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.
“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.
“Let’s get back to how you recognized the gun I was holding,” Dalton slowed down their pace until they were stopped, and he was staring down at her.
“Why is it a big deal that I know?” He could practically see the wheels turning in her head. He shouldn’t have made such a big deal of it.
Aurora gave him a considering glance then smiled slowly. “You’re not Ironman, you’re a Navy SEAL.”
“All that from the gun I carry?”
“That and the way you disappeared like smoke. Am I right?” Her eyes were sparkling.
Yep, no sign of a concussion.
“You’re right,” he admitted. “Petty Officer First Class, Dalton Sullivan, at your service. Tell me how you recognized the gun.”
“Granddad’s gun magazine. I think it goes along with his name. He’s a big-time hunter, he still meets up with his brothers up in Alaska to go hunting every year. The poaching that has been going on around here is driving him insane. I know that he has been going out looking for signs of the poachers.”
“Aurora, those weren’t poachers. They had you in their line of sight.”
She winced. “I really don’t want to believe that someone would actually take a shot at me on purpose. I don’t Dalton. Do I have to?”
He rubbed his hands along her arms and stared at her.
“Dammit,” she finally said, her lip trembling. “Dammit, dammit, dammit.”
One of her hands tentatively came up and rested on his chest. “I don’t know why anyone would want to take a shot at me. I just don’t.” She looked so lost and bewildered. Then she began shaking her head in protest, her blonde hair went flying and he watched as she winced. Dalton stopped her before she pressed her fingers against her forehead to contain her pain.
“Calm down, Sunshine.”
“How do you expect me to be calm if someone was using me as target practice?” Aurora gripped his hand like it was a lifeline. He noted she wasn’t wearing her gloves anymore. S
he let go of him quickly. “Nope. I choose to believe you’re wrong.”
“What?”
“I get to choose my reality. You live in a world where bad things happen all the time, right? You’re constantly having to protect and serve. There are bad guys that you’re constantly fighting, so you always think the worst. Isn’t that true?”
Dalton looked at her. She was serious. Before they had gotten off course, hadn’t she been going to tell him a love story? A fairytale?
“Dalton, answer me. I’m right, aren’t I? You live in a world that is far away from mine.”
“I suppose I do.”
“They were poachers.” Her grip gentled caressing his. How could something so dainty handle such a wild horse?
“Okay Aurora, it’s within the far-reaching realm of possibility, in some universe that you live in that they were poachers.”
Her smile ticked up at the corner. “Thank you for that, I’m glad you see it my way. Now let’s get a move on and I’ll tell you about my Granddad and Grandma so you’re all caught up by the time we get to the ranch.”
Sunshine was a good nickname for the woman. He’d really thought to get her to the road, get a phone signal and call the sheriff, afterall this was the day he normally spent alone, but maybe it was time for a change.
2
“Grandma had three brothers, and she could out ride them all. She was amazing on a horse. Back in the eighteen-hundreds the story was that two Comanche brothers came to live with the Washoe people, and that was where my Grandmother’s family got their horsemanship skills.”
Aurora watched as Dalton took a closer look at her features. Everybody always did when she mentioned her grandmother was Native American.
“It’s the cheekbones and the eyes,” she grinned.
“What?” he asked.
“Weren’t you wondering how a blonde girl was part Native American?”
He looked down at her thoughtfully. “No, I was imagining you a hundred and fifty years ago, riding bareback, in buckskins on the plains in Oklahoma. It was spectacular the way you were able to stay on Siren. You would have been an amazing huntress back in the day.”
Aurora felt her cheeks begin to heat. Sure, people had said that she was good at what she did before, but nobody had ever painted such a stirring picture. She cleared her throat. “Well anyway,” she said as she picked up her pace. “When he was twenty-two, Granddad bought the meadow and the big chunk of land surrounding it and thought he would farm it. He didn’t have the slightest idea what he was doing,” her chuckle turned into a pant.
“You doing okay?” Dalton asked as he put his hand under her elbow again.
“Sure,” she grinned up at him. Her head was beginning to throb, but it was only a couple of more miles to the road. Of course, it was all uphill, or so it seemed. She looked up. Maybe at the top of that rise Dalton could get a signal on his phone.
“Let’s take a break.”
“I’m fine.” Aurora gave him the same smile she gave new clients when they brought their horses to be boarded. When Dalton looked skeptical, she upped her smile’s wattage to one she used to reassure those people who brought in abused horses and were worried that she might not be up to handling such delicate and in some cases dangerous animals.
Dalton sighed. “Aurora, you just took a major fall. I would give the same consideration to most of my team members.”
She laughed, the word “bullshit,” coming out with a snort.
Dalton raised an eyebrow. “Okay, maybe not. Especially Hunter Diaz. I’d expect him to still be able to carry my ass up the hill after being bucked off a horse.” Dalton grabbed her hand and brought them both to a stop next to one of the tall trees. “Sit down next to me. I want to hear more about your grandfather and grandmother.”
“I call bullshit again,” Aurora smiled as she sat down next to him.
“Do you have cattle on your ranch?” he asked.
“Nope, just horses. Why do you want to know?”
“You seem to be obsessed with male cow feces,” Dalton answered. “I would have thought it would have been equine feces.”
Aurora chuckled. “I guess I don’t like thinking about horseshit since I spend so much time mucking out stalls.” She gratefully took the chocolate chip granola bar and Gatorade that he offered her.
It was weird having him watch her eat. He wasn’t overt about it, but he was definitely making sure she was getting in her calories and drinking fluids. It was the same way he insisted she rest. She wasn’t sure how to take it.
“Quit overthinking things and tell me more of your story. How did your grandparents get together?”
“To hear Grandma tell it, Granddad had more money than sense. He was asking all around for advice on what crops he should grow, not thinking to look around and realize that nobody was growing crops. Seriously, he was thinking the Lake Tahoe area was the same as the Central California breadbasket.” Aurora shook her head, remembering how Grandma Mae used to tell the story when they were making blackberry jam and apple butter.
“What are you thinking?” Dalton asked. “Your eyes are lighting up with memories.”
“I was thinking about Grandma and me in a hot kitchen putting up jars of preserves. We laughed for days doing that chore. She gave away half of what we made to people around the county. They’d come on over and everyone would tell stories and spread some of the sweet berry goodness on biscuits. She knew half the people in Placer and El Dorado counties.” She put her bar wrapper into the empty juice bottle and handed it to Dalton. “You ready to go?”
“Hold up. Just sit back and finish the story.”
“We’re burning daylight.”
“Horseshit. We’ve got plenty of time. Now lean against the tree and tell me more about this great love story. I’m fascinated by a woman’s perspective.”
Aurora gave him a long stare, but both his tone and expression were very kind, but she couldn’t help but think he was making fun. Oh, to hell with it, just ask!
“Dalton, how come I get the idea that you’re mocking me?”
Dalton jerked. “I wouldn’t make fun of you. I was serious.”
Dalton’s jaw tightened, then he blew out a stream of air.
“Why is it so important to you?”
“For my friends, I want something that lasts, something that makes them happy. I guess I want the dream, even if I don’t believe in it for me. I hear their women say they love them, and I…”
Aurora didn’t prompt him to say anything more. “Okay. You want a woman’s perspective. You want me to tell you that your friends won’t get hurt, is that it?”
He looked off in the distance and nodded. She was exactly right.
“First, I think it’s great that your friends have found love. For their sake, I sure hope it’s like the men and women in my family.” Aurora purposefully kept her voice light and breezy. She thought back to her grandmother’s stories. “Granddad was twenty-two, and only had experience fishing. He’d spent almost his entire life on the ocean, so even though he wanted to work the land, he couldn’t give up the water. That’s why he decided to buy near Lake Tahoe.”
“I can’t say I blame him. It’s gorgeous here,” Dalton said.
“Yeah, but it sure isn’t farmland. So, here’s Gunnar Olsen with all this land trying to figure out what to do with it. The contracting company he hires to build his home is owned by one of my great-uncles. That was how he met my grandmother, Mae Dressler.”
“I can’t imagine back then she was working on building the house,” he said dryly.
“Don’t be so sure, it was nineteen sixty-two. Not much of anything stopped her, she was considering all her options. She was twenty. She’d taken off a couple of years after graduating from high school to take care of her mother who was ill. Now that she’d recovered, everybody was pushing for her to go to college, she had the grades and test scores for it. According to her, she wanted to make a difference, and she wanted to protest the war, so s
he thought going to Berkley was the thing to do.”
“But she didn’t go?”
“She loved Dressler Ranch, where she grew up. She was as horse crazy then, as I am now. She said she was being pulled in two different directions, and she didn’t know what she was going to do.”
Dalton looked over at her, she could see that she’d caught his interest. “I take it she decided to stay in Tahoe.”
“Not to begin with. She rode over to the construction site one day. She brought some cookies that she and her mom and baked for the men. That was when she met Granddad. She’d been hearing stories about him from two of her three brothers.”
“Nothing good, I bet.”
“Not to begin with, that’s for damn sure. They thought he was a lunatic for not having a plan. The Washoe people are cautious. They’re planners. Meanwhile, Granddad and his family were gamblers.”
Dalton raised his eyebrow. “Explain.”
“Every fishing season they’d go out on a wing and a prayer, hoping that they’d come back with a boat full of fish. Now, his family knew all the good places to fish, but still there were some seasons that they’d come back empty. It was a gamble. That’s why Granddad felt comfortable thinking he could be a farmer. It was the same idea. He wasn’t afraid to risk anything, work his ass off, and pray that the crop comes in.”
“Yeah, but he didn’t do his due diligence.”
Aurora didn’t hear censure in his voice which was nice. “Granddad was impetuous. I think that was one of the reasons that Grandma Mae wasn’t impressed with him to begin with.”
“Are you telling me it wasn’t love at first sight?”
“God no, at least not for her. Now lust? That’s a whole different matter.”
“Are you saying your grandfather lusted after your grandmother?”
“Nope, I’m saying it was lust at first sight for my grandmother.”
“And your grandfather?” Dalton asked.
“He always says that he thought she was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen. He doesn’t mention lust. But when Grandma and I were alone, she sure does. She used to call him her Viking. But her brothers’ opinions mattered a lot to her, so she wasn’t really impressed with Granddad’s decision-making skills. However, she was thinking he might make a good summer fling before she went off to college. She’d just need to keep it on the downlow.”
Her Guarded Hero Page 2