Rebecca Winters - Manhattan Merger

“Work-” she blurted, throwing herself a lifeline. “I’m behind becau-”

“Because I forced you into court,” he finished for her. “Bring it with you and anything else you’ll require for an overnight stay, including a bathing suit.”

Oh no.

Rainey averted her eyes. She was terrified he would see how excited she was at the prospect of going anywhere with him…of spending time with him.

And his fiancée, a little voice nagged. Never forget that, Rainey Bennett.

When she felt recovered enough to meet his glance, she discovered him studying her prized serigraph of the Nantucket Lighthouse painted by Thomas McKnight. It hung next to her own paintings, the few that hadn’t yet been purchased by the authors of those books.

He suddenly turned in her direction, catching her staring at him. She didn’t look away, but heat scorched her cheeks.

“Would you bring your dog’s picture when you come?”

She shouldn’t have been surprised he’d seen the small framed photo perched on her desk. He noticed everything. What intrigued her was the reason why he’d made the request.

“All right.”

Their eyes held for a brief moment. “I’ll see you later.”

In an economy of movement he gathered the paintings and went out the door. Unable to help herself, she watched until he and the same security man named John disappeared from view.

After shutting the door she leaned against it, wondering if she was in the middle of one of her dreams about him. But six hours later she knew everything was real when John and another security man appeared at the door. They helped her to the limousine with her bags.

Insulated by glass that allowed her to look out without being seen, she enjoyed being chauffeured to the Financial District even though it was rush hour. Once they arrived in the underground parking of the Sterling building, she was whisked by private elevator to the penthouse.

When the doors opened to Mr. Payne’s office suite, Rainey couldn’t control the gasp that escaped her throat. It was like walking into her own painting.

Her dark-haired hero looked up from his massive oak desk and said, “Since seeing the cover on Manhattan Merger, I’ve had the same reaction as you every time I’ve walked in my office.”

Rainey stood there speechless.

Her gaze darted from the small framed photo perched on his desk to the painting of a ship passing a lighthouse.

“No,” she whispered in disbelief.

It hung on the only wall not made of glass, just the way she’d set things up in her painting.

And then there was the dynamic billionaire himself.

Dressed in the expensive-looking blue suit he’d worn to her apartment earlier, it could have been the same suit she’d put on him in the painting. Behind him loomed the Manhattan skyline, astonishingly similar to the one she’d painted for the cover.

Still in shock, she watched as he got out of his swivel chair and brought her the small picture from his desk.

“I’m afraid to look,” she confessed in a shaky voice as he closed the distance between them and handed it to her.

One glance at it and her green eyes flew to his. “This dog-the face-it looks like Winston!”

He nodded. “Meet Bruno, my trusty bullmastiff.”

“I don’t believe it,” she murmured, starting to feel light-headed. The picture slipped to the lush carpet.

Suddenly she felt a hard-muscled arm go around her. He ushered her to the nearest leather chair.

Their faces were almost touching. She could see the alarm in those unforgettable blue eyes, feel his breath on her cheek. “You went so pale just now. I’ll get you some water.”

In the next instant he’d returned and put the cup to her lips.

She drank every drop hoping he would move away from her, but to her consternation he hunkered down next to her after she’d finished.

He was too close- He smelled too good- She couldn’t think, let alone breathe.

“Better now?” The concern in his deep voice was too much.

“I-I’m fine. Thank you.” She stood up abruptly in an effort to separate herself from him.

The picture was still lying on the floor. Needing something physical to do in her chaotic state, she walked over and picked it up. To her relief the glass hadn’t broken. At last she had the answer to why he’d requested she bring her picture of Winston along.

She put it back on his desk before turning to him. “Mr. Sterling-”

“Surely we’re beyond the formalities,” he broke in.

No! We aren’t! We can’t be!

“My name is Payne.”

I know. I don’t dare use it.

Her body was trembling. “I swear I’ve never been in your office before!”

Lines marred his rugged features. “After your testimony in court and the way you almost fainted just now, you think I don’t know that?”

She put a hand to her throat. “I don’t see how I could have painted everything so true to life! There’s such a thing as coincidence. But this is something else…”

“My feelings exactly.”

Rainey shook her head. “I’m not one to believe in an out-of-body experience that brought me to this office.”

“Nor I.”

She stared at him once more. “I’m frightened. How do you explain something like this happening?”

He rubbed the back of his neck before eyeing her through narrowed lids. “The judge said it. Some things can’t be explained. You just have to accept them.”

“But your fiancée probably won’t believe I haven’t been stalking you. I wouldn’t!” Warmth rosied her cheeks.

His expression grew solemn. “That’s why I want you with me when we tell her and Catherine the true situation.”

“Your niece?”

“Yes.”

“How old is she?”

“Fifteen.”

“Are you two close?”

“Very,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have favorites, but when you meet her, you’ll understand why.”

Rainey moaned. “I have to assume they’ve both been to your office.”

He nodded. “Catherine, many times.”

“When they saw the cover, they must have been petrified. I’m so sorry-” Rainey blurted.

“Don’t you think you’ve beaten yourself enough?” There was an edge to his tone that silenced her. “Let’s agree it’s been a hellish week for everyone concerned and get out of here.”

By now he’d reached the elevator and stood there a male entity of barely suppressed energy waiting to break free of the confining walls of his office.

Her heartbeat accelerated to a sickening pitch. Since coming to this office, being touched by him, she felt a stronger connection to him than ever.

This was wrong, all wrong. Yet she found herself taking one step, then another, toward him.

Her conscience screamed at her to beg off with some excuse before it was too late.

Still she kept going.

The doors closed, sealing her inside with him. So much for listening to the nagging voice that told her she would live to regret this.

They rode to the roof where his helicopter sat waiting.

She should stop this madness now, before things went any further. But the temptation to go where he led was greater than any force she’d ever known.

He walked to the helicopter with her and helped her get in. The security man she’d drawn in the courtroom for the judge followed them at a short distance. He climbed in behind her.

After fastening the seat strap, she realized she’d become an eager participant in a plan that could lead to her destruction. Yet one look at Payne Sterling sitting in the co-pilot’s, so alive and vital, and no power on earth could tear her away.

The whir of the rotors drowned out the last death gasp of her conscience. There was liftoff.

Rainey was being carried beyond the point of no return.

AFTER court, Payne had decided to spend the night at the penthouse working. In phone calls to both Catherine and Diane, he’d told them they could stop worrying. All would be explained when he arrived at Phyllis’s on Friday evening.

He’d made arrangements for Diane to be picked up and driven to his sister’s home where they’d have dinner. The two women had no idea he was bringing a guest.

Catherine would be delighted.

Diane would be disappointed the two of them weren’t going to be alone. But her relief when she met the artist and found out Rainey was no stalker would go a long way to help make up for it.

More aware of the woman seated behind the pilot than he wanted to be, Payne let Mac do the honors of orienting her during the flight. But they were nearing Crag’s Head now.

He turned his head in her direction. “We’ll be putting down shortly. From there it’s a short drive to my sister’s house.”

Rainey nodded her well-shaped head whose hair gleamed a silvery gold in the late afternoon rays of the sun. He could tell she was loving every minute of the ride. Her eyes were drinking in everything.

So were his.

He couldn’t seem to get enough of her charming profile or the mold of her body in the attractive yellow sundress with the white short-sleeved jacket she was wearing.

On impulse he told his pilot to circle Crag’s Head before landing. The stark whiteness of the remodeled lighthouse against the vivid blue of the ocean never failed to thrill him. He wondered what her artist’s eye would make of the view.

Her reaction wasn’t long in coming.

When the helicopter dipped toward his property, she cried out in awe, turning her head every which way to keep it in sight. The pilot swung around, giving her the full treatment.

“Oh-” she exclaimed again in what sounded like absolute delight. “It resembles Le Corbusier’s chapel at Ronchamps I once visited. Yet it’s a lighthouse too. The integration is pure genius. It’s the most fabulous thing I’ve ever seen!”

Her shining green eyes fused with his. “Is it a museum? Can you go inside?”

Her ecstatic response pleased him in ways he didn’t dare contemplate. “I think it could be arranged.”

The comment produced a grin from his pilot who circled lower to land on the pad.

“You mean we’re going to go inside now?” She sounded incredulous and so excited he could feel it in every atom of his body.

As they touched down, Payne unstrapped himself to help her out of the helicopter. When her arm brushed against his chest by accident, it felt like a lick of flame.

At the same time he breathed in the delicious scent of spring flowers drifting around her as it had done in his office. The fragrance enticed rather than overpowered.

Sam and Andy had already pulled up in the limo to meet them. Payne cupped her elbow as he made the introductions. “I’m going to show Ms. Bennett around, then we’ll leave for my sister’s.”

He didn’t miss the speculative glance Mac gave him before the men started transferring bags and paintings from the helicopter to the limo.

Mac had every reason to look surprised. Payne guarded his privacy with a vengeance. No outsiders. Only family, Diane’s family, his security people, the Myers and Drew Wallace were allowed. To the rest of the world, Crag’s Head was off limits.

By bringing Rainey here, Payne had broken his own rule, another aberration that didn’t bear close scrutiny.

Her gaze continued to study the exterior as they walked toward the north entrance. “This is your home,” she said in a quiet voice. “The lighthouse should have been my first clue.”

“Yes.”

“How do you bear to leave it?”

He sucked in his breath. “I ask myself that question every morning when I climb in the helicopter.”

She paused in front of the door, eyeing him with a directness he found exhilarating. “Now it’s clear to me where the king of glass does his inspired thinking. Your office is simply a place where you get everyone else to carry out your business.”

How did she know so much?

He cocked his head. “You read World Fortune Magazine?”

“No. Grace Carlow showed me the article so I’d have some idea of the man I’d be facing in court.”

Her mouth suddenly curved into a haunting smile. It said she understood the forces that drove him.

The woman had second sight. Her painting was already proof of that.

“Shall we go inside?”

Her expectant expression gave her away. “I can’t wait.”

Payne’s lips twitched before he used his pocket remote to gain entrance. Mrs. Myers met them in the foyer. She covered her surprise well at seeing him with another woman besides Diane.

“Betty? This is Rainey Bennett, an artist from Grand Junction, Colorado, now living in New York. As soon as I shower and change, we’ll be driving to my niece’s for dinner.”

“Would you like something to drink while you wait, Ms. Bennett?”