Manhattan Merger

Dear Reader,

We’re constantly striving to bring you the best romance fiction by the most exciting authors, and in Harlequin Romance® we’re especially keen to feature fresh, sparkling, emotionally exhilarating novels! Modern love stories to suit your every mood: poignant, deeply moving stories; lively, upbeat romances with sparks flying; or sophisticated, edgy novels with a cosmopolitan flavor.

All our authors are special, and we hope you continue to enjoy each month’s new selection of Harlequin Romance novels. This month we’re delighted to feature another novel with extra fizz! Bestselling author Rebecca Winters brings us a fast-paced, feel-good romance that tells both sides of the story! The heroine, Rainey, and the hero, Payne, both get their say. And the result? A gripping, emotionally insightful read!

We hope you enjoy this book by Rebecca Winters—it’s fresh, flirty and feel-good! And look out for future sparkling stories in Harlequin Romance. If you’d like to share your thoughts and comments with us, do please write to:

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Happy reading!

The Editors

Rebecca Winters, an American writer and mother of four, is excited to be in this new millennium because it means another new beginning. Having said goodbye to the classroom, where she taught French and Spanish, she is now free to spend more time with the family, to travel and to write the Harlequin Romance® novels she loves so dearly.

Rebecca loves to hear from readers. If you wish to e-mail her, please visit her Web site at www.rebeccawinters-author.com.

Rebecca Winters has written over forty-five books for Harlequin Romance® and is an international bestselling author. Her wonderfully unique, sparkling stories continue to be immensely popular with readers around the world.

Manhattan Merger

Rebecca Winters

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

“UNCLE Payne?”

Thirty-three-year-old Payne Sterling glanced up from the screen of his laptop in time to see his favorite niece Catherine come flying in the study. He doubted her feet touched the ground.

His fiancée followed at a little slower pace in her wheelchair. Both women seemed panicked by something.

“You’ve got to see this!”

Catherine looked and sounded frantic as she thrust a paperback book at him.

“Easy, sweetheart.”

Puzzled, he took it from her, then gave it his full attention. To his surprise he discovered it was a romance novel of all things entitled Manhattan Merger, by Bonnie Wrigley.

Below the title was a picture of a man holding a woman in his arms. They were standing in the office of a New York City skyscraper where the Manhattan skyline was revealed in the background.

Upon a second look he realized it wasn’t just any office.

Or any man…

Even though it wasn’t a photograph, it was like looking at himself in a mirror.

He stared at it for a full minute in stunned disbelief.

“Promise you won’t tell mother I’ve been reading these, Uncle Payne. The thing is, over the last year I’ve noticed that quite a few of the men on the covers resemble you. But this one is you,” Catherine’s voice trembled. “Even his hairline is the same shape.”

He could see that.

“She’s right, Payne!” Diane cried out anxiously. “This man has your build and dark brown hair. It’s the same length. Everything is like you, even to the exact hue of your blue eyes. That’s why I told Catherine she had to show this romance to you.”

Both of them had lost color.

“He’s even dressed in the same kind of suit and shirt I’ve noticed you wear to work before, Uncle Payne! And that view out of those same kinds of windows is exactly what you see when you walk in your office. The person who did the cover has to know a lot of private things about you.

“Look!” She pointed to some items. “See that picture of a ship passing in front of a lighthouse? You have a similar picture hanging on your office wall! And what about that little picture of a bulldog propped on the desk?”

Payne had recognized those details at once, but he hadn’t wanted to say anything for fear of alarming either of them further.

The fact that he’d hired an architect to incorporate the old lighthouse at Crag’s Head into a home where he’d been living for the past few years had set off more warning bells.

He eyed his fifteen-year-old niece whose hair was the same pale gold as his sister’s. “Have you read this yet?”

“No— As soon as I showed it to Diane, we decided to bring it straight to you!”

“You did the right thing.”

Somewhere he’d heard it said everyone had a look-alike. Possibly more than one. Maybe this was a fantastic coincidence, but he couldn’t take any chances. Not after what had happened at Christmas.

“Where do you get these books, Catherine?”

“One of the maids reads them first, then gives me a bunch. When I’m through, I return them to her.”

“Which maid?”

“Nyla.”

“Catherine really shouldn’t be reading books like this, Payne,” Diane declared. “Whoever is responsible for putting you on the covers probably read a lot of trashy romances at a young age and can no longer distinguish between fantasy and reality.”

“There’s nothing trashy about them,” Catherine defended quietly. “They’re exciting stories about people falling in love. You learn so much and go so many places. I think they’re wonderful! If you or mom would ever take the time to read one, you’d be hooked too.”

Diane’s eyes sent him a private message that indicated her strong disapproval.

“Listen, Uncle Payne—don’t be angry with Nyla. I don’t want her to get into trouble. She’s the one who said I ought to bring it to your attention!

“If you say anything to mom and dad about this, they’ll make me stay with grandma and grandpa the next time they take a trip. Nyla might even lose her job.”

He shook his head. “I’m not going to jeopardize her position here. On the contrary, I want to thank Nyla for aiding and abetting you in your latest reading frenzy. It has brought something to light that needs to be dealt with right away.”

Diane trembled. “This could be another crazed woman who’s been following you around without your knowledge. There’s no question she’s been in your office, Payne. I’m afraid for you.”

His fiancée had every reason to be terrified.

Less than six months ago Diane Wylie had taken a stalker’s bullet meant for him and was now condemned to a wheelchair—perhaps permanently.

Consumed by guilt, Payne moved around the desk and hunkered down at her side. Reaching for her hand he said, “I don’t know what to believe at the moment, but if this is another demented wacko, I’m going to find out. You two stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

He stood up, stroked his niece’s pale cheek, then grabbed the romance off the desk and strode out of his brother-in-law’s study. A few minutes later he caught up with Nyla in the kitchen enjoying afternoon tea with some of the other staff.

Her expression sobered when he showed her the romance and asked where she’d bought it.

“I get them through a book club, but you can find copies people have already read at the used book store in the village. It’s called Candle Glow Books. They have everything.”

“Thank you, Nyla.”

“You’re welcome. I might as well tell you, I’ve seen your face on other covers, but your hair and eyes were always different. Until this book came in the mail, I thought it was just one of those amazing coincidences.

“I suggested Catherine say something to you about it. The likeness to you is startling! So’s the story.”

The story too?

Without wasting more time he pulled out his cell phone and called security to meet him around the back of his sister’s house.

Since the age of seventeen, Payne had been the victim of half a dozen stalking incidents which had been brought to an end through police intervention.

But last December between Christmas and New Year, a psychotic woman had managed to penetrate the Sterling compound on Long Island’s South Fork. Whether she came by water or managed to get past the guard at the gate, no one knew.

At the time, the Sterlings were having dinner for the Wylies who’d invited them to their home for brunch earlier in the day. The Wylies lived on the North Shore of Long Island and had enjoyed this exchange tradition with the Sterlings for many years.

Prior to the Christmas holidays Payne had been out of the country a great deal and had spent most it working at his office where he could catch up on the paperwork in solitude.

While immersed, his mother called him upset because he’d missed the Wylies’ brunch. Could she at least count on him for dinner, and would he please bring Diane who was in the city shopping? If she could fly back with him, then no one would be late.

Knowing how much his mother cared about these things, he agreed to come and bring Diane with him. As the two of them were walking from the car to the front porch of his parents’ home, the demented intruder had emerged from the bushes. The thirtyish-looking woman claimed to be in love with Payne. If she couldn’t have him, no other woman could either.

Payne saw the glint of metal in time to push Diane aside before the gun went off, but the stalker had poor aim. To his horror the bullet struck Diane in her lower back before he could knock the lunatic to the ground. The horrific experience had changed all their lives.

Diane had clung to him all the way to the hospital. In the fear that she was going to die, she’d told him how much she needed him, how much she’d always loved him.

He’d had no idea of her deep feelings for him. He’d never been interested in her that way, but at that point it didn’t matter because he couldn’t have abandoned her in the state she was in.

Several months later she still couldn’t walk though she retained some feeling in her legs. The doctors told her they’d done all they could do and suggested she go to a clinic in Switzerland reputed to have success with her kind of spinal injury.

Afraid of failure, Diane had flatly refused to consider it and wouldn’t be consoled. At that point Payne took stock of his life and decided that if he proposed marriage, she might be more inclined to get the help she needed.

But after their engagement was announced, she seemed to retreat further into herself, unwilling to discuss going to Switzerland. Worse, she’d developed an almost irrational fear of the two of them being shot again.

In order to reassure her, Payne had made certain new security measures had been added to protect her and the Wylies as well as everyone on the Sterling estate. His fiancée now had twenty-four-hour protection.

As for Payne, four security men accompanied him wherever he went on business. A helicopter took him to his office in Manhattan. If he had to fly overseas, he used his private jet. When he had to drive somewhere on Long Island, one of the security men chauffeured him in a bulletproof limousine with one-way glass windows.

En route to the used bookstore in Oyster Bay, he handed the novel to the retired Navy SEAL, Mac, who’d been his personal bodyguard for the last three years.

“What do you make of this?”

Mac took one look and whistled. His gray eyes darted to Payne in puzzlement before he gave it back to him. “How come you’re on the cover?”

“That’s what I intend to find out.”

While the driver looked for Candle Glow Books, Payne opened the novel to the copyright page.

Red Rose Romance Publishers, Inc., Second Avenue, New York, New York.

His eyes narrowed. He’d never heard of it, but that location was east of Central Park near the Turtle Bay Grill where he often met with overseas clients.

It appeared the book had been published two months ago.

That meant whatever party was responsible for his picture being on the cover had possessed knowledge of him long before the publication date. Most publishing houses had up to three or more years of books waiting to go to press.

There was a disclaimer.

Any characters, names or incidents in this book do not exist outside the mind of the author.

Like hell!

A grimace marred Payne’s features.

He turned the book over to read the blurb. By the time he’d digested the second sentence, his body had broken out in a cold sweat.

Secrets?

Powerful, dashing New York billionaire Logan Townsend, is hiding a painful secret from his fiancée and family.

“Good Lord,” he whispered.

When he’s involved in an accident in the Canyonlands of the American West, Dr. Maggie Osborn discovers what that secret is.

Unbeknownst to him, she puts her life in danger to save his.

But secrets have a way of getting out.

It isn’t until Logan returns to New York that he learns Maggie is keeping one from him.

On the verge of sealing the most vital merger of his existence, he’s torn between duty and desire.

Upon reading the last line, Payne felt as if someone had just walked over his grave. Convinced nothing about this book was an accident, he rolled it up in his fist.

He would willingly litter the island page by page to be rid of it. But for several obvious reasons he couldn’t do that and was forced to sit there while he attempted to contain the savage impulse.

Sam, the security man at the wheel, turned down an alley, then came to a stop at the rear of the used book store in question. Two of the security men, John and Andy, jumped out to enter the shop ahead of Payne.

It was near the closing hour on a Tuesday evening in June. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect if he’d hoped to avoid a lot of unwanted attention.

When the all clear was given, Mac covered Payne’s back as they got out of the limousine and went inside the claustrophobic shop. It was a maze of cubbyholes and narrow aisles. With novels stacked to the ceiling everywhere he turned, there was no doubt this was a paperback lover’s paradise.

The eyes of the older saleswoman behind the counter lit up at his approach. “Mr. Sterling— Good evening! I’m Alice Perry. It’s a real honor to have you in my store.” She extended her hand which he shook.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Perry,” he answered back.

“What can I do for you?”

He handed her the novel which would never lie flat again.

She took one look at it and her gaze lifted to his with excitement. “I knew this was you!” she cried. “Every romance reader who’s come in here lately has been talking about it.”

Payne groaned. “According to my niece, there are other novels besides this that appear to have my likeness on the cover.”

“Oh there are!” she blurted. “But this one…”

So neither Catherine or Nyla had exaggerated anything. The news was going from bad to worse.

“At this point there isn’t a copy of Manhattan Merger to be had anywhere on the Atlantic seaboard. My phone’s been ringing off the hook with book dealers wanting copies! Those people lucky enough to have purchased it when it first came out are holding on to it for dear life.

“I kept copies of it and those other books for myself and my daughter who helps me run the shop. Perhaps before you leave you’d be willing to sign them? We’d be so thrilled if you would.”

“I’d be happy to oblige, if I’d given my permission to appear on their covers.”

Her smile faded. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I, Ms. Perry. That’s why I’m here, to try and solve this mystery.”

“You mean they just went ahead and used your picture?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” He had to tamp down hard on his anger. “May I see them please?”

“I only have four left. They’re locked away in the back room until a book dealer from Connecticut arrives on Friday. He’s a collector and is going to pay me five thousand dollars apiece for them. Give me a moment and I’ll bring them out.”

“Only five thousand?” Mac said in a teasing whisper as the woman disappeared.

Ignoring the aside, Payne wandered over to the nearest bookshelf marked Mysteries. It was crammed with titles by various authors and sorted according to the alphabet. He pulled one out, curious to see what kind of cover was on the front.

The photograph had captured a busy street scene somewhere in London. A quick look at the copyright page gave the name of a British publisher.

He moved to another section marked Upbeat Romances published in Los Angeles. Their covers were done in cartoon caricatures.

“Here we are.”

He reshelved the book and joined the woman who’d laid the four books out on the counter for him. At first glance, he was horrified.

It was his face all right.

One of them depicted him as a Norseman with a flowing mane of white-blond hair, hazel eyes, bulging thighs and biceps twice his size. The book was called Roald’s Bride.

Another showed him as a Castilian prince in royal ceremonial robes with pitch-black hair and eyes entitled, Her Prince of Dreams.

In the third book, Undercover Love, he was a gray-eyed Royal Canadian Mountie in full red dress uniform wearing a hat that covered his hair.

The Star Grazer was the last book. It portrayed him as a man from the future with auburn hair and brown eyes.

On all of the covers he had his arms around a beautiful woman. It appeared the same person had done the artwork.

“That’s some life you lead,” came another crack from Mac, sotto voce.

Payne made no response as he looked at the spines. All four were a product of Red Rose Romance Publishers, and had been printed within the last year.

“How many publishers put out paperback romances besides Red Rose?”

“Dozens of companies throughout the world, but the ones on my shelves come mainly from the United States, England and Canada. Red Rose produces the most every year by quite a margin.”

“Have you seen my face on the covers of any romances other than Red Rose?”

“No.”

That was the only good news so far. He could hope Red Rose was a mom-and-pop outfit that probably didn’t have a large distribution base. “Do you have your romances sorted by publisher?”

“Yes.”

“Will you show me where the romance section is?”

She laughed. “It’s practically the whole shop except for the mysteries and science fiction here at the front.”

He tried hard not to reveal his shock. “Why don’t we try the Red Rose section first.”

“Follow me, Mr. Sterling.”

She led him a fourth of the way back. “It starts here and goes to the rear of the store.”

His eyes widened in incredulity. “These are all Red Rose Romances?”

“Yes. Their company has nine different lines depending on what kind of romance you’re looking for. Of course these are only the English versions. Their books are published in over a hundred languages. Something like that.”

A hundred! That meant—

“We keep a few copies in Italian and Russian for the occasional visitor,” she added.

He wondered how many times Catherine had been in here that her mother didn’t know about. Payne loved his sister Phyllis, but like their mother, she didn’t approve of a lot of things.

With her high-brow taste in the arts, music and literature, he doubted she’d ever had the curiosity to read a paperback romance. He couldn’t help but wonder if Diane disliked them on principle too.

Or maybe she’d read a few when she was a teenager and refused to admit to it. He’d like to know.

In Payne’s mind it would make Diane a more real person if she’d gone against her mother’s wishes the way Catherine had done, and could own up to it…

“How far do some of these books date back?”

“Red Rose has been in business at least forty years that I know of.”

Forty years?

He studied the voluminous amount of reading material. Evidently someone besides Nyla and Catherine had been gobbling these up by the thousands for at least four decades.

That was a long time… Too long not to be a reputable company.

“You’ll find their books listed under the separate headings hanging from the ceiling over each section. There’s something for every taste.”

“So I see,” Payne muttered.

A Touch of Romance, A Touch of Passion, A Touch of Espionage, A Touch of History, A Touch of Babies, A Touch of Royalty, A Touch of Sci-Fi/Paranormal, A Touch of Cowboy and A Touch of Humor.

“You’re welcome to browse as long as you like.”

“Thank you.”

Since she’d pulled all the books with his likeness from the shelves, there was no point in sifting through the mountains of romances. The mere thought staggered the imagination.

However he did take a book from each section to examine the covers. All of them had been done as a painting rather than a photograph. He carried them to the counter.

“I’m going to buy these nine books. The four you’re keeping I’d like to borrow for twenty-four hours.” He pulled a credit card from his wallet. “Add $20,000.00 to my bill. When the books are returned, you can credit it to my account.”

She shook her head. “I trust you to bring them back, Mr. Sterling. There’s no charge.”

“Thank you.”

He put his credit card away and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. “You’ve been very helpful,” he said, sliding it toward her. She started to make change but he told her not to bother.

“This is much too generous.”

“Humor me, please,” he said with a smile.

“If you insist. After all these years, it’s so exciting to meet the legendary member of the Sterling family!”

Payne had heard that comment one too many times in his life. However it would do no good to remind the woman that his place in the scheme of things had happened because of an accident of birth. Her place had been determined the same way.

Furthermore, he got up in the mornings, worked hard, suffered, agonized and bled before going to bed at night, just the way she and everyone else did on the planet.

Her gaze searched his. “I do hope this turns out to be an honest mistake for all concerned.”

“My sentiments exactly.” Otherwise another nightmare had begun.

She bagged the books and handed the sack to him. He tucked Manhattan Merger inside the opening.

“I promise you’ll get these back. Thanks again, Ms. Perry.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Let’s go,” he murmured to Mac.

Once they were ensconced in the limousine, he phoned Drew Wallace, his attorney, and explained what had happened. They planned to meet at Crag’s Head as soon as Drew could get away from an important dinner engagement.

Pleased Drew could come on such short notice no matter the hour, he told him he’d send the helicopter for him. This was one meeting that needed to take place tonight under strictest privacy.

When he returned to his sister’s house, he discovered Diane in the backyard looking through some wedding magazines. Catherine was using doggie treats to make their family’s golden retriever do tricks.