Page 2 of Her Guarded Hero

He paused, then said, “I’m sure a plastic sur-”

Her laughter cut him off. “I’m teasing. Trust me, one more scrape or scar isn’t going to bother me. Kind of adds a little bit of character.”

Dalton eyed her with a little more interest as he started to tear open the butterfly bandage packaging, so he could apply them.

“I’m glad you came prepared. Were you a Boy Scout?”

“Eagle Scout,” he answered as he applied three of the bandages to the cut. “There, that should do it.” It was the damn bruise he was worried about. There was a lot of swelling.

Dalton really wanted to go after the shooter, but there wasn’t a chance in hell he was leaving a wounded woman in the middle of the forest.

“What’s your name?”

“Aurora Chance? What’s yours?” Good, she was lucid.

“What day is it?” he asked.

“You haven’t answered my question yet,” she protested.

“Dalton Sullivan. Now what day is it?”

“Monday. I need to go get my horse, can you help me?”

Good God, she was serious. She looked like a ghost, her two large brown eyes and purpling bruise were the only spots of color on her face. “No, we’re not going after your horse.”

Aurora clutched at the arm of his sweater. “She’s hurt. I know one of those bullets hit her.”

“You’re damn lucky one of them didn’t hit you,” he bit out.

“That’s a lot of gear for hiking,” she said as she pointed to his backpack.

“Do you have any idea who was shooting at you?”

Her hand clenched tighter, biting through to his forearm. “It must have been one of the damned poachers. They’ve been running rampant around here for months.”

“There is no way that one of your ‘damned poachers’ would have taken three shots at a horse and rider. Maybe one stray shot I’ll grant you. Not three. Someone was deliberately shooting at you.”

Those brown eyes got wider, but he didn’t see any fear, instead he saw anger. “Somebody shot at my horse? At Siren?”

“And you, let’s not forget you.”

“But it’s Siren whose wounded. Seriously, we need to round her up.” Aurora pushed up from the ground on unsteady legs and looked around. Dalton stood with her so that he could catch her if she fell, and it looked like she might.

“You’re in no shape to go after your horse, and right now I want to get us a little more cover. These two little trees don’t make me feel safe enough.”

She turned around on wobbly legs, “Okay, where to?”

“You’re coming with me,” Dalton bent and picked her up, then bent again and snagged up his backpack.

“I can walk,” she protested.

“Sure, you can, Sunshine. He strode over to seven trees that grew close together. He gently lowered her behind four of the narrow tree trunks. “Stay put. I’m going to check things out.”

“Siren?” she asked hopefully.

“I’m going to look for the shooters. We’re not safe, until we make sure they’re long gone.”

He watched as she bit her lip. She finally nodded her head in acceptance.