Manhattan Merger

“I’m afraid it’s going to be the other way around,” she admitted in a tremulous whisper.

“Then we’re the luckiest man and woman alive.”

“We are.” Her voice caught before rapture consumed them for the rest of the night.

Payne drew her sleeping body close against him one more time. Then he laid her down and moved off the bed, compelled to see what she’d been drawing.

He found her backpack and pulled out the sketch pad. After studying the little engineer one more time, he turned to the next drawing and came face to face with himself.

It was the picture on the cover of Manhattan Merger. But there was a different woman in Payne’s arms, a different look in his eyes. This time he held his adoring wife in his embrace. They both wore their wedding clothes. The gold band she’d given him was on his finger.

She wore his diamond ring and wedding band. The picture on his office wall had been changed to depict Crag’s Head and the sailboat. There was another little picture propped on the desk next to Winston. It was Bruno.

The eager, tremulous look of joy on their faces brought tears to his eyes. She’d dated and titled it, The Look of Love.

Emotion made his throat close up.

“I wanted to capture our wedding night so we’d have it forever.” Rainey had come up behind him and slid her arms around his chest. She pressed her cheek against his back. “I love you so much I never want to do anything to take that look away.”

He put the sketchbook on the end of the bed. Turning in her arms, he cupped her precious face in his hands. “We’ll hang this in our bedroom. It’ll be our guiding star as we navigate through life together.”

“Yes—” she cried as her eyes filled.

Payne lowered his head to taste those salty tears before he swept them away to the place destiny had reserved for them.

EPILOGUE

“RAINEY?”

“Yes, Betty?”

“There’s someone here to see you.”

Rainey was expecting her husband home any minute now. “Who is it?”

“They want it to be a surprise.”

Because of security, no one dropped by Crag’s Head unless they were family. Unless— Could it be Drew Wallace? He and his wife had been on vacation in Canada. Maybe he’d decided to pay her husband a personal visit now that he’d returned. The poor man was facing a mountain of work.

When Rainey reminded her husband he shouldn’t be so gleeful about it, he reminded her that a mountain of work meant his company was still in business, for which they should be grateful. Coming from a soon-to-be trillionaire, that was quite a statement.

“I’ll be right down, Betty.”

At this point Rainey was eight months pregnant and didn’t move nearly as fast as she once had. Sometimes she paused on the stairs to get rid of a leg cramp before taking another step. The calcium tablets were supposed to help, but she still had her moments.

Winston was so cute. He’d stop on the step with her and wait. She could tell Payne found it all very amusing. His blue eyes danced whenever he watched her struggle in an attempt to appear graceful.

He could ha

rdly wait to be a father. They were going to have a boy. Catherine and Linda had already volunteered to baby-sit. Both sets of parents were ecstatic. Rainey’s mother and father would fly out the minute she went into labor. Craig would come for the christening. Everything was ready for the big event.

Still wearing her artist’s smock, which worked as a perfect maternity outfit, she put down her paintbrush and left the nursery to see who’d dropped by. With the addition of an owl peeking out of a large knothole in the tree, her mural of the forest creatures would be complete.

Winston stayed right with her. When she reached the bottom step and heard her name called, she turned in the direction of the living room. A beautiful long-legged brunette in a periwinkle suit started walking toward her.

“Diane—” she gasped incredulously. “Look at you!”

The other woman’s smile was radiant. “I was going to say the same thing to you.”