Her Guarded Hero (Black Dawn Book 5)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  She didn’t miss him wince. “If I tell you that I was coming no matter what, will you believe me?”

  “Absolutely,” she said, and he frowned.

  “Dalton. You’ve never lied to me. You’re the most honorable man I have ever met.”

  She watched as he relaxed. “Thank God you think that, because this just seems a little too coincidental, I would be questioning it.”

  “You’re a cynic,” she grinned.

  “You’re an optimist. You believe in fairytales and happily-ever-afters.”

  She went up on tiptoes and pressed a long kiss against his sexy-as-sin lips. “Damn right I do, and they’re coming true.”

  “My teammates, who by the way don’t want to be referred to as the Scooby Gang, are here because we’re going to take down and pulverize whoever is out after you. Dex knew that you were important to me. He believes in happily-ever-afters and knew you were my woman before I got it through my thick head. Therefore, you were part of the Black Dawn family. He just keeps an eye on all of us, and when things started pinging, like Ned Little dying in jail, Dex started to get concerned.”

  She was going melt into a puddle of goo. “He thinks of me as a part of your team’s family?”

  Dalton kissed the tip of her nose. “You are a part of our family.”

  “Okay, I won’t call them the Scooby Gang.”

  “That’d be for the best. Let’s go face the hoard.”

  13

  The Scooby Gang, Lindy and Uncle Tate were the first heads to turn when the kitchen door silently opened. It must be a training thing. She saw there was a distinct delineation in the room, ‘The Professionals’ and the others. She couldn’t help but grin, because Brody hadn’t made the cut. Uncle Tate, Hunter, Dex and Lindy were standing in the farthest corner from the big bay window. She approved of the way that Hunter and Dex immediately zeroed in on Dalton. They were good friends to her man.

  Gunnar, meanwhile, had been waiting by the kitchen door.

  “Everything good?” He asked as he looked her up and down. He broke into a bright smile. “Oh yeah, everything’s really good.” Gunnar swept her into a huge hug, careful of her tummy. She knew her grandfather was probably grinning like a loon at Dalton, over her head.

  “So, you’re here to stay?” he asked Dalton.

  Damn.

  They hadn’t discussed logistics.

  “First thing is stopping whoever is behind the attempts on Aurora’s life. Then Aurora and I need to talk about our future. But, rest assured, it will be together. Nothing will ever tear me away from your granddaughter. Nothing.” Aurora felt like a rock was lifted off her shoulders, one that she hadn’t even realized was there.

  Gunnar gave her one last squeeze, then released her to Dalton’s embrace.

  “Let’s get you sitting down,” Dalton said as he guided her to the sofa.

  “You know I’m not an invalid, right?” she teased her Irish hero.

  “I know that you looked like you were going to fall over only forty-five minutes ago, so humor me. Anyway, you’re the leading lady so people need to congregate around you.”

  “Great,” she muttered. In an ‘Eagle Scout Gentleman’ fashion, he settled her onto the couch. When he remained standing, she yanked on his hand.

  “Hmmm?”

  “If I’m the leading lady, your butt is seated next to mine,” she said sotto voice.

  He looked ready to protest, then she smoothed her hand over her tummy and raised her eyebrow. He immediately sat down beside her. She figured she had about three days where she could pull this crap, so she’d take advantage while she could. Dalton put his arm around her and kissed her temple.

  “It’s going to be all right, Sunshine.”

  Somehow, Dalton performed magic, because the youngest, tallest and broadest SEAL suddenly crouched down in front of them. He looked a little scary, until a dazzling white smile illuminated his face.

  “I don’t know if you remember my name,” he started.

  “Hunter Diaz,” Aurora smiled back.

  “That’s me. I’ve known Dalton since we attended BUD/S together. He was an old man and needed a younger friend to help him through.”

  Dalton snorted.

  “I wanted to say how happy I am to finally meet you. Dalton has been a sorry S.O.B. to work with these last five months. So far Dex and I are the only representatives of Black Dawn, but I want you to know that if we need more manpower, you’ve got more of our teammates chomping at the bit to come up and help sort things out.”

  Aurora stared at him. He was serious. How could that be? A team of Navy SEAL’s coming up to help her for her car being driven off the road?

  “But isn’t that out of your scope of operation?” she asked.

  “Aurora, SEALs never operate in an official capacity on American soil, so we’re just here on a little R&R here in Lake Tahoe,” Dex said as he ambled over. “Hunter’s going to lose money at the penny slots, and I’m going to win money at the craps table.” Dex said with a wicked twinkle in his eye.

  “If you tell anybody that I play the penny slots we’re going to have a serious talk outside the mess hall,” Hunter said as he stood up and towered over Dex.

  “Yep, penny slots. Sorry man, I call ‘em like I see ‘em.”

  Aurora giggled. At that point she realized that everyone had gathered round. They were either in the chairs on either side of the couch where she and Dalton were sitting, or on the loveseat across from her. Well, except for Brody and her cousins. She didn’t think she’d ever seen her cousins, Rhys and Luke, actually sitting down unless it was in a saddle. Currently, they were leaning over the back of the loveseat tugging at Lindy’s hair, as she sat beside Erwin. Those young men were going to get clocked for sure.

  Brody went to the middle of the room and looked up at Hunter and Dex who were still standing in front of the couch. “Please take a seat,” he said pompously.

  “Absolutely,” Dex grinned. “I’m sitting next to Aurora.” He plopped next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. Dalton shoved it off. Hunter sat on the other side of Dalton. She looked up at Brody to see what he would do next. It should be interesting.

  He pulled out a little notebook.

  “I see a few new faces, so I’m going to recap the pertinent details of the case.”

  She’d never heard Sheriff Brody sound so official.

  “Four months ago, Ned Little was wounded with a sharpened piece of plastic in the Washoe County Detention Facility. The corrections’ officers were unable to determine who killed him. Also residing in the facility was his cousin Ricky Little. When Ned died, Ricky asked for witness protection. It was determined he had no relevant information to provide to prosecutors to the murder of Hal Dockins or any other schemes that Ned Little might have been involved in. However, Ricky insisted that somebody besides his cousin wanted Aurora harmed.”

  Dalton sat forward and peered around Aurora, glaring at Dex. “Did you know about this?”

  “It was nothing but hearsay that went nowhere,” Dex sighed. “But I have feelers out.”

  Brody frowned. “What do you mean you have feelers out?” he demanded. “It was determined by my office and by the Washoe County DA that there was nothing to Ricky Little’s claims.”

  “Well obviously someone is still after her, so I would say that you and the DA are wrong, wouldn’t you Brody?” Dalton said sarcastically. He turned back to glare at his friend. “Now tell me what your feelers saying.” he demanded.

  “The little shit’s trail, pun intended, was tougher to track because he used false names,” Dex explained. “Some friends have been sending his picture to all of the ranches throughout the Western United States. Whoever Ned was in league with won’t tell us that he worked at their place, but we’re narrowing it down to all the places he has worked. Then we’ll get an idea of the gap and see if we can piece together where he might have been when he met the bad guys.”

  Aurora kind of kept up with what Dex
was saying…kind of. “Sounds convoluted,” she said to Dex.

  “Dex’s theories always are,” Hunter said. “But give him a Rubik’s cube and he can solve it.”

  “What I meant was-” Dex started.

  “Please don’t explain again, I got the gist of it,” she said she interrupted him.

  Her ears might be bleeding if he started talking again. She was pretty sure she understood she understood him.

  Brody cleared his throat, clearly not happy that the focus had shifted from him.

  “Both the Sacramento and Placerville authorities are on the lookout for the person responsible for tampering with the horse trailer.”

  Dalton tapped her on the shoulder and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Which horse died?” he asked.

  “Lucky.” She felt the tears coming on, and it wasn’t because of pregnancy hormones. The thought that someone could have purposefully killed that beautiful black mare left her feeling bewildered. How could someone do that?

  “We’re going to get them,” Dalton whispered. “I promise you.”

  “Damn right we will,” Dex said beside her.

  She saw Hunter, on the other side of Dalton, nod his head in agreement.

  It was like she’d just been welcomed into another family.

  Brody cleared his throat. He was giving them the evil eye, so she tuned into him again.

  “As for the black truck that side-swiped you, we have a little bit more information on that. It was stolen from a Marcus Holt who was in Placerville the same day that the horse trailer was tampered with. The Placerville sheriff’s department has had an APB out on the truck since then.”

  “Was something abandoned in it’s place?” Hunter asked.

  “What do you mean?” Brody gave him a confused look.

  “If he didn’t leave something behind when he stole the truck, that means there had to be two people involved, or he took an Uber to the rest stop.”

  A flush crept up the Sheriff’s face. “You have a point,” he admitted to the big SEAL. “I don’t think a taxi or Uber were probably how he got to the rest station.”

  “Maybe he used LYFT.” Rhys said.

  Lindy grabbed the arm of her huge young cousin who had been teasing her hair and yanked him over the back of the couch. “We really don’t need color commentary from the peanut gallery, got it?” she growled. “Please continue Sheriff, the rundown you’re providing is helping to give us a complete picture.” She let go of her cousin who was then punched in the arm by his grinning brother.

  “Well, I think you all know that we fished the black truck out of a ditch this side of Squaw Valley. It was wiped clean of prints. We have nothing to go on after that.”

  The Sheriff looked beaten down. Aurora wanted to make him feel better, but she couldn’t think of anything to say.

  “All is not lost,” Dex said cheerfully. “Jack is going to check in tomorrow with some info on Ned’s whereabouts for the last couple of years. Between Jack and his dad, there is no way anybody will not tell everything they know.”

  “Who’s Jack?” Gunnar asked.

  “Jack Preston, he and his step-father owns one of the biggest spreads in central Texas. It’s mostly cattle, but-”

  “But they have a hell of a horse ranch,” Gunnar finished for Dex. “Tate, haven’t you done business with them?”

  “I have,” Tate nodded. “Richard Preston is a good man. Fair. Even though he’s off in the middle of nowhere and a Texan,” he teased. “Preston seems to know everybody West of the Rockies.”

  Brody brightened at the idea that there might be a lead. “Do you think you really think he might be able to find something out about Ned’s whereabouts during those missing two years?”

  “I’m betting between Jack’s dad’s connections and Dex’s magic, they’ll find out something,” Hunter assured the older man.

  God, that would be a relief. She wanted this madness to end.

  “You’re going to call him tomorrow?” Gunnar asked Dex.

  “I have a Skype call set-up with the Preston’s tomorrow morning,” Dex answered.

  “I want to be in on it,” Brody immediately said.

  Aurora looked around the room, almost everybody in the room nodded or raised their hand to indicate they wanted in on the call. The only hold-outs were her cousins Luke and Rhys, which was good, because she needed them working the ranch since Erwin was going to be in on the call as well.

  “I’ll make you breakfast tomorrow and we’ll do it here,” Gunnar announced.

  “Breakfast trumps the big screen in my conference room,” Brody said as he patted his non-existent stomach. “Apple flapjacks?”

  “Whatever Aurora wants,” Gunnar said.

  Brody gave her a once over pausing on her large stomach, and once again the man flushed. “What was I thinking, of course Aurora gets to decide. What time should I be over here?”

  “I’d say seven o’clock.” Dex answered.

  With that Aurora pushed up off the couch, but Dalton was there to lend her a hand. She could get used to it. Lindy shot her a knowing smile. Dammit, nothing got by her cousin.

  “Come on boys,” Tate said to his sons. “I’ve got a hankering for Dickey’s Bar-B-Q.” She watched as Luke and Rhys grinned ear-to-ear at the thought of food and followed their dad out of the house.

  “I need to get going too, if I want to be back here by seven o’clock,” Brody said trailing behind her uncle.

  “Honey, your Mom probably has something delicious waiting at home. And I know she’s baked a chocolate cake for you,” Zebadiah said to his daughter. Aurora always liked looking at her Uncle Zeb and Lindy together with their long black hair. They looked regal.

  “Chocolate cake? I need to come home more often.” Lindy rubbed her hands together.

  Zebadiah put his arm around his daughters’ shoulders. “Yes, you do.”

  “I’m going too,” Erwin said. “Just call me in from the barn in the morning. Dalton, it’s good seeing you again, remember what I said.” He gave him a meaningful look and walked out with Lindy and her father. Aurora would have to ask Dalton a little later what that was all about. But if she had to guess Erwin had threatened Dalton. Her ranch foreman had been pretty angry when Dalton hadn’t shown up when she was pregnant.

  Gunnar was the last one remaining with the SEALs and Aurora. Damn, now came the awkward moment of who was staying where. She sure as hell knew where Dalton was staying, and that was in her bed. There were two other guest rooms she supposed. Before she started to figure out sleeping arrangements, Gunnar faked a big yawn and stretched.

  “Well Boys, it was real nice meeting you.” He shook hands with Dex and Hunter. “I’m all in. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Dex and Hunter barely got in their good-byes before Gunnar was down the hallway to his bedroom. As soon as they all heard his bedroom door shut, Dex started to laugh and Aurora started to squirm.

  “I think your grandfather didn’t want to discuss where Dalton was staying tonight,” Dex smiled.

  Aurora blushed. How in the hell could she blush when she was five months pregnant with the man’s son? She blushed even hotter. Dalton put his arm around her shoulder and she shoved her face in his chest for a moment, then sighed and looked up at the three men.

  That’s when it hit her. Great, now she had to pee. At most, she had a three-minute window before things got critical and she’d have to make a run for the bathroom. Who knew your bladder would shrink to the size of a peanut?

  “You’re welcome to stay here, there’s two guest rooms,” she said as things got worse. Dalton realized something was wrong and gave her a quizzical stare. She gave a small shake of her head.

  “While everybody was good-bye’ing, I made reservations for Hunter and me at one of the hotels in-town.” Dex said.

  “How?” Hunter asked.

  “On my phone,” he said holding up his I-Phone.

  “I figured you had a place to stay,” Dex smiled at Dalton.<
br />
  “Do I?” Dalton asked Aurora.

  “If you’re up for dealing with morning sickness you do.”

  He tried to pull her close. Aurora pushed at his chest. “Sorry, along with morning sickness is peanut bladder syndrome.” She turned to the other SEALs. “It was good to meet you,” she gave them a wave, then rushed down the hall.

  “You’ve got one of the good ones,” she heard either Dex or Hunter say as she pushed open the bathroom door.

  “Do you really think Jack’s dad will come through?” Dalton asked Dex as he stood outside his truck.

  “Yeah I do.”

  “Why has it taken him so long?” Hunter asked.

  “Well that is because somebody is dumber than a stump. That’d be me.” Dex sighed in exasperation, letting out a plume of icy air into the night. “I didn’t think to call Jack until right before this last mission. I’m a dumbass.”

  “Shut the hell up,” Dalton said sharply. “You’ve been all over this from the get-go. I’m the fucking dumbass in this scenario.” He looked up at the house and saw the light on in Aurora’s bedroom. “I’ve been a dumbass on so many levels.”

  “I’d say you’re doing just fine,” Hunter rumbled. Dalton looked at his friend who had a shit-eating grin on his face.

  “What?” Dalton demanded.

  “Your woman is hot. Not as hot as Aliana, mind you, but pretty damn hot. I saw those pictures in the living room of her on a horse. She is something else.” Then Hunter turned serious. Dalton had been expecting it. Hunter, more than anybody else, had stood next to him when he’d lost Reagan.

  “So, you’re going to be a father again. How’s that going to work?” Hunter asked.

  Dalton took a moment, trying to find the right way to answer the question.

  “I expect it’s going to work the normal way, lots of diapers and bottles,” Dex interjected with a smile.

  “Seriously, Man. How are you coping?” Hunter asked.

  He looked from one man to the next. He was lucky to have such good friends in his life. “It’s like I’ve gotten a whole new lease on life. Looking at Aurora today about took me to my knees, but after a few minutes I felt like I needed to be on my knees in another way. I needed to be thanking God for this second chance.”