Manhattan Merger. Rebecca Winters

is part of my job.”

      “I’m still grateful to you. See you in the morning.”

      On the way back to her apartment, Rainey stopped to buy food and flowers before hurrying home to clean and get things ready for her family.

      Her mother arrived by taxi at seven p.m., her brother at eleven. He’d come with his backpack and bed roll which turned out to be a blessing. Her mom could use the hide-a-bed and Rainey would sleep on the futon.

      She would have given anything if their reunion could have happened under different circumstances. The idea that a New York billionaire was suing her and Red Rose Publishers was like her worst nightmare.

      Before they all went to bed, Rainey sorted through the pile of photographs to find the one that had gotten her into so much trouble. When she finally came across it and showed it to her brother, he remembered the man, but not the name.

      “What was he like, Craig?”

      “He was in a group of twenty people. I do recall he was congenial, fascinated by everything and seemed totally at home on the water.”

      “Nothing else?”

      “There is one thing that stood out,” her brother murmured. “When I take people on a float trip, I mentally pick someone in the group I could count on to help in an emergency. He was the one I chose. Most people panic a little at some point on the river, but he never did.”

      After hearing Craig’s testimonial, Rainey couldn’t equate the man she’d painted with the person who could bring financial ruin to so many lives.

      Grace had done her best to reassure Rainey things would be all right, but she had a hard time believing it. During the night she’d broken down sobbing. So, apparently, had Bonnie Wrigley who’d shown up in the conference room the next morning with drawn features and puffy eyes.

      This was the first time they’d met each other. The minute the two women saw each other, they went out in the hall to commiserate in private.

      At this point Rainey’s guilt had increased a hundredfold. If it hadn’t been for her cover, there would be no suit. Now poor Bonnie was going to have to explain how she dreamed up Manhattan Merger, where she got her ideas.