Resolve hit her as if someone had shot it at her.
The time had come to direct all her concentration toward her plans. She had to remember Lillian and Upton’s child. Had to intensify her efforts to find a man whose intelligence equaled Upton’s. She couldn’t forget her deep desire to travel to Brazil, either. And how could she have forgotten Roman’s own dreams? He didn’t want a wife. He wanted a horse ranch!
Dear God, things had gone much too far between them.
She sat up, and careful not to awaken Roman, she crawled to the end of the bed on her hands and knees.
Her round, white bottom was the first thing Roman saw when he opened his eyes. God, what a great way to start the day! he mused, reaching for her and hauling her back into bed with him.
“Roman, release me this very instant.” Both hands planted on his chest, she pushed with all her might.
The real anger he heard in her voice bewildered him. Taking hold of her shoulders, he gave her no quarter as she tried to escape him. “What—”
“I must get dressed and begin my plans—”
“You don’t even know where you are, Theodosia. How can you make plans?”
“I have made them.” She wouldn’t look into his eyes, knowing that if she did, she’d be completely lost. “And it doesn’t matter that I don’t know where I am. Whatever town this is, I’m certain that a newspaper office is a part of it. I must have my circulars printed and posted. If all goes well, I will begin conducting interviews by late this afternoon.”
He no longer found her advertisements for a lover as amusing as he once had. Letting go of her shoulders, he lay back down and glared at the brass hatstand across the room.
Theodosia got out of bed, opened one of her bags, and quickly donned a silk wrapper. “We slept together. In the same bed.” She glanced at him and immediately wished she hadn’t.
His long ebony hair flowed over the pillow and pooled on the mattress, providing a captivating contrast to the pristine sheets.
His size never failed to amaze her. Even from where she stood, she could see each ripple of his muscles, each masculine line of his thick, long body. One of his thighs was almost as big as her waist!
She couldn’t understand how they’d both fit in the bed. He filled it completely.
“It was late when we got here,” Roman told her, still staring at the hatstand but feeling her gaze traveling over him. “There’s only one bed, and I sure as hell didn’t want to sleep on the floor.”
“You didn’t have to take my clothes off.”
“You didn’t mind when I took them off yesterday.” He swung his feet off the bed and stood.
Her heart swooped. Tantalized by the sheer grace locked within his tremendous frame, she could do nothing but stare as he walked toward her.
“For God’s sake, Theodosia, tell me what happened between yesterday and now that is making you act this way.”
I dreamed of being your wife.
“Answer me!”
“I have not been devoting sufficient time and energy to my goals, and do not shout at me.” Flustered, she folded her arms across her breasts, dropped them back down to her sides, then folded them across her breasts again.
“When I—when I am with you…” she faltered, her fingers tapping the backs of her arms, “you make me forget my aims. In all honesty, I do enjoy your attentions, and as I told you yesterday, I have no immunity whatsoever against—against yoursexual sorcery.But I cannot,mustnot forget my ambitions. Lillian and Upton’s child is—”
“You said you didn’t regret what happened yesterday.” He flung the words at her as if he were pitching stones.
She cast her gaze to the floor. “I didn’t. I don’t. But it was terribly unfair of me to allow you such liberties. In hindsight, I realize that my willingness gave you to believe that we would continue such intimate activities, which is not the case at all. I apologize for having misled you.”
He didn’t want her apology. He wanted to feel her in his arms again.
“Roman, I understand why you slept with me last night, but the time will soon come when I… Once I choose the man to sire the child…” She lifted her gaze and met his. “When I find him, you will have to sleep elsewhere, and I will tell you now that it will be for more than one night. I have no intention of failing in my endeavors and will avail myself of the man’s services until I have conceived Lillian and Upton’s child.”
Roman’s eyelids narrowed so tightly that he could barely see. Thousands of men lived in Texas, and not all of them were like the greasy son-of-a-bitch he’d pitched out of the window in Wild Winds. It was entirely possible shewouldfind a suitable father for the baby.
“Do you understand, Roman?”
