"An arrangement "Yes."

Her expression remained unchanged.

He watched her face, trying to read it.

"And after a respectable amount of time, we'll get divorced?"

Don't you want me, Gray?

At least a little?

Or are you just being noble?

"Yes."

It could work.

But then he remembered.

There was still a fly in the ointment.

A very large, dangerous fly.

He couldn't take a chance.

"There's a killer out after you, Caitlin. I can't endanger Jake and my

mother like that."

She'd forgotten about that.

Forgotten about everything except for this.

Caitlin nodded.

He was right.

She understood.

"It was just an idea."

And one that obviously wasn't going to work.

She felt frustrated.

If he didn't accept this offer, maybe he would reconsider using her

lawyer.

Or at least allow her to give him a loan.

"I wish you'd let me help somehow."

He didn't want her involved.

He didn't want her entering any farther into his life than she already

was.

If she did, he might not let -her go when the time came.

And she would grow to detest him the way Celia did.

The way his- mother detested his father.

He couldn't bear that with her.

"Listening helps."

"Yeah, like you talk."

The bell tinkled and she jerked as she turned toward the doorway.

She was still jumpy, he thought.

He couldn't blame her.

It would probably take her a long time, even after they caught the

killer, to learn how to relax again.

And there was a chance they might not catch the killer.

The telephone rang in the back room as Caitlin went to help a

customer.

Kerry hurried to answer it, leaving a very maternal-looking woman in a delicate quandary between a black teddy and a scarlet one.

Graham felt his mouth curving.

The woman caught his eye.

Rather than look away or flush, she cocked her head like a starling

inspecting a tasty insect.

The woman raised her brows and shifted her eyes from one teddy to the other, obviously asking his opinion.

She was old enough to be his mother, if not more.

She was probably younger than he was at this moment, Graham thought,

feeling drained and tired.

The woman was still waiting, framed by a teddy in each hand.

"Black," he mouthed.

The woman held the black teddy up higher.

Graham nodded and the older woman gleefully bobbed her head in

agreement.

She discarded the other undergarment, setting it on the counter.

"Miss," she called out to Caitlin.

"I've made my decision.mil " And a very tasteful one it is," Caitlin

agreed, her eyes on Gray. She'd witnessed the exchange. It was sweetly sensitive. Just when she thought she knew him, he surprised her.

"Graham," Kerry called as she walked out of the back room.

"There's a phone call for you. It's a Detective Chambers."

She held out the receiver to him.

Graham took it and disappeared behind the floral curtain, hoping that

Chambers would be less long-winded on the phone than he had been in person that morning.

Graham pulled aside the curtain less than two minutes later.

He looked around for Caitlin and spotted her by the register.

It never ceased to amaze him the way some things seemed to work out.

Sometimes a case would drag on forever, taking years to progress, if at all.

And sometimes the pieces just fell together with breathtaking speed.

Like now.

He had learned through hard experience that if a case was gqing to get

anywhere, the first fdrty-eight hours were always the most crucial.

They had struck pay dirt.

It had happened inadvertently, thanks to an overeager reporter who had

thrown a witness's safety to the wind for the sake of a story and to a iittery killer who had used the information in an attempt to permanently silence her.

Once he was identified, Horace Taylor's whereabouts were a great deal easier to trace.

Not easy, just easier.

Networking had been i i-.

volved.

Networking and snitches whose loyalties could be jought for a C-note.