diff --git a/vendor/plugins/maruku/lib/maruku/input/parse_span_better.rb b/vendor/plugins/maruku/lib/maruku/input/parse_span_better.rb
index e9b04a70..b6dc635c 100644
--- a/vendor/plugins/maruku/lib/maruku/input/parse_span_better.rb
+++ b/vendor/plugins/maruku/lib/maruku/input/parse_span_better.rb
@@ -77,7 +77,10 @@ SpanContext = SpanContext_String # Seems to be faster
 			end
 
 			break if exit_on_chars && exit_on_chars.include?(c)
-			break if exit_on_strings && exit_on_strings.any? {|x| src.cur_chars_are x}
+			if exit_on_strings && exit_on_strings.any? {|x| src.cur_chars_are x}
+                # Special case: bold nested in italic
+                 break unless !(['*', '_'] & exit_on_strings).empty? && ['**','__'].include?(src.cur_chars(2))
+            end 
 			
 			# check if there are extensions
 			if check_span_extensions(src, con)
diff --git a/vendor/plugins/maruku/spec/block_docs/hard.md b/vendor/plugins/maruku/spec/block_docs/hard.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..45c14ac9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/plugins/maruku/spec/block_docs/hard.md
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+More complicated tests for emphasis.
+*** Parameters: ***
+{}
+*** Markdown input: ***
+*This is in italic, and **this is bold italics**.*  But **is this bold and *this bold-italic* **? Or just plain ***bold italics***.
+*** Output of inspect ***
+md_el(:document,
+  [md_par([
+    md_em([
+      "This is in italic, and ", md_strong(["this is bold italics"]), "."
+    ]), " But ", md_strong([
+                   "is this bold and ", md_em(["this bold-italic"])
+                 ]), "? Or just plain ", md_emstrong(["bold italics"]), "."
+   ])
+  ],{},[])
+*** Output of to_html ***
+<p><em>This is in italic, and <strong>this is bold italics</strong>.</em> But <strong>is this bold and <em>this bold-italic</em></strong>? Or just plain <strong><em>bold italics</em></strong>.</p>
+*** Output of to_latex ***
+\emph{This is in italic, and \textbf{this is bold italics}.} But \textbf{is this bold and \emph{this bold-italic}}? Or just plain \textbf{\emph{bold italics}}.
+*** Output of to_md ***
+*This is in italic, and **this is bold italics**.*
+But **is this bold and *this bold-italic* **? Or
+just plain ***bold italics***.
+*** Output of to_s ***
+This is in italic, and this is bold italics. But is this bold and this bold-italic? Or just plain bold italics.
diff --git a/vendor/plugins/maruku/spec/block_docs/red_tests/lists7b.md b/vendor/plugins/maruku/spec/block_docs/red_tests/lists7b.md
index 91ebc5ab..75d2086b 100644
--- a/vendor/plugins/maruku/spec/block_docs/red_tests/lists7b.md
+++ b/vendor/plugins/maruku/spec/block_docs/red_tests/lists7b.md
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ md_el(:document,[
 *** Output of to_html ***
 <ul>
 <li>
-a
+<p>a</p>
 
 <ul>
 <li>a1</li>