Desires of a Perfect Lady Book

I enjoyed this book more than The Virgin's Secret - maybe it's because much of the mystery was developed in the first of the series, but I also felt that the characters had more depth in this one. Olivia's strength of character was developed in a very unhappy marriage - we learned that in the earlier book. Here we discover how absolutely miserable it was, and why she's so determined to do whatever it takes to meet the ridiculous terms of her late husband's will. This forces her to contact Sterling, who should have been her husband ten years ago, but he deserted her in her time of need. Of course, he claimed that she deserted him - and here's a BIG SPOILER and the reason I dropped this rating a full star to a weak 4*: Sterling has hated Olivia for 10 years and felt she deserved what she got out of her marriage because of a letter he received from Olivia's father breaking off their engagement. He never attempted to check with her to see why this great love of theirs no longer existed?! He refused to read the letters she smuggled out to him?! Nope - I need a hero! Fortunately, Sterling lost some of his arrogance and rigidness of character as this story continued, but I felt his lack of action and trust ten years ago was a serious weakness that I had to work hard to overcome, and happily he did as well. Since this is a romance, we know they'll eventually get together, so I want to include this mushy piece of dialogue: "You saved me. I was lost and you have found me. Dead and you have brought me back to life", and let you decide or discover who was speaking to whom.