She already looked more alive than she had for the past week.

He suddenly realized that Caitlin thrived on work.

He'd never known that about her.

It was something he could identify with.

"As long as the cavalry is you, there's nothing to be sorry about."

Caitlin thought that, in an odd sort of way, he'd given her a

compliment.

She smiled.

Maybe they hadn't lost all that headway they'd made last week after

all.

She went to work immediately.

Having done little of anything for almost a week, she was dying to feel

useful.

She redid displays, went over the past week's accounts and waited on customers.

She seemed to be everywhere, Graham thought.

And she loved it.

"You look tired," Caitlin told Kerry.

Kerry had barely nibbled on her lunch, muttering something about coming down with Eva's cold.

"Why don't you take the rest of the afternoon off?"

Kerry felt guilty as she looked around the store.

In only three hours Caitlin had done far more than she had in a week.

She chewed on her lower lip.

"Are you sure you won't mind?"

"I'm sure. It feels great being able to do something again."

Caitlin glanced around the store.

It did feel wonderful, being useful.

"I just might repaper the walls this afternoon," she teased.

Reprieved, Kerry nodded absently.

She went digging for her purse under the counter and saw the small,

off-white envelope she had shoved there for safekeeping.

She pulled it out, chagrined that she had forgotten it until now.

"By the way, this came for you."

She held out the delicate-looking envelope to Caitlin.

"It was delivered to the store Monday."

The white linen envelope was perfumed.

Caitlin recognized the scent instantly.

She didn't have to bother looking at the handwriting to know who it was

from.

There was no return address.

"Mother," she murmured.

Graham and Kerry exchanged looks.

"Maybe you'd better-" Graham began, his hand outstretched.

Caitlin shook her head.

She didn't need to be protected from this.

"Nothing she can say will bother me."

She'd finally gone past that.

Oh, she would still have welcomed a reconciliation, but she didn't

believe in fairy tales and she knew her mother.

This letter was not about a reconciliation.

Looking as unaffected as if she had just glanced at a flyer offering

precise detailing for her car, Caitlin scanned the letter quickly, then crumpled it up.

She tossed it into the wastepaper basket beneath the counter.

"There, that's where it belonged in the first place."

He understood her apparent desire to keep the contents of the letter to herself.

After all, he didn't like talking about his problems.

But he knew Caitlin was different.

She needed to share, to talk.

And more than that, she needed someone to listen.

"What did your mother have to say?" he asked , Caitlin shrugged

carelessly.

"Mother's having a fit, but that's her prerogative."

Her eyes met CTraham's.

She saw his silent question.

"Someone told her that I'd married you.

According to her letter, if I don't divorce you instantly, I'will be

disowned and disinherited.

There was a great deal of money at stake.

He couldn't allow her to lose that because of him.

"Maybe you'd better explain to her..."

Kerry looked from one to the other, curious.

"Explain what?"

Caitlin wasn't about to tell Kerry that she and Graham had entered into

a bargain rather than a marriage of substance.

"That she's an idiot."

Caitlin's eyes warned Graham not to say anything further.