Cathie Linz - Married To A Marine

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.”