Emma Darcy - The Ultimate Choice

She felt the jerking spill of his climax, hugged him tightly as the last tension eased away, and held him inside her, melting around him, bonding forever.

He brushed his lips over the soft, ecstatic curve of hers. Their breaths mingled. Their mouths mingled. A sealing of utter oneness… peace… contentment… fulfilment of every promise there ever was in the mating of a man and a woman.

It was complete. They would always be together from this time onwards.

It began as a small wisp of uncertainty, the nagging knowledge that something had been forgotten. Kelly lay in Justin's arms, reluctant to admit anything that might intrude on their wonderful intimacy.

All the barriers Justin had tried to erect between them had disintegrated in the heat of their passion for each other. He seemed to delight in holding her close to him, caressing her softly with his fingertips. It gave her the feeling that she was infinitely precious to him, a possession he would cherish forever. As she would cherish him.

She basked in that thought for many long, satisfying moments. The memory of what had initially prompted her visit to Marian Park filtered into her consciousness. It jolted Kelly out of her delicious languor.

Octavian Augustus the Fourth! That had been the real reason for her coming to Justin. Kelly was swamped by a terrible wave of confusion.

'When do you want to be married?'

Justin's voice was a murmur of deep satisfaction, thrilling Kelly on one level, but raising panic on another. She had to tell him about the ram, but if he misunderstood…

Her arms convulsively tightened around him. Her mind darted in all directions, driven by the need to hold Justin's confidence in her love. She had fought so hard. He had surrendered. Nothing must shake their understanding now.

'Justin…' Her mouth had gone so dry, she had to work some moisture into it. 'I want…I want you to come down and meet Grandpa,' she said, frantically postponing the moment of truth.

He kissed her hair. 'Is it so necessary to tell him straight away that we're getting married?' he murmured, no more inclined to interrupt the magic of their togetherness than she was.

Kelly's brain skimmed over the responses. She could say that they had found Octavian Augustus the Fourth wandering around Grandpa's property, that they had picked him up and were keeping him safe in the kitchen. That…

But she couldn't and wouldn't start her marriage to Justin by telling a lie! That was no foundation for trust and understanding.

Kelly braced herself with all the courage she could muster. 'Grandpa… Judge Moffat… they have a confession they want to make to you,' she said, desperately trying to slide into the sensitive subject as tactfully as possible.

It was not only her and Justin's relationship at stake, but also the future relationship between him and Grandpa and the judge and probably the whole community of Crooked Creek.

Justin lifted his head to look into her eyes with a softly quizzical expression. 'A confession? I don't understand. Does it have something to do with us?'

The hands running over her hips ceased their movement as he waited for her answer. Kelly's heart seemed to thump right up to her mouth. She held him a bit tighter.

'Justin, you're not going to believe this…' There was no good way of putting it. 'I think they will have to tell you themselves,' she said weakly.

His eyes sharpened with a flash of enlightenment. 'They wouldn't have--' The incredulous words clipped off with a dark frown. His chest heaved and fell. 'No! They couldn't! Kelly…' It was clear that he had leapt to the truth and didn't like the taste of it one bit.

'They didn't really steal him,' she rushed out. 'You mustn't think that, Justin.'

'But they've got him. Octavian Augustus the Fourth!' he stated grimly. 'Why?'

'It wasn't really stealing,' Kelly pleaded. 'Grandpa and Judge Moffat took him because of your deal with the Russians. They were going to ransom him back to you…well, not exactly ransom him… but kind of like Rasputin. Make you see reason…'

Justin's mouth thinned and Kelly plunged further into explanation, frantic to appease his wrath. 'Grandpa and the judge have been in the sheep business all their lives. They thought you were being very unpatriotic to sell our best bloodline to the Russians through the ewes. They're old men, Justin. They didn't think straight. And when all the fuss started, they didn't know what to do. Their pride wouldn't let them back down. And they couldn't get Octavian Augustus away with the search going on…'

'So they sent you up here.'

The words were a stinging indictment and a murderous rage suffused his face. He wrenched himself away from her and was off the bed before Kelly could utter a protest. He towered over her, emanating all the ruthless power that Kelly had sensed in him on their first meeting. And it paralysed her, strangling any word she might have said, thwarting any move she might have made.

'Get your clothes on, Kelly,' he commanded with icy, blistering authority.

'No,' she croaked, driven out of her shock by the dire necessity to fight his judgement. 'You don't understand…'

He dragged her out of his bed and set her on her feet. 'I was right when I said I was a fool this afternoon,' he grated, his eyes mincing her into contemptible little pieces. 'Let's not labour the point.'

'But that's not how it is!' Kelly cried in desperate denial.

His face tightened against any plea. 'Don't waste your breath. Or any more time. Get dressed.'

He turned away from her, snatched up the telephone, and punched out some buttons. His curt order for his car to be brought up to the house forced Kelly into action. She gathered up her clothes and took them into the bathroom, momentarily defeated by his pointed admonition not to waste any more time.

Guilt weighed heavily upon her. She should have told him about Octavian Augustus the Fourth sooner… had the search called off…disposed of the problem that was costing so much time and effort and anxiety. It had been crowded out of her mind by other more urgent, more important matters. She had to make Justin understand that. But it was painfully obvious that he was not prepared to listen.

The probability was that, the more she tried to say, the worse the situation would become. The assumption he had leapt to seemed all too credible in the circumstances. She could only hope that Justin would not be able to reject the truth of what they had shared when he had more time to reflect on it.

Meanwhile, there was one thing she had to make clear so that he would not expend his fury on her grandfather and Judge Moffat.

He was dressed when she emerged from the bathroom. A mixture of antagonism and intense bitterness glared at her. Kelly's stomach heaved with nervous apprehension. No way would he let her near him again. Not in his present mood. How she was going to soften him she didn't know…

'Grandpa and Judge Moffat didn't send me up here, Justin,' she said as steadily as she could. 'I came because I… because I wanted to. They didn't think it was a good idea at all.'

'But you knew better,' he lashed at her. 'I give you full marks for persistence, Kelly. You stop at nothing when you want to win.'

The sting of his words goaded her into another appeal. 'Justin, I love you…'

His mouth twisted in savage mockery. 'Don't worry. I'll serve your purpose. And then you can serve mine.'

Kelly flinched at the hard contempt in his voice. 'I never…'

'The car is waiting. And so is your grandfather. Not to mention everyone else who is engaged on a futile and misleading search. We'll have time for more words later. The rest of our lives together.'

He opened the bedroom door and waved her out.