Rebecca Winters - Manhattan Merger

“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.”