Falling Awake(18)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“I’m listening.”

“I am tired of being used like a convenient piece of office equipment. From now on, if you or Lawson or anyone else wishes to utilize my extreme dream analysis services, you will have to contract with me directly. Furthermore, you will have to meet my requirements. Naturally I will guarantee client confidentiality. But I will also demand more context and feedback on each case.”

He took a swallow of tea and looked fascinated. “Oh, man. Lawson is gonna be real upset about this.”

“Then he can find himself another Level Five analyst.” She held her breath, aware that she was risking everything with the move.

“You’re the only one he’s been able to identify,” Ellis said. “Believe me, he’s looked. Until you came along, he had to handle all the analyses and interpretations in-house, and there were a lot of mistakes made. Some of the symbols and metaphors in Level Five dreams are beyond weird.”

Satisfaction made her almost giddy. She had been right, after all. Lawson didn’t have anywhere else to turn. He needed her. So did Ellis Cutler.

She sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. “As I said, you and Lawson are quite welcome to sign a contract with me.”

“Oh, man,” he said again, almost under his breath. “This is going to be fun.”

“I fail to see anything that is the least bit amusing about this situation,” she snapped. “This is business.” Committed now, she plunged recklessly ahead. “If I discover that a client fabricates any of the information concerning context or the final resolution of the various cases submitted to me with the intention of deceiving me or with the expectation of shutting me up, said client will no longer be eligible for my services.”

“Understood.”

“You think I’m joking?”

“No, Ms. Wright.” His mouth jerked upward at the corner. “I can see that you are damn serious. You’ll get no argument from me but I don’t think Lawson is going to go for this new arrangement.”

“If he doesn’t like my terms, he is free to search for another analyst.”

Ellis whistled softly. “You play hardball, Isabel Wright.”

Gratified by that statement, she uncrossed her legs and got to her feet. “I’ve been taking lessons from some experts for the past year, namely you and Lawson. As I said, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking in recent days. I won’t go back to working in the dark.”

He tilted his head slightly, angling his gaze to watch her through the dark glasses. “In addition to freelancing for Lawson, I’m a business consultant, specifically a venture capitalist. I look at a lot of business plans. Speaking professionally, I feel obliged to point out a couple of negatives in yours.”

She gripped the strap of her purse. “What negatives?”

“It’s true that there are not a lot of people who can do what you do. But it is equally true that there also isn’t a lot of demand for your services.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“You had a grand total of exactly two clients while you were at the center, right?”

“Right,” she said, a little uneasy now that she could see where he was going with this.

“If Lawson doesn’t agree to your contract terms, that will leave you with only one viable client. Me. Problem is, I get my special cases directly from Lawson, so if he doesn’t want you involved, I won’t be able to use your services.”

She swallowed. “I understand.”

“Think you can make a living without Lawson and his cases?”

“I don’t know.” She forced another Desperately Professional Smile. “Lucky for me I’ve got my new day job.”

That made him go still again. “What’s that?”

“I’m not here at Kyler to take a course of motivational seminars, Ellis. I’m going to work here.”

“You’re joking,” he said, voice very flat and sure.

“Nope. I’m taking the instructors’ course. On Monday I will begin teaching a series of seminars titled ‘Tapping into the Creative Potential of Your Dreams.’ ”

He smiled. The smile stretched into a disbelieving grin. “Are you serious?”

“I am very, very serious. I need a steady paycheck while I get started in my new Level Five dream consulting career. My brother-in-law, Farrell Kyler, has kindly offered me gainful employment. I have accepted that offer.”

Actually, she had thrown herself on Farrell’s mercy and begged for the job but she saw no reason to go into the sordid details with Ellis. It was probably not a good idea to let a potential client know that you had financial problems.

Ellis was still smiling. “Teaching a motivational class on creative dreaming? I don’t believe it. Everyone knows this motivational seminar stuff is a racket.”

“No, not everyone knows that,” she said, spacing each word very precisely. “A lot of people take the power of positive thinking quite seriously and with good reason. Motivational seminars work for people who are motivated enough to make them work.”

“There’s something a little circular about that reasoning.”

His amused disdain infuriated her.

“You know what most folks would call a man who gets paid by a secret government agency to solve crimes in his dreams?” she asked very sweetly.

“A sharp con artist with a really good racket?”

“You got it. I don’t think you’re in any position to call my brother-in-law’s business a scam, do you?”

“Point taken.”

She inclined her head a fraction of an inch. “Let me know if you decide you want to become a Wright Dream Analysis client.”

He smiled again, very slowly and very deliberately. It did odd things to her insides.

“Don’t worry, Isabel. I’ll get back to you.”

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6

tango Dancer.

She had turned out to be exactly as he had imagined. Sexy, smoldering, mysterious, fascinating. Just the way she appeared in his dreams. Maybe it was those green-and-gold dreaming eyes.

He needed to report to Lawson. He also needed to do some thinking. He could feel everything in his carefully ordered world starting to shift and change. It was like being in the middle of a Level Five dream that had taken an unpredictable turn.

He’d had a plan when he moved back to California eight months ago, a plan that definitely involved Isabel Wright. But it did not include this shattering reaction to Isabel in the flesh.