Real Vintage Maverick. Marie Ferrarella

him. “Excuse me?”

      She glanced up at him just for a moment as she clarified her question. “Is your sister younger or older than you?”

      “Oh.” Why did she want to know that? It had nothing to do with wrapping the gift. “Younger.”

      Catherine nodded as she took in the information. The questions didn’t stop there. Why didn’t that surprise him? “Are you two close?”

      “I guess.” But that wasn’t exactly the real truth, so Cody amended his statement. “We were, once. But then she got married and her husband made her move away—to another state.” Caroline’s husband had done it to control his sister, Cody was sure of it. The man wanted to isolate and control her so that he could be the center of Caroline’s world.

      Catherine immediately picked up on his tone. It spoke volumes even if the actual man didn’t. “You don’t like him much, do you?”

      Cody shrugged off the observation, then was surprised to hear himself saying, “Not much to like.” He stopped abruptly and looked at this woman who seemed to coax things out of him so effortlessly. “What’s with all these questions?” He wanted to know. “This part of your marketing thing?”

      Catherine smiled as she put the finishing touches on the box by tying a big red bow on it. “This is part of my getting to know you ‘thing,’” she corrected. Then, so he didn’t feel as if she was dragging information out of him without giving some up herself, Catherine said, “There’s eight of us in my family. I guess I’m just curious about how other people get along with their siblings.” She raised her eyes to his, a look of apology in them. “Sorry if I sounded as if I was prying.”

      Because he couldn’t think of anything else to do, Cody shrugged to show her that he hadn’t taken any offense at the questions. “Guess there’s no harm in asking questions,” he allowed. And then he rolled over in his head what she’d told him. “Eight of you, huh?”

      “Eight of us,” she confirmed.

      “They all like you?” If they were, it must have been one hell of a noisy household.

      She wasn’t exactly sure what Cody was asking her. “You mean are they all girls? No, I’ve got brothers and sisters.”

      But he shook his head. “No, I meant are they all like you,” Cody repeated, then, because she was still looking at him quizzically, he clarified, “You know, all enthusiastic and excited, coming on like a house afire.”

      She’d never thought of herself as particularly enthusiastic, or excitable for that matter. Certainly not in the terms that he’d just mentioned. Shaking her head, she told him, “I’m actually the shy, retiring one in the family.”

      He laughed at that. It was a deep, all-encompassing sound that made Catherine smile rather than cause her to get her back up.

      “Sure you are,” he said, adding, “good one” under his breath as he commented on her sense of humor. After a moment, the smile on his lips faded just a little as he looked at her more closely. “Oh, you’re serious.” Cody took a minute to reassess his opinion. “You all must have been one hell of a handful for your parents to deal with.”

      “Actually, I was the one who did a lot of the ‘dealing with,’” she corrected. “I’m the second-oldest in the family.” He probably didn’t even want to know that, she guessed.

      She was talking too much, Catherine thought. She had a tendency not to know when to stop talking. That was probably one of the reasons she’d decided to buy Fowler’s old store. Customers meant that there would be people for her to talk with, even if they left the shop without buying anything.

      She liked the idea of meeting new people. Of getting to know things about them.

      Catherine looked down at the box she’d just finished wrapping, remembering what Cody had said about the purse’s final destination.

      “If you’re mailing this, I can see if I can find another box to put it in for you,” she offered.

      She was certainly going out of her way here, Cody thought, especially since he hadn’t paid for the purse. On top of that, until a few minutes ago, the overenergized woman hadn’t known him from Adam. That made her a pretty rare individual in his book.

      “Are you always this accommodating?” he wanted to know.

      She couldn’t gauge by his expression whether he thought that was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, she still felt the same about it.

      “Nothing wrong with being friendly,” she said, flashing a wide smile at him. “Or helpful.”

      “Didn’t say there was,” he pointed out. “Just not used to it, that’s all.”

      Fair enough, Catherine thought. She pushed the gaily wrapped gift a little closer toward him on the counter. “So, about that bigger box, do you want it?” she wanted to know.

      He was planning on mailing the gift once he left the shop. He supposed that having Catherine provide a box to ship the gift in would be exceedingly helpful in moving things along.

      “Sure, I could use it,” he allowed. Then he mumbled, “Thanks.”

      Her smile was triumphant. “You’re welcome.” And then she couldn’t help adding, “There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” she asked. Because she saw the furrow that had formed across his forehead that indicated to her that he was trying to understand what she was referring to, Catherine clued him in. “Saying thank you,” she explained. “That wasn’t so hard, right?”

      Rather than answer her question, or say anything in response, Catherine saw that Cody was looking down at her left hand. Was he checking her out or about to say something flippant about her single status?

      In either case, she decided to beat him to the punch. “No, I’m not married.”

      Cody nodded as if he had expected nothing else. “That explains it.”

      This time it was her turn to be confused. “Explains what?”

      “Explains why you’re showering me with all these questions,” Cody told her. Then, because she apparently didn’t understand what he was telling her, he elaborated, “You don’t have anyone to talk to.”

      She felt a little sorry for the man. He obviously hadn’t had the kind of upbringing and family life that she’d experienced. And, to some extent, was still experiencing.

      “Oh, I’ve got people to talk to,” she assured him. “Lots of people.”

      “Then what’s with all the questions?” he wanted to know.

      “I’m just a naturally curious person,” Catherine explained.

      Was Cody trying to tell her something? He didn’t strike her as a man who worried about being perceived as subtle. If there was something that bothered him, she had a feeling he’d tell her.

      Maybe not, a little voice in her head whispered. She’d better clear things up now, if that was the case.

      “If that’s going to be a problem …”

      She let her voice trail off so that he could put his own interpretation to what she was driving at.

      “No, no problem,” he told her. “But it’s going to take some getting used to if you’re going to be ‘picking my brain.’” He used her words to describe their working arrangement.

      “You can always tell me to back off,” Catherine pointed out.

      He was mildly surprised at what she’s just said. “And if I do, you’ll listen?”

      Her eyes seemed to sparkle as they laughed at him. Cody found himself captivated. It took him a moment to retreat from the reaction.

      “We’ll see” was all she could honestly