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 blink 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.
So was hers. “What’s wrong, is my vocabulary too big for you?”
“I’ll try and keep up.”
“I hope it isn’t too much of a strain for you.”
“I think I can handle it.” And you. The look he gave her made that much clear.
She’d forgotten how blue his eyes were. It was like being bathed in the deep ocean, his gaze washing over her.
“We’ll have to see,” she replied, backing away from him…and temptation.
“Want me to deal?”
“No, I’ll deal. I feel it only fair to warn you that when I play cards with my nursing buddies, I often end up winning.”
“I’m shaking in my boots.”
Actually he was barefoot. He had nicely formed feet leading up to muscular calves and thighs. Don’t go there, she sternly warned herself, tearing her gaze away.
“I feel it only fair to warn you that when I play cards with my Force Recon buddies, I always win,” Justice said.
“Then we’ve both been warned.” She sat down at the table where they’d recently eaten and waited patiently for Justice to join her before adding, “May the best woman win.”
Kelly didn’t feel one iota of guilt for not informing him of the summer she spent working at an Atlantic City casino and learning card tricks from a seventy-year-old gentleman gambler named Diamond Mick. She deliberately dealt the cards a tad awkwardly, not like a complete novice but not like one confident of winning. She didn’t want to overplay her hand here. Let Justice think she was a bit nervous.
The truth was she never cheated when playing gin rummy with her nursing buddies. But poker was another thing. She rarely got the chance to practice what Diamond Mick had taught her, other than practicing in front of a mirror to make sure she
