Falling Awake(25)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

Leila frowned. “A business consultant? And he wants to hire you to analyze his dreams?”

“Go figure, huh?”

10

he was waiting for her when she emerged from the seminar room that afternoon. She didn’t see him immediately because she was the last one to leave, but she could feel him. It was like coming too close to an electric fence. Little shocks pulsed through her.

He was wearing his dark glasses indoors again. She wondered if he wore them to bed and immediately got a sexy vision of him walking toward her across a bedroom wearing nothing but a pair of sunglasses. She felt herself turn violently warm.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, trying not to look excited.

“I told you I’d get back to you.”

“Oh, right.” He’s a potential client. Smile, for heaven’s sake. She smiled. “Have you decided if you want to contract with Wright Dream Analysis?”

“Uh-huh. Mind if we discuss the details of the contract over dinner?”

She went blank. “Dinner?”

“In a restaurant. You know, where you order the food off a menu and people serve it to you?”

“Oh, dinner.” Not a date, she told herself. He’s asking you out for a business dinner. Huge, massive difference. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”

“I see.”

She glanced around to make certain that none of her fellow instructor trainees was within earshot and then lowered her voice. “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but, frankly, four hours of positive energy and creative, strategic thinking has a numbing effect on the brain. At least it does on mine.”

“All the more reason to take the evening off and relax.”

“I think you’re right. I’ll take you up on your offer of dinner. Thanks.”

“It’s a deal. When do you get out of here?” he asked.

“I’ve got one more class and then I’m done for the day.”

He grinned at her pained expression. “Good luck in getting through another hour of positive thinking.”

She straightened her shoulders. “A Kyler Method instructor finds a positive way to deal with every bump in the road. Problems are opportunities in disguise.”

“Is that a fact? Could have fooled me. It’s been my experience that problems are usually just problems.”

She gave him a sunny smile. “Shows how much you know.”

“Isabel.” Tamsyn spoke from midway down the hall. “There you are. Farrell and I have been looking for you.”

Isabel turned.

Farrell was in his late thirties. He had an athletic frame and he was handsome in a rugged, clean-cut, western sort of way. But Isabel did not think that most people, male or female, noticed his looks, one way or another. It was Farrell’s dynamic personality that pulled you into his force field. He had charisma, loads of it. He never forgot names and faces and he could make conversation with anyone, regardless of age or background.

Isabel had once mentioned to Leila that Farrell would have done very well in politics. Her sister had laughed. Farrell is too ethical for the political arena, she had said with loving pride. He couldn’t handle the sausage-making parts, the backroom deals and the compromises.

Tamsyn looked as vital and attractive offstage as she did when she stood in the carefully directed lights at the front of the auditorium. She practically vibrated with enthusiasm. Her Kyler jacket was carefully tailored to discreetly exhibit the curves and cle**age created by the expensive breast implants she had invested in following her divorce two years ago.

Tamsyn turned the full force of her high-energy smile on Ellis. Isabel sensed her intense curiosity.

“Hello,” Tamsyn said warmly. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Farrell, Tamsyn, this is Ellis Cutler,” Isabel murmured. “Ellis, this is Tamsyn Strickland, an instructor here at Kyler, Inc., and my brother-in-law, Farrell Kyler, the founder of the Kyler Method.”

Everyone shook hands and said the polite words.

“Are you attending this week’s seminar series, Ellis?” Farrell asked.

His eyes tightened a bit at the corners as he studied Ellis. Only someone who knew him well would have detected the faint signs of wariness, Isabel thought. Farrell was not sure what to make of Ellis. He was being cautious.

“No, I’m here to see Isabel,” Ellis said.

“Really?” Tamsyn’s curiosity level had clearly gone up another notch. “Are you a friend of hers?”

“New client,” Isabel said quickly. “I’m starting up a private consulting business.”

Farrell winced. “The psychic dream thing?”

“Not exactly,” Isabel said evenly.

But, as usual, the correction went unnoticed.

Tamsyn rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “I’m amazed. I would never have guessed that you would be the type of man who would go in for the woo-woo thing, Ellis.”

“I am not a psychic,” Isabel said forcefully. No one paid any attention.

“Some people are fascinated with orchids and others have a thing for golf,” Ellis said. “Personally, I’ve always been interested in dreams.”

“So, dreams are a hobby for you?” Tamsyn asked.

Ellis smiled slightly. Light glinted ominously off the lenses of his dark glasses. “You could say that.”

Farrell studied him. “I assume Isabel has told you that she’s going to be teaching a course in dreams for us here at Kyler?”

“She mentioned it, yes,” Ellis said.

“I have to admit, I was somewhat reluctant at first. I’m concerned that a course on dreams might send the wrong message. We’re not about the New Age thing here at Kyler. But Tamsyn and my wife have convinced me that it will be a popular class.”

“We certainly won’t be taking a psychic or mystical approach to the course,” Tamsyn assured everyone. “We’ve made that clear to Isabel. Farrell and I want the class taught according to the same guidelines that apply to all the other Kyler Method seminars. The idea is to teach students to use dreams to inspire the creative process. Right, Isabel?”

“Right,” Isabel murmured.

“Isabel will teach the class using proven creativity-enhancing techniques such as free association and journaling,” Tamsyn continued.

“Good to know there won’t be any of the woo-woo stuff,” Ellis said politely.

Tamsyn glanced at her watch. “Farrell, we’ve got that appointment with Dan and Gary in five minutes. We’d better be on our way.”