Thoroughly intrigued by his obvious rejection of the treatise, she sat down on the bed and picked up the book. Thumbing through it, she scanned a few pages. “Actually…well, yes. I had no reason to believe otherwise until now. Why do you say the treatise is stupid, Mr. Montana?”
“For one thing—” He broke off and took the book away from her. Opening it to the page that showed the couple making love, he jabbed his finger at it. “If this is one of those highly unusual forms you talked about one time—this isn’t highly unusual. It’simpossible!”
“It is?”
“These two have practically turned themselves inside out! People don’t make love this way, Miss Worth. If they tried, they’d never get untangled!”
She glanced at the drawing again. “That is but one of the positions described. There are others, and the majority of them seem quite comfortable, to my way of thinking.”
He decided she’d taken acrobatic lessons sometime in her youth.
“How far did you read, Mr. Montana?”
“I haven’t read anything except that I will never be able to satisfy a woman’s passion.” He unfolded the folded page and held it up for her to see. “What is Tibet? A land of giants?”
“The diagram isn’t correct?” She leaned forward for a better look.
“I thought you’d studied human anatomy.”
She drew away, but her gaze remained on the diagram. “I have studied anatomy, but I’ve never seen a penis—well, Ihaveseen one. A few years ago I took an art class, and one of my assignments was to sketch a nude male. The model posed without clothes, of course, but his penis was in a state of repose.” Frowning in consternation, she looked up at him. “Are you saying this diagram isn’t a true reproduction of—”
“Hell no!”
His shout and the glitter of ire in his eyes injured her feelings. “I apologize,” she whispered, “for my ignorance.”
“I didn’t mean to yell,” he said quickly. “It’s just that I can’t believe you thought this diagram was a true-to-life drawing. Why didn’t your brother-in-law set you straight?”
“Oh, Upton doesn’t know I have the book. One of the assistant librarians at Harvard loaned it to me.”
“Then why didn’theset you straight?”
“Miss Biddington is a woman. A very dear woman who is fast approaching the age of seventy.”
An old spinster, Roman mused. That explained why the woman hadn’t set Theodosia straight concerning the diagram. He could only imagine the fantasies dear Miss Biddington must have entertained while staring at the drawing.
“Since you haven’t begun to read, I shall leave you to do so now, Mr. Montana.” Theodosia began to rise.
Roman caught her by her waist. “We could read together. That way we can discuss what we read as we go along.” And what a perfect place for the so-calleddiscussion,he thought—the bed. “It’ll save time.”
“Well…”
He gave her a serious look. “You said yourself that the reason you’ve been reading this book is so you can understand what will happen when you finally find the perfect man to father the child. Seems to me that you would want me to explain these passionate things to you. Or would you rather the man you choose tells you about them? If you’d rather a complete stranger explain—”
“I have no intention of being passionate with the man. I’ve told you before that my relations with him will be strictly—”
“Then you should know about these passionate things in case the guy tries to start them,” Roman fenced, drumming his fingers upon the book. “That way, you can stop him before he gets very far. The more knowledge you have, the more you’ll be able to control your doings with him.”
Toying with a lock of her hair, she contemplated his reasoning. “All right, Mr. Montana. I see your point.”
He patted the space beside him, moving over for her when she settled next to him and leaned into the mound of pillows propped against the headboard. “‘Chapter One,’” he said, turning to the beginning of the chapter and scanning the page. “Oh, this part explains the preparations for lovemaking. Touching, kissing, and stuff like that. You won’t be doing any of those things with the candidate you choose, but maybe we should talk about them anyway. Just so you’ll have a full understanding.”
Theodosia read the page. She’d read it before, but reading it with Roman made the words much more meaningful…
And erotic.
He heard her breath quicken and smiled inwardly. If this was the way she responded to the touching and kissing paragraph of the first chapter, he certainly looked forward to what she would do when he got to the really good parts. “A mancouldbegin to make love to a woman by kissing her, but that’s not the way I do it.”
“Oh?” She turned her face toward him and looked into his eyes. “How do you do it? I—of course, I need to know so I will be able to recognize such foreplay should the chosen candidate attempt it.”
