Page 25 of Her Passionate Hero

“Allow me to introduce.” Mrs. Jankovic swept into the middle of the room and kissed his grandmother on the cheek. “Rosa, thank you for bringing your pretty grandson.” She looked up at him. “Bend down. You too tall for me to climb you.”

Hunter suppressed a grin. He’d forgotten Mrs. J’s ability to butcher the English language. He bent so the noble woman could touch her cheek to his.

“Make this better,” she whispered into his ear. “I’m depending on you.”

How was he supposed to do that when Aliana was looking at him like he’d killed her puppy? Before he could say anything, Aliana beat him to the punch.

“Lottie, Babička, we need to go. It was good seeing you, Mrs. Diaz.” She was squeezing his grandmother’s hand and giving her a sad, loving smile and totally ignoring him.

“Aliana?”

“I can’t, Hunter.” She stared at the floor. “I don’t feel well, I need to go.”

Lottie cleared her throat. “Uhm, Aliana, you need to wait for the wheelchair.” Aliana gave her friend a panicked look. “I’m sorry honey, I don’t know who he is to you. Maybe he can leave until the doctor gets here.”

“No, he’s not leaving,” her grandmother decreed. “Carlotta, this is Mrs. Diaz and her grandson Hunter Diaz. He’s a sailor.”

“SEAL,” his grandmother corrected.

“But that sounds like a cute little creature of marine life. Sailor sounds more like a man,” Mrs. Jankovic said.

Hunter closed his eyes, praying for patience.

“Holy hell, you have a Navy SEAL on tap? No wonder you didn’t tell the cops anything,” Lottie tried to tease Aliana.

“Please, Lottie, it’s not funny.” She turned to Hunter. “I don’t know what you’re doing here, but can you go?”

“He’s here to help,” her grandmother said.

As much as her anxiety concerned him, one thing bothered him a hell of a lot more.

“Why aren’t you cooperating with the police?” Hunter asked Aliana.

She stiffened, then looked down at the floor, “I can’t talk about it.” She turned and limped toward the bed. “I’m going to phone for the wheelchair.”

“You are dirtying this up,” Mrs. Jankovic hissed softly at him so that Aliana couldn’t hear.

“I’ll take care of it,” he smiled.

“Good.”

She watched the two of them as she made the phone call. “What are you talking about?” she asked as she hung up the phone.

“Aliana, your grandmother called my grandmother. I came to help you.”

She bit her lip, then hissed, and brought her hand up to her already swollen mouth.

“Please Alia, let me help you.”

She opened her mouth to ask a question, then looked around at the audience they had and shut her mouth. In three steps he was in front of her.

“What?” he asked.

Her pretty face had a unique expression on it. “You’re not supposed to be here. You were supposed to stay away.”

“I stayed away far too long.” Now that he was here, he was thinking he should have been here a damn sight sooner. He realized the look on her face was hope. He knew it as he watched it slip away.

“No, you should never have come back. It’s for your own good.”