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puzzled. “What are you doing in there?’
    â€˜I’m coming to Longwood. Can you fit Dodger on the float?’ Jess let herself off the back of the ute.
    â€˜Why didn’t you just come up to the flat?’
    â€˜I didn’t want Annie to hear me.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜Umm, I haven’t told anyone that I’m going.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜Because they won’t let me go,’ she whispered.
    â€˜Jess . . .’
    â€˜There’s no way I’m letting Lawson throw Opal onto a station to just live or die,’ she hissed. ‘She’s my filly, not his, and he’s got no right to take her!’
    â€˜He still owns her, doesn’t—’
    â€˜He does not still own her!’ Jess squeaked. ‘We had an agreement! As soon as Opal was weaned, she was mine . If he won’t take the money for her, then that’s his own stupid fault. He’s taken my filly!’
    â€˜He just doesn’t want to sell you a dud horse, Jessy—’
    â€˜ A dud horse? ’ Jess wanted to punch something.
    Fang rushed suddenly to Luke’s side. He sank to his haunches and let out a low menacing snarl.
    The sound shocked her and she took a step back.
    â€˜It’s okay, boy,’ said Luke, putting a hand on the dog’s head. ‘He doesn’t like it when people get aggro with me . . . especially with no good reason.’
    Jess took a deep breath and willed herself to calm down. ‘I’m not angry with you ,’ she said, her voice beginning to quaver. Then she said through her teeth, ‘I’m angry at Lawson .’ She could barely say his name.
    There was an awkward silence, which was soon broken by a confused whimper from Filth. He sidled up to Jess and shoved at her hand with his wet nose. She dropped to one knee and buried her face in his woolly coat, and he wiggled appreciatively.
    â€˜I think Lawson also might be worried about the reputation of his mare,’ said Luke. ‘He should be able to get a lot of money for her foals down the track.’
    â€˜So he’s worried that Opal might be bad advertising,’ said Jess bitterly.
    Luke shrugged.
    Jess shook her head.
    â€˜He’s trying to do the right thing by you, too.’
    â€˜ What? ’ said Jess with disbelief. ‘He’s taken my filly – which I’ve waited more than eighteen months for – and you think he’s trying to do the right thing by me?’ She threw her hands in the air. ‘Why does everyone always stick up for him? Grace is right: the men in your family are chauvinists!’
    Luke folded his arms across his chest and said nothing.
    Tears of frustration rolled down Jess’s cheeks. ‘Are you going to let me come droving or not?’
    â€˜I can’t.’
    â€˜No, of course not,’ said Jess, icily.
    â€˜I think you’d be crazy to run away from your parents. And I don’t want you to use me to do it. I could lose my job.’
    â€˜I thought you wanted me to come.’
    â€˜Not like this.’
    â€˜ You did it. You ran away.’
    â€˜It wasn’t the same.’
    Jess was silent. She was too teary and choked up to speak anymore.
    â€˜I’m gonna go and grab Legsy from the stable.’ Luke’s feet crunched away over the gravel and his form was swallowed up by the night.

8
    JESS RODE BACK UP her own driveway just as the sun was rising. Ripping the saddle from Dodger’s back, she threw it on the ground. She opened the gate into the paddock for him, then hurled her bridle at the saddle as she walked towards the house.
    Caroline came running down the steps with the phone in one hand and a crumpled piece of paper in the other. ‘Yes, Annie, it’s her. She’s home. Thank God for that . . . Yes . . . Yep . . . Bye, Annie, thanks. And sorry to have bothered you so early in the morning.’
    She turned to Jess. ‘Jessica, what the hell are