Because Of The Ring

She paused long enough to cast him a disgusted glance. “I imagine I find it even more preposterous,” she admitted. “I even had a medical checkup in hopes of finding an explanation. The doctor gave me none.”

There wasn’t the slightest chance in hell that this woman had experienced visions, Hayden thought. He didn’t believe in such things. He’d come here because he wanted to know why or how she’d pulled him into this crock. And to see her again, to prove to himself that there was nothing special about her.

“Magic, extrasensory perception, mystical powers—I’m not interested in those things. I’m a down-to-earth man, Claudia. I believe in facts. So the answer I really want from you is, why me? Of the millions of people in the world, why choose me for whatever it is you’re doing?”

She walked over to where he sat and made a palms-up gesture as a display of innocence. “I’m not doing anything, Hayden. I’m not here to con you in any way.”

He looked unconvinced. “I’m a rich man,” he informed her.

The faint frown on her face turned to a glare. “I’m not interested in what your bank accounts look like. But if you’re worried that mine are flat, I can give you the names of some financial institutions in Fort Worth that will prove otherwise.”

Maybe he should take her up on that, Hayden thought. Yet for some reason he believed that part of her story. The woman hadn’t been brought up in poverty. She just didn’t have that sort of bearing about her.

“Okay. You’re not after my money or my—shall we call it affections—so what’s the deal? And be honest this time.”

Claudia studied the rough, craggy lines of his face and wondered how just the mere touch of his lips against hers had been enough to knock her feet out from under her. Men had never affected her that way. Even Tony, with his smooth looks and practiced lovemaking, had never made her swoon.

Tony had called her frigid. She’d considered herself systematic. All that talk about passion and fire between the opposite sex had seemed like overexaggeration to her. Now, after meeting Hayden Bedford, she wasn’t quite so sure.

“Sorry, but I have been honest with you. I came here for your help. Nothing more.”

He raised up to the edge of the chair and stared at her through narrowed eyes. “Help?”

Breathing deeply, she turned her back on him and stared down at the opal on her hand. She desperately wanted to rip it off and order this man out of her room. But something stronger, some intangible force, was preventing her.

“Yes,” she answered quietly. “To help me figure out exactly why you’ve barged into my life. If I can find out why, then maybe I can get rid of you. For good!”

“You’re making me feel so wanted,” he said dryly.

“You don’t want to feel wanted,” she muttered. “Not by me.”

Suddenly one of his hands was on her bare back and electric frissons rippled over her skin. Her first instinct was to move away from his touch, but she was frozen, mesmerized by him and the strange things he was doing to her.

“I think the best thing we could do is forget about this vision thing and get to know one another a little better. Why don’t we go down to one of the cafés on the river walk and have dinner? Maybe between the two of us, we can come up with a practical solution.”

Oh, she had a solution, Claudia thought. Simply throw Betty Fay’s ring out the window and forget she’d ever possessed such a piece of jewelry. But would that help explain things? Could she go home then and be satisfied that Hayden Bedford had no connection to her life?

“I’m sure you’re a busy man. Having dinner with me is unnecessary.”

His hand moved slightly but oh so seductively against her back.

“I’m not so busy that I don’t take time to eat.”

The tips of his fingers were toying with her hair and she wondered if he was this intimate with all the women he met over the course of the day. Surely he wasn’t. Surely he couldn’t find a reason to kiss one of them. Not the way he’d kissed her.

“All right. When is a good time for you?” she conceded while hoping she didn’t sound as breathless as she felt.

“Right now,” he purred.

She closed her eyes and prayed for the shaking inside her to stop. “Let me call the airport again. I might be able to get a later flight tonight.”

With his hands on her shoulders, he turned her around to face him. “Forget about leaving San Antonio tonight, Claudia.”

“And why should I do that?”

His hands slid up both shoulders, beneath the hair framing her neck, then cupped her face.

“Because I want you to.”

Like a rose suddenly thrust into the desert heat, she felt herself wilting. If he hadn’t been holding her she would have collapsed at his feet.

“Your idea of help isn’t exactly what I needed from you,” she said.

He chuckled lowly and the sexy sound fanned her cheeks like a tempting caress. “There you go again, reading my mind. Maybe you do have some sort of sixth sense.”

He was making fun of her and she hated him for that. Hated him for making her feel so weak and vulnerable. For not understanding how lonely and terrified she’d felt these past weeks.

“Being a woman gives me enough power to read your mind!”

That seemed to sober him and he stepped back as though he couldn’t quite believe he’d been holding her in such an intimate way.

“Sorry. Something comes over me when I get close to you,” he said, and Claudia could see that the admission shocked him as much as it did her.

“Then we’d better make sure we don’t get close,” she countered.

With a grim nod of agreement, Hayden motioned her toward the door.

Chapter Three

Once they were out of the hotel room, Claudia began to breathe normally and by the time they were seated at a small, sidewalk café overlooking the river walk, she’d almost convinced herself that she hadn’t just taken a leap off the high dive.

“Have you visited San Antonio before?” he asked as the waitress served them their drinks.

Tourists and locals were everywhere in the boutiques and restaurants lining the river. Since it was the height of the dinner hour, Claudia was surprised they’d managed to find a vacant table fairly close to the hotel. It was positioned on a small terrace made of wooden planks. A nearby sago palm dappled the late-evening sun with cooling shadows and secluded them from the main group of diners. Any other time, she would have appreciated the extra privacy, but with Hayden as her dinner partner she would have welcomed the diversion of a noisy family sitting next to them.

“Yes. But it’s been a while.” She stirred sugar into her iced tea. “Do you live here in the city?”

“A few miles west and south, in the hill country.”

“So you commute here to the city to your offices.”

He nodded. “Bedford Roustabout has always been headquartered here in the same old building. My grandfather developed the business in the late nineteen forties. When he died my father took over the reins. After I graduated college at Texas University in Austin, I joined him.”

“Is your father still helping to run the company?”

He reached for his glass. “No. Unfortunately he died about five years ago.”

Claudia had always been close to her parents. They’d provided her with a solid foundation through her childhood and because they’d always been there for her, the idea of losing either one of them had seemed impossible. Until her grandmother Betty Fay had passed away. Her death had jolted Claudia and reminded her that her family was mortal and not something to take for granted.