Page 33 of Her Guarded Hero

“It is,” Dalton bit out.

“Does this have something to do with a beautiful blonde? I heard she knows her way around disgruntled animals,” Dex teased. “By the sounds of things, that’s probably for the best.”

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Nothing was fucking sacred with Dexter Evans. And he knew that Zed hadn’t spilled the beans.

“Somebody’s out to hurt her.”

“What are you talking about? I need details.” Dalton calmed down a little when he heard the concern in his friend’s clipped voice.

“Somebody took shots at her. It wasn’t that professional, otherwise she’d be dead, but still, they targeted her. The locals are insisting it was some poacher who mistook her for big game. My happy ass it was. They’re idea of policework is handing out speeding tickets, seeing if granny is tilting a slot machine to make it pay out or worrying about someone peeing in their pristine lake.”

Dex let out a big laugh. “What has your tail in a twist? Usually this level of pissed-offed-ness is left for the spooks in Langley who give us the wrong intel for an op.”

“They’ve let Aurora down twice now. If I wasn’t on a time schedule to come back home, and I didn’t have to track down the bastard who has her in his sights, I’d have you get me info, so I could dismantle the sheriff.”

Dalton was surprised to find himself pacing around the small bedroom. When had he gotten out of bed?

“Calm your shit down. Tell me what you need and it’s yours,” Dex said soothingly.

“Cut it out Evans, you’re never going to be a horse whisperer.” A picture of Aurora burst into his mind. She’d looked so tiny compared to the mammoth stallion. Even now his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton when he remembered her going into that stall with Aladdin.

“Tell me how to help your lady,” Dex said. Again, he was calm and steady. It helped. Maybe he was a Navy SEAL whisperer.

“I need you to get me all the info you can on a guy named Ned Little. He used to work at this ranch, it’s called Valhalla. He only worked here at the ranch for a couple of weeks. He worked as a horse trainer. Look, I’ve met her and her grandfather, plus the two hands who’ve been here forever, she just doesn’t have any real enemies. This has got to be the guy. I need you to track him down.”

“Do you have anything else? Can you get his employment file?”

“I’ll get it tomorrow.”

There was a long silence. “Ned Little, huh? His real name is probably Edward. I’m on it. I’ll get you something by noon.”

6

Aurora watched him riding Siren in pearlescent afternoon light and her heart jumped into her throat. The blue Henley shirt molded to his chest, shoulders and arms. The sun glinted in his blue-black hair. Dalton was the embodiment of every warrior in history. But what made her want to cry, was what he was doing.

A crisis had happened today, and Hal and Erwin had their hands full going to Reno to pick-up another abused horse that had been fraudulently purchased. Gunnar left about the same time, and she had screwed up by not calling and telling Crystal that she wouldn’t be able to take Taylor and Mark for their lesson.

When they showed up at three o’clock she was devastated at the thought of turning them away. Crystal was the boy’s foster mother, and Aurora’s oldest friend. Both boys scored high on the autism spectrum scale and they had been coming to Valhalla for over a year to do Equine Therapy. It was because of Crystal that she’d gone to Torrey Pines for ten days a year and half ago for training. After identifying two horses that would be perfect for the boys she’d worked with Erwin and the horses for three months before inviting Crystal, Taylor and Mark over for a test run.

“What’s going on Sunshine?” Dalton had asked when Crystal’s SUV came up the drive.

She’d explained and watched his thoughtful expression. “My friend Dare Stanton has a son named Georgie, he’s eight years old. Georgie’s great, when you can get through to him. It takes a lot of patience, he’s severely autistic.”

Aurora wished she had time to be subtler in her questioning, but Crystal and the boys were getting out of their vehicle. “How much time did you spend with Georgie? Was it just a one-time thing, or do you have a relationship with him?”

Luckily Dalton didn’t take it bad. “Georgie and I seemed to hit it off at a couple of team barbeques,” he said quietly. “I went and visited him at his house a couple of times. He soothed me. Rylie, Dare’s wife, said I calmed him.”

“Okay, you’re hired to help me. I’ve seen you with the horses, I’ll have you work with Mark, he normally works with Erwin.”

Now here she was, leaning on the corral fence, watching Dalton like a besotted fool as he rode behind Mark.

“Dalton’s nice,” Taylor said.

Aurora looked over at the thirteen-year-old boy who was almost as tall as she was and smiled. “I think he is too.”

“Is he a cowboy?”

“He’s a soldier.”