Oh, Ann, you're great at quoting the comic book canon, but you forgot a little parallel there. In fact, I'm talking about a parallel world, Earth III. There, the counterpart of each and every superhero is evil. (And I must admit that I'm well aware of the irony of LnC Lois becoming Ultrawoman for one episode: The "Superman" of Earth III went under the name of "Ultraman"...) To battle this evil, this world's Lex Luthor decides to become the world's first superhero - and he even marries 'his' world's Lois Lane. So, please, don't tell me that a Lex/Lois pairing couldn't happen in the comics!
And I truly see a big parallel to the situation in LnC: As on Earth III, the LnC Lex Luthor is a truly nice guy - at least on his surface. Lois doesn't know about his criminal activities, I think. She never gets to witness anything strange about him. In the series, it's always Clark who catches him in the act, or at least talking about his evil deeds. To nearly everyone else, he seems to be the perfect gentleman, philantrophist and do-gooder. And in the series, he does a great job of courting Lois.
Only in one of the last episodes before the near-wedding does confess that he isn't always a nice guy, but the way he does it... Needless to say, Lois believes that he is referring to playing it rough, using his elbows - and not his guns and henchmen!
And about Lois being an investigative reporter who wouldn't be fooled by Lex with his perfectly hidden 'secret': Lois has been fooled by a pair of glasses for years, and she spent much more time with Clark than with Lex. Besides, during the crimes Lex had committed, he usually had an alibi. Clark took off with a weak excuse whenever he needed to be Superman. And it happened quite often - often enough for Lois to refer to this habit of Clarks as his "vanishing act". And still she didn't see the truth before the end of the second season. so, please don't tell me she can't have been fooled by Lex, too!
