The muscles in his jaw flexed under her fingers as he turned his head slightly, just enough so her fingers grazed his lips. He opened his mouth slightly and swirled his tongue around the tip of the finger that sank inward. The touch of his mouth on her skin seemed to have the most amazing effect on her womanly parts—they suddenly clamored for attention as heat pooled low within her. She pulled her other hand free and slid her fingers through the silk of his hair, recognizing that something was building inside her, some awareness that was just out of sight, something momentous that began to blossom deep in her soul. She tipped her head down until her lips were almost touching his, until she could feel his breath upon her mouth. The pressure inside her built higher until, just as her lips brushed against his, the knowledge burst upon her like a glorious ray of sunlight in a black abyss.

She loved him. She loved him with all her heart and soul, with every ounce of her being, with every breath drawn into her body, she loved him! Tears spilled down her cheeks as she smiled against his lips, wanting to shout her love for him from the highest mountaintop.

“I’m so sorry, so very sorry about this, Charlotte,” he said softly, brushing the tears from her face, pain flickering across his handsome face.

“I know you are,” she whispered, sliding off the chair into his arms, her smile growing at the look of surprise in his eyes. “I love you, Dare. Isn’t it amazing? I didn’t think it would work so quickly, but it did, because I knew just a moment ago that I love you. I really love you. Don’t you find it wondrous and astonishing that I feel this way? I do. I find it completely bemusing, but do you know, just now I realized that I loved you, even though that horrible man says you’re not an earl anymore, not that I believe him—he’s obviously a pretender to your title, a rogue and a scoundrel, because if anyone was meant to be an earl, you were—but still, that I could love you even thinking you might possibly not be an earl is so amazing, I am speechless, completely and utterly speechless.”

Dare stared at her for a moment, then threw back his head and laughed, tipping over backwards until he was lying on his back before the fire, Charlotte draped over his chest, smiling down into his handsome face.

“You never fail me, wife. Just when I think at last I know what to expect from you, you succeed in pulling the rug out from beneath me.”

“Don’t be silly.” Charlotte smiled, then kissed his chin, her heart joyous and happy at the sight of her husband laughing, warm with the knowledge that the love potion worked. She was in love! “I quite like this rug. I would never abuse it in such a fashion.”