The Perfect Wife's Perfect Revenge

It was only later that Gwyneth learned how expensive these particular roses were —and that they actually changed color. She made a mental note, a little amazed; she'd never realized roses could do that.

The second time she saw such a rose, it was a gift from Hawthorne.

"Why hurry home if you have plans to go out tonight?" Gwyneth asked, hugging the bouquet tightly, unable to hide her delight at the flowers-even if her question was a silly one.

"I already told you," Hawthorne replied, his eyes warm with affection. "I wanted to have dinner with my wife."

Gwyneth, worried about delaying his evening, had asked the staff to serve dinner promptly at five.

Fortunately, the household staff were quick to pick up on things; seeing their employer return, they immediately began preparing the meal.

When five dishes and a soup were brought to the table, Hawthorne frowned slightly. "That's all?"

Gwyneth glanced at him, then at the nervous staff. "I told them not to prepare more than six dishes from now on. There's just the two of us-we can't possibly eat more. It's such a waste to have the table overflowing every night."

Hawthorne looked at her, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "You're right. We'll do as you say from now on."

Only then did the staff relax.

Hawthorne chatted over dinner, sharing small stories and laughter. Partway through the meal, a maid came in carrying a tiny puppy. Hawthorne

surprised. He'd thought it was a brownish-grey mutt, but now it was snowy white and absolutely adorable. "We took it to the vet for a full checkup-nothing wrong with it. Had

ridiculous dog, Hawthorne thought privately. But seeing how much Gwyneth liked

you gone so often, I won't be lonely with him around," Gwyneth added quickly, as if afraid he'd change his

dog was healthy, didn't object. "As long as

changed back into his suit and

to Yvette's family estate, he stopped to buy some health supplements and brought his

She'd expected him to arrive soon after, but night was nearly falling by

two boxes of supplements. Yvette glanced at them with thinly veiled

was bad enough

romance or how

important

grandfather, this was

embarrassingly meager-like he was

stopping by on a

talk about

bright smile as