Hawksworth stroked her smooth leg mischievously, then took the book and gently laid it aside. "Tell me what it says about a Conch Woman. What have I been doing that's right and wrong?" "The book says that the Conch Woman prefers union with a man in the third _pahar_ of the night." "When is that?" "Time is counted in India by _pahar_. The day and the night are each divided into four _pahars_. The first _pahar _of the night would be between six and nine in the evening by _feringhi _time. The third _pahar _would be your hours between midnight and three in the morning. Is that not the very time I come to your couch?" "That's convenient." "It also says that on certain days of the moon, which it tells, the Conch Woman particularly enjoys having her body pressed with the nails of the man. Some days roughly, some days gently. And on certain days the embrace must be forceful, on certain days gentle. There are many special ways to touch and embrace a Conch Woman, and they are explained here. Also there are certain ways of kissing her, of biting her, of scratching her. For example, you may kiss her upper lip, or her lower lip, or you may kiss her with your tongue only." "And how am I supposed to be able to kiss you with my tongue only?" Hawksworth cast a skeptical glance at the book. "It's very easy." She smiled at him slyly. "Perhaps it's easier if I show you." She took his lower lip gently with the tips of her fingers, passed her tongue over it slowly and languorously, and then suddenly nipped it playfully. He started in surprise. "There. You see there are many ways to please a woman, to kiss her, to bite her, to scratch her. When you have become a true lover of women, my strong _feringhi_, you will know them all." Hawksworth shifted uncomfortably. "What next?" "The book also tells of the bodies of women. Foolish men often do not know these things, my love, but I think you are beginning to learn. It tells that in the upper cleft of the _yoni _there's a small organ it likens to a plantain-shoot sprouting from the ground. This is the seat of pleasure in a woman, and when it is excited, her_ kama salila _flows in profusion." "And then?" "When the woman is ready, you may both enjoy the act of union to its fullest. And there are many, many ways this may be done. The book tells of thirty-two. It is the great wisdom of Kalyana Mai that a woman must have variety in her love couch. If she does not find this with one man, she will seek others. It is the same with men, I think." Hawksworth nodded noncommittally, not wishing to appear overly enthusiastic. "Finally, he tells the importance of a woman reaching her moment of enjoyment. If she does not, she will be unsatisfied and may seek pleasure elsewhere. In India, a woman is taught to signify this moment by the _sitkrita_, the drawing in of breath between the closed teeth. There are many different ways a woman may do this, but you will know, my love."