by Cathie Linz
No, he definitely was not safe, not from the nightmares about the car bursting into flames, not about the doubts that he refused to even acknowledge.
He had no room in his life for such things.
Kelly claimed she could help him, fine. Here was her chance to prove it. He’d always been a man who believed more in actions than in words.
That didn’t mean he trusted Kelly, or her motives. Bottom line was that she was still his ex-wife’s sister and his divorce had not exactly been an amicable one. Kelly might still have some sort of hidden agenda for coming here. Which meant he’d have one, too.
Point, counterpoint, strike, counterstrike. It’s what he did, how he thought. Trust was not a requirement for getting the use of his arm back.
“You’d better start reviewing my medical report so we can get this op under way.” He impatiently waited while she read through the file. “Well? What’s the plan? You do have a plan, right?”
“Give me a minute here.”
“Because planning plays as important a role in the preparation of battle as in the conduct of battle.”
“Which is all very well and good but we’re not talking about a battle here.”
“Yes, we are. I’m not stupid enough to think otherwise. It’s going to be a battle to get my strength back.”
“There’s no guarantee your arm will recover fully, but you have a much better chance of increasing your range of mobility with physical therapy and time.”
“I don’t have much time and I’m not interested in merely increasing my range of mobility. I want my arm back the way it was before.”
“I can’t guarantee that will happen, Justice,” she said quietly.
“No excuses, no exceptions.”
“And no false promises of a miracle cure. We can just take this one step at a time and see how things progress. Deal?”
She held out her hand.
He reluctantly took it in his. His fingers were warm against her skin as he gingerly wrapped them around her hand. Even something as simple as a handshake proved difficult. Gritting his teeth, he silently railed against his own weakness.
“Don’t push yourself to do too much too soon, that will do more damage than good,” she warned him.
“Have you always been this bossy?”
“No, I think I’ve become bossier with age and now I’m getting pretty darn good at it. Which is a good thing considering that you’re used to drill instructors screaming orders at you. But don’t worry, I’ll try not to be too hard on you. No marching orders, none of that ‘right face’ or ‘forward march’ stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“Not the appropriate military terminology? Sorry about that. Medical terminology is more my thing. For example, antibodies. Everyone knows that antibodies are against everyone. And that an enema is not a friend. Hey, was that a smile I saw there, soldier?”
“I’m a Marine, not a soldier.”
“Sorry, I’ll repeat the question. Was that a smile I saw there, Mr. Big Bad Marine?”
“It was gas.”
“Listen, buddy, any more jabs at my cooking and you’ll be pulling kitchen duty. And don’t even think about calling me a feisty little thing again.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Good.”
“I’m still waiting to hear your plan.”
“Okay, then. Here it is. We start out nice and easy…” Kelly began when he immediately interrupted her.
“I don’t like that plan.”
She gave a long-suffering sigh. “Maybe this should be the part where I point out that I’m the one with the training and you’re the one who is supposed to be heeding my advice.”
“I don’t do nice and easy,” Justice informed her.
She was not impressed. “Then it’s about time you learned. Just pretend you’re back in boot camp.”
Now he looked insulted. “There’s nothing nice or easy about boot camp. It’s twelve weeks of grueling and exhausting work meant to separate the cream of the crop from the rest.”
“You didn’t let me finish. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, just pretend you’re back in boot camp, only this time instead of your goal being to become a Marine, your goal is to increase your mobility. You’re very lucky that overall you’re in such good physical shape.”
“Lucky?”
She noted the bitterness in his voice. “Yes, lucky. I’ve dealt with patients who have terminal illnesses, patients who have been paralyzed by car accidents. Compared to them, you’re sitting pretty.”
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with here.” His curt words were like bullets. “I’m a member of the Marine Corps’ most elite force, which means I have to be at the top of my game. I have to pass stringent physical exams to return to my squad. These are men who can drop and do a few hundred one-handed push-ups without even breaking a sweat. My injury may seem measly to you…”
“It’s not measly, Justice. I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. The bruising and lacerations on your legs will heal with time. And your concussion was slight, although you should have rested and not been traveling out here. But the damage to your shoulder is very serious indeed. I wasn’t trying to belittle your injury or the effect it’s had on your life. I’m just saying that in the whole spectrum of things, it could have been much worse. You could have been paralyzed or killed when that car exploded.”
Justice didn’t tell her how he felt, that he might as well have been killed if his future as a member of Force Recon was gone. She wouldn’t understand, she couldn’t know how much who he was involved what he did. The definition of invincible was “incapable of being overcome or defeated.” That was no longer true. Which left Justice feeling incapable, period.
“I realize that a brush with death makes most people question things in their lives…” Kelly began when he interrupted her again.
“Marines aren’t most people. And this certainly wasn’t the first time I’ve had a brush with death.”
His words chilled her. She’d known his work as a Marine meant he was exposed to danger, but she’d somehow never considered the fact that he might actually die serving his country.
She had to take a sip of freshly brewed coffee before going on. She steadied her trembling fingers by wrapping them around her coffee mug. “Why do you do it? Why do you put your life at risk?”
“Because my country needs me. It’s what I do and what I’m good at doing.”
“I know you come from a long line of Marines in your family.”
“Affirmative.” Now he really sounded like a Marine.
“Have you and your brothers ever worked together?”
“Negative.”
“You’re the only one in Special Forces, right?”
“Affirmative. I’m in Force Recon.”
“I suppose you have one of those nifty nicknames like Flyboy or Ranger or something.”
“Flyboy was Joe’s nickname and Ranger was my brother Mark’s nickname when we were all kids.”
“I heard that Mark’s new security firm Sovereign Securities is doing very well.”
“He has a waiting list of clients.”
“You still haven’t told me your nickname,” Kelly reminded him. “Wait a minute, I remember now. It had something to do with a bird…”
“Eagle.”
She nodded. “A symbol of freedom.”
Justice wasn’t about to tell her about his Invincible nickname, resulting from his ability to avoid harm in extremely risky missions. At the moment he couldn’t even live up to his old nickname of Eagle. A symbol of freedom. Yeah, right. He couldn’t even lift his arm. He was a wounded eagle.
Not that you’d know it by the way Kelly was looking at him with those big brown eyes of hers. He didn’t want her thinking of him as some kind of hero. There were plenty of women who thought a man in uniform was sexy, who got off on the danger of his work. He hoped she wasn’t one of them.
Last night she’d told h
im to get over himself and had practically laughed at him when he’d warned her not to go all gooey over him. Overbearing Marines weren’t her type, she’d claimed.
And bossy physical therapists weren’t his. Especially not when said bossy physical therapist was his ex-wife’s sister.
So here was the plan. Put her to the test. See if she could make him whole again. Correction, see if she could restore his arm to its previous mobility. There was no way she could make him whole again. He had too many dark corners in his soul to ever be whole again.
Chapter Four
“I hope my sister didn’t have anything to do with you doing such dangerous work,” Kelly said, interrupting Justice’s black thoughts.
Justice frowned at her. “Where did that crazy idea come from?”
She looked away. “I know you were upset after the divorce.”
“Upset doesn’t come close.” A Marine never failed, and the collapse of his marriage marked a huge failure in his eyes. His C.O.—commanding officer—had advised him not to get married until Justice was at least twenty-five. But Justice hadn’t listened. It was the last time he’d ignored a suggestion from his C.O.
Sure, after the divorce and after he’d signed up for Force Recon and completed his advanced training, he’d been reckless for a time afterward, almost daring fate. But it wasn’t because he hadn’t thought life was worth living. It was because only when that life-or-death adrenaline was shooting through his body did he really feel alive. And he’d had something to prove. Maybe he still did.
“I know you loved her very much.” Kelly’s voice was almost wistful.
“Is that why you came here? Because you think I’m still pining away after your sister?”
She shook her head. “I already told you, I came because your mother asked me to.”
“Since when have you and my mother been close buddies?”
“You didn’t ask her?”
He wasn’t about to admit that he’d asked and his mom hadn’t told him. “We didn’t talk about it, no.”
“She was very kind to me during a time when I really needed it, after my mother died.”
“So you’re repaying a debt?”
“If that’s the way you want to think of it.”
“That was a long time ago.”
Kelly paused before deciding there was no point in avoiding telling him the truth any longer. At least the truth about her relationship with his mother. She wasn’t ready to tell him about Barbie’s engagement yet, in case he didn’t know about it already. She’d given him the chance to say something when she’d brought up the topic of her sister, asking him if Barbie had had anything to do with him taking such risks.
“Your mother and I have kept in touch over the years,” Kelly admitted. “Well, more than just kept in touch. We’ve become friends.”
She caught the brief flash of surprise on his face. Not that he was the kind of man who showed much emotion. He wasn’t. But she knew him or felt she did, despite the fact that she hadn’t seen him in years. He was still Justice. Tougher, more cynical, more mature. But still Justice.
“Why would the two of you become friends?” he demanded. “And why wouldn’t my mom have told me about it?”
“Maybe because she didn’t think you’d understand.”
“I don’t,” he said bluntly.
She’d known he wouldn’t understand, so there was no reason for her to feel disappointment. Suddenly she didn’t feel like talking to him about something as personal as her relationship with his mom. “Do you cook?”
He blinked at her non sequitur. “What?”
“You heard me. Do you cook? Because I didn’t come here to be your housekeeper. I thought we could share the cooking duties.”
“You did, did you?”
“Yes, I did.” She gave him a direct look. “You can start with dinner tonight. Do you have a problem with that?”
“I have a problem with a lot of things.”
“I noticed that when I first arrived. You weren’t exactly in the best of moods.”
“Moods?” he said the word as if it were something distasteful. “Moods have nothing to do with it. You chose to come here and walk into the proverbial lion’s den.”
“I thought your nickname was Eagle, not Lion.”
His expression darkened. “Can we forgo the chitchat and get things moving here? You claimed you could help my recovery, but I have yet to see any proof of that.”
“And you’re not a man to go on blind faith are you?”
“Not when it involves a Hart woman, no.” He held up his hand, stalling her immediate protest. “I know, I know, you’re not like your sister. Or so you say. I’ll need proof.”
“And how am I supposed to prove that? I would have thought my appearance alone would make that point clear.” She waved a hand toward her face and then her body.
“There’s nothing wrong with your appearance.”
“I didn’t say there was. But I don’t even look anything like Barbie. She’s blond and beautiful and I’m not. But enough about that,” Kelly said abruptly, feeling uncomfortable comparing herself to her sister yet again. It was not a habit she wanted to fall into with him. “Let’s get started with your therapy.”
“Remember, I don’t do nice and easy,” Justice warned her.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” As if she’d forget there was nothing nice or easy about this job. And that’s what it was, the way she had to think of it—a job.
Kelly couldn’t rid herself of the sinking feeling it might already be too late for that already, though.
Three hours later Kelly was exhausted. She’d put Justice through a series of range-of-motion exercises. He hadn’t liked any of them.
“What kind of wimpy exercise is called a wand exercise?” he’d scoffed.
“Do you want me to rename it the torture exercise?” she retorted.
He ignored her comment and kept ranting. “And shoulder ladder? Tracing my fingers up the wall? Another wimpy waste of time.”
She knew his frustration came from his inability to complete that last exercise because of the weakness of his arm. She also knew weakness had to be a Marine’s deadliest enemy.
Kelly showed Justice some isometric exercises he could do on his own and left him to it, realizing that he needed some time alone.
After making herself a tall cold glass of iced tea, Kelly headed outside onto the large deck facing the ocean. The white plastic resin chair was warm against her back and thighs from the sun. She’d grabbed a bottle of sunscreen, even though it was now later in the afternoon, and the chance of burning wasn’t as high as it might have been at noon. But at the moment she was too engrossed in the scenery to apply the lotion.
How hypnotic the waves were—the sound of them, the look of them. Watching the combined forces of nature, the land and the sea tussling together, reminded Kelly of Justice and her. He was the immovable land and she was the constant ocean. The recurring power of water was able to wear down the toughest of land masses. That thought made her grin for some reason.
The beach in front of her was wide and flat with finely packed sand. Aside from a medium-large dog frolicking in the distance, there wasn’t another soul in sight. She had to admit that there was something rather soothing in being away from the city and sitting there communing with nature.
Sunlight sparkled off the water, creating a shimmering-diamond effect. Kelly wasn’t sure how long she sat there before she was interrupted by the arrival of the dog.
“Hi, there,” she greeted the animal as it clomped onto the deck and dropped down beside her as if he belonged there. “Where do you live?”
The dog tilted his head toward the house as if in answer to her question.
A moment later Justice opened the door leading to the deck and came outside to join her. “Nice dog you’ve got,” Kelly said.
“I don’t have a dog,” Justice replied.
“Your friend’s dog then.”
“He does
n’t have a dog, either.”
She watched Justice sit on the deck’s railing, as if he were a posted lookout. The man never relaxed. If he had a dog, he’d be more relaxed. Not that “relaxed” and “Marine” went together very well. Which brought her back to the dog. “Maybe he belongs to one of your neighbors.”
“There are no nearby neighbors, that’s why I like it here.”
“It is a beautiful place.” Kelly returned her attention to the beachscape laid out in front of her. “The Barbary pirates thought so, too. They used the coastal islands off North and South Carolina to hide their ships and their treasure.”
“Showing off your fountain of information again, are you?”
“Still in a bad mood again, are you?” she said with a challenging grin.
Their eyes met. She wasn’t prepared for the impact. Out here in the sunshine the intensity of his blue eyes was even more apparent. His dark lashes made them even more dramatic. Even more, even more, it was a repeating refrain where Justice was concerned.
He was even more attractive than she’d expected, she was even more vulnerable than she’d anticipated.
She wanted him to kiss her even more, even more…
“Hello, there!” someone shouted out, disrupting the moment.
Kelly pulled her gaze from his and looked down the beach, welcoming the interruption. Her thoughts had been getting entirely too tempting, there. Her brain must have been melted by the afternoon sun for her to have even remotely considered the possibility of kissing Justice. That wouldn’t do at all.
There were two women approaching. One had short, silver hair, the other long, black hair but both wore jeans and matching T-shirts in a bright green. “It looks like we’ve got company coming,” Kelly noted.
Justice frowned and glared at her accusingly. “Who did you call?”
“No one. What, you think I invited someone over? I don’t know anyone on this island.”
“Neither do I.”
“Well then, I guess that’s about to change,” she said cheerfully.
