by Cathie Linz
Or he used to be able to do that. The docs had warned him that those days were gone now.
Justice couldn’t believe it—years of living on the edge, of making danger his friend, and he got hurt not on a mission but by driving in the States on a normal sunny day.
And now they hailed him as a hero. If they only knew….
The inner torment streaked through him, overshadowing the physical pain he’d been living with since the accident. Gritting his teeth, he battened down his emotions and blocked out the raw fear and guilty doubts that plagued him.
Lightning flashed overhead and thunder crashed a second later. Kelly didn’t even flinch as she added salt to the soup.
Her calmness irritated him even further.
His life was in a mess, and she was cooking soup.
Yeah, she might have grown up, but she was still as much a nuisance as ever. And he wasn’t about to let her into his life. No matter how good that darn soup was starting to smell.
First thing in the morning he would send her packing. But first he’d eat. He needed food to regain his strength, and there was no contest that what she was cooking had to be better than the stuff he’d been eating lately.
But she wasn’t staying. No way. He’d have her off-island on tomorrow’s every-other-day ferry to the mainland.
“So what’s the deal with you and my mother?” he demanded, carefully lowering himself into a straight-backed kitchen chair.
Kelly looked guilty. His eyes narrowed. Something was up here.
Kelly tried sidestepping the issue once again by repeating her earlier mantra. “Maybe you should ask her.”
“I’m asking you,” he said, grimacing as he removed the sling in order to use his right hand. He couldn’t afford to keep babying it. This was his shooting arm. He had to regain his mobility ASAP. Regardless of what the doctors said.
She placed a huge bowl of soup in front of him along with a few thick slices of what looked like homemade bread. “And I’m saying you should ask your mother. You have a cell phone with you, right? So you can call her and let her know you’re all right.”
“Why this sudden concern?”
“It’s not sudden,” she denied, putting her own bowl of soup on the table across from him.
“So you’ve been pining for me all these years?” he mocked, and was surprised by the flash of something in her eyes. Such big brown eyes for such a little thing. Well, maybe not such a little thing, he silently revised, remembering how the top of her head had brushed his chin as she’d slipped past him to get into the house.
“Yeah, I’ve been positively lovesick for years,” she mocked right back, even going so far as to bat her eyelashes at him with such outrageous excess that he would have smiled…if he’d been a smiling man. But he wasn’t.
He focused his attention on the soup. It was good. It wasn’t until he saw the satisfied grin on her face that he realized he’d just guzzled down his chow like a raw recruit at boot camp. He dropped his spoon so abruptly it clattered on the wooden table.
“Don’t get too comfy here,” he warned her. “You’re leaving first thing in the morning.”
His pronouncement was accentuated by a crack of thunder.
“Sounds like a doozy of a storm,” she noted a second before the lights flickered and went out. “Good thing I’m not afraid of the dark,” she calmly added. “How about you?”
“I’m a Marine. I live for the dark.”
That didn’t surprise Kelly. She’d sensed the darkness in him from the moment he’d opened the door. There was a new edge to him, a sharper dangerous edge that hadn’t been there before. Brought about by his years in the Marines or by his accident? Or a combination of both?
She could hear him breathing. There was something surprisingly sensual about being caught in the darkness with him, surrounded by velvety shadows illuminated by flashes of lightning. The harsh bursts of light captured the angles of his face, lending them new definition. It was the face of a man who wouldn’t step aside if trouble got in his way.
She reached for his empty bowl only to have her fingers collide with his. Heat shot through her, as powerful as a lightning strike. The storm outside dimmed as her senses shifted to the storm raging inside of her body. She could feel the excitement burning in her like a wild thing.
“There’s something I should warn you about this beach house,” Justice said, his voice silky soft. “There’s only one bed.”
Chapter Two
“Only one bed, huh?” Kelly frantically tried to hide the fact that her heart had just kicked into overdrive. She couldn’t afford to let Justice know that he was getting to her. That wouldn’t do at all.
For one thing, Justice clearly didn’t think of her that way. He viewed her as a nuisance. For another, she couldn’t get involved with him. He was a patient. Or about to become one. Not to mention that he was her sister’s ex-husband. A definite hornet’s nest there. Way too much baggage.
The lights came back on, and as they did, Kelly knew what she had to do. She had to be sensible here. She also had to keep her sense of humor. It had gotten her through in the past whenever things were tough.
With that in mind, she gave Justice a deliberately mocking look. “Well, I suppose I could arm wrestle you for the bed, but as it happens I brought a sleeping bag with me. And I noticed that your couch in the living room looked pretty comfy.”
“Comfy? Do not get comfy here,” Justice warned her. “You will not be staying.”
His irritated words rolled right off her back. She had her “sensible” coating on now, and nothing he could say should get to her now. The realization comforted her. So did the fact that her smile threw him as she patted his left, uninjured arm. “You know, it’s a good thing I’m not the sensitive kind or I’d be hurt by your eagerness to get rid of me. I know, however, what’s behind it.”
He gave her one of those aggravated looks men give women they don’t understand. “I’ll tell you what’s behind it, the fact that I want you out of here.”
“So you’ve said. We’ll talk about it in the morning, if you’d rather.” She started cleaning up after their meal, taking their dirty bowls to the kitchen sink and running the water.
“I’d rather you were gone.”
Thunder boomed one final time, rattling the windowpanes with its bass reverberations. Despite the rumblings, the storm was actually weakening. Just like Justice. He was rumbling like the thunder, but it was more bark than bite. “You’re starting to sound like a broken record, Justice.”
“I can’t figure out why you’d want to stay somewhere you’re not wanted.”
“Besides being a glutton for punishment, you mean?” She squirted dishwashing liquid into the sink. There was a dishwasher, but she felt the need to scrub. “I’ve already told you, your mother asked me to come check on you.”
“So now you’ve checked. I’m still alive.”
“Have you called her on your cell phone yet?”
“What are you, my keeper?” His voice was really irritated now.
She turned to face him directly as she issued her challenge. “I thought Marines didn’t need keepers.”
He automatically straightened. “We don’t.”
“Then act like it, and call your mother.”
Justice looked like he wanted to strangle her, before he pivoted and marched out of the room to what she presumed was the only bedroom. The fact that he didn’t slam the door but instead closed it with controlled precision didn’t fool her for one second. The man was furious with her.
Kelly paused in her nervous tidying to sink onto a nearby kitchen chair. Okay, so maybe Justice wasn’t weakening like the departing storm. Maybe she’d been a little overconfident thinking she had things under control.
Only one bed…
His words kept replaying in her mind as she quickly took stock of her surroundings. The living room she’d walked through had a gorgeous pine floor but little furniture aside from the neutral-colored couch.
The kitchen was equally no-frill. There was no particular color scheme, the walls were white as was the woodwork. The bathroom was at the end of the hallway, right next to the bedroom with its one bed.
She could easily picture Justice on that bed, his lean fighter’s body tangled in satin sheets….
Rats. Only in the beach house for an hour and already she was having sexual fantasies about Justice. Not good.
Time to remind herself yet again why she was here. Because of Mrs. Wilder. Kelly would do anything for the older woman, including walking over fire. And it looked like dealing with Justice would come darn close to that fiery fate.
Kelly would manage. It’s what she did best. Her older sister, Barbie, looked gorgeous and Kelly…well, Kelly managed. Barbie brought men to their knees in adoration and Kelly managed not to care that she faded into the wallpaper whenever her sister was around.
“It’s a good thing you’re so smart,” their father had often told Kelly when she was growing up. “Because you’re not as beautiful as your sister, so you need something else to make things balance out.”
But things had never felt balanced to Kelly. Growing up, she’d often felt like a forgotten member of the family. Her mother, a beauty like Barbie, had referred to Kelly as her “foundling child” because she hadn’t inherited their blond-and-blue-eyed coloring and instead had taken after her father with brown hair and eyes.
When her mother died in an automobile accident, Kelly had been devastated. She’d despaired of ever being anything but the gangly, awkward thirteen-year-old she was, of ever showing her mother that she was her daughter and did belong.
And there was no depending on her sister during that time, because Barbie had spent every moment with Justice, accepting his marriage proposal only a few weeks after their mother’s death.
Justice and Barbie had been going together throughout high school, but even so, Kelly was surprised that Barbie had agreed to marry Justice. He’d already signed up to join the Marines after graduation. Barbie had told her that she was off to live an adventurous life.
Which left Kelly alone with her father, who tried unsuccessfully to hide how much he missed his wife and oldest daughter. He was proud of Kelly’s good grades and bragged about how smart she was, but he and Kelly never shared the special bond that he had with Barbie.
Mrs. Wilder had been a lifesaver during those difficult times, stepping into a maternal role with ease. Ever since then they’d continued to share a special bond, despite the divorce between Barbie and Justice.
Yes, Kelly would do anything for Mrs. Wilder. Even face a lion like Justice in his den.
She wondered if he knew that Barbie had recently gotten engaged to a wealthy Atlanta businessman? If so, did that knowledge contribute to his bad mood, to his coming to this island? He’d certainly still sounded bitter when he’d said, Haven’t you Hart women messed up my life enough already?
Kelly had anticipated that Justice might be angry at her sudden appearance, but she hadn’t expected her own response to him. Sure she’d had a teenage crush on him, but that had been ages ago. There hadn’t been any way for her to foresee the powerful physical effect he had on her now. And she’d only just arrived. There was bound to be more touching the more time she spent with him.
If she became his physical therapist, they’d be in close physical contact. She had to be prepared for that. But the one thing she wasn’t prepared to do was fall in love with Justice Wilder.
Justice was not having a good evening. He wasn’t getting any more information out of his mother than he’d gotten out of Kelly.
“You forget, Justice, I’ve been interrogated by the best—your father. You’re not going to get me to tell you anything I choose not to,” his mom told him. “It didn’t work when you were ten and trying to find out what I got you for your birthday and it’s not going to work now.”
“I’m injured, you shouldn’t be picking on me.”
“That’s right, you’re injured and you shouldn’t be giving me white hair by taking off from the hospital against doctor’s orders.”
So much for trying the sympathy routine. “I’m fine,” he said impatiently.
“We both know that’s not true.” His mother’s voice was quiet but firm. She’d never been one to take any guff. As the only female in a household of five men—her husband and four strapping sons—she couldn’t afford to be a pushover.
“So you sent little Kelly here to take care of me?”
“She’s good at what she does, Justice. Let her help you.”
“I don’t need any help.”
“You can always tell a Marine, but you can’t tell them much,” she muttered before growling, “Don’t be such an idiot.”
“Gee, thanks, Mom.”
“I mean it, Justice.” She was using her sternest voice. “You be nice to Kelly. I sent her there. It wasn’t her idea to go.”
“I’m a grown man, I don’t need my mother sending anyone to help me. I’ve faced plenty of danger on my own.”
“I know that,” she said quietly. “And I know the nickname you earned in your squad because of it. Invincible. Able to do the impossible. It’s almost as if you were tempting the fates to do something to you. If there was a dangerous mission, you were on it.”
“It’s what I do.” Or what he used to do. Who knew what his future held now? He glared down at his injured shoulder and tried to ball his right hand into a fist and raise his arm. It was a pitiful effort.
“And worrying about you and taking care of you is what I do,” his mother countered. “I’ve let you do your job all these years, now let me do mine. Just give physical therapy a try with Kelly and see how things turn out.”
“I don’t want her here.”
“You can’t throw her out.” His mother sounded panicked, which made him feel guilty.
“I won’t throw her out,” he said gruffly. “It’s storming outside.” Lightning flashed again. “I wouldn’t turn a dog out in this kind of weather.”
“How kind of you to liken Kelly to a dog,” she noted wryly.
“Okay, so I don’t have my brother’s charming ways with women,” Justice retorted.
“I’m not asking you to be charming, just to be nice. Think you can do that? I’m only nagging you because I love you.”
His throat suddenly clenched. “I know that. Listen, I’ve got to go, Mom. I only called you to let you know I’m okay.”
He quickly ended the call and tossed his cell phone onto the night table. He’d lied to his mom. He wouldn’t be okay until he’d recovered. He was Invincible once. He needed to be Invincible again. Or die trying.
“My mom told me to be nice to you,” Justice drawled a few minutes later as he watched Kelly wipe down the stove.
“And you told her you’ve been the perfect host, right?” she drawled right back.
“I told her I wouldn’t toss you out on your keister in a storm.” A boom of thunder crashed as if to emphasize his statement. Noting her startled jump, he said, “Are you afraid?”
She tossed the sponge back into the sink before turning to face him again. “Sorry to disappoint you, but no, I’m not afraid of storms. Actually I think they’re kind of neat. And pretty amazing. Did you know that lightning bolts are rarely thicker than a common pencil?”
“You’re just a fountain of information, aren’t you?”
“I’m a smart woman.”
“Not smart enough to stay away from me.”
She sighed. “What is it going to take to convince you that I can help you?”
“A miracle?”
“How about a game of poker?”
He narrowed his blue eyes. “You’re kidding, right?”
“If I beat you, then you’ll stop being such a baby about my being your physical therapist.”
Justice stared at her in amazement. Did she have any idea who she was speaking to here? He was a member of the Marine Corps’ most elite Force Recon. He knew twenty ways to disable an enemy in the bl
ink of an eye. He’d used deadly force. And she was calling him a baby and challenging him to a poker game? She clearly wasn’t as smart as she claimed to be.
“What happens when I win?” he countered.
“Then I’ll leave on the next ferry.”
He found that hard to believe. Not when she’d been so adamant about staying. She didn’t appear to be the type to give up easily if at all. Stubborn. Just like his ex-wife. Definitely another troublemaking Hart woman—the last thing he needed in his life. “What’s the catch?” he demanded.
“No catch. I happen to have a deck of cards with me.”
“I’m sure you do.” He didn’t trust her for one minute. The woman was up to something. Whatever it was, he wasn’t about to let her get away with it. “And I’m sure you won’t mind if I examine them first.”
“Afraid I’m going to cheat the big bad Marine?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if you tried. After all, you are Barbie’s sister.”
“I’m nothing like my sister.”
“No, you’re not, are you.”
His comment stung for some reason. Maybe it was the way he was looking at her, as if dismissing her.
Okay, so she wasn’t gorgeous like Barbie. That didn’t mean she didn’t have other redeeming characteristics.
Like being smart? an inner voice mocked.
Like being strong, she silently countered. And making the most of what she had. And being independent. Unlike Barbie, she didn’t need outside reinforcement to feel complete. She didn’t need constant reassurance and male adoration.
Kelly narrowed her eyes at him, giving him a don’t-mess-with-me look. “No, I’m not my sister. I’m something even better.”
“Really. And what’s that?”
“A woman not to be trifled with.”
He raised one dark eyebrow. “Trifled with, huh? I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You do that.” She walked over to her backpack and reached into an outside pocket. “Here are the cards.” She handed them to him. “Check them out. Then prepare for a trouncing.”
“First trifle now trouncing.” His voice was mocking.
