There was a pulse throbbing here. She was now a part of it. That’s what made every day exciting.
Until today.
Since the phone call she’d had this awful pit in her stomach.
What if she’d done something so terrible, her happiness would be taken away?
Fear made her walk faster.
She entered Red Rose Publishers and took the stairs to the second floor. After reaching the end of the hall she entered the legal department and walked over to the front desk.
“I’m Lorraine Bennett. Grace Carlow is expecting me.”
A young female receptionist told her to go on back to the first door on her left. Rainey complied.
“Good! You’re on time.” The attorney waved her inside. She was a tall, big-boned woman who was probably in her early sixties. She wore a white pantsuit with a black and white houndstooth print blouse. From the crown of her upswept blond hair she pulled down her glasses and studied Rainey for a moment.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“You don’t look a day over twenty-one. Lucky you. Call me Grace.” She smiled and extended her hand which Rainey shook. “Sit down.”
Rainey took the chair opposite her desk. “I take it I’ve painted a celebrity by accident.”
The woman made a funny noise in her throat. “Ever heard of the Sterling bank of America?”
She bit her lip. “Who hasn’t?”
“Ever heard of Sterling Shipping lines?”
Rainey’s body started to feel heavier in the chair. She nodded.
“Ever hear of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Richard Sterling?”
“Yes,” Rainey whispered.
“Ever hear of Senator Phyllis Sterling-Boyce? Ambassador Lloyd Sterling? Rear Admiral Daniel Sterling?”
Her eyes closed tightly for a moment. “Of course.”
By now Rainey was squirming.
Grace handed her a recent publication of World Fortune Magazine. “The whole lot of them don’t even count compared to this Sterling.”
Rainey took one look at the man on the cover and gasped.
King of Glass New York Billionaire-soon-to-be-Trillionaire Payne Sterling discovers ancient burial ground while mucking about with fiber-optic cable in his underworld kingdom close to Wall Street.
She read the caption twice before she studied the man in hard hat and jeans resting against an enormous cable.
Like pure revelation she understood why she’d been so drawn to him that she’d felt compelled to put his face and body to canvas.
“Oh boy.” Rainey’s voice shook before she handed the magazine back to Grace.
The attorney eyed her with compassion. “Oh boy is right. He’s the embodiment of one of the sons of the Earl of Sterling who left England for America to build an empire of his own.”
She tapped the cover. “This one shuns publicity like it was the plague of mankind, but he’s so damned attractive it still comes after him, innocently or otherwise.”