The Ultimate Choice

'Well, I'd have to mark that in his favour-if he carries through on it-but I wouldn't be counting your chickens before they hatch, Michael,' he advised her (grandfather heavily. 'Not after what I heard from Tom Ke

'What did Uncle Tom say?' Kelly asked, confident in her own mind that Justin St John would keep his word.

'It's about the sheep,' her grandfather answered with a disapproving frown. 'The most terrible thing, Kelly! He's selling us out. He's selling the country out. He's selling everybody out.'

'A traitor! We've got to find a way to stop him,' the judge rumbled. 'If we don't, we're all going to lose a lot of money. The Russians won't even want to look at my rams, let alone buy them. He's a traitor, all right. A traitor to everyone!'

'What's going on? What's he done?' Kelly demanded impatiently, finding the accusation distinctly unpalatable.

Judge Moffat huffed. 'You know the government will only allow five hundred rams to be exported overseas each year…'

'Yes, of course. It's an enormous concession. Our wool per sheep is almost double the world average. Why should we give that advantage away?'

'Exactly! I don't mind selling them good sheep as long as we keep the best for ourselves. But Justin St John has found a way around it! He's sold us out!' the judge almost thundered in his indignation.

'How?' Kelly asked in bewilderment.

'The Russians are going to get Octavian Augustus the Fourth,' her grandfather answered mournfully.

Shock bounced around Kelly's mind. She refused to believe it. No one could be that mad. But her grandfather and Judge Moffat believed it. She groped for words in Justin St John's defence. 'That's impossible! He can't do it! Octavian Augustus the Fourth is the greatest merino ram in the world. The government would step in. They won't allow it.'

'That's the iniquity of the thing!' the judge growled. 'He's keeping Octavian Augustus the Fourth. He's selling the semen for artificial insemination…'

'But that's illegal!' Kelly pounced, relieved that they had to be wrong about Justin St John. For some reason that she didn't stop to examine, she didn't want to believe he was bad any more. 'You can't export it. It's against the regulations!' she said triumphantly.

'That's where he's so clever,' her grandfather put in with grudging admiration. 'Everyone in Crooked Creek will wish they'd thought of it first. He's going to be hated for it.'

'For what?' Kelly almost screeched.

'He's impregnating five thousand ewes. When they conceive, the ewes carry the embryos out of the country and there goes the breeding strain from Octavian Augustus the Fourth. He's already had the Russian ambassador down…'

'Should be hung, drawn, and quartered!' the judge thundered, clearly of the opinion that the statute books should still allow that particular sentence to be handed down. He threw up his hands in despairing appeal. 'How am I going to sell my rams to them when they get that standard of breeding over there? At the very least, it will depress prices abysmally!'

'But can he do it, Grandpa?' Kelly asked, feeling very confused about the man.

'Nothing to stop him that I know of. Or the judge. Australia needs the Russians to develop their wool industry to defeat the threat of synthetic fibre. Henry Lloyd told me that himself. And then there's the humanitarian side. Russia is one of the coldest countries in the world. It needs better, heavier wool to keep its population warm. But Justin St John is sure going to clean up with this deal. He'll make so much money…'

'Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting!' the judge cried in heartfelt condemnation.

Kelly only just managed to stifle a smile. Justin St John was certainly a smart operator, and he might be revolutionising the industry, but he wasn't doing anything bad in selling the ewes to the Russians.

And it was now perfectly clear that the judge, who owned a daughter stud, fiercely resented the fact that he hadn't thought of the scheme first.

Naturally Grandpa sympathised with him. Justin St John had been the enemy up until tonight, and it would take a little while to readjust that thinking.

'Well, at least we're going to keep this place,' she said brightly, wanting to remind her grandfather that the shadow had lifted from their future.

'Don't believe anything until you have the title deeds in your hands,' the judge grumbled pessimistically.

But her grandfather looked more spry than he had for weeks as he rose from the table and suggested they adjourn to the living-room for their chess game. And some three hours later, after he had waved the judge goodnight, he boasted to Kelly that he had wiped his friend off the board with one checkmate after another.

All in all, it had been a victorious night.

Kelly set off for work the next morning in buoyant spirits. Her grandfather had eaten a good breakfast and was out looking over his sheep, which clearly demonstrated a healthy interest in life. It was the interferential on the back seat of the Toyota which reminded her that their benefactor of last night was probably facing the day with more pain than pleasure.

Justin St John was certainly suffering from the old injury to his leg, and the physiotherapy she had given him would only have effected minimum relief. Judging from the pain he had been unable to hide, Kelly reckoned he needed daily treatments for at least a week before the trouble would really ease. Probably a fortnight. After what he had done for her and Grandpa, Kelly wanted to help him. But would he let her?

His refusal of her offer last night had been so emphatic, she could hardly ignore it. He couldn't have been more adamant that he did not want her to come back to Marian Park. But surely that was just an extreme reaction to what had only been- a momentary aberration on both their parts.

Certainly he had a very masculine attraction- Kelly couldn't deny that-and she was not unaware that most men gave her a second look, although to say she was beautiful was stretching the truth, and she viewed such a remark with downright cynicism. She had a good figure, but her fair complexion was a curse and she was all too aware of the freckles that sprinkled her skin. Nevertheless, she didn't think it altogether u

The situation had been fraught with a lot of feelings, and things had got slightly out of hand. That was all. It wouldn't happen again. After he had had time to think about it, Justin St John would realise that. He was a mature adult with too much experience to let such a little incident upset him unduly. And she would soon show him that she could be completely professional. She would ring him and offer her services again. It was the least she could do after what he had done.

However, when Kelly reached her office she had second thoughts on the matter. Perhaps it was too soon after last night for Justin St John to change his mind. If she telephoned and he refused again, it might cement his decision. And she didn't want that. On the other hand, if the pain was bad enough, and she left it a day or two, he might be in a more persuadable frame of mind when she rang.

That was the better course, Kelly decided. She couldn't risk another outright rejection from him. There was still the matter of the horses to be resolved. However, she was now hopeful that Justin St John would be reasonable once she had a chance to explain everything to him. All she had to do was time her approach correctly.

The day passed. Kelly could not help comparing her male patients to Justin St John. Not one of them had a body to match his, although many were younger. A couple of them tried to flirt with her, but she found their attentions callow and irritating. It was a relief to go home.