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Page 321
about that often. She had come from the future. Would she stay?
On the third day on which they had been alone together, Thorn showed Mariah how to make bullets from molten lead. He never let his ammunition get too low, and he would soon need an additional supply. Mariah's eagerness to learn the skills of this day seemed boundless.
Her concentration on the task caused her to bend her head forward so he had to smooth her soft waves from her face for fear she would get lead in her hair.
Her sweet lips pouted until she looked up at him. The smile she gave him made him throb beneath his breeches, and it was all he could do not to reach for her and pull her toward the bed.
Bed. They had spent much time there, and as glorious as their experiences were, they caused him concern, too.
He leaned forward across his worktable and said, "You realize, Mariah, that I have accepted that you come from the future."
"I know." Her voice was delighted. "Isn't it amazing?" She looked back down in concentration to the molds she was filling.
"Do women from the future . . . " He sought for a way to phrase the matter delicately. "Here, when a man and a woman are together the way we are, the woman may get with child."
"In my time, too, unless they're using protection." Mariah looked up. "Things sometimes fall even then. But don't worry. You don't have to feel responsible if I get pregnant. I thought about it after the first time we made love, too, though nothing happened then. In any event, I chose to go to bed with you, and I'll handle the situation, if it occurs."
"I do not wish for you to 'handle the situation,'" Thorn found himself saying. "Mariah, are you staying here, in this time? I wish . . . I wish to marry you."
Her small jaw dropped. "Oh, Thorn," she whispered. He saw tears puddle in her wide green eyes. "You don't know how much I want to say yes. But I don't know whether I'll be able to stay. The screenplaywell, you know it's differ-

 
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