Her mother might have silenced Ellory's giggles with a sharp glare, but Evelyn had always been a softer touch. She smiled in spite of herself.

"It is normal to be nervous, dear one," she allowed sympathetically. She certainly had been, but Edwin had led her through the ordeal quite...well, awkwardly the first few instances, but splendidly in the years that had followed.

"When a man and wo—when a husband and wife lie together, the most intimate parts of their anatomy fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. A man's piece can be used in countless puzzles, but a woman's fits to the first man with whom she lies. A virtuous woman will be made to fit her husband and avoid other puzzles."