Emma Darcy - The Ultimate Choice

The second horse dragged the top bricks off the wall.

The third blundered on the first hurdle, too anxious to get off to a flying start.

While he wished no harm to any horse or rider, Justin prayed that the next competitor would collect jumping faults also. Then Kelly would only need a clear round on Rasputin, with no necessity to race the clock.

The fourth rider was on a magnificent grey Andalusian horse, and from the start he attacked the course with speed and purposeful control. The horse rattled a rail of the spread fence. Justin held his breath, willing it to fall, but it stayed up. A hoof rapped the top of the wall, but not a brick fell. The time was formidable. Thirty-six point nine seconds!

Justin buried his face in his hands.

He knew Kelly would go for it. He knew that damned black stallion would go for it. And he couldn't watch.

He couldn't. Yet he had to!

Kelly instantly replotted her course, minimising the distance between jumps. Distance was time! She needed controlled pacing more than speed. It was risky, but if she was to win… and Rasputin had the ability to do it.

She stroked his neck. His ears pricked back. This is the test, my beauty,' she crooned softly. 'Let's show him we're the best!'

Rasputin snorted.

They were given the starting signal. Kelly dug her heels in and Rasputin surged into his long, powerful stride. The first two fences blurred by. She wheeled the big stallion quickly and drove him over the spread, turned sharply, then took the single rail at an angle so she could cut across to the 'Liverpool Ditch'. It was a daring move, but Rasputin responded without turning a hair. He motored through the combination and charged down to round the corner for the last set of rails and the wall.

Conscious of the seconds ticking away, Kelly urged him on to the rails too fast. She knew it- could feel him overstretching. The wall was going to be too close for his normal stride. As he landed, she gave a sharp tug on the reins. He couldn't instantly check his momentum, but he knew what she wanted… saw what had to be done. He managed a shorter stride and climbed, surging off his back legs, lifting in a great, hooping leap that carried them both up and over the wall.

A thrill of sheer exultation rippled through Kelly's body. They had done it. She waited for the official time, but she knew they had done it even before the announcement came-thirty-three point two seconds!

She jumped off and hugged Rasputin. He was a true champion. Justin had to recognise it now. Only a champion could have taken the wall as Rasputin had. Justin would have to admit it. And everything would be all right between them.

She looked up to where he had been sitting in the grandstand, but people were moving around and she couldn't see him. Maybe he was making his way down to her, she thought happily. He surely wouldn't leave without saying something to her.

The other riders congratulated her and complimented her on a great ride. The officials called the place-getters into the ring to present the ribbons. Kelly proudly mounted Rasputin again and led the other horses in. The blue ribbon was hung around his neck and Kelly received the winner's cheque. But, as marvellous as winning was, she was filled with impatience for the ceremony to be over so that she could meet up with Justin.

At last they were allowed to move out. Kelly's head swivelled around in search of the man she wanted to see, but he was nowhere in sight.

She wanted to share her triumph with him. She was sure that, given the chance, there were a lot of things they could share if Justin St John could only learn to be more reasonable.

Furthermore, it justified her actions.

And, since he didn't seem to be coming to her, Kelly decided she had to find him, find out what was really on his mind, get the situation between them resolved once and for all.

As urgent as she felt about looking for Justin St John, Kelly couldn't push through the milling crowd on Rasputin. Nor could she simply dismount and leave the big stallion uncared for, particularly when he had risen to the occasion with such great heart and skill. She rode him back to the float, tethered him on a long lead and gave him a bale of hay to nibble as a reward.

She took off her riding helmet and tossed it into the car, then ran her fingers through her hair, wishing she had time to brush it, but too anxious to delay any longer. She wanted to find Justin before he left. Hoping she was not already too late, she set off towards the exit gate.

'Kelly…'

The timbre of the voice was harsh and strained, but unmistakably Justin St John's. Kelly swung around and saw him striding between two caravans, moving purposefully towards her. Her face lit with pleasure. He had not deserted her. He had come after her.

She laughed and ran to him, flinging her arms around his neck in happiness and relief, I thought you'd gone,' she said breathlessly, her eyes shining up at him. 'But you saw him, didn't you? You saw how good he was, and…'

Justin St John didn't hear a word of what Kelly was saying. Her lovely face was vividly alive. Her body was warm and vibrant against his. His hands moved automatically to press her closer to him, to run over the sweet curves of her body, to savour the touch of flesh and bone that were still wonderfully intact.

Kelly's excited rush of words dried up when she saw he wasn't listening to her. The grey eyes seemed dazed. And she was suddenly very conscious of the way he was moulding her body to his, slowly gathering her closer and closer, his hands roving over her with a sensuous deliberation that set her pulse skittering.

The stretch material of her riding-pants was like a second skin, and Kelly felt that what he was doing was terribly intimate. She shouldn't really allow it, not in public view, although a quick glance assured her that no one around her was interested. And, while it might not be very sensible, she did not want to pull away from him. Nevertheless, her heart started a wild hammering as his hold on her tightened.

'Justin…' she protested weakly.

His eyes sharpened on hers, and her breath caught in her throat as she watched the intense glitter of want and need forge into a ruthless determination that swept aside everything else. His mouth took hers with a voracious passion that allowed for no questioning on her part. He swept her into a maelstrom of sensation, evoking a wild, mindless response from her, a joyous, greedy release from the tension that had blighted their relationship for so many long hours…days…weeks.

He covered her face with kisses and took her lips again and again, as if he needed to feed on the reality of her, the very breath of her life, the essence of all that she was; and the more he took the more he wanted.

Kelly was totally swamped: her body pulsing to the urgent beat of his need, exulting in it, mindlessly abandoning herself to it, her whole being caught up in the wonder of what was happening.

'I want you,' he breathed when at last he lifted his face away from hers.

Kelly opened her eyes, still dazed but intuitively grasping that Justin was saying something important, something that would change all that had previously happened between them.

His eyes burned with resolution, and when he spoke his voice throbbed with need and purpose. 'I want you to marry me.'

Kelly was so stunned, she could barely believe she had heard him correctly. 'Marry you?'

His mouth curled into a sardonic smile. 'Yes. Marry me. Be my wife. Give me a child. At least then I'll have something to balance the rest.'

'Justin…' Kelly shook her head, still finding his proposal too startling to accept. 'We haven't known each other very long. And most of the time we've been fighting…