Manhattan Merger

“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?”

“No thank you.”

“What about you, Mr. Sterling?”

“Nothing for me either.”

“If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”

“Thanks, Betty.”

When she disappeared he turned to his guest. “While I’m upstairs, make yourself at home. I won’t be long.”

Fifteen minutes later he came back down knowing exactly where to find her. Sure enough she’d rolled a stool over to his underground map of Los Angeles. She was so deep in concentration she didn’t hear his footsteps when he entered this portion of the house.

It took the ringing of his cell phone to bring her head around. She got up from the stool. “How long have you been standing there?”