Truly, Madly, Deeply

He navigated the heavy city traffic with ease, handling the truck almost like a sports car as he gunned the engine to switch lanes. She was thrilled down to her painted toe-nails with every aggressive tactic.

The radio station started broadcasting the headlines and he switched it off. “How did you happen to get the idea for the newsletter?”

“From my girlfriends at the Dallas Morning News.” Talking about her work might take her mind off sex. “We were sitting around the break room one day wishing out loud that there could be a singles magazine along the lines of Cosmo that was specifically geared to the Dallas area. I claimed that I could desktop-publish a singles newsletter, and my friends dared me to try.”

“Can’t resist a dare, huh?”

“Depends upon the dare.”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about. You’re not the type to lose your head and do dumb things.”

I wouldn’t say that. I had my first sexual experience with you. “You make me sound dull and uninteresting.”

“Are you kidding? You were about the most interesting girl in the senior class. Granted, your ideas were sort of strange, but—”

“Not so strange! Time is proving me right, you know. If we don’t wake up, this planet will be ruined.” She was glad he’d slipped and called her ideas strange. Maybe she’d get over her sexual attraction to him, after all.

“Hey, I care about the environment.”

Now she was in familiar territory. “Excuse me if I don’t believe that. You’ve spent years polluting the air with exhaust fumes, just for the fun of it. Of course, with your parents in the oil business, why not? Who cares about air quality when more oil consumption lines your pockets?”

“Do you know what would happen to the economy of this country if everybody thought like you?”

“Dustin, that argument is full of holes. We could switch this economy to alternate fuel and keep it humming along nicely. But that would mean shaking up your comfortable little world, giving up your favorite toys.”

He was silent for so long she was sure she’d offended him. Well, so be it. They were completely different, and they might as well acknowledge that up front.

“Maybe I’m ready to shake up my world,” he said at last.

She glanced at him in surprise.

He shrugged. “As I said, you’re a good influence on me.”

Well, now. This cast a new light on things. He was hinting that she might make a convert of him. To take the son of an oil baron and turn him into a liberal conservationist might be a job worth tackling.

“What’s your position with Ramsey Enterprises, now?” she asked.

“Looks like I’m running the show. My dad had a stroke right after the first of the year and can’t handle the job anymore.”

“Oh, Dustin.” Remorse washed over her. Now wasn’t the time to chide him about his comfortable situation. It was anything but comfortable. She laid a hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry. That must be very rough.”

He nodded. “Yeah, but maybe it was time I grew up.”

“Forget what I said. I had no idea what you were dealing with.”

“No offense taken.”

She drew her hand away when she realized she’d begun lightly stroking his sleeve. “How is your father?”

“He’s in rehab, and gradually learning to walk again. But his problems with communication are the biggest reason he can’t run the company. He can’t read or write, and he has trouble finding the words he needs when he talks.”

“Thank goodness you have the resources to give him good care.” She worried about her own parents, who were living on a little farm in Ohio and had no health insurance. They claimed healthy living would keep them out of hospitals, but she thought they were skating on thin ice.

“Right,” Dustin said.

Her impression of him was changing by the minute. Ten years ago she’d tried to soothe her broken heart by thinking of Dustin as the dark prince from an evil empire. But rich or poor, when you were the only child of an ailing parent, the worry was still the same.

“They’re doing wonderful things with stroke patients these days,” she said. “With the right therapy, he could have a full recovery.”

“I hope so. But the doctors warned me not to expect it. I have to operate as if he’ll never be in charge of Ramsey Enterprises again.”

“I’ll bet you know more about running the company than you think you do.”

“We’ll see.” He pulled the truck under the portico in front of the Fairmont and handed the keys to the valet with the air of someone who’d done it a million times. No doubt he had. With the same ease he tipped the bellman who helped Erica out of the truck and took Dustin’s overnight bag from the back.

Then Dustin grabbed the dove-gray Stetson that had been lying brim up on the seat and settled it on his head. With that gesture, he suddenly became Dustin Ramsey, heir to the throne of Ramsey Enterprises. She’d do well to remember that, dutiful son or not, he was still aligned with corporate America.

And she was not. Therefore she couldn’t allow herself to be thrilled by a man who knew exactly how to check into a luxury hotel. Maybe for a brief moment, as she walked with him into the flower-decorated lobby, she fantasized spending the night with him here. Even without her deadline looming, that would be a gigantic mistake.

He reserved a room for two nights. Interesting. By tomorrow night she’d have met her deadline. Not that it mattered that she’d have free time then. Of course not.

“You’ll come up with me, won’t you?” He pocketed the folder containing the card key and walked away from the check-in desk. “I’d like to drop off my jacket and briefcase, and there’s no point in having you hang around the lobby waiting for me.”

“Okay.” She walked with him toward the bank of elevators and tried to convince herself there was nothing forbidden or exciting about going up to his room. Hanging around in the lobby like some scared little rabbit would be stupid.

They rode up with a couple of men wearing suits and toting briefcases. Erica stood well apart from Dustin and watched the floors blink by above the elevator doors. No matter how she tried to diffuse the feeling, the little trip upstairs seemed to have sexual liaison written all over it.

She wondered if agreeing to go up to his room had meant more than she’d intended. Ten years ago he’d invited her for a ride in the country, and he’d assumed she’d wanted more than fresh air out of the deal.

Well, if he thought something would happen once they reached the room, he’d better think again. Offering sympathy for his situation with his father was one thing. Losing her head and jumping into bed with him was quite another. She wasn’t the same person he’d dazzled back in high school.

His silence as they walked toward the room was extremely suspicious. Maybe he was busy planning his seduction. She’d bet the great Dustin Ramsey had never been turned down, and he took it for granted that once a woman stepped inside his hotel room, she would go along with his every desire.

By the time he opened the door and ushered her inside, her heart was pounding wildly and her imagination was in overdrive.

The room was hushed and seductive, light filtering through sheer curtains. The bulk of the room was taken up with a king-size bed, a piece of furniture that was impossible to ignore and difficult to take casually. She should have waited in the lobby. Looking like a scared rabbit was preferable to an awkward scene when she refused him.

And she absolutely would refuse him. Her self-esteem required it.

Dustin tossed his jacket across the burgundy-and-green quilted bedspread and put his briefcase on the lacquered desk. “Do you want anything to drink before we go back down?” He opened an armoire. “There’s a courtesy bar in here.”

She could imagine only one reason he’d offer her a drink in the middle of the day in his hotel room. “No, thanks. Dustin, I think we should—”

A knock on the door interrupted her. She waited, fidgeting with her purse strap, while he let the bellman in and tipped him for bringing up the overnight bag.

Once the door closed, she tried again. “I need to ask you something.”

He stowed his bag in the closet. “What’s that?”