‘I don't make God-like judgements!' she snapped, too furious to feel any triumph that he was considering her advice. 'After regular therapy for a fortnight, I might be able to give you a fairly accurate prognosis. Will nine o'clock each day suit you?'
'I'll make it suit!'
He dropped a twenty-dollar note on the desk. Kelly did not bother picking it up. She wrote out a receipt, her biro stabbing at the paper in her fierce resentment.
'I won't be here next week,' she informed him as she banged down her pen, tore the page out of the receipt-book and handed it to him with icy disdain. 'But I'll leave instructions for your treatment with my replacement.'
He ignored the receipt. 'Why won't you be here?' he demanded, his eyes boring into hers.
'Because I'll be show-jumping,' she stated defiantly.
His hand whipped out and caught her around the wrist. 'Not on that black stallion!'
Her eyes flared with immovable determination. 'No matter what you do about Rasputin, I'll still go show-jumping. I've been offered other rides, and if I have to take what I can get, I will! You can't stop me!'
His fingers tightened around her wrist. 'Bring that black rogue back, Kelly, and I'll reconsider about the other horses.'
'Rasputin is the best! I can win more surely on him than any other horse.'
'And lose more surely!' was the fierce retort. 'No one has been able to ride him.'
Kelly bared her teeth. 'I can. Now, take your hand off mine, Mr St John. I might think you're using your body to get what you want.'
Every nerve in Kelly's body jangled in alarm as the tension between them gathered explosive proportions. Then, suddenly, the dangerous glitter in his eyes faded and he broke into a self-derisive laugh.
'Touché!' He released her wrist and regarded her with grudging admiration. 'I see I cannot impose my will on yours. But whether you want to believe it or not, I do have your best interests at heart, Kelly.'
'That's very presumptuous of you, Mr St John,' she replied, disdaining his claim, in case it's escaped your notice, I'm old enough to make my own decisions.'
'Then make the right one. The only sensible one!' he said in exasperation.
Another patient came through the door.
'Please… reconsider.'
The soft appeal nearly made her change her mind. She didn't want to fight with him. She wanted to please him. If he let her ride the other three horses in exchange for Rasputin… but the thought of all the years of effort, Henry Lloyd's faith in her, and Noni before that… if she compromised now, it would be a betrayal in more ways than one.
Kelly couldn't do it. She lifted pained eyes, wishing he could understand. 'I'm sorry, Justin. But at present that is quite impossible.'
He looked at her steadily for a moment. Kelly could not possibly decipher what was on his mind. 'I'm sorry, too,' he said. 'I'll leave you to your patients.' He turned on his heel and walked out the door.
Kelly wondered when she would see him again- and under what circumstances. He had given her the chance to settle out of court, so to speak. Having had his offer refused, what would he do now?
Well, it was out of her control, Kelly decided. She had done the best she could by him. She could do no more.
With an air of resignation she turned to her next patient.
It was going to be a long day.
Kelly saw her last patient out of the door. Ever since Justin St John had left that morning she had been half expecting something to happen, but the rest of the day had passed without the slightest ripple out of the ordinary.
She telephoned the judge's place to check on Rasputin. Arlene Moffat assured her that he was fine; her stable-boy had set up some jumps for Kelly, and she could come and practise any time she liked.
Kelly was tempted to drive straight out there, yet prudence dictated caution. Nothing had been resolved with Justin St John this morning, and Kelly did not think he was the type of man to tamely accept her defiance. What his next step would be, only time would tell, but Kelly did not want to risk being observed and having Rasputin taken away from her.
'I'll come out early tomorrow morning, Mrs Moffat. And many thanks to you and the judge for all you've done,' Kelly said warmly.
'Our pleasure, Kelly. And if you bring your clothes for work, you can shower and change here. That will save you some time.'
Kelly thanked her once more, and with her spirits boosted by the thought of having her favourite horse to ride again she locked up the office and went home.
Justin St John's next move stared her in the face as she drove up to the house. The palomino, the chestnut and the grey were all tethered to the fence railing.
When she could tear her eyes away from the horses, she saw her grandfather strolling down the veranda steps, wearing a huge grin on his face. Kelly's heart pounded with excitement and uncertainty as she stopped the car and leapt out.
'How did they get here, Grandpa?'
'Stable-hand brought them down about half an hour ago.'
Kelly shook her head, trying to work out the implications. 'What does it mean?' she wondered out loud, unable to believe that Justin St John had completely climbed down from his position, but wildly hoping that he had.
‘It means you can ride them and jump them to your heart's content,' her grandfather rolled out with relish. 'And I've put your saddle on Rapunzel because I reckoned you'd want to take her out first.'
'But… surely the stable-hand said something?' Kelly cried, bursting to know the best… or the worst.
'No more than I've told you.'
'Nothing about Rasputin?'
'Not a word!' Her grandfather grinned again. 'Reckon he's capitulated, Kelly.'
The Justin St Johns of the world did not capitulate, she thought grimly. Yet he seemed to have accepted her advice about the physiotherapy he needed. Completely perplexed by the man, Kelly looked at her grandfather for his advice.
'Don't look three gift horses in the mouth, Kelly,' he said with an encouraging chuckle. 'Go to it, girl. Who knows what might happen next?'
'That's true enough!' Kelly said with feeling. 'I'll go and get changed.'
'Just like old times,' her grandfather said with happy satisfaction.
But it couldn't be quite the same without Rasputin. And Kelly wasn't at all sure what game Justin St John was playing with this open-handed gesture. Or was it a trick? she wondered as she stripped off her work clothes and pulled on her riding gear.
Perhaps it was his way of pressuring her to accept the bargain he had offered this morning. Showing her his good faith, and expecting her to respond with the return of Rasputin. If so, he could think again, Kelly determined stubbornly. As far as she was concerned, there were no strings attached. And she would play it that way until otherwise informed.
She took all three horses down to the practice field. She set the grey and the chestnut free to graze while she gave the palomino a work-out over the jumps. Rapunzel was willing enough, and game, but she didn't have the black stallion's ability in jumping. Nevertheless, Kelly enjoyed encouraging the good-natured mare. When she managed all the jumps without knocking a rail, Kelly laughed from sheer elation.
It was then that she saw the man watching her from the fence which edged the pine forest. Although he was too far away for Kelly to discern his features, she knew instinctively that it was Justin St John. Still exuberant over her success with Rapunzel, Kelly waved to him.
He did not wave back.
Kelly was tempted to ride up to him, but even from this distance there was a forbidding look about him which suggested she wouldn't be welcomed. He was probably watching to see if she broke her foolish neck, Kelly decided. It would support her cause more if she kept on riding and showed him how wrong he was.
He watched her until she had taken all three horses through their paces. When she started to lead them up towards the stables, he moved away from the fence and disappeared into the pine forest, making it very clear that he had nothing more to say to her at this time.