“Look at the ants take the cakes into the mound,” Roman said, his gaze riveted to the industrious ants. “I used to watch ants for hours on end. I still like watching them.”
“Ants are one of several groups of social insects that belong to the orderHymenoptera,”Theodosia explained. “The known species of ants are classified in seven subfamilies ofFormicidae.The ancestors of ants are believed to have been solitary, fossorial wasps—”
“Theodosia?”
“Yes?”
“Shut up and watch the ants.”
She did, and before long she, too, began dropping bits of hotcakes for the ants to carry into their mound. When one cake proved too bulky for them to haul, she assisted them by picking up the food scrap and dropping it directly into the mound’s opening.
Roman didn’t say a word while she played with the ants. He simply watched her, feeling a deep satisfaction when he saw the fascination and contentment in her beautiful whiskey-colored eyes.
Finally, after over an hour of playing, Theodosia straightened into a sitting position and saw Roman taking off his boots and stockings.
He sank his bare toes into a mud puddle.
She watched the dark, sticky mud ooze all over his feet. “Why are you doing that?”
He shrugged. “It feels good, but if you want to try it, you have to find your own puddle. This one’s mine.”
She couldn’t fathom whyanyonewould want to bury their feet into mud. “I don’t care to try it.”
“Suit yourself.” He leaned forward and pushed his hands into the mud as well. Sinking them deep, he grabbed as much mud as he could hold, then pulled it out of the puddle.
Theodosia saw little bubbles rise and pop on the surface of the mud he held, then an earthworm squirmed over his thumb. She couldn’t resist moving over to where he sat. “You have found a member of theLumbricidaefamily, Roman, which is a hermaphroditic worm that moves through the soil by means of setae—”
“Nope. You’re wrong. This is not lubmicditty.”
“Lumbricidae.”
“Whatever.” He lifted the worm level with Theodosia’s eyes. “This is Ernie. Yeah, good ol’ Ernie Earthworm, and he moves through dirt by squirming, got that?” He began looking for more worms and soon had a whole handful.
Theodosia reached for one.
He yanked his hand away. “My worms.”
His crooked grin caught her full attention. How she loved that naughty expression of his.
“If you want a worm, Theodosia, you have to find one yourself.”
She glanced at the mud puddle.
He almost laughed at the look of disgust on her face. “I guess to someone who only becomes a bit dusty, the thought of sticking your hands into a mud puddle is about the worst thing you can think of, huh? Tell you what, Lady Immaculate…how about we take a bath after we finish playing in the mud?”
“Together?”
“Is that shock I see in your eyes, or excitement?”
His question made her blush. “I have not been playing in the mud, Roman, therefore I do not need to bathe.”
She regretted her words the second they left her lips.
Roman released the worms, slopped up some more mud, and smeared her left cheek. “That’s more than a bit of dust you’ve got on you. You need a bath.”
She saw mud drip to the bodice of her dress. “Roman, look what you did to me.”
He found her dismay highly amusing. “Aren’t you going to get back at me?”
