Manhattan Merger

by Rebecca Winters

  Payne covered Diane’s hand. “Since we’re all going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on, let’s get on a first name basis.”

  Fearing she might choke on her juice, Rainey put the glass back down. “To be honest, I was so excited to be right here on the water, I stayed awake most of the night. It’s quite heavenly.”

  “No other woman apart from Mrs. Myers has ever slept at Crag’s Head before.”

  His fiancée had just fired her first salvo.

  “It must be thrilling for you to know that after August first this will be your home, Diane. The design transports you to another realm, yet you’re firmly planted on a headland with a whole ocean at your feet. I think you’re the luckiest woman alive to have all this to look forward to.”

  “When Payne installs an elevator, it will be more livable for me.”

  “If we leave for Switzerland right away, it’s possible you’ll never have to use another elevator again.”

  “It’s not going to happen, Payne. But since you brought the subject up, now would be the time to say what’s on my mind.”

  Diane’s gaze swerved to Rainey who wondered what was coming next. She stopped chewing.

  “I know why he hired you.”

  Her bold declaration revealed the fire Payne had been referring to when he’d asked Rainey to be his accomplice.

  “The problem is, I’m not sure he told you why.”

  Rainey had no choice but to play dumb. “I don’t think I understand.”

  “Those maps of Payne’s are sacrosanct. No one in the hierarchy of his company is allowed inside Crag’s Head to see them. He trusts no one to touch them. They’re his brainchild, the key to his success.

  “Then suddenly he decides to let a portrait artist who paints covers for Red Rose Romance move into his fortress and assist him on drawings that are so complicated no one but Payne himself can understand them?” She left out a brittle laugh.

  “I don’t think so. I may not be able to walk, but credit me with more brains than that, Rainey. We both know he’s installed you here to force my hand because he wants me to go to Switzerland for an operation.”

  The strength it took to hold the other woman’s gaze without flinching called on every nerve and muscle in Rainey’s body.

  “I’ve told him I’m not going. Of course he doesn’t understand the meaning of the word no. What he’s done is pull one of his shrewd business ploys to get me to capitulate by bringing a beautiful woman into his home on the pretext of working for him.

  “He knows this will cause our families and friends to talk. What better way to get me to change my mind than threaten to humiliate me.”

  Rainey’s heart sank like a stone. Though Diane’s delivery had been unemotional, she had to be dying inside.

  “What he refuses to accept is that there’s no miracle cure waiting for me at the end of the road. I guess what I’m saying is, the next move is up to you.”

  She paused to take a drink of her coffee. When she put the cup down again she said, “If you truly thought he was offering you a legitimate job, and yet you continue to stay under his roof knowing what I’ve just told you, then it will be clear to everyone who loves him that you two are having an affair.”

  A groan almost made it past Rainey’s lips.

  Diane had just called her fiancé’s bluff. The fear that an operation wouldn’t change anything was keeping her locked in that wheelchair. Rainey could weep for both of them because that fear was holding him prisoner too.

  Somehow Rainey needed to say something in a counter move that would still be the truth, yet not jeopardize an already precarious situation.

  “I’m aware of his hopes for you,” she began quietly. “It’s only natural when he loves you so much, but I’m afraid the blame for the job offer lies with me.”

  One of Diane’s brows lifted in a patronizing gesture. “Your attraction to him has made you the proverbial putty in his hands.”

  “I am attracted to him,” Rainey came back, fighting fire with fire. “If you’re talking physical attraction, then I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit it considering I’ve done eight paintings of him already. He’s an incredibly good-looking man.”

  The mockery in Diane’s smile started to vanish.

  “If you’re talking mental attraction, I admit to that too. Let me tell you why.” Now that Rainey was all wound up, it would be therapeutic to get certain things said.

  “You don’t know very much about me. How could you? I grew up in a small town. My brother loves it there. From an early age on, he knew he wanted to live there forever and run a sportings goods store. Come fall, that dream is finally going to happen for him.

  “I was different. I had this dream to move to a big city and see what it was like.

  “The money from teaching art in public school was a means of keeping me alive, but it was my freelance jobs that paid me enough to get here. In all honesty, I came to New York hoping I might stumble on to my life. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

  Diane brushed some hair away from her forehead. “People like you flock to New York every day looking for the same thing. The difference is, none of them ended up in a courtroom with my fiancé.”

  A tremor rocked Rainey’s body.

  “That’s true. When the judge was reprimanding me, he said it best. Call it destiny or fate, you happened to paint the one man whose phenomenal success in life has made him vulnerable to the ugliest elements in our society.

  “It seems that fate, or destiny, whatever you choose to call it, brought me to this house. While your fiancé was upstairs getting changed before taking me to the Boyce’s to meet you, I wandered into his study. That’s when something amazing happened.

  “I saw his maps spread over the walls of the lighthouse. They were so fantastic, I was spellbound. I remember feeling the same way when I was young and came across Tolkien’s map of Middle Earth for the first time.

  “When Mr. Sterling came back downstairs ready to leave, he found me babbling with so much excitement, I’m sure he didn’t know what to make of it. I practically begged for a chance to work with him.”

  Diane’s brown eyes flared in surprise. Rainey could be thankful for that much reaction. At least she was listening.

  “Yes, I’m guilty of wanting to grab at an opportunity to work with someone like him because fate would never allow it to happen a second time. But if you’re talking emotional attraction, that’s something else again because he’s spoken for. He’s asked you to marry him.

  “If you’d seen your fiancé in court, then you’d know he was only there for one reason. To protect you. To make certain nothing would ever hurt you again.

  “He was a frightening adversary when he thought I’d been out there stalking the two of you. After court ended I thought how blessed you were to have a fiancé who showed that kind of devotion to you. One who’d do anything for you. He’d give his life to see you walk again!” Rainey’s voice throbbed.

  Diane unexpectedly averted her eyes.

  “I discovered the strength of his devotion when he asked me to meet you and help reassure you that I posed no threat to your safety.

  “He’s a hero in every sense of the word, Diane. Your hero. The kind you could read about in those little romance novels whose covers I paint.”

  She had one more thing to say. This time she turned to Payne who’d been staring at her through shuttered eyes.

  He’d enlisted her help. She’d complied with his request and would carry out her part of the bargain for a while longer. But she had to draw the line somewhere because her very existence depended on it.

  “Did you tell Diane I’m only here in New York until my brother sends for me?”

  “Uncle Payne?”

  “In the dining room, sweetheart,” he answered his niece without acknowledging Rainey’s question.

  “I brought Linda with me. She wants to meet Rainey.”

  “Hi, Linda,” he drawled. “Come and have some breakfast
with us.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Sterling.”

  Seconds later the two teens breezed in the room wearing shorts and tops. Linda was a tall girl with pretty features and a chestnut braid hanging down the middle of her back.

  She walked over to Diane. “Hi, Ms. Wylie! How are you?”

  “I’m fine, thank you.” But Diane didn’t sound fine at all. Her voice held a definite tremor.

  “I bet you’re getting excited for the wedding.”

  “Yes,” she murmured.

  “Rainey?” Catherine headed for her. “I’d like you to meet my best friend, Linda Miles. Linda? This is Rainey Bennett.”

  “Hello, Linda.” The teen moved closer. “What beautiful hair you have.”

  She and Catherine exchanged smiles. “Thanks. I saw the pictures you did for Catherine. They’re so good.”

  “What she’s trying to say is, do you think you could draw one of Linda sometime?”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to do it for free, that is if you had the time to do it.”

  “I’ll make the time, and I wouldn’t take your money,” Rainey assured her.

  Their host got up to pour himself a cup of coffee. “Why don’t you girls grab a plate of food?”

  “Thanks. We’re starving. Oh—before I forget—where did you put Manhattan Merger, Uncle Payne?”

  “It’s in my study. Left-hand drawer of my desk.”

  “Can I get it now so I won’t forget?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Do you like romances, Linda?” Diane inquired as Catherine left the dining room.

  After their previous conversation, Rainey had to give the other woman credit for hanging in there. Payne had said his fiancée was a competitor at heart. Rainey believed him.

  “I love them,” Linda said. “They’re really fun.”

  “How do you mean fun?”

  Catherine’s friend found the food she wanted and sat down. “It’s fun to see how two completely different people get together, the problems they have to overcome.”

  “Don’t you know that’s one of the big concerns about romances? Our magazine did an in-depth article on them some time ago. It wouldn’t hurt you to read it. Those stories only show the exciting parts of a relationship, and never deal with the ever after.”

  “At least the couples in the romances I’ve read get married, Ms. Wylie. In real life a lot of them live together first, and statistics show that more of them break up later and then kill each other or something.”

  “Does your mother approve?”

  “She doesn’t mind. Mom’s sick of all the violence and sex on TV.”

  “Don’t tell me there isn’t a lot of that in those books.”

  “Some are graphic, some aren’t. What I like is that the two people are really in love and faithful to each other. There isn’t any violence in them. My grandma says every man should read one so he’d know how to treat a woman better.”

  Rainey drained the rest of her juice so she wouldn’t smile.

  “Your grandmother reads them?” Diane sounded incredulous.

  “Yes. When I had my tonsils out last year she came over and read one to me. That got me started.”

  Their host chuckled. “You’re never going to win this argument, Diane.”

  “Let me see that novel, Catherine,” she said when Payne’s niece came back in the dining room. Just then his glance slid to Rainey’s. Something was going on with his fiancée. She refused to leave the subject alone.

  Catherine handed it to her before hurrying over to the buffet.

  “Who wants to go for a sail after we’re through eating?”

  “We do!” the girls said at the same time, thrilled over Payne’s suggestion.

  “What about you, Diane? It’s a calm sea today.”

  “I believe I will come with you.”

  “That’s great!” Catherine enthused. “We’ll all get a tan together.”

  “Give me a few minutes to get ready.” She pushed her wheelchair away from the table and headed for the hallway.

  “That’s three out of four. Rainey? Does the idea appeal?”

  Under other circumstances she couldn’t imagine anything more exciting than going out on the ocean with him, but not now. Not ever.

  While Diane was still in earshort she said, “If we’re going to work together later, I’d better finish my greeting card project while you’re gone. The deadline for the artwork is coming up soon.”

  Payne’s niece turned to her with an interested expression. “What are you working on?”

  “Right now, a bon voyage card showing a saucy Siamese cat with diamonds around her neck and red silk gloves up to her shoulders. She’s stretched out on top of one of those mansard rooftops in an elegant arrondissement of Paris waving goodbye with her tail to a rascal of a mutt.”

  “Oh how cute!” Catherine cried.

  “He has a hobo’s stick over his shoulder. There’s a little bag tied to the end with a Provençal print scarf. His beret is set at a jaunty angle.” Rainey closed her eyes and shook her head. “They’re in love.”

  The girls burst into laughter. So did Payne.

  “Can we see it?” Linda sounded as excited as Catherine.

  “Of course. When you get back from sailing, come to my room. Have fun everybody.”

  Grateful the girls were there to provide a buffer against Payne, Rainey left the dining room without looking at him. She hoped it didn’t seem like she was running a marathon to get away from him.

  For the next three hours she worked steadily on her sketches, but her body broke out in perspiration more than once anticipating the moment when she had to join Payne in his study.

  Those had been hellish moments downstairs with his fiancée. She’d practically accused them outright of having an affair.

  Tears filled Rainey’s eyes. The poor thing had tried to handle her pain and outrage in a dignified manner. It was an awful experience. Rainey refused to put Diane through that again.

  From here on out, Payne would have to deal with his fiancée on his own. Rainey would remain in the background a little while longer to work on his maps before she left for Colorado. That was it.

  Eventually she heard footsteps in the hall. Payne had come back with the girls. Rainey invited them inside and let them look at her drawings.

  Before they left to ride their bikes to Catherine’s house, Rainey told Linda to come over on Tuesday morning after Payne left for Paris. Before she got to work she’d do a sketch of Linda and her dog, Hannibal, playing on the beach.

  The three of them went downstairs together. Rainey saw them out. When she came back in the house Betty told her Payne had driven his fiancée home and would be back at one to get busy.

  Rainey glanced at her watch. She had one hour. Now would be a good time to make a credit card call home and tell her parents what was going on.

  Tomorrow she would buy herself a good cell phone. Then she could call her friends and give them a phone number without them knowing her new address. She would ask the post office to hold her mail.

  For security reasons as well as personal ones, no one could know she was living temporarily at Crag’s Head.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “DID you really have a good time out there, or were you putting up a front for the girls?”

  The limousine would be pulling up in front of the Wylie estate before long.

  Diane shot Payne a piercing glance. “Why do you bother to ask me a question like that when you know I hated it.”

  Payne rubbed his forehead. “Then why did you come sailing and put yourself through misery?”

  “To please you. To spend some time with you.”

  “I realize we haven’t had much time alone together lately, but I promised Phyllis I’d watch out for Catherine while they were away. They’ll be home tomorrow night. Once I’m back from Paris next weekend, I’ll be free for you. We’ll do whatever needs doing to get ready for the wedding.”

  “How would you feel i
f I flew to Paris with you?”

  To say that Payne was surprised by her question was putting it mildly. His fiancée hadn’t wanted to go anywhere since the shooting. Though no one had said it, both his family and hers feared she was turning into a recluse.

  There was only one reason for the drastic change in her. One person whose performance earlier today had sent thrills and chills through every centimeter of his body.

  “Do you want to go with me to please me, or yourself, Diane?”

  “Both,” she answered honestly.

  “Then there’s nothing I’d like more.” He meant it. If this was the beginning of a metamorphosis, he was overjoyed. Thank God for Rainey. He pressed a kiss to Diane’s temple.

  She laid her head against his shoulder. “I know you have business, but do you think you could take some time off to shop with me? I’m not that happy with the wedding dress I’ve picked out. Since we haven’t had any pictures taken yet, maybe I’ll see something there I like better.”

  “We’ll do it. Would you like to bring someone to keep you company while I’m busy?”

  “No. I want to see how I function on my own.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Good for you.”

  His elation was too great. He had to be careful. She hadn’t mentioned Rainey. Whatever she was holding back would eventually come out, but he wasn’t going to broach the subject right now. Not when they’d just entered new territory.

  It was like tunneling underground, a precarious business at best. You never knew when the earth might cave in on you, entombing you in blackness.

  When they reached the Wylie estate he helped her into the house. “I’ll be at the office tomorrow. At some point I’ll phone you and we’ll make final plans for our trip. Would you like to see a play at the Comédie Française? I can call ahead and reserve tickets.”

  “I don’t know. Why don’t we decide what to do after we get there.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  The drive back to Crag’s Head took long enough that by the time he walked through the house to find Rainey, some of his elation had worn off.

  Today Diane had been provoked, and she’d rallied. The fact that she was willing to go anywhere at all constituted a miracle of sorts.