“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.
Before long Grace summoned them back to the conference room. The morning flew by while she coached everyone. After lunch was served, their entourage of twenty people left in taxis for the courthouse on Broadway.
When Rainey arrived with her family, it seemed to her there were an inordinate amount of security guards stationed outside the building. To her surprise, even more were positioned inside.
Several guards escorted her and her family to the designated courtroom where she saw more guards in place.
Though she might not be wearing handcuffs or leg chains, Rainey felt like a criminal. By the time they were seated down in front on the right side of the courtroom, she thought she would lose her lunch right there.
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Grace came in with Cynthia Taft, the other attorney. They brought a look of calm as they took their places at the table in front of Rainey. Still she wasn’t comforted. When she glanced at Bonnie, the other woman shook her head as if to say she couldn’t believe this was happening.
Rainey couldn’t fathom it either. There was an air of unreality about the entire situation.
Yesterday she’d gotten up motivated and happy, then received a phone call that had changed her whole life in an instant.
Immersed in pain, Rainey didn’t notice the arrival of the opposition until Craig whispered to her.
She turned her head to see two men in dark business suits walking down the left aisle toward the table. Her gaze fell helplessly on the man from the photograph. The one whose looks and vitality had caught her artist’s eye as no other man had done before.
He was tall and powerfully built, just as she’d remembered from the photograph. Yet he moved with careless male grace. It was one of those intangible traits you had to be born with.
The pool of genes that had come together to form the gorgeous man known as Payne Sterling was remarkable enough. When combined with the spirit that lived inside his body, he radiated a dynamism that made him much more attractive to her in person.
Afraid to be caught staring, she averted her eyes. It galled her to realize she could still be having these kinds of thoughts about him when he was the reason they were in court now.
“All rise.”
Shocked to hear the bailiff’s voice, Rainey lifted her head in time to see the judge enter the courtroom and take his seat.
“The court of New York County, New York, is now in session. The Honorable James E. Faulkner, Supervising Judge of New York City, is presiding.
Supervising judge of New York? Rainey’s legs trembled.