WASHINGTON  —  Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani interrupted his speech to the National Rifle Association Friday to take a phone call from his wife, Judith.

"Let's see now, this is my wife calling, I think," Giuliani said, pulling his ringing cell phone from his jacket pocket.

"Hello, dear," he said, speaking into the microphone on the podium. "I'm talking to the members of the NRA right now. Would you like to say hello?"

The audience of about 500 gun owners at a downtown Washington hotel laughed a little as she appeared to decline.

He concluded the call with, "I love you. I'll call you as soon as I'm finished. Have a safe trip. Talk to you later. I love you."

Giuliani has answered his wife's cell phone call a couple of times, including during a June appearance in Florida. It wasn't planned, his campaign said.

"What you saw today was a candidate in a spontaneous moment on the campaign trail," Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella said.

Judith Nathan is Giuliani's third wife.