The thought was highly stimulating, as was the knowing gleam in his bold and steady stare.
“Care to name the part of my anatomy that’s got such a strong hold on your attention, Miss Worth?”
His husky voice worked the same magic as did the sight of his half-clothed body. “How long had you been watching me before I awakened?”
Quickly, she looked away from his penetrating blue eyes and attempted to tame her emotions before he could stir them further.
God, she was beautiful in the morning, Roman thought. As if a golden cloud had descended upon her from the sky, her bright hair crowned her head in an unruly mass of fluffy curls and tumbled playfully over her slim shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed, and her thickly lashed eyes still held the luminous glaze of sleep. “For a while,” he finally answered. “You snore. Not loud. Just little noises like the kind pigs make when they’re rooting around.”
She’d never smiled so soon after awakening. “The sound you describe is a grunt, not a snort. Snoring is a noise made during sleep when the soft palate is vibrated. A grunt is—”
“How can you think of that scientific junk so soon after waking up? What do you do, dream about it?”
“I was only—”
“Yeah, I know. You were only being a genius. Come on. I’ll show you where the stream is.” He reached for her hand, but when he couldn’t find it, he realized it was beneath her covers. With one smooth motion, he pulled the blanket off.
Theodosia gasped.
Roman stared. Her nightgown was bunched up around her upper thighs, providing him with an unhindered view of her pale white legs.
“Mr. Montana—” She started to pull her nightgown down.
He knelt, caught her wrists, then captured her wide-eyed gaze as well.
She tried to pull her hands away; his grip was too strong. She attempted to look away from his eyes and failed at that too. “Sir, you are seeing my legs.”
“Miss, I’m looking into your eyes.”
“You cannot lie to me, Mr. Montana. It’s true you are looking into my eyes, but your peripheral vision is allowing you to see my legs at the same time.”
With a lopsided grin, he silently admitted she was right. “Peripheral vision, huh? Never knew I had any. But right now, I’m damned glad to have my fair share.”
Try as she did, she couldn’t keep herself from smiling. The man was filled to the very brim with a devilish charm she found no way to resist. “Yes, the sense of sight is truly remarkable. Would you free my hands now?”
“Of course.” He let go of her wrists, and then, very slowly, he lowered his arm toward her legs. “I’m not aiming my hand for any special target,” he informed her. “Just letting it drop wherever it will while I keep looking straight into your eyes.”
The moment she felt his warm palm meet her thigh, the pulse inside her became an ache that was sweet and tormenting at once.
“Well, what do you know about that, Miss Worth? I’m still looking into your eyes, but because of good ole peripheral vision, I can see that my hand has landed right on your leg. How do people see, anyway?” he asked quickly, hoping to distract her mind while he did delicious things to her body. “I’ve always wanted to know about sight, but I never found anything out.”
She placed her hand over his, intending to move it away. “Mr. Mon—”
“Fine, don’t tell me.” Gently, he wrapped his long fingers around her thigh and felt her skin quiver. “Just keep all that knowledge about eyes to yourself. I’ll go through life without ever knowing how people see. I’ll be lowered into my grave never having learned how—”
John the Baptist screeched and flapped his wings.“Att Ingrid gifte sig sd tidigt, gjorde det lattare for hennes far att dra sig tillbaka frdn affarema,”he declared.
Roman looked at the parrot. “What did he say?”
“He’s speaking Swedish. He said, ‘Ingrid’s marrying so early made it easier for her father to retire from business.’”
“Who the hell is Ingrid?”
“Mr. Montana, Ingrid is only the name used in the sentence, which is a line John the Baptist must have heard me practicing when I studied Swedish last year.”
“The bird speaks Swedish,” Roman said. “See? Even your parrot is smarter than I am. I bet he knows everything there is to know about sight. Too bad I don’t.”
She laughed in spite of herself. “Do you really want to know about the sense of sight?”
