His honesty was as devastating as his dark blue gaze which traveled over her features with an intimacy that made her tremble.
She averted her eyes. “It’s a helpless feeling to know you’ve done something you can’t undo—like trying to recapture the air from a balloon. If I could turn the clock back, knowing what I know now—” she half moaned the words.
“Amen,” he muttered with an unmistakable echo of pain revealed in that one word. It haunted her. “My attorney will be calling Ms. Carlow about the paintings of me still in your possession.”
She nodded. “Naturally you’ll want proof that everything has been destroyed.”
“Excuse me for interrupting, Ms. Bennett,” his attorney broke in on them. “I need to talk to my client.”
“Of course.” Her eyes lifted to Payne Sterling’s once more. “Thank you for not pressing charges against the others…or me. I’ll always be grateful,” her voice throbbed. “God bless you and your fiancée.”
She turned away from him, feeling much worse than before because he was no longer just a memory from a photograph. The reality of his physical presence, plus the pain she felt emanating from him, had combined to squeeze her heart with fresh guilt.
“What did he say to upset you?” Craig whispered as he and their mother walked her out of the courtroom.
“Nothing. I just feel horrible for causing him and his family more pain.”
“It wasn’t intentional and he knows it,” her mother assured her. “Let’s be glad it’s over. Since Craig and I have to fly back home in the morning, shall we celebrate your victory and take a ferry to Staten Island if it isn’t too late? It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
“That sounds like a good idea, mom.” Anything to get her mind off of Payne Sterling for a while. “We’ll grab a taxi out in front of the court building and head for the terminal. If I remember right, the ferries leave often during rush hour.”
“When we get back, I’ll treat us to dinner,” her brother offered. “Where shall we go?”
“There’s a great sushi place on Bond Street.” She’d said it to tease Craig. His proclivity for beef was well known.
When both he and her mother frowned on cue, Rainey laughed. “Just kidding. I’ll take you guys to Del Frisco’s. It’s the best steak house in Manhattan.”
“Now you’re talking.”
They moved outside the building to hail a cab. “I’m surely glad you’ve lived around here long enough to know your way around, Rainey,” her mother confided. “You love it, don’t you.”
“On the whole, yes. But the masses of people can be daunting at times. To live here permanently would require a lot of money if you craved isolation and privacy.”
“Luckily we have that for free in Grand Junction,” Craig said before letting out an ear-piercing whistle. It did the job. One of the taxis whizzing by came to a quick stop.
Rainey climbed in after her mother. Then Craig got inside and pulled the door closed after him.
She leaned forward to address the driver. “Whitehall Terminal, please.”
As the taxi started up again, Rainey noticed Payne Sterling and his attorney, both in sunglasses, leave the courthouse surrounded by a group of men all in business suits. They got in a limousine with tinted windows.
After the accident that had left his fiancée paralyzed, Rainey imagined he would always be well guarded. How horrible to be a target everywhere he went. She shuddered.
Her brother eyed her with concern. “Are you all right?”
“I’m thankful he didn’t press charges, but I still feel awful about what I did.”
“As the judge said, there was no evil intended. Chalk it up to one of your exciting experiences in the Big Apple. Someday you’ll look back and laugh about it.”
“I hope so.”
“Craig’s right, honey. I’m sure Mr. Sterling’s relief that neither you or Bonnie Wrigley was a stalker has caused him to forget about it already.”
“Even if that’s true, he has to live every moment of his life with the knowledge that his fiancée is in a wheelchair because of a demented woman who imagines herself in love with him.”
“That’s the downside of being a man with a name like Sterling, and a bank account that could fund the homeless forever.”
Rainey bowed her head. “Grace told me he already does that.”