Absolutely, Positively

her. He would confront the full weight of his loss. And know that he had only himself to blame.

    Molly smiled with drowsy, dreamy warmth. “So, have you given any more thought to the idea of having kids?”

    Harry felt as if the world had fallen away beneath his feet. All of his fine reflexes turned to mush. He could only stare at her, amazed, bewildered, hardly daring to hope. It took him a while to find his tongue.

    “Kids?” he finally got out.

    “I really think you ought to consider the subject.”

    “Kids.”

    “Yes. With me.”

    “With you?”

    She gave him an expectant look. “Probably best not to wait too long. Neither of us is getting any younger.”

    “Kids. With you.” He could not seem to collect his thoughts.

    She touched his cheek with gentle, questing fingers. Her eyes were luminous. “I know I'm not exactly your idea of the perfect wife. I remember the list very clearly.”

    His mouth was dry. He had to swallow. “What list?”

    “The list of all the reasons why we aren't well suited.I say tomayto, you say tomahto .”

    He shook his head, dazed. “Tomatoes were on your list, not mine.”

    “Were they? Yes, I guess they were, come to think of it. Your list had other stuff on it, didn't it? Boring stuff. Temperamentally different, you said. No interests in common outside of our mutual concern with the grant proposals. Just two ships passing in the night, you said.”

    “No.” Harry levered himself up on one elbow and leaned over her. He curved a hand around her bare thigh, savoring the sleek feel of her. “I never said anything about ships passing in the might. I'd remember.”

    She reached up to curl a strand of his hair around one fingertip. “Maybe it was something about the fact that I didn't have a Ph.D. to hang on the wall next to yours.”

    “No. I never said anything about your not having a Ph.D., either.”

    “You're sure?”

    “I'm certain.”

    “Absolutely, positively certain?”

    “Yes,” Harry muttered. “Absolutely, positively. Molly, before we got off on this tangent, you said something about kids.”

    “It was a subtle hint.”

    He drew a deep, steadying breath. “Are you asking me to marry you?”

    “That's what I like about a well-educated man. If he contemplates the obvious long enough, he finally gets a clue.” Molly smiled. “Will you marry me, Harry?”

    He fought for the words. “What about…”

    “What about what?”

    He clamped his teeth together. “What about the hours of boredom broken by moments of stark terror?”

    “What about 'em? So far I haven't encountered any boring parts yet.”

    “What about the other?” he made himself ask. “Molly, I swear to God, I don't understand what happened when we made love earlier. I don't want to understand it. I just know that sometimes, if I'm caught off guard, I get…too intense or something.”

    “You know what I think? I think there's something to that business about the Trevelyan Second Sight.”

    He closed his eyes in despair. “You can't be serious.”

    “Harry, an intelligent person must remain open to all possibilities. I believe a noted authority on the history of science once wrote that it is a dangerous illusion to believe that one can always distinguish the possible from the impossible.”

    “I wrote that.”

    “As I said, a noted authority. I happen to agree with you. I come from a long line of flaky inventors who flourished because they refused to be bound by the illusion of certainty. I think we have to consider the possibility that you've got a trace of some kind of paranormal sixth sense.”

    “No.”

    She ignored him. “It's possible that when some heavy-duty emotion, such as sexual desire, kicks in, the elevated intensity of your feelings adds energy to your extrasensory abilities.”

    “Molly…”

    “In those moments of heightened sensitivity, perhaps it becomes possible for some unusual things to happen. Maybe some of your innermost thoughts can spill over into the mind of whoever happens to be, uh, intimately connected to you.”

    “That's crazy. Utterly without scientific basis.”

    “Just a logical explanation for something that cannot otherwise be explained. Now, will you stop muttering and give me an answer to my question?”

    Harry took a serious grip on a universe that seemed to be spinning out of control around him. He pulled her down on top of him. Spearing his fingers through her wonderful, unruly hair, he wrapped