“How would you know that?” She inhaled an unsteady breath, shaking her head firmly. “Even if it is true, which I cannot believe, it only means that you were there yourself, does it not? You must see I cannot judge him if I do not judge you for the same. Men are men, as they say.”

Harrison gave her a steady, serious look. “No, Adelaide, men are not men, in that respect, and such excuses should not be made for them. As for me, I have had to descend upon that place far too often to pluck my younger brother out of his messes. I crossed paths with your Phillip more than once, years before I had any arrangement set with you. Believe me, his identity was thrown about, so there was no mistaking it.”

Adelaide’s hand reached out to grip the handle of her fork so tightly, her knuckles turned brilliant white. “I cannot pretend to not be disturbed by this. But are not wives meant to ignore the wandering attentions of their husbands and do their best besides? Surely there are no paragons among them.”

“Perhaps not,” Harrison allowed, hating the way such behaviors were accepted by high society as the way of men rather than holding any to a higher standard. “But I do not believe wandering attentions ought to be ignored. I had my own misspent youth, to be sure, but that was not one of the sins committed therein. If you doubt that, you should know that our wedding night was the first time that I have been with any woman, and that is no easy thing to admit. And I am no adulterer, so you should have no fear of such things in the future. Whatever that is worth to you.”

His wife had no response for him but to release the clenching hold on her fork, her eyes still on him.

He had not meant to give speeches this morning, but here they were, and at least one secret was now freed from him.

“Perhaps you would have been happy with him,” Harrison added quietly, returning his attention to his plate under the influence of her piercing stare. “Perhaps such things would have been more tastefully handled once you were wed. I do not know the man’s heart, only the character I have seen. But it pained me to hear you mourn the loss of a man who may not have been worth such things. You deserve a husband who will have eyes only for you.”

“Would that man be you, then?”

He froze, the question one he would have expected to be harsh, critical, delivered with sarcasm and derision. Yet it had come with genuine curiosity, a natural hesitancy, and an innocence that unmanned him far more than he expected any question of his wife to be capable of.