Bullard's Beauty Read online

  She half expected that her idyllic island life would get completely disrupted by the arrival of foreigners in connection with Bullard. What would she do then?

  Her heart ached at the thought of him leaving, but of course he would. This wasn’t his world or where he’d chosen to spend his life. He’d gotten here by chance. Something had happened that had put him on this pathway, and she’d done her best to rescue him, then to get him healthy and able to go home. He was far from 100 percent, but every day he made visible improvements. As he gradually regained his strength, she had begun to see the powerhouse of the man that he was. And she knew that, as soon as he fully understood what was going on, he would be chomping at the bit to head back to his real life.

  She would miss him terribly.

  She wasn’t sure who this Ice person was or several other people Bullard kept calling out for. The names didn’t mean anything to her, and Leia had no way of knowing whether they did to him or not. She’d written them down but was still uncertain at what point in time she should ask him about it. She didn’t want to set him back any further. And he had already proven to be wily and difficult to handle when he had his mind set on a particular course. She figured that, once he approached anything near his full strength, he would be almost impossible to keep down.

  At that point she would have lost control over his care. She knew that time was coming, but it would still be hard to let go. She didn’t want to admit it, but she had become more than attached. He was a special patient, perhaps because he was the first one she’d looked after in all these years, but he’d also been so broken and so desperately in need that it was a true challenge for her talents. For the longest time she’d had nobody for that part of her psyche to deal with, then suddenly ended up with somebody who needed her desperately, and she’d given him her all. Was it enough? She didn’t know, especially considering she had no idea what was going on in his world, including how he had ended up in the ocean and so terribly injured.

  Was he in danger? She suspected as much, since the medicine woman had warned Leia that Bullard had bad enemies and needed help. Well, the help part she understood; it was just a matter of what she was supposed to do at this point, recognizing her options were limited. He was a good man, at least what she had seen of him. Her heart told her that he was a very strong and a very tough man, but he was also a man of honor.

  Maybe that was just wishful thinking because she needed something to believe in, and he was it. She nodded, as she stepped back inside her cabin, knowing that he’d seen the movement. He’d been completely cooped up in that small space down there for too long. It started out as basically her writing space, a little gazebo without walls that she had erected for her own purpose. A place slightly separate from her home that she needed for working out, writing, and yoga, just to release the strain and the stress inside her own system. As soon as the food was ready, she loaded up his and her platters, then carried them carefully to where he rested on the bed once again.

  “You have your own space,” he growled.

  She nodded. “Of course.”

  “There’s no of course about it,” he said.

  He sounded aggrieved, as if she’d kept something important from him. She just smiled. “You’re being foolish,” she said. “My life has been here for a long time, so obviously this little hut isn’t where I made my home.”

  “I know,” he said, suddenly sounding bashful.

  She chuckled. “You can’t seem to decide whether you’ll behave as a little boy or as a man.”

  “Because, for the first time, it feels like the little boy in me is being allowed to come out,” he confessed.

  Chapter 2

  Leia looked at him, then chuckled. “Nothing wrong with that,” she murmured. “We all need moments of peace and quiet to let out our inner child.”

  “If you say so.” He looked at the food and grinned. “Did you catch the fish today?”

  “Not today,” she said easily. “I’m still not the fisherman others on the island are.”

  “I imagine it’s a lifestyle for them,” he said.

  “I guess so,” she said. “Still I get a little bit every time I go out. It’s just not quite enough.”

  “Looks like you get everything you need here though.”

  “To a certain extent I do. Yes.”

  “And do you want to stay here?”

  The question threw her. She lifted her dark gaze to his and studied him, wondering what was behind the question. “I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t been here all my life, so I do know what the rest of the world looks like. I can’t say that I’m in great favor of what the world has to offer sometimes.”

  He nodded in understanding. “You’ve seen some of the worst of it, haven’t you?”

  “I don’t know that I would say that,” she said gently. “I think a lot of the worst of it out there is the people themselves.”

  “Always is,” he said.

  She gave him his plate, a towel for his fingers, and a fork. He dove in with an appetite that surprised her. “You really are feeling better, aren’t you?” she said, with a pleased grin.

  “I am. It’s just this damn brain.”

  “That damn brain has held you in good stead. Cut it some slack.” He gave her a one-arm shrug. She looked at him and asked, “Anything coming back?”

  “Not that I can make sense of.” He shook his head. “Just lots of memories that aren’t very pleasant.”

  “Of course.” She nodded.

  “No ‘of course’ about it,” he said. “It would be nice if I had some meaning to it all.”

  “There is, and there will be.” She shrugged. “You just have to give it a chance.”

  “I know,” he said, “but it’s frustrating nonetheless.”

  “Remember. Your brain must heal too.”

  “I know. I know,” he growled, showing his palms. “The trouble is, I can’t hurry up the healing process.”

  “You can practice patience.” She tucked into her meal, but her gaze was wary. He was healing faster than she had expected, was gaining strength at a phenomenal rate. Once his brain decided to kick in fully, he would charge forward, hell-bent for leather, regardless of what she had to say.

  He moved his injured leg around. “I was happy to see it held my weight.”

  “You’ve also lost a lot of weight,” she murmured.

  “Not because of the food though,” he said, with great satisfaction, as he stared down at his plate. “It’s very simple, but it tastes good and is very filling.”

  “It’s also good for you. Not all food is the same.”

  “No, and I like this,” he said with a nod.

  “Good,” she replied, as she reached for his empty plate. “Would you like some coffee now?”

  “Coffee sounds great, but could we go outside?” he asked hopefully.

  She knew at this point he could probably get there on his own, but he was looking for her permission. And, with that, she nodded. “We can probably get you to the edge of the beach, if you like.”

  “I’d like to go in the water and swim, but I know the ocean tides would tire me easily.”

  “A set of pools are to the side,” she said. “If you could get yourself there, you’d probably be okay.”

  “So we’re not going to the beach?”

  “The adjacent pools are fresh water that runs into the ocean,” she said. “The water would be cooler, but it would be easier for you to get in and out.”

  He looked at the ocean. “It doesn’t look like it would be hard to get in there, but I’m afraid it might be hard to get out.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “Sometimes I struggle with it myself. What do you think? Shall we give the pools a try?”

  He nodded, then struggled to sit on the side of the bed again. Then, reaching for the crutches, he slowly stood. She gathered the dishes and walked to the big porch deck of the other hut and added the dishes to a bucket of water on the porch. She slept i
nside under the roof, which covered about three-quarters of the building; the rest opened to the deck area outside. She pointed to the small group of trees about one hundred yards away. “The water comes into a pool there, and I have steps down into it.”

  “You swim there?”

  “I bathe there all the time,” she admitted.

  He tilted his head. “Good, then show me the way.”

  As he slowly walked toward the area, she kept a tight eye on his progress. She knew he would assume he could go farther and better than anybody. And, sure enough, it wasn’t long before he made it partway, then stopped and looked at her. “You don’t have far to go,” she said. “Once you’re there, you can rest.”

  “How far?” he asked. “It’s looking farther all the time.”

  “It always does,” she said.

  He pushed forward, and, when he stopped at the trees, she had really meant it when she said she had a lot of rock ledges going down to the pool. Using the crutches on the dry rocks, he slowly made his way to the water’s edge, where she had placed more rocks on the side. He looked at the water, then at her. “Is there any reason not to fall in?”

  “Go for it,” she said. “It’s all safe. But let me take that makeshift cast off first.” With that done, he turned, dropped his crutches, and literally fell into the water, causing a great big wave to wash up.

  She waited nervously, until he popped to the surface again, but he was obviously half fish because he rolled and twisted as he swam with joy. She laughed at him. “If I’d realized this is what your heart wanted,” she said, “I would have gotten you here sooner.”

  “No, I had to come on my own,” he said. “I’m too big for you to manhandle this far, which meant I still had to improve first.”

  “But look at how well you’re doing,” she said. “It’s amazing how much more range of motion you have with the buoyancy of the water helping out. You’re not showing near as much pain as you would if you were trying to twist that way out of the water.”

  He rolled over on his back, and, with a great big sigh, he floated. “The current isn’t bad either,” he marveled.

  “No, not here,” she said. “It’s quite calm.” After he was out of the water and stretched out one of the rocks, still wearing only his shorts, she asked, “Are you okay here while I go put on coffee?”

  “Are you okay if I just sleep here?”

  She laughed, then leaned over, checked his forehead. “I’m fine if you do that,” she said.

  “I am getting better, you know?” he said, eyes closed against the sun.

  “I can see that,” she replied, her voice choking up; then she hastily left to put on the coffee.

  *

  Not knowing whether what Bullard heard was part of a dream state, as he drifted in and out, he shifted gently. He was cautious about shifting too much because, as Leia had said, any sudden movement could cause a jarring to his spine, and the pain could cripple him. It’s not that he was still broken; apparently it was more about how his body wasn’t used to movement yet, after being in bed for so long.

  She had him doing yoga, for God’s sake, though, at first, he had argued. Eventually he’d seen the sense of it and was doing it on a daily basis. For some reason he knew that people in his past would laugh at him, yet he didn’t have a problem following her instructions here. She was like a guiding light, and, if she told him to move left, he’d move left. He didn’t have any reason for his blind obedience, other than the fact that she had been working very hard for quite some time to help him.

  And he saw the change in his body as he’d followed along with her instructions. Also, floundering rudderless in this storm with only the broken parts of his memories, he knew he needed to trust somebody. Whether it was safe to trust her, he couldn’t tell, but he also had no reason not to. He shifted on the rocks, slowly sitting up and moving closer to the water, as he tried to look around, tried to find the source of the noises.

  He saw no sign of anyone, and he wasn’t sure what he heard. He knew some wildlife was on the actual island itself because sometimes she told him about them. He didn’t think any big cats were here, but he’d been wrong before. As he studied the area around them, trying not to make it look like he was hunting—a move that came naturally, easily—he thought he saw somebody in the bushes across the way. He let his gaze drift past, before coming back to study the area.

  Then he noted a set of eyes studying him. He stared right back and called out, “Hello.” Immediately the face disappeared. He frowned at that and heard footsteps behind him, but these he recognized.

  “Who are you talking to you?” she asked. “Or have you suddenly become psychic?”

  He laughed. “I thought I saw somebody in the bushes.” Lifting an arm, he pointed in the general direction.

  “Interesting,” she murmured. “Nobody has said anything to me about being here.”

  “Well, I’m probably an anomaly that they’re all trying to check out,” he said quietly.

  “And that’s possible.” She paused, gazing around the area. “Lots of young women here are looking for a big studly man to protect them.”

  He snorted at that. “Right. I’m not exactly protector material at the moment.”

  “But you’re a big white man on an island,” she said quietly. “Plenty of families have girls who would happily marry you.”

  “Even though I have no job, don’t know if I have any assets, or even if I already have a family?”

  “Exactly,” she said, as she stepped down onto the rocks and handed him a coffee cup.

  “Thank you.” He took a sniff of the heady brew. “It’s always strong and always perfect.”

  “It’s good coffee,” she said, “and simple, which I like. I roast it here, grind it, and make it myself.”

  “Such a simple life for a woman who isn’t simple at all.”

  “I’m very simple,” she said lightly.

  He turned to look at her and shook his head. “You’re anything but. You’re a guardian angel, … an angel of some kind anyway.” She snorted. “You’ve done an incredible job looking after me.”

  “I’ve only done what anybody would do,” she said immediately.

  “Well, I don’t know many people who would have looked after me like this,” he said. “I don’t even know where or how you found me.”

  “In the ocean.”

  Something was in her voice. He turned to look at her. “Do you know what happened?”

  “Not for sure,” she said. “I wondered …”

  “What is it you wonder?”

  She hesitated, and then, as if making a decision, she said, “A plane blew up. I know that people are looking for survivors.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Right at the same time I found you,” she said. “Maybe the day before. I’m not sure.”

  He took a slow deep breath and let it out. “That’s a little disconcerting.”

  “Yes,” she said. “It was.”

  “Did you tell anyone?”

  “No,” she said, “I didn’t.”

  He stared at her. “Did you have a reason why?”

  “Instinct told me not to,” she said, with a glare.

  He stared straight back at her, as if she were willing him to judge her for making a decision that impacted him, when she had no justifiable reason for going one direction or the other. “Instinct,” he said, rolling the idea around in his mind. Nothing wrong with that; he just didn’t know why.

  “Yes,” she said. “I felt like you were in danger.”

  He looked at her in surprise. “The only reason I would be in danger is if I were on that plane, and it was deliberately shot down.”

  “Exactly,” she said. “I know that I have no idea, but still I haven’t gone out of my way to tell the authorities you’re alive. You had no identification on you. So I don’t even know who you are, except that you told me how you thought you were called Bullard.”

  “Right,” he said. “I re
member telling you that.”

  “And that’s a very strange name,” she said, “but I didn’t know if it was your name or somebody else’s. So, in theory, I didn’t have any reason to take it further.”

  “Except you said that people could be looking for me,” he replied in a neutral voice.

  “Yes,” she said, “there could be.”

  “But you didn’t want them to find me, right?”

  “Only if they are good and not bad people. I wanted the good people to find you,” she said, “but not until you were strong enough to handle whatever they would tell you.”

  He stared out at the beautiful sunlight dappling across the water, thinking how something could be so serene and idyllic, while, at the same time, Leia was afraid it could be a mirage, and someone was trying to get him. He didn’t have any reason to doubt her, but he had no reason to believe her either. But something in the background of his brain cells nudged him in that direction. “Now that you have reason to know that I’ll make it and that I’m steadily getting stronger,” he said, “I need to contact my team.”

  “You’ve asked for that several times,” she said steadily. “Yet you’ve never given me any way to actually do it.”

  He frowned at that. “That does pose a problem, doesn’t it?”

  “It does because, so far, I don’t have anything more than the name Bullard to go on.”

  “Right, and do we have phones?”

  “Not necessarily,” she said. “Every once in a while somebody from the mainland heads over here. I have no communication here.”

  He shook his head slowly, amazed. “Do you know how strange that is?”

  “I know,” she said cheerfully. “But it’s a very peaceful way to live.”

  He studied her for a moment. “That’s important to you, isn’t it?”