learn this interrogation technique?”
“So, you admit they’re here to keep watch.”
Dalton knelt in front of her, his hands brushed hers away and she trembled. “It isn’t a big deal, and we’ll talk about it later.” He pressed his thumbs on the inside of her thighs, seeking to part them.
She shoved at his shoulders and he looked up into her eyes and sighed. “I’m not going to get my way on this, am I?”
“Not until you tell me what is going on.”
His hands trailed upwards, ruffling the curls at the apex of her thighs. “Really?” His eyes glimmered, but she knew he would respect her wishes. The man had honor seeping from his pores.
“Spill it.”
“Ned and his cousin have been spotted near here. His-”
Dalton’s head jerked sideways, and he flew to her bedroom window. She’d heard a distant sound of thunder.
Aurora scrambled across the bed to join him. “What is it?” The night sky was clear. “That wasn’t thunder, was it?”
He put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her around, so she was facing him. “Stay here.”
“No.”
“Aurora, stay inside and call nine-one-one.”
“What’s happening? I don’t see anything.”
“It’s an explosion.” He said as he pulled on his jeans.
Come on Aurora, snap out of it. She went to her nightstand and grabbed her phone as Dalton left her room.
She could hear him on his phone, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Then the attendant picked up and she explained her emergency. The front door slammed. Within seconds she heard the roar of Dalton’s truck as he peeled out of the gravel drive.
“Where are your boys?” Dalton asked as Tate sat stone faced in the cab of his truck.
“They’re on horseback on their way to Hal and Erwin’s cabins.”
Dalton could see the fire now, it clawed at the night sky. His powerful truck bounced over the field, easily eating the distance to the flame.
There were four cabins, two hundred yards apart, it was the structure on the far left, closest to the forest, that was on fire. He saw horses and men. Dread licked down his spine as they pulled near, he only saw three men battling the blaze.
“Only three,” Tate muttered.
Dalton eased off the accelerator as he got closer so that he didn’t spook the horses. Tate was out the door before the truck even came close to slowing down.
Dalton was in mission mode. There was no way he believed this was an accident. No way in hell this was some kind of gas leak or kitchen fire. He slammed the brakes on his Chevy then shoved up the invisible piece of the front bench seat that housed the high-tech gun safe. He pressed in the security code and pulled out a pistol, rifle and night vision scope. Ned was not going to get away with this. He was going hunting.
Dalton ran to where four men were fighting a losing battle to put out the flames. Erwin was almost dead on his feet. He needed medical attention. Dalton realized this wasn’t his cabin it was Hal’s.
Pulling the hose out of Erwin’s hands, he shoved it at Rhys.
“I’ve got to try to get in there again,” Erwin shouted.
Dalton looked the haggard man over. It was clear that he had at least second-degree burns. “Have you already tried to get into the cabin?”
“Yeah, but the fire was too hot. I thought I heard Hal yelling for help,” Erwin sobbed.
“He was dead as soon as the explosion hit.” Being harsh was being kind in a situation like this.
Erwin dropped down onto the ground, his head between his knees, hands over his head.
“He was my best friend.” Erwin’s shattered words were broken by fits of coughing.
“I need to leave you here, are you going to be all right?” Dalton asked.
Erwin waved him away. “Go find the fucker who did this and kill him.” He started coughing again. Dalton looked up and saw that Rhys and Luke were working hard to make sure that the fire didn’t spread to the forest beyond. Tate jogged over to Dalton.
“You’re loaded for bear,” Tate observed.
“You and I both know that Dumb and Dumber are probably watching. I’m going to go gather them up,” Dalton snarled.
“Not without me, you’re not.” Tate held up a rifle he’d gotten from God knew where.
“You need to be on watch to ensure that nobody takes pot shots at your boys or the first responders. Aurora called them, they should be here soon.” Dalton looked over toward the ranch. He still couldn’t see another horse headed this way, but he figured she’d be coming soon. “I told Aurora to wait at the ranch.”
“Like that will work,” Tate said in disgust.
“Exactly,” Dalton agreed.
“Be careful,” Tate called after him as Dalton headed for the tree line. His heart ached for Aurora, know how much she would hurt when she realized her friend Hal was dead. After that he concentrated on the task at hand. He melted into the forest and immediately felt at home. Dalton had already been all over the ranch, including this forest. He knew that it was at least a mile back before it butted up to a rural highway.
The noise of the fire blocked out any kind of sounds that the men might have made, so it was up to him to just check out the woods for signs of disturbance. It didn’t take long to see the broken branches at shoulder height.
Sloppy, it was just plain sloppy to leave such an obvious trail. But then again, they probably didn’t expect anyone to come after them. The dipshits probably thought everyone would be fighting the fire. Dalton heard the faint sound of a siren. He felt a sense of relief, they would be able to focus on the blaze and Tate would be able to ensure that Aurora stayed out of the forest.
He leapt over a dead tree and silently landed on the other side. Despite some of the rain that they’d had lately, the undergrowth was still dry. As Dalton got closer to Ricky and Ned’s trail it was easy to spot where they’d gone because of all the snapped branches, twigs and sticks. Ideally
, he’d like to get in front of them before they reached the road.
Dalton took off to the right of their trail and then started to run parallel. He was now far enough away from the fire that it was just the sounds of the forest, soon he would hear the two men, and he knew for sure that there was no way they would hear or see him.
“Ned, you need to move faster.”
The man wasn’t even trying to be quiet.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” the second man panted.
“Well go faster, otherwise I’m leaving you behind. You’re not worth a lethal injection.”
“Ricky, California doesn’t have the death penalty.” Ned sounded pompous and oily.
“We’re in Nevada, you idiot! We’re dead men walking.” Ricky shouted.
“Oh shit, I never thought of that. I’ll keep up, I promise,” Ned said.
Dalton heard the racket they were making, but he easily passed them. They had flashlights and he saw where their trail was leading. Hell, he had time to pass them, do his nails, get a facial, then climb a tree and get into position.
When he was two hundred yards before the highway, he got into position behind a Ponderosa pine and pulled his night scope off his rifle and watched for their arrival. As they came into sight he could make out Ned from the picture that his teammate Dex had sent to his phone. Dumbshit and Dumbshitter were making it easy for him. Ned was walking ten feet behind his cousin and he was sweating profusely.
Fish in a barrel.
Ricky was within four yards of Dalton when he walked by, he didn’t notice a thing. Thirty seconds went by and Ned walked by, Dalton hit him in the temple with the butt of his pistol. It was just a love tap. He grabbed him and lowered him behind a bush. He picked up Ned’s gun and put it into his pocket. It was three minutes before Ricky spoke.
“Ned, you need to pick up the pace. Ned are you listening to me?”
Ricky whipped around, but it was too late for him, Dalton was there.
“What?” Was the only word he got out before Dalton had him down to the ground his knee digging in his chest, his razor-sharp blade to his throat. Ricky’s eyes narrowed.
“Go ahead and kill me, it beats waiting around for a lethal injection,” the man spat out.
“I’ll slice your stomach open and leave you with your guts hanging open for the bears to get you, then you’ll be begging for the state’s mercy.”
Ricky trembled. “What do you want?”
“Did you try to kill Aurora?”
Dalton moved the knife down and shoved up Ricky’s coat and flannel shirt. He nicked him with his blade.
“No, I swear to God, I didn’t. I blew the shot on purpose the other day,” Ricky stammered. “Ned was pissed as hell.”
“Why now? Why is he coming back at her after all this time?” It was a question that had been gnawing at Dalton.
“He just got fired again. He said all his real troubles began when she fired him two years ago. He hadn’t been able to pick up a decent job since he left this ranch. He promised to pay me good if I helped scare her.”
“You mean kill her,” Dalton said harshly. He threw down the knife, not wanting that kind of evidence. He knew the perfect thing. He dragged Ricky three feet to a sharp rock that was protruding from the forest floor. He pushed his cheek against it.
“Owww.”
“Too bad about your fall,” Dalton said fiercely. “The slower you are answering my questions, or the more you don’t tell me the truth, the closer you are to having your face split open on this rock. We clear?”
“Okay, okay.”
“Where’d Ned get the money, if he’d been fired again?”
“I don’t know.”
Dalton pressed him down harder.
“I swear,” Ricky shrieked, “I don’t know.”
“You knew you’d have to kill her, didn’t you?”
He didn’t say anything, so Dalton pressed his face into the rock until blood trickled over the stone.
“Yes, I knew.”
“What was tonight’s plan?”
“We wanted to get her away from you and all of her protection. We’d been watching the place. We knew men were ready to help her. If we provided a distraction, we thought I could pick her off. I was ready with my rifle.”
Just because he was pissed, Dalton picked up Ricky’s head and slammed it into the rock, not hard enough to make him pass out, or that any bones would break, he still needed to talk more, but enough that there would be a lot of pain.
After the screaming died down, Dalton heard a twig snap. Dalton let go of Ricky and lunged for his knife. He picked it up by the hilt, and out of the corner of his eye saw Ned holding a rock over his head. Dumbershit should have thrown it while he had the chance.
Dalton swung his knife in a wide arc and it caught Ned across his thigh and he went down in a stream of curses.
“You should have stayed put,” Dalton said grimly as he watched blood start streaming down the man’s leg. He turned back to Ricky who hadn’t moved a muscle.
Dalton didn’t hear anything but Ned’s crying and Ricky’s heavy breathing, but he waited, he just knew what was coming. He looked off into the woods and nodded when Tate materialized. Yep, the man had definitely been a Marine Raider.
“Can you use a hand getting these two back to the scene of the crime?” the older man asked.
“Almost.” Dalton turned to Ned.
“Where’d you get the money to pay Ricky?” he demanded of Ned.
“I stole it before I left my last gig.”
Figured. Dalton turned to Tate. “Let’s get this trash to the sheriff. Looks like Aurora is finally safe.”
“I need to go and change,” she said as they walked into house. She barely glanced at the big country kitchen that normally gave her a sense of peace.
“Honey sit down. You haven’t eaten a thing since last night. There’s plenty of food,” Gunnar said.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Sit,” Dalton said.
She was seated in a kitchen chair before she even realized it. She pulled down at the stretchy black skirt of her dress. Gunnar magically put a piece of cheese and broccoli casserole in front of her.
“It’s warm, how’d you do that?” she asked listlessly.
“Mrs. Sanderson kept it in a thermal pouch for us when she dropped it off. Now eat, it’s one of your favorites.” Gunnar wrapped her hand around the fork.
She put it back down on the table.
“Don’t make me feed you. I’ve done it before,” he warned.
“I might just throw it up.”
He got up and poured her a glass of milk and set it in front of her. She looked at the watered-down milk. She really wished it was whole milk. She picked up the glass and took a sip. Then she took a small bite of the casserole. Soon she was actually eating. She looked up to see Dalton’s concerned face. They’d been right, she was hungry.
“It was a nice service,” she said. Her voice broke. “God, I’m going to miss him so much. I loved him, do you think he knew that?”
Her fork clattered to the floor. Dalton bent and picked it up.
“He did Baby Girl, I promise.” Gunnar stood up and kissed the top of her head. “Let me get you a new fork.”
“I’m done eating.”
This time her grandfather didn’t push.
“You need to talk it out,” She looked at her grandfather helplessly.
“I need to go change.”
“It’s not your fault,” Dalton said quietly.
“How do you figure?” she asked bitterly. “Hal died because they wanted to flush me out. I’d say that was my fault. Erwin is hurt and it’s going to take over a month for him to recover. Again, that’s because of me.” Her grandfather tried to cover her hand, but she wouldn’t let him. Instead she got up and rushed to her bedroom. She tugged off her dress and flung it into the corner of her bedroom. Then she pulled on her clothes, so she could go to the barn. Her Grandfather was putting th
e food that had come from the neighbors into the fridge, and Dalton was standing by the door.
“I need to go check out Lucky and Vertigo,” she said quietly.
“I’ll go with you,” Dalton said as he pulled his jacket off the peg by the door.
“Stay with grandpa,” she said quickly and practically ran out the front door. She didn’t want company. If one more person told her that Hal’s death wasn’t her fault, she’d go for her grandfather’s gun and shoot them. Lucky wouldn’t try to feed her a line of bullshit. Hell, that poor mare was as traumatized as Aurora.
She was at the bottom of the porch stairs when he called out to her.
“Wait up.” She hated that voice of his. It was all comandereey. She shot a glare out over her shoulder. “Aurora.” He said her name like she was a petulant child. She stopped and whirled around, with one hand on her hip, and the other hand up and out.
“Don’t. Just don’t. I don’t need to hear from you. I’ve heard enough.”
Dalton stepped into her personal space and grabbed her outstretched hand, he rubbed it against his cheek. It was the wrong thing for him to do. It made her start to feel even more, and it hurt. She tried to yank her hand away, but he wouldn’t let her. Instead he turned his face and pressed a kiss into her palm. Oh God, he was breaking through her flimsy defenses.
“Please Dalton, I’m begging you.” She tried her best to keep her voice even.
“You gotta bend before you break.”
“You were supposed to leave yesterday,” she reminded him.
Liquid blue eyes looked at her compassionately. “I’m not leaving you like this.”
“The danger is over. You need to leave.” This time he let her hand go when she pulled.
She turned back toward the barn. It was seven o’clock, nobody else was there except the horses. Siren and Aladdin were doing better. Vertigo was settled, but the new horse Lucky who Hal and Erwin had just brought in, needed a lot of tender loving care. The mare would bring her solace.
Dalton stayed as close as a tick as she strode past the corral. She made one last attempt. “I really want to be alone.”
Her Guarded Hero Page 11
