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was that front-page newspaper article covering my buyout of Voltaire Vineyards…”
    Allison slunk down in her seat. “What about it?”
    Grady leveled her a look and wriggled two fingers behind his head, miming devil horns.  
    Allison was consumed by a lava wave of heat.
    Oh no, he couldn’t have. She’d tossed the paper in the recycle bin! Right after scratching “ sacre bleu ” across the newsprint in big angry letters with permanent marker…and drawing pointy horns and a beard on Grady’s picture. It may have been childish, but it had felt pretty good at the time. Voltaire’s owner was one of Allison’s good friends and someone who’d pledged never to sell out. Then, Total Wines had come along like a huge bulldozer and crushed them right into the earth.
    “Your assessment held a certain— je ne sais quoi— degree of poignancy? A certain bite—almost like a very sharp cheese? Blue cheese in particular.”
    Allison peered up at him, her heart pounding in her throat. “How do you know it was me?” she asked with a squawk.
    Grady took a very slow sip of coffee, then raised his eyes to meet hers. “Kate doesn’t speak French.”
    Allison felt like a heel. Grady had seen that and still he’d been willing to do her a favor? She pushed herself upright and gathered her nerve. “Grady…” she began sheepishly. “I’m sorry about the newspaper. I never intended for you to see it.”
    He carefully set down his coffee. “I’m not the Big Bad Wolf, you know. It’s not like Total Wines gobbles other businesses up. We’re helping them.”
    “Helping?” Allison asked, flummoxed. She couldn’t possibly see how.
    “Sure. Most of the businesses we go after stand to benefit through their alliance with Total Wines. We never shut anyone down. Our mission is to maintain operations and to keep any current workers in place. With Total Wines’ distribution reach, we can do that, plus offer greater security as an employer.”
    “Greater security? How?”
    “By providing a complete benefits package. Expanded health insurance coverage, retirement plan options, things that a smaller business can’t possibly provide on significantly lower revenues.”
    Allison felt like she was being sweet-talked into believing Grady was really the good guy, but she had a gut feeling he was sugarcoating things by omitting any negative aspects. “You said most of the businesses stand to benefit,” she countered. “What about the others?”
    “When I said ‘most,’ I was talking about the healthy enterprises, those with sound financial standing. For them, expansion is a snap. Total Wines can easily assist with further growth.”
    Allison leaned forward on her elbows. “And the others?” she asked caustically. “They’re not so lucky, are they?”
    To her astonishment Grady frowned. “You’re absolutely right, they’re not.” He shot her a sad look. “Those are the companies that are the hardest to help, the ones that are going under. But we still try.”
    “Going…?” Allison bit her lip, thankful Grady didn’t have long-distance, X-ray vision and the ability to see into her ledger book. While she’d told virtually no one, Bella Fortuna Wine Designs was in financial straits. Though business had boomed initially, the recent hits to the economy had taken their toll on Allison’s product line. When she’d started out, her handcrafted labels, based on prints from her original art, had been extremely popular and brought top dollar. Then suddenly, the market tanked and even some of her most loyal clients began to cut back by sacrificing quality for quantity. They’d started buying prefab labels that supposedly looked just as good to the untrained eye, and could be commissioned for less than half the cost, since they were produced in bulk.
    Grady gazed at her with interest. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”
    Allison was at a loss for any sort of intelligent reply. Her mind was muddled from Grady’s gibberish about