by Emma Darcy
However grudging the feeling was, Justin couldn't help but admire the way Kelly Hanrahan could ride.
CHAPTER SIX
Kelly worried about Justin St John as she galloped off on Rasputin. His face had looked so white and strained. But she did not slacken the great stallion's pace. She had to get the horse away and safe as quickly as she could. She didn't draw rein until she was over the knoll and out of sight.
'Now for cross-country, Rasputin,' she said, and patted his shoulder encouragingly before wheeling him to face the fence. The small time advantage she had before Justin St John could organise a pursuit had to be optimised. The only way of ensuring she would not be caught was to get off the road and stay off it.
'This will be something of an endurance test, my beauty,' she crooned to the horse, whose ears pricked appreciatively. 'But you can do it, can't you?'
Rasputin whinnied eager agreement. He responded instantly to Kelly's urging and leapt the fence with arrogant ease. He almost bolted across the sheep pasture, eager to take the next jump, and however many more Kelly wanted him to take.
Kelly only kept a light control on him. She didn't try to temper his exuberance until she was sure they could not be spotted by anyone giving chase. 'Easy boy!' she called, and reined him in to a relaxed canter. 'It's a long way to the judge's place,' she explained to him, 'and I don't want you breaking a leg in a rabbit-hole.'
Rasputin gave a contemptuous snort, but he was happy to follow her lead.
Kelly figured that Judge Moffat would be sympathetic to her cause. He was a horse lover himself. And it could only help that he was extremely put out with Justin St John about the sheep business. Rasputin would be safe at the Moffats' place.
After all, who would ever think of looking in the judge's stables for a stolen horse? Even if they did, the judge would never grant a search warrant against himself. No place could be safer until she could think how else to deal with the problem.
Having settled that in her mind, Kelly's thoughts automatically drifted back to Justin St John. It distressed her that he might have hurt his leg chasing after her, and trying to prevent her from leaving the stable-yard. He should have called for Roy Farley. Or someone else.
However, she felt no guilt whatsoever about taking Rasputin. That Justin St John had threatened to destroy him… Kelly shuddered at the thought of such a rash and terrible criminal act.
Of course, people did occasionally have an accident on horses, but in all her years Kelly had never had the slightest injury. What had happened to Noni was a freak accident. Kelly was not going to stop show-jumping because Justin St John was opposed to it!
But she wished he could be reasonable. She didn't want to be enemies with him. She wanted… but it was no use thinking about that now. He had no right to separate her from her horses!
The sun had set by the time Kelly reached Judge Moffat's stud-farm. She walked Rasputin up the driveway, not wanting to alarm anyone with their arrival. She could see the judge and his wife sitting on the homestead veranda, enjoying the balmy twilight before going inside for the night. It was a favourite time of day for most people on the land.
Arlene Moffat saw her first and rose from her chair in surprised curiosity. 'Why, it's Kelly! On Rasputin!' Her voice carried on the still evening air, but she raised it in sheer pleasure. 'Hello, there! You're riding again.'
'Yes, Mrs Moffat,' Kelly called back. She cantered up the last stretch and slid off Rasputin as the judge rose and came to the veranda railing to join his wife. Kelly made her appeal directly to him. 'I need your advice, Judge. I had to take Rasputin away from Marian Park. Justin St John was threatening to shoot him rather than let me ride him. I didn't have Justin St John's permission. He… er… tried to stop me. But I couldn't leave Rasputin with him after he said that. I had to…'
'How could he be so dreadful?' Arlene Moffat cried in sympathetic protest. 'You did right, Kelly! Henry Lloyd meant those horses to be for you…'
'And possession is nine tenths of the law!' the judge quoted with relish. 'Good for you, Kelly. I reckon this might teach Justin St John a lesson about doing things right. In fact, he needs every lesson he can get!'
'I was wondering if I could stable Rasputin with your horses, Judge? Just for a while…' Kelly pleaded.
'Certainly. Certainly,' he roiled out with gusto.
'As long as you like, Kelly,' Arlene put in determinedly. 'And you can use our horse-float to get to the show-jumping. We'll stand by you. And so will all of Crooked Creek. I'll see to that.'
The power of holding office on all of the local committees rang in Arlene Moffat's voice, and Kelly knew her support was no small thing. When it came to arousing public opinion, Arlene Moffat could teach professional lobbyists a thing or two.
'That's more than kind,' Kelly said with heartfelt gratitude.
'Only right.' She turned to her husband. 'Now, you go and help Kelly stable Rasputin, Ezra, and then run her home in the car. She looks worn out.'
Kelly felt more battered emotionally than physically, but she did not dispute the point. However, her legal-or illegal-position still fretted her mind, and while she and the judge were getting Rasputin safely stowed away in the stables Kelly broached the subject again.
'Don't fret yourself, Kelly. It won't come to anything. But even if it did, no jury in Crooked Creek would convict you of horse-stealing,' he assured her. 'There is a rough precedent. They didn't do it to Harry Redmond in Roma, and they won't do it to you.'
'Who was Harry Redmond?' Kelly asked, not regretting her action, but unable to completely squash her apprehension as to its outcome.
The judge chuckled. 'He took a few thousand head of cattle and drove them down the Birdsville Track to South Australia where he sold them. Finally he was caught and hauled back to Roma to stand trial for stealing them. The evidence was watertight. But every man Jack on the jury admired Harry Redmond. They wished they'd had the guts to do it themselves. The jury was unanimous. They didn't even leave the room to discuss it. Acquitted him without a qualm.' The judge winked at Kelly with conspiratorial pleasure. 'Same will apply to you. People will admire what you've done.' His florid face broke into a wide grin. 'They never did hold another trial for cattle-stealing in Roma.'
'Well, I hope it doesn't come to that,' Kelly sighed. 'If Justin St John would only see reason…'
'Reason or not, that horse is yours to ride, Kelly. And don't you worry. We'll fix it, one way or another. Justin St John is not getting away with this iniquity.'
Somewhat cheered by the Moffats' support, Kelly tried to relax on the drive home, but the thought of what might be waiting for her there was a strain on her nerves. She asked the judge to drop her at the turn-off to Marian Park, not wanting to get him any more involved than he already was. Besides, if he was seen with her, a connection might be made to Rasputin's whereabouts.
Kelly had forgotten all about abandoning her car at Marian Park until she saw it parked just inside the gateway to her grandfather's property. So someone had returned it. And what did that mean? Were they waiting for her at home? What would Justin St John do?
Apprehension knotted her stomach, but defiance put some stiffening into her resolve not to back down, whatever happened. The car-key was hanging in the ignition where she had left it. Kelly boldly drove the Toyota up to the house. There was no point in sneaking around anyway. Rasputin was safe, and whatever the consequences of her actions she would face them with her chin held high.
To her relief and astonishment, Kelly found her grandfather alone in the house. He knew nothing of what had happened. In fact, he thought she was just returning from Marian Park and was rather peeved that she had been gone so long. No one had been asking after her, either in person or by telephone.
It took some time to relate the whole sequence of events, and her grandfather listened with interest and awe and pride. Finally he declared that Kelly couldn't have done anything else under the circumstances, and Judge Moffat's advice was absolutely righ
t. In fact, he might even let the judge win their next chess game. He was too good a man to be subjected to too many losses.
As for Justin St John, he was a very confusing person. 'Can't make him out at all…giving with the one hand and taking with the other.' Michael O'Reilly shook his head in puzzlement. 'But one thing's certain, Kelly. He hasn't made any charge of horse-stealing at the police station. Sergeant Connelly would have let me know if you were in any trouble there.'
They ruminated over that undoubtable truth for several minutes.
'Maybe he's seen the light and changed his mind. Just as he did with my land,' her grandfather suggested.
Kelly sighed. 'I don't think so, Grandpa.' She remembered Justin St John's words all too vividly. For him to change his mind about show-jumping seemed beyond the realms of possibility. 'But miracles do happen,' she added out loud.
And her grandfather was certainly right about Justin St John being a very confusing person. Kelly had edited the kissing part out of her story, but she thought about it a lot when she went to bed that night.
There was no denying that she felt very attracted to the man, despite the age difference between them. In fact, she had never felt any of the things he made her feel. It wasn't just a sexual thing, like that stupid infatuation she had had at college. She didn't know…didn't understand what it was. Except that it was disturbingly strong.
To say she had fallen in love with Justin St John was obviously premature. She had only met him twice. But the impact both times had certainly imprinted him on her mind. And her heart was not behaving normally at all.
Perhaps it was only because he had struck at issues that meant so much to her… such as Grandpa's land and the show-jumping. Her emotions had been well and truly stirred, and his reaction to her had stirred them even further. Perhaps that was it.
All the same, she wouldn't mind him kissing her again. Although that was highly improbable, considering the present conflict between them.
Yet… why hadn't he done something about her taking Rasputin? Why had he let her get away with it? Or was he simply waiting until tomorrow, to see if she returned the prize stallion?
Undoubtedly that had to be what he was expecting!
Well, he'd be waiting a long time, Kelly vowed.
Kelly drove off to work particularly early the next morning. If there was going to be trouble with Justin St John, she didn't want her grandfather in the middle of it, getting over-excited and upset. He had only just recovered from the last lot of stress. She would handle this by herself…if that was possible.
As soon as she reached her office she telephoned the Moffats, reporting that nothing had happened to her as yet, and learning that Rasputin was in fine fettle and quite at home in his new stall. Kelly promised to keep Arlene abreast of any pertinent news and rang off.
So far, so good, she thought, but her nerves were definitely in a bad way. Although Kelly called her place of business an office it actually comprised four rooms-three for treating her patients and a small waiting-room with a reception desk. She fidgeted through all of them-tidying, dusting, straightening the pile of magazines-keeping herself busy while she waited for the first appointment at nine o'clock.
It was a relief to hear the front door opening just five minutes short of the hour. Kelly hurried into the waiting-room to greet her expected patient. She stopped dead when she saw who it was.
He leaned heavily on his walking-stick as he shut the door behind him. The grey eyes regarded Kelly with steely intensity. His face gave nothing away, not even the slightest flicker of the pain he had to be suffering with his leg.
The click of the door activated Kelly's defence mechanisms. Her mind shrieked that she would not be intimidated. She had right on her side. She would not back down from the action she had taken. Never. No matter what he threatened. But none of these brave resolutions seemed to work.
'You came?' The trite words trickled out of her mouth before she could stop them.
As much as Kelly would have liked to believe that Justin St John had ventured into her office for physiotherapy, it was hardly within the realms of possibility. It had to be over the horses. He was too determined on having his own way to let her get away with stealing Rasputin, particularly when he had gone through so much physical pain to stop her.
'I wanted to see you,' he said grimly, his lips barely moving.
Kelly remembered all too clearly how those lips felt moving over her own. They had certainly done some moving then. She felt the heat rising in her body. It was difficult to block out all the other things she had felt in his embrace, especially when he was standing right in front of her.
Kelly tried to wrench her mind on to something else. She didn't want to think about what Justin St John was doing to her. Under the circumstances, she didn't want to discuss the subject of horses and show-jumping with him either.
Which only left work. And whether he wanted it or not, Justin St John did need physiotherapy. And she had told him to come to her office for it.
'I'm glad you took my advice,' she said brightly. 'I've been waiting for you. I can fit you in straight away.'
Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't that. He could not conceal his surprise. It flashed across his face for an instant before he could control it. Then the muscles of his face tightened, and all expression was carefully blanked from his face.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at her assessingly. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time. Kelly didn't give him time to think about it. For some incomprehensible reason, she felt she held a momentary advantage over him. But it was one which could be quickly lost. It was necessary to act immediately.
She strode across the room to draw aside the curtain which lent privacy to one of the treatment cubicles. She motioned Justin St John forward. 'If you'll just come through here, and…er…get prepared…'
It had been on the tip of her tongue to ask him to take his trousers off-which was what she meant-but just the imagery and possible implications of the words sent another tide of heat washing right through her body. She quickly swung on her heel to lead the way for him. She hoped the hot flush would recede as fast as it had embarrassed her.
'You obviously got home safely!' The words were drawled in a low tone of voice and were sarcastic.
Kelly wheeled around. Justin St John had only followed her as far as the curtained doorway, and was propped against the frame, his eyes following her every movement.
'Yes,' Kelly said defensively. 'I know the country around here very well. I didn't have any trouble.'
'As yet,' he breathed.
Another knock on her door had her racing from the room, almost bumping into him. 'That's another of my patients,' she murmured, sidestepping past him in anxious haste, too shatteringly aware of him to meet his eyes. 'Please go ahead and get ready, and I'll be with you as soon as possible. Today I want to start with some tests.'
He didn't say a word, and Kelly didn't glance back at him. She hoped quite desperately that he was doing what she'd told him, but nothing was certain with Justin St John. She hadn't anticipated him turning up at her office.
In her mind she was already readjusting her appointment book, working out how she would cope with one extra patient. Others would have to wait a little longer and have a little bit less treatment than normal. She would make it up to them tomorrow.
All she needed was for Justin St John to give her a little leeway. Once having drawn him into her power, she was not going to let him get away from her. Not, at least, until she had given him the full treatment.
Kelly hid her nervous apprehension with bustling efficiency as she set her other patient up in the traction unit.
She hoped Justin St John was not going to be difficult. He needed physiotherapy. She wanted to give it to him. But what he wanted was another question altogether. She took several deep breaths before returning to the treatment room where she had left him.
The knots in her stomach loosened slightly when she found him stret
ched out on the table and stripped to his shirt and underwear. Kelly was grateful that he had kept the shirt on. It was difficult enough to view him with any kind of objectivity. She didn't need the distraction of having too much of his physique on full view. The memory of how his body had felt against hers last night was distraction enough.
She stared down at his bared legs for several moments before she plucked up the courage to touch him. 'I'm going to do extensions and rotations,' she said quickly. 'You must tell me when I hurt you. Otherwise I won't know what is causing the pain.'
She placed one hand on his hip, the other under the knee. The muscles of his stomach flinched. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you,' she said in alarm.
'You didn't hurt,' he grated.
Kelly closed her eyes. This was much harder to do than she had ever imagined. Yet, to Kelly, the pleasure and challenge of her profession was the diagnostic work involved.
She took Justin St John's leg through the range of movement that was allowable. In her mind's eye she imagined the muscles stretching and contracting around the joint until the pain became severe. She did not stop until she was certain she had an accurate picture of what was going on inside his body.
Because he had favoured the leg, there had been some muscle atrophy. A lot of work was needed to bring it back to what it should be. If only Justin St John would co-operate…
Kelly opened her eyes, fired with new zeal for the task of making him completely whole again. She found Justin St John's gaze fixed on her with unwavering intensity, and a self-conscious flush swept into her cheeks. She tried to think how to explain what she was doing, and gave up the attempt almost straight away.
'You haven't been looking after that leg properly, have you?' she said quietly. 'And I don't mean this last week. You've been neglecting it for years.'
His mouth twisted. He met the challenge in her eyes with a hard, mocking look. 'There are other things in life that interest me more,' he said drily.