Rebecca Winters - Manhattan Merger

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.

“D IDyou 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 if 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.

But Paris wasn’t Switzerland.

Was it possible she was toying with him to pay him back for involving Rainey in their personal lives? Could it be Diane was pretending to go so far but no further when it came to the bottom line?

Payne didn’t want to think the worst where she was concerned, however anything was possible.

“I guess I don’t have to ask you how things went with Diane.”

Rainey.

His head jerked to the right. He discovered her standing in front of one of his maps.

Every time he saw her, he felt like it was the first time. Something inside him ignited. The pulse throbbed at the base of his throat. It was an involuntary response, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

“Your fiancée is too intelligent not to have seen through your plan, Payne.”

“Nevertheless she’s going to Paris with me on Tuesday.”

“Really?” she cried with a haunting smile. “Then why aren’t you looking happier about it?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. Something isn’t right. I’ve read articles about babies who never crawl. One day they just get up and start walking. But it’s rare.

“That’s what Diane did today. From recluse to transatlantic tourist, all in the space of a morning.”

She moved toward him. “You hurt her by hiring me. I suppose it’s not beyond the possibility that she’s playing a game with you. But even if she is, your plan did provoke her to this much of a response. You should be rejoicing.”

He had rejoiced. For a period of about ten minutes he’d allowed himself that luxury.

“And what if it’s just a blip on the screen?”

“Then you’ll try something else because it’s the way Payne Sterling is made.”

“Rainey,” her name came out on a half groan. That adorable mouth of hers was such an enticement, he could barely concentrate. The urge to take her in his arms was so intense, he had to force himself to put distance between them.