Because of the Ring Page 5

“Because you still haven’t explained all of this to me. And frankly, it would be more comfortable to discuss it there than here in a public place. Besides, staying with me will save you the cost of your hotel room.”

  It might save her money, but it could shatter her peace of mind, she thought. Or what there was left of it.

  “You don’t really want to get involved in this and you know it.”

  He cast her a crooked grin. “From what you’ve been telling me, you didn’t ask to get involved in it, either. But somehow we are.”

  We. He was finally admitting that he played some part in this strange occurrence and that the two of them were somehow connected. She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or wary by his sudden change of attitude.

  “Does this mean you’ve decided to help me? Really help me?”

  His expression turned rueful as he reached out and stroked his palm against the side of her face. “I told you before, Claudia, I don’t believe in the supernatural. I don’t think we’re going to find that you’ve been hexed. But I will do my best to help you get a practical answer to all of this.”

  He was probably going to show her a little kindness, gain her trust, then try to convince her that the only problem she had was in her head. Well, let him, Claudia thought. She’d welcome the chance to open his eyes, the way hers had been opened the first day she’d had his vision thrust upon her.

  “All right. We’ll go to your place.” She cast him a pointed glance and added, “But just for one night.”

  With an enigmatic grin twisting his lips, he cupped his hand around her elbow and urged her in the direction of the hotel. “One night is probably all we’ll need, Claudia.”

  Chapter Four

  Hayden’s home was situated on five acres of rolling hill country far from the lights of San Antonio. Although it was dark when he pulled to a stop in front of the rambling, ranch-style structure, she could see huge oaks shaded the yard and tropical plants grew in tangled splendor next to the stuccoed walls of the house.

  As they walked to the door, two large dogs with short yellow hair and faint black markings around their mouths and ears bounded out to greet them.

  “What sort of dogs are these?” she asked as they vied for Hayden’s attention, then took a few tentative sniffs at her. “They’re not Labradors, are they?”

  “No. They’re black-mouthed curs. They’re used for herding cattle.”

  Deciding the animals wanted to be friends, Claudia took a moment to kneel and pet them. “Oh, do you run cattle?”

  “No. The roustabout business keeps me too busy to do any ranching. A friend gave me the dogs as a gift. But I do loan them out to a nearby rancher from time to time just to let the dogs have fun.”

  She raised back up to a standing position. “I’m sure the friend was a woman, right?”

  “Friend?”

  “That gave you the dogs,” she explained.

  He chuckled as he took her by the arm and led her into the house. “My, my, Claudia, you do see me in the wrong sort of light. I barely have time to eat three meals a day, much less squire a woman. Besides, I’ve already told you that I only get along with women for brief interludes.”

  Claudia looked away from him and hoped he couldn’t see her blush in the dim lighting of the foyer. She didn’t know what was the matter with her or why she was saying such things to this man. Up until now she’d always respected other people’s private lives. She didn’t dig into or make assumptions about their personal relationships. But something about Hayden had loosened her tongue.

  “Have you always worked such long hours?”

  “Not always. I just don’t have any reason to cut back my time at work.”

  Now that the woman named Saundra had divorced him, Claudia thought grimly. It was odd that she could dislike a person without ever having met her. But then she’d been doing all sorts of odd things this evening, since she’d met this man.

  “Come along,” he said, breaking into her thoughts, “and I’ll show you to your room. You might want to freshen up while I fix us something to drink.”

  From the foyer, they walked through a long living room with low-beamed ceilings, a Spanish-tile floor and leather furniture. At one end, a long hallway led to a wing of bedrooms. He took her to the furthermost door and flipped on an overhead light.

  She stepped into the room while just behind her Hayden placed her bags on the floor.

  “It has its own private bath through the door to your left,” he said. “Do you think you’ll be comfortable here?”

  The posted cherrywood bed and matching highboy were something right out of an antique shop. The bed was covered with a patchwork quilt of mostly rose colors and was overlaid with a white bedspread of crocheted lace. Enchanted, Claudia picked up one corner of the bedspread for a closer look.

  “The room is beautiful,” she assured him, then asked, “is this bedspread handmade?”

  “Yes. My mother was talented with her hands. And since her health didn’t allow her to do a lot of strenuous outdoor activities, sewing and crafts were something that suited her.”

  The pride and fond affection that was in his voice told her he was not an indifferent man. Especially where his mother had been concerned. Claudia liked that about him. And the gentle way he’d comforted her back on the river walk.

  “It must be nice to have such a beautiful thing to remember her by,” Claudia said.

  “Yes. She left many things like that behind, but it’s her laughter that I most cherish. She was a happy woman in spite of her delicate health.” He moved past her and over to a set of French doors bracketed by heavy rose-colored drapes. “If you’d like to go outside, this opens up to a small courtyard. It hasn’t been that long since the gardener sprayed for mosquitoes, so I think they’ll leave you alone. And if you really feel like a bit of adventure, you can jump in the pool.”

  “Thank you. But I didn’t bring a suit.”

  One brow arched at her with wry amusement. “Why would you need one? I won’t look.”

  Because he was a gentleman, or because he didn’t consider her worth looking at? Claudia wondered.

  “Uh, where is your room?” she asked.

  Still grinning, he motioned for her to follow him back out into the hallway.

  “Right there,” he said, pointing to a door directly across from hers. “Not enough distance for you? Or too much?”

  Even though his questions shocked her, she tried not to let it show. She didn’t want him to think she was naive or intimidated by the idea of spending the night with a man. Especially with one that defined the word “masculine.”

  “I thought I’d better ask, just to make sure I don’t sleepwalk in the wrong direction,” she said.

  He chuckled. “I’ll take pity on you and not ask you which direction would be wrong. Now what would you like to drink? Soda, juice, something stronger?”

  After all she’d been through today the idea of something stronger was very appealing. But she didn’t want to get too relaxed around this man. She might do something crazy and toss her proper inhibitions out the door.

  “Juice would be nice,” she told him. “Where will I find you?”

  One corner of his mouth lifted in a grin. “You somehow found me in the big state of Texas. Surely you can find me in this little house.”

  Claudia watched him walk away while mulling over his comment. If he considered this house little, then his statement about being rich had been a very modest description of his financial status. Maybe that was why initially he’d been so wary of her, why he avoided any sort of lengthy relationship to a woman, she pondered. He didn’t want to give one a chance to get her claws into his money or assets. Especially if he’d already had to dole out a bunch of it to his ex-wife.

  Telling herself that it didn’t matter, Claudia went into the bedroom and closed the door.

  Five minutes later she found Hayden in a small, efficient kitchen at the back of the house. Two glasses were sitting on a rou
nd tray at the end of the cabinet counter. One tall tumbler appeared to be filled with orange juice and crushed ice. The squatty glass beside it contained something that resembled cola. No doubt it was diluting bourbon or rum.

  “Let’s go out to the screened-in porch,” he invited as he picked up the tray of glasses. “It’s usually not too hot at this time of the evening.”

  “Fine,” she agreed, then followed him outside.

  Once she was settled in a cushioned wicker chair, he handed her the glass of juice. As she sipped it, she looked beyond the screened enclosure to a shadowy yard partially illuminated with a row of footlights. As in the front, it was also shaded with huge, spreading oaks. All around them, the high-pitched singing of frogs and cicadas was intermittently punctuated by the call of a night bird.

  “It’s very quiet here,” she remarked. “Not even a sound of traffic.”

  “That’s what I like after a busy day at work,” he said as he took the chair angled toward hers. “The sounds of nature suits me.”

  “I’ve always lived in the city,” she admitted. “Not having people noises seems strange to me.”

  He studied her over the rim of his glass. “You never considered living anywhere else?”

  Claudia shrugged. “I suppose I’ve never really taken the time to think about it. For a long time I was focused on getting my teaching degree and then I went to work. Moving away just never was a part of my plan.”

  “What about the guy—the playboy—weren’t you planning to move away with him?”

  She mentally cringed and kicked herself for ever admitting something so personal to this man. “He lived in Dallas. That wouldn’t have been a major move.”

  “Where do you teach? A private school in Fort Worth?”

  Claudia smiled wanly. “No. Inner-city high school.”

  He stared at her. “Damn. Didn’t anyone ever tell you there’s easier places to work?”

  “Oh, yes. Many times. That was a major disagreement between me and my parents. I’m not saying they’re high society by any means, but they’re acquainted with some influential people in the Fort Worth/Dallas area. They could have pulled strings and gotten me a job at any of the more elite private schools. But I didn’t want that. I wanted to be where I was needed the most.”

  He continued to regard her over the rim of his glass. “You must really like kids.”

  She looked at him. “Why, yes, I do. You and I were both kids at one time. When you were a teenager didn’t you want someone to like you, give you special attention?”

  He chuckled. “Sure. Girls. And there was one redheaded teacher that really made my heart patter. But unfortunately, she was married.”

  Claudia shook her head wryly. “I’ll bet your parents had to stay on their toes while they were raising you.”

  “Just part of the time,” he admitted with a grin, then his expression sobered and he reached into the breast pocket of his shirt.

  Everything inside Claudia went still as he held up the opal ring. “I told you to throw that thing away,” she said stiffly.

  “But I don’t always do what I’m told,” he drawled. “And now that we’re in the quiet and getting to know one another, why don’t you tell me a little more about this ring.”

  She grimaced. “Believe me, Hayden. You won’t like what I have to say.”

  “I have a feeling you’re right about that. But you need to tell me anyway.”

  Maybe so, Claudia thought, yet she feared his reaction. He was going to label her as crazy. Even worse, he would never look at her in the same way again. Why that should matter so much to her, she didn’t understand. Yet it did.

  Silent moments began to tick on as she tried to build enough courage to start her story. Across from her, Hayden slipped the ring onto the first joint of his little finger and watched her sandaled foot slice the air. Finally after he’d decided she wasn’t going to speak, he said, “You implied you weren’t engaged. So I take it this is not an engagement ring?”

  She breathed in deeply before she answered. “No, it was a gift. Given to me four years ago on my twenty-first birthday.”

  “From a man?”

  Laughter slipped past her lips. “No. Not from a man. From my grandmother. Betty Fay Westfield. The ring had belonged to her for many years. We—the family, I mean—don’t know where she got it. She never would tell us. But we all pretty much concluded it was given to her by a man.”

  “Hmm. Then I’m surprised you’d want to throw it away,” he mused out loud. “Or maybe you didn’t like your grandmother all that much.”

  That woke her up and she leaned forward in her chair to search his face in the muted light. “I loved Gran. She and I had a special bond. I guess that’s why she gave me the ring. She thought she was doing something special for me. Turns out…well, I wished she’d given it to someone else. Like maybe one of her enemies.” She muttered the last few words.

  “Why is that?”

  The opal seemed to glow against his darkly tanned skin and for one hysterical moment Claudia wondered what would happen if the ring caused him to have a vision. Or did the damn thing only work on her? she wondered.

  “Because it’s brought me nothing but trouble.”

  “What sort of trouble? A little elaboration here might help get to the root of the problem.”

  She glared at him faintly. “I don’t know exactly how to describe the problem. You might simply call it man trouble.”

  He groaned, then pensively rubbed his thumb and forefinger against the middle of his forehead. “So what you’re telling me is that this little ring somehow caused you to have a string of bad affairs with men?”

  She gasped with indignation. “I’ve never had an affair in my life!”

  He simply looked at her.

  She squared her shoulders and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Well, I had an emotional relationship with Tony,” she conceded. “But that’s all. And that would have never happened if it hadn’t been for the ring!”

  “Ah, the ring.” He held up his finger and looked at it with feigned awe. “Somehow this little piece of jewelry made you fall in love with the wrong guy.”

  “That’s exactly right! Now we’re getting somewhere.”

  “Yes. I thought so, too,” he drawled softly. “Until now.”

  Groaning with frustration, she looked up at the slanted rafters above their heads. “Maybe I need to go back to the very beginning. Otherwise there’s no hope of you ever understanding.”

  Hayden figured she could go back to the point where God created Eden and he still wouldn’t understand. But he didn’t express the negative feeling to her. She was talking. And he figured if he let her rattle on for long enough, she’d finally slip and spill the whole truth about her visit to his office.

  “I’d say that’s a good idea. Start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out,” he encouraged.

  Leaning back in the chair, Claudia crossed her legs again and tried to appear relaxed instead of as a woman whose nerves were about to snap at any moment.

  “Okay. To begin with, every friend and relative of Betty Fay’s knew the ring was special to her. Which was odd to begin with when the woman had scads of diamonds and other expensive jewelry.”

  “Your grandmother was rich?”

  “Very. But not always. She and Grandfather made a fortune in the concrete business. The boom of the fifties was a good time to be connected to the construction business.”

  “Wait a minute,” he said, “didn’t anyone ever stop to ask your grandfather if he gave her the ring?”

  Claudia shook her head. “No one knew about the opal until after he’d died and that was before I was born. He was a chain smoker and suffered a fatal heart attack by the time he reached forty-five.”

  “So you don’t think the ring came from him?”

  “No. If so, she would have worn it while he was alive. And another thing, he wouldn’t have given her something so—well, inexpensive.”

 
“Big spender?”

  “From what my mother said, he spoiled Gran with the very best.” Shrugging one shoulder, Claudia continued. “But she considered this opal to be a lot more precious than any of her diamonds. So much so that she believed it had special powers.”

  Hayden laughed. “Powers? You mean like hocuspocus magic stuff?”

  His laughter was offensive, even though she understood how ridiculous this must sound to him. “Who knows what she actually meant. All I know is that when she gave me the ring, she told me to wear it and I’d find my true love.” She grimaced. “Two days after I started wearing the ring I was walking through the mall and it slipped from my finger and started rolling across the hard tile. Before I could catch up to it, the thing rolled right between Tony’s feet and stopped as though it had a mind all its own. When he plucked up the opal and placed it back in my hand, I thought it was kismet.”

  Hayden looked at the ring and then at Claudia. After a moment he smiled with understanding. “I get it now. When you got tangled up with the playboy you thought you’d found Mr. Right. And when it turned out he was Mr. Wrong, you blamed it on the ring.”

  “Not exactly. I blamed myself for not using more common sense.”

  He nodded. “That was good, practical thinking.”

  Her jaw grew rigid, her eyes narrowed. “I thought so, too. That’s why I put the ring away and pretty much forgot about men.”

  How could a woman as young and beautiful as her forget about men? Hayden wondered. It was unnatural. Not to mention unhealthy.

  “I wouldn’t say you needed to go that far,” he said.

  One corner of her lips twisted with bitter resignation. “When you’ve been deceived you lose your self-confidence, you feel stupid for letting yourself be duped. I’m not sure I can ever trust myself to be smart enough to pick the right man for me.”

  Saundra’s cheating ways had left Hayden feeling the same way. Since his divorce, he’d been afraid to trust himself with another woman, much less trust her. Yet hearing Claudia admit to having such an embittered attitude seemed all wrong.

  “If you feel that way, why were you wearing the ring when you came to my office?” He wanted to know.