Page 41 of Her Guarded Hero

“If I answered, I’d have to kill you,” Tate smiled blandly.

“Out of Pendleton?” Dalton pushed.

Tate walked up the porch steps and was almost eye-to-eye with Dalton when he asked, “What’s with all the questions?”

“Ned Little’s cousin, Ricky, spent six months in the Marines before he was dishonorably discharged.”

“For what?” Tate asked.

“Got into a fight over a pool game and broke the cue over the other player’s head and killed him. The bet was five dollars.”

“Are you shitting me? So besides being booted out of the Marines, I take it he did time?” Tate asked.

“A nickel in Chino for manslaughter. It’s a case of dumb and dumber working this operation. Both of them were seen in Reno together ten days ago.”

“I’m taking it that your info is solid?”

Dalton leaned back against the porch rail and stared at Tate.

The man held up his hands. “Okay, stupid question. Did your source get anything else?”

“Since Aurora sent him packing, Ned’s been floating around the Western United States, mostly picking up part-time work under an assumed name.”

“If he was using an assumed name, how did your guy figure it out?” Tate asked.

“It wasn’t hard. He called himself Ned Small.”

Tate let out a laugh but stifled it quickly. He tilted his head and they both started walking away from the house. They stopped at the corral and Dalton rested his foot on the lowest rail as he stared off into space. “Turns out that in his late teens and early twenties he was in the rodeo circuit but was kicked out for cheating. He’s blown every opportunity he’s ever had.”

“Still doesn’t explain why he would suddenly turn on Aurora now. Hasn’t it been two years?” Tate asked.

“My guy is trying to sort that out. Our job is to find his happy ass and shut this shit down.”

Tate gave him an assessing look. “Seems to me you and my niece have gotten pretty close, you still planning on leaving on Sunday?”

“I can put in for more leave if I need to, but I’m always on-call. My preference is to get this shit with D&D sorted before I leave.”

“D&D? Oh yeah, Dumb and Dumber. I’m going to call in my boys and have them start patrolling too.”

“The football players?” Dalton asked.

“Yep,” Tate said proudly. “Rhys is studying to be a vet. Luke is thinking about joining the Marines next year.”

“Maybe a better idea is to have her go to your ranch for a day. Then we can lay in wait.”

Tate turned away from the rail so he could look directly at Dalton. “I might be reading this wrong, but I’m not.”

Dalton waited for the man to continue. He knew what was coming.

“There isn’t a chance in hell that Aurora is going to be leaving you for the little time that you two have left together.”

Dalton worked hard to keep his face impassive. Tate couldn’t be right, could he? He and Aurora had only known each other for four days. Granted the chemistry was off the charts. Hell, it was on no known chart that he’d ever seen or heard of, but it didn’t matter, he didn’t do relationships. Full stop. End of story.

Tate frowned. “It’s like that, is it? So, you’re toying with my niece?”

“No.”

“Explain yourself.”