Manhattan Merger

by Rebecca Winters

  “Please go, Mr. Sterling. When you see your niece, tell her goodbye for me, and let her know I’m happy she liked the picture.”

  “She loves both of them. The whole family will be delighted when they lay eyes on ‘The Beggar.’ Creating those masterpieces must have kept you up all night.”

  Payne hadn’t been able to sleep either.

  Still she said nothing.

  He shifted his weight. “I’m not leaving this apartment until I learn why you planned to disappear without a trace.”

  Time lapsed before she said in a low voice, “You’re going to make me say it aren’t you.”

  Another surge of adrenaline electrified his body. “Say what?” he prodded.

  Rainey turned her head in his direction wearing a solemn expression. “Your fiancée knows you’ve been to my apartment,” she began in a throbbing voice.

  “She knows I’ve been to your office, that I’ve ridden in your helicopter. She knows I’ve been out to Crag’s Head. After last night she knows I was an overnight guest in your sister’s home.

  “If I were your fiancée, I could handle all of it knowing everything was the result of the hearing. But any more contact, even a whisper of it, and I would feel…threatened.”

  He took a step closer. “If you think moving back to Colorado removes that threat, then you’re very much mistaken. You could go to the ends of the earth and it wouldn’t make any difference.”

  “Then you haven’t done enough to make her feel secure in your love,” she fired back.

  Unable to respond to that remark without incriminating himself he said, “She’ll never feel secure about anything until she can walk again. There’s a clinic in Switzerland that might be able to help her, but she refuses to let me take her.”

  Upon that remark Rainey rested her body against the edge of the desk. Her head was lowered.

  “I can understand why. It would be so hard to go there on a thread of hope and then find out not even those doctors could help.”

  “Diane still has some feeling in her legs, Rainey. There’s a chance she could walk again. Otherwise the doctors wouldn’t keep urging her to go for a consultation and exam.”

  Taking a calculated risk he said, “This morning while Catherine and I were swimming in the ocean, an idea came to me that could change Diane’s mind. You corroborated it moments ago when you talked about her feeling threatened.”

  That brought Rainey’s head up. He had her full attention now.

  “Instead of putting your career on hold for your brother who still has no idea what you’re planning, how would you like to do something that could result in Diane throwing away that damn wheelchair?”

  A stunned expression broke out on her face. “If I thought I could help, naturally I’d do it, but I can’t imagine what it would be.”

  Rainey Bennett—I’m going to hold you to that.

  “Last evening you told me you’d give anything to work alongside me.”

  She shook her head. “I was carried away. You know that.”

  “You meant it, Rainey. So I’m proposing that you move into my home at Crag’s Head and expand your artistic talents by making my maps for me. It’ll be a merger financially beneficial for both of us.”

  An explosion of green sparks lit up her heavily lashed eyes.

  “Until you came along, I never trusted anyone else to do them. With your help I’ll be free to travel without the worry that I’m getting behind on the technical end. In this business I have to set up new markets before the competition does.

  “In return, let’s pray Diane is so threatened by your presence in my life, she’ll agree to go to Switzerland and learn to walk again if only to be able to face you on an equal footing.”

  “You can’t be serious!” She sounded aghast.

  “I never say what I don’t mean. You have to understand something about my fiancée. No one has more pride than Ms. Diane Wylie of the North Shore.

  “Her condition is so shocking to her, it’s come between her and her friends, her work on the magazine. She helped on my sister’s last senatorial campaign. Once upon a time she had aspirations to go into politics herself. All that drive has vanished. She’s not the same person she used to be.”

  Rainey’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “That’s so tragic.”

  “It is,” Payne murmured. “No human being deserves to suffer like she has.

  “Last night I felt her pain because she used to be vital and vivacious like you, with a hell of a lot to contribute. If I thought she could be that way again, I’d move heaven and earth to make it happen.”

  “I’m sure you would,” she whispered.

  “Since Trevor’s death, Catherine’s been working on Diane. In her own sweet way she’s tried to remind her that there never was any hope for her brother, but there is for Diane. Still my fiancée hasn’t responded.

  “The first signs of fight I’ve seen in her were last night while you were enchanting everyone.” Enchanting me. “Catherine was a different girl because of you, and Diane knew it.

  “With your cooperation, maybe Diane will get so angry she’ll end up begging me take her to Switzerland. She’s a competitor at heart. That’s why I believe this will work. I could have roamed the earth and never found a more worthy opponent than you.”

  After a significant pause he said, “If your answer is no, then I’ll leave here and you’ll never have to worry about dealing with me again. If it’s yes, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you tried to help another human being get back her life.”

  Rainey couldn’t have looked more dazed.

  “I realize it’s a lot to ask. I have no right. I do a lot of things when I don’t have the right, but it’s the way I’m made.”

  The silence lengthened.

  Summoning every vestige of willpower he possessed, Payne walked out of the apartment with a vision indelibly impressed of her standing there looking tormented.

  But not tormented enough to call him back.

  With that crushing realization, he headed for the staircase.

  The thought of life without Rainey Bennett sent him into a despair so black, he didn’t remember going down the three flights of stairs to the foyer. Mac and John stood somewhere in the periphery waiting for Payne to climb in the back of the limo. Doors opened and closed. It was all a blur.

  “Payne?”

  “What is it, Andy?”

  “Ms. Bennett is on the sidewalk motioning for you to put down your window.”

  Being told that Rainey had followed him all the way to the street was like his body freefalling thousands of feet only to be yanked as his chute suddenly opened.

  With lightning speed he levered himself from the car, still trying to catch his breath.

  Dozens of people were walking back and forth, but as far as Payne was concerned, he and Rainey were the only two people in existence. She couldn’t very well avoid his gaze though she was trying.

  “You wouldn’t be standing here if the answer weren’t yes. Shall we talk about it in the limo, or upstairs?”

  She moistened her lips nervously. “When would you want me to start?”

  “Now.”

  “So soo—”

  “I have to leave for Paris on Tuesday morning. Therefore I’d like to go over my maps with you this weekend and show you how I work.”

  “But my apartmen—”

  “I’ll help you bring down the things you’ll need for the weekend. On Monday we’ll arrange for you to meet with movers. You can put anything in storage you won’t require while you’re living with me.”

  “I’ll have to be here for the courier to pick up my latest painting.”

  “We’ll do that and I’ll take care of your lease.”

  “No—I’ve already made an installment agreement with the super.”

  Payne decided to let her have that victory for now. Early on he’d learned that when he was on the brink of a major takeover, he pounced when the tiny window of opportunity
presented itself. The little things could slide.

  “I—I won’t need your help with my bags. If you’ll wait here, I’ll be back down as soon as I can.”

  “Take all the time you want.” I’m not going anywhere without you.

  Payne recognized she craved privacy to say goodbye to the man who’d been in her apartment earlier. Little did the poor devil know Rainey would be out of permanent circulation the moment of liftoff.

  While he waited, he phoned his niece.

  “Hi, Uncle Payne!”

  “How are things?”

  “Great!”

  That was the most enthusiasm he’d heard out of her in a long time.

  “I invited my friends over to see Rainey’s drawings. Now they want her to do pictures of them and their pets so they can give them to their parents for Christmas presents. Do you think she would do it if they paid her?”

  He smiled. “Knowing Rainey, she wouldn’t take the money.”

  “I’m sure you’re right, but that’s a lot to ask when she has two other jobs.”

  “Tell you what. You can ask her yourself tomorrow.”

  “Did you invite her out to the house again?”

  “No. I asked her to accept a full-time job with me. She said yes, and she’ll be moving into Crag’s Head where she’ll work on my maps.”

  There was a prolonged silence.

  “Uncle Payne…does Diane know?”

  “Not yet. I’ll tell her tonight.”

  “That’s going to hurt her a lot.”

  “I’m hoping it’ll make her angry.”

  He could hear her brain working. “You want her to be jealous.”

  “I want her to walk again. Maybe if she gets angry enough, she’ll do something about it and consider going to that clinic in Switzerland.”

  Another pause. “Does Rainey know why you’ve asked her to come to work for you?”

  “Yes. She wants to help Diane too.”

  “So do I.”

  “You already have. You’re a sweetheart. I’m sure Rainey will enjoy your company, especially when I’m out of town. You can show her around, make certain she knows where to swim safely.”

  “Do you think she likes to sail?”

  “I guess we’re going to find out. Come on over in the morning and have breakfast with us.”

  “Will Diane be there?”

  “I’ll invite her. Let’s hope she won’t be able to stay away. Have fun this afternoon. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  After ending the call, he made one more to his pilot to alert him they’d be flying back to Crag’s Head soon.

  Two hours later he experienced the sensation of déjà vu when his housekeeper met him and Rainey in the foyer.

  “Mrs. Myers? Ms. Bennett has agreed to come to work for me. For the time being she’ll be living here. Let’s put her in the bedroom with the view of Phantom Point.”

  Rainey’s mouth curved upward. “That sounds intriguing.”

  “It is. Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don’t. Shall I take up your bags now, Ms. Bennett?”

  “Please call me Rainey. I’ll carry them.”

  “You’re going to find out my new assistant has an independent streak,” Payne murmured.

  “That’s fine with me as long as you call me Betty.”

  His housekeeper liked to keep things formal. For her to make a concession like that meant Rainey had already won her over.

  “It’s a deal.”

  “We’re going to get busy in my study, Betty. When you have a moment, will you bring us some lunch?”

  “Coming right up.”

  Payne was eager to sit down with Rainey and explain how he put his crude drawings together into one blueprint. With her intuitive eye, she would bring her own expertise to streamline the process and make innovations.

  After a moment’s consideration he pulled out a tube housing the drawings of Paris he’d already begun work on. While he was laying them out on the large worktable, his cell phone rang. A check of the Caller ID confirmed it was Diane.

  His eyes flicked to Rainey. “I have to take this call. Go ahead and see what you make of everything.”

  It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle. He couldn’t help but be curious how long it would take her to fit each piece together.

  Moving a few feet away he answered the phone. Now that he had Rainey firmly entrenched beneath his roof, it was time to follow through with the rest of his plan.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  RAINEY slept, but it was fitful. At dawn she stole from the queen-size bed to half lie in the window seat and contemplate the vast Atlantic from her bedroom high above the water. As morning broke to the sounds of gulls, she remembered something Craig had said in an attempt to comfort her.

  Treat the whole experience with Payne Sterling as part of your adventure in the Big Apple.

  He didn’t know it then, but her brother had dispensed the best advice he could have given her. That was exactly the way she was going to look at her situation from here on out.

  A marvelous adventure. The kind she enjoyed living with the heroine inside a romance novel until the very last page when she closed the book.

  There would come a last page with Payne. Until then, what were the odds of meeting an exciting, brilliant New York billionaire-soon-to-be-trillionaire in her lifetime? Of working temporarily as his live-in assistant in his hideaway which was an architectural treasure?

  Maybe a gazillion-to-one?

  She leaned out the window to inhale the tangy sea air and enjoy the ocean breeze. The humidity curled the ends of her hair. Her skin, so used to the dry climate of the Colorado Rockies, felt soft and smooth.

  By some quirk of fate, she and Payne had been brought together at this moment in time. It wouldn’t last, so why go on torturing herself about it?

  Why not be the catalyst that might rouse his fiancée from debilitating fear so she could walk down the aisle to the man waiting for her at the altar?

  What were the odds of Rainey ever playing a major role in someone else’s rescue again?

  The answer was, never.

  “Good morning, Ms. Bennett!”

  Rainey looked down to see her host walking up the beach in cutoffs and a T-shirt looking like a contemporary Jane Austen hero.

  “Why if it isn’t Mr. Darcy!”

  His hands went to his hips. The next thing she knew he was laughing up at her. She found herself laughing with him.

  Careful, Rainey. Don’t let him guess the very sight of him turns your bones to liquid. Keep things light.

  “If it was your intention to go about startling all the young ladies, you can consider you’ve accomplished your objective, sir.”

  “My Dear Miss Bennett—if I startled you, it was because you were hoping I would happen to come along at this precise moment to catch you in, shall we say, flagrante delicto? so you could be pretend to be startled.”

  “Oh my, Mr. Darcy. Rumors of your monumental ego combined with your insufferable arrogance have been greatly understated. Isn’t it a good thing you’re in love with yourself since it’s probable no one else would ever be able to love you quite so well.”

  More laughter rumbled out of him, the deep, rich male kind.

  Suddenly Rainey heard clapping. “Well done, you two. Jane Austen is alive and doing just fine at Crag’s Head.”

  Rainey looked to the right and caught sight of Diane. “She wrote one of the great romances, don’t you think, Ms. Wylie?”

  “She wrote several. I found Persuasion her most compelling.”

  The mention of that particular title sounded cryptic and introduced a different mood into the tenor of the morning. Rainey could tell Payne was equally affected.

  Persuasion was what was needed to get her to that clinic.

  “I understand we were all going to have breakfast when you arrived. Excuse me and I’ll be right down.” She tore herself from the window, unwilling to put herself through the agony of watching him greet his fiancée.
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  Yesterday he’d worked with Rainey all afternoon and into the early evening. The rapport between them had been uncanny. She couldn’t believe how well things had gone, what a remarkable teacher he was.

  Being with him, she’d been unaware of time passing. It had almost killed her when seven-thirty rolled around and he’d excused himself to go pick up Diane for dinner. At some point in the evening Rainey knew he would inform his fiancée he’d hired Rainey to come to work for him.

  Since Rainey hadn’t seen him until he’d been walking along the surf moments ago, it was anyone’s guess how Diane had reacted to his news.

  Judging by her unexpected appearance on the path just now, his plan seemed to be working to some degree. She’d plunged right into the thick of things, staking her claim in front of Rainey.

  His fiancée had a lot of demons to fight besides her fear that another woman was interested in her fiancé. The last thing Rainey wanted to do was hurt her. All she could do was follow Payne’s lead and hope it caused the kind of reaction that would force Diane to get past her psychological block.

  Rainey pulled clothes from the closet and drawers. The temperature had dropped to the low seventies prompting her to dress in a pair of white pleated trousers and a yellow cotton pullover.

  With a good brushing of her hair and an application of coral lipstick, there was nothing more to do but join them. She left the bedroom not knowing quite what to expect, but realizing that Diane was waiting for her.

  The dining room off the study had its own glorious view of the ocean. Payne and Diane had already started to eat.

  His gaze flicked to Rainey’s. So much vital masculinity for breakfast made her heart race. “Help yourself to anything you want at the buffet.”

  “Thank you.”

  It looked like the housekeeper had outdone herself. Rainey poured herself some orange juice, then went for the sausage and eggs, her favorite breakfast.

  “Come and sit down.”

  Said the spider to the fly?

  The other woman’s smile was benign enough. Yet Rainey did her bidding with a prickling awareness that Diane had been geared for a confrontation since Payne had dropped his bombshell.

  “How did you sleep, Ms. Bennett?”