He almost laughed. The woman had a brainy word for the simplest of things!
“Beneath one layer of rocks is another,” Theodosia said, “and then another, and then—”
“When this was a creek, it was called Bedrock Creek.”
“How utterly appropriate.” Completely frustrated, Theodosia sat up and swiped her hair out of her face. “And just how can it be thatyouare so comfortable?”
He picked up a handful of pebbles, and one by one, he flung them toward Theodosia. When he was finished, they lay in a neat pile in her lap. “Rocks don’t bother me. I’ve slept on them before and will probably sleep on them again. Why do you keep wearing that thick nightgown, by the way? It must be ninety degrees out here. Aren’t you hot?”
John the Baptist spat another stream of water. “Well, I bedded my first wench when I was fourteen,” he said, “and I ain’t let up since.”
At her parrot’s words, Theodosia rolled her eyes, then patted the velvet ribbons that closed the front of her flannel gown. “No doubt you would like me to sleep naked, Mr. Montana.”
“No doubt at all, Miss Worth.”
Roman Montana embodied the truest definition ofrake,she thought while battling anger and desire. The moment an opportunity arrived for discussing or practicing anything having to do with sensuality, he seized it instantly. “I have never slept without a nightrail on, nor will I ever do so. And I would appreciate it if you would please refrain from mentioning intimate subjects such as my nightwear.”
He considered her request for exactly a half a second before rejecting it. “You’ve never felt cool sheets next to your skin?”
“No.”
“It feels good.”
“Mr. Montana, I have enjoyed restful nights with my nightgown on for many, many years. I feel it safe to presume that I will continue to enjoy them.”
He shook his head. “You’ll have to be naked with the guy you pick to get you with child.”
Unconsciously, she crossed her hands over her breasts. “I will not.”
He scratched his chin. “Then how do you plan to—”
“I will bare my lower half.”
“The man’s going to want to see and touch your upper half, too.”
“He will not see any part of me, and he will most certainly not touch me. I shall be under the blankets, there will be no light in the room, and I shall concentrate on unrelated matters during penetration and the spilling of his seed. The entire procedure will be over in only minutes. Besides, his wants will not concern me in the least.”
Roman smiled. She was in for a shock. No man in the world, genius or not, was going to follow her bedding rules. Not with the kind of breasts she had, they weren’t. And if the man had a shred of talent between the blankets, she wouldn’t be concentrating on unrelated matters, either. Nor would she want the procedure to be over in only minutes.
“Excuse me for a minute, will you? I have to add this.” He bent his leg at the knee, placed the paper on his upper thigh, and pretended to jot down a few numbers. He had no intention of doing the tiresome arithmetic. Why should he? A genius sat straight across from him.
Because she was mad at him, she wouldn’t offer to help. But he planned to prove to her that he knew just as much about mind tricks as she did. And when he was through, she’d be angrier, and he’d have the answers to the arithmetic.
“I’m adding how much money I’ve got now,” he said, “and how much I’ll have when I’m done paying what I owe and collecting what’s owed to me. But there are eight amounts, so I’m having to separate them to—”
“Well, if you think for one moment that I am going to assist you with the mathematics after you have made me sleep on these rocks, you are sadly mistaken.” Lips tightly pursed, she took hold of the sides of her nightgown and shook the pebbles out of her lap.
“I didn’t ask for your help, Miss Worth. Arithmetic happened to be my best subject in school.” He scribbled a few doodles on his paper. “Let’s see…twenty-two dollars and seventy-six cents plus forty-two dollars and eighty-six cents plus eleven dollars and nineteen cents equals…seventy-one dollars and eighty-nine cents.”
“You are off by four dollars and ninety-two cents,” Theodosia informed him, totally unable to resist correcting an error of any sort.
He looked up from the paper and saw moonlight and smugness shining in her eyes. The moonlight would remain, but he vowed that the glow of chagrin would soon replace the gleam of self-satisfaction.“Ihave the paper and pencil, Miss Worth. I also have the figures right in front of my eyes. Now, if you don’t mind, stop interrupting and let me finish.”
Suppressing a grin, he bent over his paper again. “Where was I? I already added three amounts, and they equaled seventy-one dollars and eighty-nine cents. All right…seventy-one dollars and eighty-nine cents plus thirty-one dollars and two cents plus six dollars and ninety-four cents equals…one hundred and twelve dollars and eighty-four cents.”
“You added the first set of numbers wrong, Mr. Montana. Your first sum should have been seventy-six dollars and eighty-one cents. That added to the other amounts you just mentioned comes to one hundred and fourteen dollars and seventy-seven cents.”
He feigned deafness and a frown. “One hundred and twelve dollars and eighty-four cents plus seventy-one dollars and fifty-nine cents plus twelve dollars and thirty-six cents equals the grand total of…two hundred and one dollars and six cents.”
