Because Of The Ring

“Yes. Why?”

“I just realized something about myself, that’s all.”

“Are you ready to start taking your calls now?”

“No. Not yet.” He paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Lottie—”

“Ms. Westfield is staying on the river walk. I have her hotel and room number.”

“What makes you think I was going to ask you about her?”

There was a pause and then his secretary said, “I just had a feeling.”

“That’s a scary thought. The last time you had a ‘feeling’ crude oil bottomed out to a record low.”

“Well, I hardly think Ms. Westfield could have any effect on crude prices.”

No, but she’d already had an affect on him, Hayden thought. And he wasn’t a bit sure what to do about it.

“Cancel the rest of my calls, Lottie. I’m going out to the site to see Vince and then I’m quitting for the rest of the day.”

“What about Ms. Westfield?”

He snatched up a pen. “All right, damn it, give me the hotel and room number. I’ve got some unfinished business with her.”

“What sort of business is she in?”

“Illusions, Lottie.”

“Illusions? Did you have a few beers with your lunch, Mr. Bedford?”

“I’m stone-cold sober,” he answered. “Although right now the idea of getting drunk has a mighty big appeal.”

Inside her hotel room, Claudia snatched up the telephone directory. She was going to call the airport and get the next available flight back to Fort Worth. There was no point in staying in this town any longer. Hayden Bedford was a jerk and she’d been stupid for ever allowing Liz to dare her into making this ridiculous journey.

As for the opal, she’d get rid of it as soon as she got back home. The only thing the ring had ever brought her was a pile of misery. Never again would she allow it to lead her anywhere. Especially to a worthless man!

Claudia was on hold, waiting for the ticket clerk to make a search through scheduling when a knock sounded at the door.

With an impatient groan, she dropped the receiver onto the bed and walked across the room. At the door, she called cautiously, “Who is it?”

“Me. Hayden Bedford.”

Claudia was so stunned she grabbed the doorknob and gripped it to keep from falling over.

“What do you want?” she asked warily.

“Not to have this conversation through the door,” he said.

Her hands shaking, she unbolted the lock, then opened the panel of wood wide enough for her to see him squarely. “Our conversation was concluded back in your office, Mr. Bedford.”

“Call me Hayden. Since you’ve already kissed me, you might as well use my first name,” he said, using her earlier phrase.

“I’m sorry, but I’m on the telephone. I don’t have time to talk to you now.” Nor do I have the courage, Claudia thought. This man made her feel weak, strange and vulnerable. Just looking at him reminded her she was a woman. One who didn’t know anything about men like him or how it felt to be in the grip of a passionate love affair.

“I’ll wait,” he said, then pushed through the open door before she could stop him.

Seeing she didn’t have much choice in the matter, Claudia hurried over and snatched up the telephone. Long before she placed the receiver against her ear, she could hear the loud buzz of the dial tone. Damn it, she’d lost her connection!

Dropping the receiver back on the hook, she turned to find he’d helped himself to a seat in a stuffed armchair. As though he had every right to make himself comfortable in her room. She’d never seen anything like him!

You need to correct yourself on that, Claudia. You’ve seen him before. Too many times.

But those visions hadn’t given her a clue to what sort of man she was dealing with, she thought. A picture might speak a thousand words, but the real thing spoke volumes and she was getting the message that Hayden Bedford was a man who usually got his way, even if he had to get it by force.

“What happened? Decided you didn’t want to talk now that you had me for an audience?” he asked.

Claudia rolled her eyes. “The call had been disconnected. I’m sure the woman probably hung up when she came back on the line and found I wasn’t waiting. Now I’ll have to go through the ordeal of making another call.”

“Sorry,” he apologized. “Was it important?”

“Flight tickets back to Fort Worth!”

“Didn’t you buy a round fare to begin with?”

Like a replay in his office, her breathing was growing short again, along with her temper. Which didn’t make sense. She tried to be a kind, patient person with everyone, no matter what sex or age. And he really wasn’t being that awful.

“Yes. But I want to leave this evening. Now!”

He studied the aggravation on her face and the taut line of her slender body. She’d changed out of the white dress and into a pair of loose navy pants and short red top that exposed her arms and much of her back. The clip was gone from her hair and the honey-brown strands swished against the tops of her shoulders with each little movement of her head. This Claudia Westfield looked far different from the prim woman who’d visited his office. And far more appealing.

“Why the rush?”

Claudia wasn’t exactly sure why she felt such a desperate need to run back to Fort Worth. There wasn’t anything urgent waiting for her there. Yet the thought of home was consoling. Mainly because she knew there would be no outside chance of having to deal with this man again. Especially after she got rid of the ring.

Claudia twisted the opal around her finger. Once she’d decided to try to solve the mystery of her visions, she’d returned the ring to her hand. But at this moment she was definitely getting the urge to slip it off and keep it off. “My business here is over.”

“Meaning me?”

“I guess you could put it that way.” She forced herself to look at him. “So why did you come here to the hotel?”

“That’s a good question, Claudia. Maybe you can answer that. You say you can see things about me.”

The husky tone of his voice cloaked her name in velvet and conjured up images in Claudia’s thoughts that were distinctly wicked.

“I’m not a mind reader, Hayden. Not even yours. And I’ve never had visions before until…well, until a few weeks ago.” Disturbed by her outrageous thoughts and his probing gaze, she began to move around the room. “Furthermore, I’m not one of those people that dabbles in the psychic. Physics in the science lab, but never the supernatural.”

“I find that hard to believe for a woman who claims to have visions.”