like leaving loose ends."

He slammed the -hood shut.

"That includes witnesses. But it doesn't look as if they've planted

anything in your car."

Oh, God, what had she walked into?

"You're not kidding, are you?"

Her eyes pleaded with him to say that he was.

Graham shook his head and then checked under the car.

Her palms were damp and the air in her lungs felt like a hardening,

leaden weight.

She looked at the dark sedan on the street.

"We'll take your car."

"Good choice."

She hit the security lock and all four locks snapped down.

A tiny light on the dashboard turned on, assuring her the alarm was

engaged.

The fact hardly registered.

"You're not doing this.just to scare me, are you?"

He led the way to his car, shortening his stride to stay abreast of

her.

"I don't play games, Caitlin."

No, he never had.

Not until the end.

And then he had gone for high stakes.

Unlocking the car, Graham held the door open for her.

She glanced at the exterior as she got in.

"What happened to the Caddie?"

"As you mentioned, it tends to stand out. Right now, I'm more

interested in blending in."

Graham watched her slide in on the passenger side, then closed the

door.

Rounding the trunk, he got in on the driver's side.

"Where to?" he asked again.

She struggled to pull her thoughts together.

She wasn't going to be any good to herself if she came unraveled.

This would be over soon enough.

It just had to be.

"Caitlin?"

Belatedly she realized that he was talking to her.

"What?"

"Where do you want to go for lunch?" he repeated patiently.

She licked her lips and blew out a long breath.

Relax, she ordered herself.

"Stop at the fast-food place at the end of the next block.

Monty's.

"Monty's?"

Caitlin had said she wanted somewhere quick, but he would have thought

that she'd go for something a little more sophisticated than a

fast-food restaurant.

He pictured her in high-class establishments with meals that were aesthetically arranged on the plate by a fussy chef and that took a substantial bite out of a man's wallet if he was part of the working class.

It matched the image of the woman he thought she had become.

He sounded surprised, Caitlin thought.

Had he forgotten all the times they had gone to the drive-through when

they were going together?

He hadn't had the money to pay for anything more expensive and she hadn't wanted to embarrass him, so, rather than hurt his pride, she'd

professed a preference for hamburgers that sat waiting in paper wrappers beneath bulbs.

In time, she had grown to like them.

A smile curved her mouth of its own accord.

"Someone once got me hooked on junk food."

Her shoulders moved slightly beneath her aqua blouse in a half shrug.

"I never got over it."

He was trying vainly not to allow her smile to dislodge memories that

were sealed away in strongboxes behind brick walls.

He guided the car away from the curb.

"Junk food it is.") Caitlin attempted to relax in her seat, but

couldn't. Every bone in her body was rigid. Someone out there could be stalking her at this very moment. To add to that, here she was, just where she didn't want to be, next to Gray in a small space.

Isolated from the world.

Waves of old feelings ran fingers over her insistently like a child reaching out, trying to get her attention.

She'd been a child herself back then, she reminded herself.

A child led by her emotions.