Page 70 of Her Guarded Hero

“You only get five minutes worth,” he warned. “What the hell were you doing wearing that coat around a house that feels like a sauna?” He wasn’t surprised when she didn’t answer. He filled the kettle with water, pulled down the tea, spotted the bottle of Tums on the counter and got her a glass of ice water. He set the water and bottle of Tums on the table in front of her then sat down in the chair across the table from her.

Aurora took a sip of the water and then shook out a tablet and ate it.

He waited. Was he waiting for her to feel better, or was he was he trying to figure out what in the fuck he could possibly say? She bit her lip. “Dalton,” she started.

The kitchen door opened. It was the dark-haired woman. “Everything okay in here?”

Aurora whipped around in her chair. “Go away, Lindy. If I needed the police I’d call nine-one-one.” Her voice cracked. Lindy looked helplessly over Aurora’s head at Dalton.

“Everything’s going to be just fine,” he assured her. The door eased quietly close behind her.

Dalton saw where Aurora’s hands were trembling. Dalton knew he what he was going to do. Then the kettle sounded. He got up and made her tea and brought it back to the table and set it in front of her.

“Thank you,” she said softly, she made a grab toward the mug, but pulled back because her hands were shaking. Enough already. He picked her up out of her chair and sat down in it with her in his lap.

“Leave the tea.”

“I can’t seem to stop shaking so I might as well.”

“In that case, tell me a story, Sunshine.”

She blew out a breath and gave him a helpless stare.

“Okay, I’ll start. Is it safe to say we’re having a child in a little less than four months?” he smiled solemnly.

She placed her small, capable hand on his heart. “Yes. Our son.”

A son. A son. A baby boy. He looked down at her stomach and tried to wrap his head it. Wrap his head around him. Five months. Five months that he had missed. Had Aurora-?

“Have you picked out a name?” Dalton asked.

“I wouldn’t choose a name without you.”

The relief that crashed through him was like a wave at Waimea Bay. His arm clutched her close and his head found the hollow of her neck. “When? When were you going to tell me?”

“I was going to tell you this month.”

“Why did you wait so long?”

She looked at him sadly, her diamond black eyes filled with sorrow and hope. How was that even possible? “Dalton, I know you didn’t want another child after Reagan, but I couldn’t have your son and not tell you. That wouldn’t be right. Even if you were never planning on coming back.”

He could barely hear her over the pounding of his heart. When his head cleared her words registered.

He looked at her beloved face. “Aurora, I was coming back to you.”

She didn’t answer, he could see the doubt in her expression. He cupped her cheeks.

“It’s true, Sunshine. These last five months have been hell for me. You have been on my mind constantly. You’ve never been out of my heart. I was coming back.” He needed her to believe him, but she didn’t respond.

“Aurora, I know everything I said before.” He softly raked his fingers through her hair and kissed her temple. “The guilt that I lived with shadowed every day of my life until the moment you fell at my feet.”

“I felt your guilt. I felt your pain.” Her was subdued and now she wasn’t even looking at him.

He had to get through to her. He had to.

“Aurora, I met a woman on my last mission.” Aurora’s lashes flew upwards, her eyes clashed with his. “She was a mother protecting her children.”

“Oh,” she said in understanding.