'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 right. 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.