cement.

"The one I got in the alley-" She raised her eyes, but she didn't see any telltale bumps or bruises forming.

"You're hurt?"

"No."

He was sorry he'd mentioned it.

"Just a little shook up."

Like a terrier on the scent, Caitlin was circling him.

On her toes, she reached up to the back of his head.She felt something sticky on her fingers.Looking at her hand, she saw a very thin trickle of blood.She held up her hand for his benefit."You're bleeding."Graham pushed her hand away from his face."Don't fuss, Caitlin. I don't like it.""Tough. We're even. I don't like being strong-armed."It was more than just concern.She had to busy herself somehow, occupy her mind until she could straighten.

things out in her own head.

What he had just - told her hadtqmed her entire world upside down,

banishing the careful balance of things she had arranged.

Eleven years ago she had damned his soul for what had happerxed and her own for her stupidity in loving him.

The rest of her life had been built on that foundation.

And now that she knew the truth, he was saying that it was for the

best.

The hell it was.

Caitlin felt cheated.

By her mother, by fate and by him.

Well, she couldn't do much about fate and she'd have to see about him,

but her mother was another matter.

She didn't know how yet, but her mother was going to pay for this, pay

for ruining the happiness Caitlin knew in her heart was rightfully hers. She wondered if it was legally possible for a daughter to publicly disown her mother.

It had to be something public in order to affect the woman.

Regina Cassidy could not care less how her daughter felt.

She took Graham's hand as if she were taking hold of child and turned to lead him to the bathroom.

But wouldn't follow her.

Caitlin looked -at him impatiently "You've got a cut on your head."

It wouldn't be the first time.

Just a giant headache that would go away.

He pulled his hand from hers.

"It'll heal."

"Damn straight it will, but it might get infected."

S took a far firmer grip on his hand, determined.

"Come wit me to the bathroom."

"You've gotten bossier."

She'd been a girl when he ha last seen her.

A laughing-eyed girl who made him smile an feel good.

She was a woman now.

A woman who appa entry knew her own mind.

That didn't mean he had to agree with her.

"I've gotten my own self-image," she corrected him Caitlin raised her

chin.

"No one walks on me anymore Gray, or tells me what to do. Now, come on and let me take care of that."

Even his mother had never fussed over him.

He wasn' accustomed to it and preferred to be left alone to deal wit

things on his own.

"I said don't fuss."

Her eyes narrowed.

She was through being tolerant.

He' gotten that cut saving her and she wasn't about to let it go.

"And I said come on."

Her eyes challenged his, waiting It was a small point, but it was a

first step.

She wasn't about to be ignored.

With a sigh Graham allowed himself be led off to the bathroom.

"Don't see why this means so much to you."

"It makes me feel better, all right? Sit there."

She indicated the run of the bathtub.

"Definitely bossier," he murmured, but he sat.

"It would do you good to listen once in a while."

She took out a tube of clear antiseptic from the medicine cabinet and

carefully applied a tiny drop to his head along the cut.L Thank God it wasn't deeper, she thought.If it had been, he might have needed stitches.With a cotton swab she cleared the small area.She knew it had to sting.Graham remained silent.She winced for him."Still stoic?" she asked as she recapped the tube.He turned to look up at her."Why, were you trying to hurt me?""No. I was just noting a fact."Caitlin replaced the antiseptic on the shelf.Her bravado wavered as she closed the door.Emotions spilled out, nearly drowning her.

When she turned around, he could see them all in her eyes.

It was a struggle for him not to take her into his arms, to hold her.

But it would only be starting something he hadn't the right to

finish.

She cupped her palm along his cheek.

"Oh, God, Gray, we wasted so much time."

Gently removing her hand, he shook his head.

"No, your mother was right. Maybe for the only time in her life, but

she was. It wouldn't have worked."Caitlin felt as if she just couldn't get her footing this afternoon.She tried to understand what would make him say something like that.They had been so-fiercely in love'once.At least, she had."Why? Because your wife walked out on you?"Maybe that was part of it.Maybe!he just didn't believe in dreams.The only time he had was when he'd been with Caitlin."My wife was a full-blooded Navajo. We had more in common than you and I do and it still didn't work out. I don't belong in either world,

Caitlin, least of all yours."

Caitlin sighed.

Gray was an idiot for thinking that way, but she had too much to assimilate right now to be able to argue with him and make sense.

"Come on, let me make you a better meal than what you just had.

Something with substance in it. And then-" her voice lowered as if she was making a promise to herself -I want to call my mother.

Summer storm clouds had looked less ominous than expression did at this

moment.

"Why?"