Absolutely, Positively

thesaurus full of other words. Most of them unprintable.”

    “I take it neither family approved of the match?”

    “That's putting it mildly. The Trevelyans were furious because after the marriage my father sold the show. As far as they were concerned, he'd turned his back on his family, most of whom were working in said show at the time. The new owner had his own crew.”

    “Instant unemployment for the Trevelyans, hmm?”

    “Right.”

    “And the Strattons?”

    “Let's just say that my mother was supposed to marry a wealthy, well-connected Stanford grad. Instead she ran off with a carny.” Harry slanted Molly a derisive glance. “How do you think most families would have reacted under those circumstances?”

    “Not very enthusiastically, I suppose.”

    “You've got that right.”

    “So? What happened?”

    Harry's brows rose slightly. “You're very curious.”

    “Sorry.” Molly was embarrassed. “It's a family failing. I come from a long line of inventors, remember.”

    “I know.”

    “Look, you certainly don't have to answer if you'd rather not. I didn't mean to pry.”

    “The Strattons did everything they could to dissolve the marriage. Parker Stratton, my grandfather, tried to force an annulment. When that failed, he pushed for a divorce. One of the reasons my parents moved to the islands was so that they could put a large chunk of ocean between themselves and their families. It was the only way they could get some peace.”

    “Did things cool down after you arrived?”

    “No. The feud continues to this day.”

    “And you're caught in the middle?”

    Harry's shoulder lifted slightly. “That's the way it goes sometimes.”

    On the surface, he sounded incredibly casual, even dismissive of the family situation. But Molly flinched against the pain implied by his words. It hit her in a wave that made her catch her breath. Whatever Harry felt toward the Strattons and the Trevelyans, it was anything but indifference. But she also understood that he kept his emotions relating to that subject under lock and key.

    “Do your parents still live in the islands?” Molly asked.

    “My parents are dead. They were murdered by a couple of armored car thieves nine years ago.”

    Harry's voice was infinitely soft and infinitely cold. But Molly stilled beneath the deluge of powerful emotions that emanated from him. She could not even begin to identify the complex and dangerous brew. Rage? Despair? Remorse? All those and more, yes. This was the stuff of nightmares.

    “My God.” Molly could not think of anything else to say. “My God.”

    Harry was silent.

    “I'm so sorry,” Molly offered, feeling helpless.

    “Your folks are both dead, also,” he pointed out, as if they had that much in common.

    “Yes.” It was Molly's turn to fall silent for a while.

    Her feelings were not nearly as complicated as Harry's. Whenever she thought about her parents these days, she experienced a straightforward sense of wistful loss. The initial grief had faded over time. So had the anger and fear that she'd once had difficulty admitting to herself. She no longer lay awake at night wondering how she would make the mortgage payment and see her sister safely raised. She had managed to shoulder the responsibilities that had once seemed so overwhelming.

    Molly peered through the windshield as the lights of what her sister mockingly called “the Abberwick family mansion” appeared. “Well, here we are. Thanks so much for seeing me home.”

    “I'll take you to your door.” Harry brought the car to a halt in front of the massive wrought-iron gates.

    Molly hastily rummaged around in her purse for the card key. When she found it, she handed it to him. Harry lowered his window and inserted the card into the lock. The heavy gates swung inward.

    “Good security,” Harry remarked.

    “My father designed it.” Molly tilted her chin to indicate the night-shrouded gardens. “He designed the sprinkler system, too. He was always tinkering with things around the house. My sister, Kelsey, is following in his footsteps. She got the Abberwick genius for scientific and technical stuff.”

    “What about you?”

    Molly chuckled. “I got the bills.”

    Harry drove slowly along the curving driveway and stopped in front of the steps. He switched off the engine, removed the keys from the ignition, and opened his door. A brief smile came and went on his hard face as he surveyed the old, ramshackle