The Ultimate Choice

It had been on the tip of her tongue to ask him to take his trousers off-which was what she meant-but just the imagery and possible implications of the words sent another tide of heat washing right through her body. She quickly swung on her heel to lead the way for him. She hoped the hot flush would recede as fast as it had embarrassed her.

'You obviously got home safely!' The words were drawled in a low tone of voice and were sarcastic.

Kelly wheeled around. Justin St John had only followed her as far as the curtained doorway, and was propped against the frame, his eyes following her every movement.

'Yes,' Kelly said defensively. 'I know the country around here very well. I didn't have any trouble.'

'As yet,' he breathed.

Another knock on her door had her racing from the room, almost bumping into him. 'That's another of my patients,' she murmured, sidestepping past him in anxious haste, too shatteringly aware of him to meet his eyes. 'Please go ahead and get ready, and I'll be with you as soon as possible. Today I want to start with some tests.'

He didn't say a word, and Kelly didn't glance back at him. She hoped quite desperately that he was doing what she'd told him, but nothing was certain with Justin St John. She hadn't anticipated him turning up at her office.

In her mind she was already readjusting her appointment book, working out how she would cope with one extra patient. Others would have to wait a little longer and have a little bit less treatment than normal. She would make it up to them tomorrow.

All she needed was for Justin St John to give her a little leeway. Once having drawn him into her power, she was not going to let him get away from her. Not, at least, until she had given him the full treatment.

Kelly hid her nervous apprehension with bustling efficiency as she set her other patient up in the traction unit.

She hoped Justin St John was not going to be difficult. He needed physiotherapy. She wanted to give it to him. But what he wanted was another question altogether. She took several deep breaths before returning to the treatment room where she had left him.

The knots in her stomach loosened slightly when she found him stret

ched out on the table and stripped to his shirt and underwear. Kelly was grateful that he had kept the shirt on. It was difficult enough to view him with any kind of objectivity. She didn't need the distraction of having too much of his physique on full view. The memory of how his body had felt against hers last night was distraction enough.

She stared down at his bared legs for several moments before she plucked up the courage to touch him. 'I'm going to do extensions and rotations,' she said quickly. 'You must tell me when I hurt you. Otherwise I won't know what is causing the pain.'

She placed one hand on his hip, the other under the knee. The muscles of his stomach flinched. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you,' she said in alarm.

'You didn't hurt,' he grated.

Kelly closed her eyes. This was much harder to do than she had ever imagined. Yet, to Kelly, the pleasure and challenge of her profession was the diagnostic work involved.

She took Justin St John's leg through the range of movement that was allowable. In her mind's eye she imagined the muscles stretching and contracting around the joint until the pain became severe. She did not stop until she was certain she had an accurate picture of what was going on inside his body.

Because he had favoured the leg, there had been some muscle atrophy. A lot of work was needed to bring it back to what it should be. If only Justin St John would co-operate…

Kelly opened her eyes, fired with new zeal for the task of making him completely whole again. She found Justin St John's gaze fixed on her with unwavering intensity, and a self-conscious flush swept into her cheeks. She tried to think how to explain what she was doing, and gave up the attempt almost straight away.

'You haven't been looking after that leg properly, have you?' she said quietly. 'And I don't mean this last week. You've been neglecting it for years.'

His mouth twisted. He met the challenge in her eyes with a hard, mocking look. 'There are other things in life that interest me more,' he said drily.

The way he looked at her made her wonder what had been going through his mind while she was manipulating his leg with her eyes closed. If he'd been remembering…

Kelly's heart skipped a beat. She had to remember what they were here for.

‘If you keep on the way you've been going, it will only cause you more and more trouble,' she admonished him. 'Already there's some wasting in the adductor muscles. Don't you care about yourself?'

He grimaced and turned his head away before muttering a reply, I can put up with it.'

'Well, I won't!' Kelly protested, impatient with his attitude. 'And I'm going to fix it as best as it can be fixed. I'm going to give you back two perfect legs.'

Again he gave her that intense, inscrutable look. 'Why should you care?' he asked softly.

Kelly had the feeling that she was walking across quicksand, and any moment she was going to be sucked in. 'Because I know I can do it…and I want to,' she answered slowly, but she knew there was more to it than that. Somehow she sensed that the leg was a barrier between them, and she had a strong instinctive urge to break down that barrier. And any others he raised. She saw the flicker of dissatisfaction with her reply, felt his withdrawal. 'Perhaps it's because I can't stand to see anyone in pain,' she added more forcefully. 'Certainly not in unnecessary pain.'

His shoulders lifted and fell in a careless little shrug. 'Two years of operations and exercises left me with a distaste for spending any more time on the problem. The leg was never going to be good enough to stand up to much, anyway. So I rechannelled my career into an area where it didn't matter. The pain only flares up occasionally. After I've done something stupid,' he added self-mockingly.