Page 96 of Her Guarded Hero

She started to drive. Fuck it, she was going to head toward the front driveway where all the Mercedes were. Other clients weren’t out after them, and one of them would have a cell phone. She aimed for the wide-open field that would eventually lead to the front of the property. She couldn’t have gotten more than one-hundred yards when she felt a tire blow. She skidded in the wet grass.

Another tire blew, this time she’d heard the gun shot before the impact of the back tire made the SUV careen sideways. Her eyes shot to Lindy and she gasped in relief. Her cousin had put on her seatbelt.

“Give me the knife Lindy,” she yelled. She saw two men running toward the car. In her rearview mirror she thought she saw another man tackling one with a gun. What was going on?

She rolled up the window and made sure the doors were locked. Why hadn’t she checked to see if Mort had had a gun?

“Got ‘em!” A man’s voice roared.

They were surrounded, one on each side of the car. She couldn’t tell which one was Chuck.

She heard the passenger door crash open.

“Ooomph.” A man grunted. Lindy shoved against the door and jumped out. Aurora spared a quick glance to see her cousin crouched on the ground beside the car arms up, ready to fight.

Aurora had the knife in her sweaty hand. She was going to fight this bastard to the death. But she sure as hell wasn’t going to open the door like Lindy had.

“Aurora, open the door.” A big hand slapped on the window. Aurora cringed.

“Sunshine, it’s me.”

Aurora couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing.

“Honey, open the door, it’s me, Dalton.”

Her hand wouldn’t let go of the knife. She couldn’t press the button to unlock the doors. She continued to stare at Dalton’s beautiful face through the smeared driver’s side window.

She jumped when the door unlocked. She looked over to the passenger side and saw that Hunter had pressed the button to unlock the door. Dalton had her door open in a heartbeat.

“We need to get Lindy to the hospital,” she said. She couldn’t take her eyes off Dalton. He was prying her fingers off the knife.

“Dex is on it,” Hunter said.

“How badly are you hurt?” Dalton asked as he wiped at the blood on her face.

“I’m not,” Aurora assured him.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Not my blood.”

He looked scared to death. Aurora held up a finger. “I broke a nail.”

“Goddammit Sunshine,” he pulled her into a rough and tender hug.

“Elsa Lyle is the one behind everything. She’s been abusing the horses. She’s evil. Don’t let her escape.”

“We won’t.”

She pushed at his shoulders and looked at his face. “No seriously. She’s the mastermind. Go get her.”

“Hunter!” Dalton called.

Over his shoulder she saw her uncles, Zeb and Tate, running up towards her, Zeb veered off to the other side of the vehicle where Lindy was.

Hunter came over to Dalton, he looked pissed. “What?” Dalton asked.

“Lindy just told me everything. We need to get her to a hospital. It’s a bad concussion.”