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,
