Absolutely, Positively

possess.

    Longing, fierce and intense, clawed his insides.

    “Are you all right?” Molly came to a halt in front of him. She was cloaked in the white robe she'd brought with her. Her hair was loose and gloriously wild. Her eyes were crystal clear, fathomless pools in the moonlight.

    Harry gathered himself for a Herculean effort. He finally managed to get his tongue to function. “Go back to bed.”

    “Good heavens, there is something wrong, isn't there?” She raised her hand to touch his face with sensitive fingertips. “Lord, you're burning up. I think you've got a fever. You should have said something earlier. I had no idea you were ill. You had no business coming to my rescue in this condition. You should be in bed.”

    “No,” he croaked. The glass on which he was so precariously balanced shuddered beneath him. He could not retreat. He could not go forward. In another few minutes the bridge would surely shatter. “I'm okay. Leave me alone.”

    “Don't be silly. I can't do that.” She took his free hand and turned to lead him down the hall. “I'm going to put you to bed and find a thermometer. Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?”

    “I'm. Not. Sick.”

    She paid no attention to his weak protest. She started toward his bedroom. Harry was helpless to resist the gentle tug on his hand. It drew him as surely as if she had bound him with magic.

    He struggled to regain his normal, rational level of awareness. But it was too late. Molly's touch had drawn him farther out over the abyss. The hunger to discover what lay on the other side was too strong to deny.

    “Here we are.” Molly guided him into his bedroom. She released his hand to turn down the bed.

    She had her back to him. Harry was enthralled by the nape of her neck. Never had he seen anything so lovely. He was literally entranced by the delicate curve. He took a step toward Molly, hand outstretched to touch her.

    And stumbled over his own feet.

“Now I know you really are ill,” Molly said as she steadied him. “Usually you move like one of those fish in the aquarium in your study.”

    “A fish?” Anguish flared in him. Fish were cold and emotionless creatures. Maybe Molly thought he was incapable of a normal human response. Maybe she had already seen the craziness in him.

    “You know.” Molly waved a hand. “You sort of glide along very slowly as if you were floating through the sea. Then, every once in a while,flash , you move so fast it startles me.”

    “Flash.” Relief seared him. She was talking about the way he moved, not his mental state.

    “In the whole time I've known you, I've never seen you lose your balance or stumble until tonight. Don't worry, I'm sure it's just the fever upsetting your equilibrium. You'll be fine in the morning.”

    Harry shook his head. He could not even begin to explain what was happening to him. He did not understand it himself. Thus far Molly seemed oblivious to the savage battle he was waging, but he knew that stage would not last long. In a few more minutes she would understand that there was something strange in him.

    Molly reached out to switch on a light beside the bed.

    He stood there, swaying slightly, and fought to regain his self-control. But the hunger was too strong. Molly looked more inviting than any woman had ever looked since Eve.

    She was the woman who waited for him on the opposite side of the abyss.

    Harry's insides were raw with the churning need.

    Molly finished fussing with the bed. She turned toward him, her spectacular eyes shadowed. The concern was for him, he realized with a sense of wonder. She was not yet afraid of him. She was worried about him.

    He could do nothing now to stave off disaster. He knew that in another few seconds she would begin to sense the overwhelming desire in him. She would know that it was unnatural, even though it felt completely natural to him.

    She would be terrified. She would pull away from him as though he were some alien monster.

    Molly would run from him as Olivia had, and because he was so very vulnerable tonight, Harry was not certain that he would survive her complete and total rejection. He would fall from the glass bridge and fall forever.

    He was doomed.

    “Let me help you with your shirt.” Molly's hands moved lightly over his chest, seeking buttons.

    Harry shuddered violently as she touched him.

    “You're shivering.” She paused briefly to study him more closely. “Are you