Page 68 of Her Guarded Hero

“Missed you more.” Lindy pulled back and looked at her. “Why am I just hearing about this bullshit now? I should have been told as soon as that weasel was offed.”

“Because you would have just rushed up here, is why.” Aurora whispered. She really didn’t want any of the testosterone in the other room to hear her. “I wanted you to burn your time off for when the baby arrived.”

They stood there staring at one another. Aurora took a deep breath.

“Oh God, I need a Tums.”

Lindy laughed.

“That’s not nice. You’re not supposed to pick on me.” Aurora glared at her cousin as she went to the cupboard and got down the bottle that was recently her best friend.

“Your baby daddy is gorgeous. Is that supportive enough?”

Aurora grimaced at Lindy, then spilled out three tablets instead of just one.

“Aurora, this is going to be okay,” Lindy said as she put her arm around her. Aurora leaned her head against Lindy’s shoulder.

“The other men he brought with him are fine too. Find out their status for me, will you?”

“What other men?”

“Your guy brought in reinforcements. Seems like he’s taking this as seriously as I am.”

“Oh God,” Aurora moaned. She shook out two more Tums.

Lindy laughed and gave her one more supportive hug.

“All we need is Crystal here, and it will seem like old times,” Aurora gave a sickly grin.

Buck up girl, you can do this.

“Do you want me to go in first? That way you and the bump will be less noticeable?”

“I’ve got Grandpa’s coat,” Aurora said. She pulled it tighter around herself.

“Sure, Gramps keeps it one hundred and ten in here and you’re wearing that, I’m sure nobody will think it’s odd. Come on kid, follow me.” Lindy gave her one more side hug, then pushed open the swinging kitchen door.

All conversation stopped as eight sets of male eyes turned to look at them. Nope, make that nine. There was a big quiet Hispanic man sitting on Grandma’s loveseat, he was watching everything. Meanwhile poor Brody was literally cornered by Uncle Tate, Dalton and one other man she didn’t recognize.

“We’ve been waiting for you,” Gunnar said. He got up off the sofa where he had been sitting with Rhys and Luke. The other man stood up from the loveseat. “Let me introduce you to our new guests,” her grandfather said. “They’re teammates of Dalton’s.”

That was as obvious as the nose on her face.

Dalton and the two other men moved forward. They didn’t invade her personal space, but it felt like she and Dalton were the only two people in the room.

“Hello Aurora,” his voice had every one of her nerve endings flaring to life. She opened and shut her hands in reflex.

“Hi Dalton.” Could he hear the longing in her voice?

“We’ve heard about some of the problems you’ve been having. It sounds like they didn’t die down with the capture of Ned Little. We’re here to help.”

Her heart plummeted. Gunnar’s arm was immediately around her waist to help keep her standing up. Somehow, he’d known that her knees had turned to jelly. Once again Dalton wasn’t here for her, at least not really, he was just here because of his sense of chivalry.

Dalton frowned at her. “Are you okay? They said you weren’t injured.”

“I’m fine,” she said quietly.

He moved forward, and she shrank backwards. Dalton looked like she had hit him. “Aurora?”