Free Strange Bedfellow by Janet Dailey Page A

The engagement ring seemed to be burning a circle in her pocket.  
    “Would you pour me a sherry, Chet?” She quietly closed the door, shutting out Blake's voice coming from the living room.  
    Chet's sandy blond head lifted, his surprised look vanishing into a smile when he say her. “Of course.” He reached for another glass and a different decanter. Pouring, he remarked, “It's been quite a hectic day.”  
    “Yes, it has.” Dina walked over to take the sherry glass from his hand.  
    Ice clinked as Chet lifted his glass to take a quick swallow of whiskey. “A reporter that I know from one of the local papers called and got me out of bed this morning. He'd gotten wind that there was a shake-up in the Chandler hotel chain and he wanted to know what it was. I pleaded ignorance. But that's why I rushed over here so early, to warn Blake that the onslaught was coming. I knew it was only a matter of time before they found out.”  
    “Yes.” She nodded in agreement, glad there had been no announcement of their engagement in the newspaper or the reporters would have turned Blake's return into a circus.  
    “Blake really knows how to handle himself with the press,” Chet stated with undisguised admiration.  
    “Yes, he does.” Dina sipped at her drink.  
    “And it will make good publicity for the hotels,” he added.  
    “Yes.” She was beginning to feel like a puppet whose string was being pulled to nod agreement to everything Chet said—when it really wasn't what she wanted to talk about at all.  
    “I imagine somebody in the company let it slip about Blake.” He stared thoughtfully at the amber liquid in his glass. “I called around to all the major officers yesterday to let them know he was back. That's probably how the word got out.”  
    “Probably,” Dina agreed, and promptly took the initiative to lead into her own subject. “Chet, I've been wanting to see you today, alone—” she reached in her pocket to take out the circlet of diamonds “—to return this to you.”  
    He took it from her outstretched hand, looking boyishly uncomfortable. His thumb rubbed it between his fingers as he stared at it, not meeting the sapphire brightness of her gaze.  
    “I don't want you to get the idea that I was deserting you yesterday.” His voice was uncertain, almost apologetic. “But I know how you felt about Blake and I didn't want to stand in the way of your happiness.”  
    With the explanation given for the way he had so readily abandoned their engagement, Chet lifted his head to gaze at-her-earnestly, a troubled shade of. clouded blue in his eyes. Affection rushed through Dina at his unselfishness, sacrificing his wants for hers.  
    “I understand, Chet.”  
    Relief glimmered in his smile. “You must really be glad to have him back.”  
    “I...” She started to repeat the positive assertion she had been making all day, ready to recite the words automatically, but she stopped herself. Among other things, Chet was her best friend, as well as Blake's. With him she could speak her mind. “He's changed, Chet.”  
    He hesitated for a second before answering, as if her response had caught him off guard and he wanted to word his reply carefully.  
    “Considering all Blake has been through, it's bound to have left a mark on him,” he offered.  
    “I know, but....” She sighed, agitated and frustrated because she couldn't find the words to explain exactly what she meant.  
    “Hey, come on now,” Chet cajoled, setting his glass down and grasping her gently by the shoulders, his head bent down to peer into her apprehensive face. “When two people care as much about each other as you and Blake do, they're bound to work out their differences. It just can't happen overnight,” he reasoned. “Now come on. What do you say? Let's have a little smile. You know it's true that nothing is ever as bad as it seems.”  
    Mountains and molehills. Reluctantly almost, her lips curved at his