Rebecca Winters - Manhattan Merger

Catherine laughed. “What kind do you have?”

“An English bulldog.”

“Oh how cute. Uncle Payne once had a bullmastiff.”

“I know. I saw the picture of him on his desk. The two dogs’ faces look a lot alike.”

“What’s his name?”

“Winston.”

“Of course. Winston Churchill. How funny.”

“I agree.” Rainey chuckled. “There are moments when my dog looks just like him. Once Craig bought a cigar and put it in Winston’s mouth while I took the picture.”

They both laughed.

“I’d love to see that!” his niece said.

Rainey’s eyes swerved to Payne’s. “I have a picture in my purse.”

“Can I look?”

“Of course.” Rainey opened her handbag and handed her the framed picture showing Winston with the cigar.

Catherine broke into more laughter. “This is hilarious. He’s darling!”

“I think so too. He’s the dog I put in the painting. Just being with Lady makes me homesick for him.”

His niece darted Payne a relieved glance before handing the picture back to Rainey.

“Lady’s one of the reasons I didn’t go to Mexico with my family.”

Payne put his arm around Catherine’s shoulders. “What’s the other reason?” He knew there had to be one.

“It probably has to do with a boy,” Rainey inserted. “I can remember missing a few trips to hang around my brother and his friends.”

Catherine smiled without saying anything. It was as good as an admission. She opened the door so they could all go inside the house.

Being an artist obviously made Rainey an excellent judge of human nature. But being around her had knocked him off base until he didn’t recognize himself anymore.

He took a fortifying breath. “Where’s Diane?”

“I left her on the west patio. We’ll be eating out there.”

“Good. Why don’t you show Rainey where to freshen up while I go find her.”

“I’ll be happy to. Come through here, Rainey.”

“Your home is fabulous, like walking into a page of Architectural Digest. And it’s so big! My studio apartment could fit in this one room alone.”

“Where do you live?”

Their voices grew faint as Payne made his way to the patio. He would love to eavesdrop on their conversation, but Diane was waiting.

“At last!” she cried when she saw him in the doorway. “I tried to reach you on the phone.”

I know.

She wheeled around the table and lifted her arms to him. “It feels like two years instead of two days.”

He wished to heaven he could say the same thing back to her, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t in him. All he could do was give her a quick kiss and hug.

As the opening line of Manhattan Merger had stated, Logan Townsend wasn’t in love with his fiancée.

Payne wasn’t in love with his fiancée either.

He’d never be able to say the words she wanted to hear.

Guilt and the need to find a cure for her had prompted his proposal of marriage. He’d told her he would take care of her and protect her. He owed her that much.

The grand plan was to help her walk again. Since their engagement he’d been working toward that goal with a single-mindedness he wouldn’t allow anything to overshadow, especially not Diane’s defeatist attitude.

What he hadn’t counted on was Rainey Bennett entering his life.

“Are you sure everything’s all right?” Diane asked when he straightened.

After pushing her wheelchair back to the table, Payne sat down next to her and reached for her hand.

“As I told you on the phone last evening, you don’t need to worry anymore. To prove it, I’ve invited someone to dinner who will put any fears you have to rest.”

Her face closed up. “You brought company here?”

“Yes. Catherine will be out with her in a minute. Her name is Lorraine Bennett. She’s a freelance artist from Grand Junction, Colorado, who designs greeting cards and does paintings that appear on some of the covers for Red Rose Romance. She’s the one who painted me.”

“She confessed to it in court?”

“Yes. But when you hear the whole story, you’ll understand it was an honest mistake.”

Her eyes flashed in anger. “How could it be an honest mistake when she did it without your permission?”

“It’s complicated. You’ll just have to trust me.”

Diane’s hand clutched his. “I wish you’d asked me before you issued your invitation.”

“It’s because of your reaction right now that I didn’t,” Payne explained in a calm voice. “When the hearing started, I felt exactly like you. I was convinced someone would be arrested by the end of the day. We can thank God the reverse was true.”

Her lips tightened. “For once I think you used the wrong judgment by bringing her here.”

Payne happened to agree with her, but not for the same reasons she was thinking.

“I had another motive in mind, aside from the hope that meeting her would help you and Catherine to forget this incident.”

“What motive?”

“Ms. Bennett feels terrible for what happened. It might help her to recover faster if she can see we bear no malice.”

“She should feel terrible.”

Payne knew it was her helplessness that made her less forgiving than she would otherwise be.

“Try to put yourself in her place, Diane. Throughout the hearing she felt the burden of being the one who not only implicated herself, but the author and the whole company.”

She let go of his hand. “Why don’t you find out what’s keeping them? The sooner dinner is over, the sooner she’ll be gone and we can be alone. I need to talk to you about our honeymoon. I’ve decided where I want to go and it’s not Switzerland.”

“Let’s discuss this later.”

“It’ll be a waste of time, Payne.”

He grimaced. “Until we’ve done every earthly thing possible to help you, you don’t have the right to say that. I’ll be back in a minute.” In a few swift strides he left the patio.

“Payne-”

He could hear her calling him back, but for once he refused to give in to her tears.

WHEN Rainey saw Payne in the kitchen doorway, his whole expression had undergone a change. He was gripped by some dark, powerful emotion held barely in check.

The difference in him was so startling, she almost dropped the plates of freshly cut fruits and vegetables she was holding.

“What’s going on in here?”

Catherine must have noticed the difference in him too, but all she said was, “We’re bringing the food right now, Uncle Payne. I was just introducing Rainey to Nyla. She’s going to eat with us so she can hear everything that happened in court.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

Payne’s comment provoked a laugh from his niece who carried the platter of hamburgers out of the kitchen. But Rainey had an idea Catherine wasn’t fooled by his sudden playfulness. Neither was Rainey.

She followed them to the patio. Nyla brought up the rear with the salad she’d taken from the fridge.

If Rainey hadn’t already been to Payne’s home, she would have thought the Boyce’s house and view of the ocean was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen.

Everything was picture perfect against the twilight backstop.

Payne took his place behind his fiancée.

That one defining gesture set the boundaries in concrete for Rainey. What had transpired before this moment was history. Whatever happened from here on out belonged to someone else’s future. Rainey was simply a spectator passing through.

“Rainey Bennett? May I present my fiancée, Diane Wylie.”

“How do you do, Ms. Bennett.”

The other woman spoke first and held out her hand. Rainey moved around the table to shake it.

She and Diane were probably the same age. The attractive brunette had that girl-next-door look. To Rainey’s eye she seemed the type her brother might date rather than-

Rainey forced herself to stop with the speculation. Payne Sterling meant nothing to her. He couldn’t!

“I’m so thankful for this opportunity to meet you, Ms. Wylie. You’ll never know how sorry I am for putting all of you through more anguish.”

Payne’s fiancée studied Rainey out of intelligent brown eyes before letting go of her hand. “Payne said it was an honest mistake, so it’s best forgotten. I’m afraid his concern over my welfare has caused him to impose on your time.”

“It’s not an imposition!” Rainey blurted. “We’ve just come from his office. I almost had a heart attack when I saw how similar everything was to my painting. Anyone would be suspicious.

“After what you’ve suffered, I wanted to meet you in person and assure you I meant no harm. I hope in time you can forget it.”

“Rainey? Do you want to come and sit between Nyla and me?”

Rainey could have hugged Catherine for smoothing a difficult moment for her. She took her place, determined to avoid any eye contact with her host.

No more thinking about him.

“The hamburgers and potato salad are the best, sweetheart,” he said after all of them had settled down to eat.

“Thanks. There’s more in the kitchen.”

“Everything’s delicious,” Rainey declared. Since meeting Diane Wylie, she’d lost her appetite but forced herself to eat in order not to hurt Catherine’s feelings.

The dog brushed against Rainey’s leg.

“Is it against the rules to give Lady a nibble? She’s looking up at me with soulful eyes.”

The teenager smiled. “You can feed her some strawberries.”

“Oh good.” Rainey let one drop. Lady snatched it before it reached the ground. She dropped a couple more. “Winston likes these too, but he hates grapes.”

“Lady hates limes.”

“I should think so.” She chuckled.

“Why don’t you tell us how you happened to paint my fiancé?”

Rainey had been waiting for that question. Before she could say anything, Payne rose to his feet.