It was there in the way he made certain to give Judith a goodnight kiss every night.

But most of all, it was there in the way he respected her talents and anticipated her needs—and in the way his eyes had filled with pain when she'd been hurt, as if he'd felt each and every one of her burns on his own skin.

He was a better man than she'd realized when she'd said, “I will.”

He poked her shoulder. “Ellie? Ellie?”

“What? Oh, I'm sorry.” Her face colored, even though she knew he couldn't possibly read her thoughts. “Just woolgathering.”

“Darling, you were practically hugging a sheep.”

She swallowed and tried to come up with a reasonable excuse. “I was merely thinking about my investment strategy. What do you think of coffee?”

“I like mine with milk.”

“As an investment,” she practically snapped.

“My goodness, we've suddenly grown testy.”

He'd be testy, too, she thought, if he'd just realized that he was on a one-way path to a broken heart. She was in love with a man who saw nothing wrong with infidelity. He had made his views on marriage painfully clear.

Oh, Ellie knew he'd remain faithful for the time being. He was far too intrigued by her and by the newness of their marriage to seek out other women. But eventually he'd grow bored, and when he did, she'd be left at home with a broken heart.

Damn the man. If he had to have a fatal flaw, why couldn't he have chewed his fingernails, or gambled, or even been short, fat, and hideously ugly? Why did he have to be perfect in every way except for his appalling lack of respect for the sanctity of marriage?

Ellie thought she might cry.

And the worst part of it was that she knew she'd never be able to pay him back in kind. Ellie couldn't be unfaithful if she tried. Perhaps it was due to her strict upbringing by a man of God, but there was no way she could ever break a vow as solemn as that of marriage. It just wasn't in her.

“You look terribly somber all of a sudden,” Charles said, touching her face. “My God! You've tears in your eyes. Ellie, what is wrong? Is it your hands?”

Ellie nodded. It seemed the easiest thing to do under the circumstances.

“Let me pour you more laudanum. And I'll brook no arguments that you just had some. Another quarter does isn't going to render you unconscious.”

She drank the liquid, thinking she wouldn't mind being rendered unconscious just then. “Thank you,” she said, once he'd wiped her mouth for her. He was looking at her with such concern, and it made her heart positively ache, and…

And that was when it came to her. They said reformed rakes made the best husbands, didn't they? Why the devil couldn't she reform him? She'd never backed down from a challenge before. Feeling suddenly inspired and perhaps a little bit dizzy from having doubled her current dose of laudanum, she turned to him and asked, “And when do I learn the mysterious number seven?”