She never intended to take a husband…
Scotland, 1817
The Duke of Manchester’s sister, Lady Sarah Lacey, always abides by the rules of etiquette. Fate, however, has no such confines. On a journey to the Scottish Highlands, Lady Sarah is set upon by misfortune-leaving her without carriage or chaperone, and left to the mercy of a kind and handsome gentleman. Whom (in order to secure a room at an inn) she announces is her husband.
When she proclaims they’re married in public, Professor Braeden McKinnon can’t bring himself to correct the lovely Lady Sarah. After all, her reputation would be ruined. Nor can he tell her that her proclamation is not only legally binding in Scotland, but sharing a room is considered to be an act of consummation…
Now they are bound together until death do they part-even if Sarah has no intention of becoming any man’s wife.
I liked this book. I did. But I had a few issues: it didn’t have the same novelty as The Highlander’s Choice (being set in Scotland), and as much as I loved Braeden McKinnon (these names are awesome), his condescending attitude toward Lady Sarah’s writing pissed me off.
I probably took it to heart because I am a female writer (obviously), and a raging feminist. I had the same issue with Drake’s opinion of Penelope’s work in The Duke’s Quandary. However, here, it felt worse because he’s also working. At least in Drake and Penelope’s case, it was a classist issue as well as a gender one (he said that she shouldn’t be working because it’s unbecoming of a future Duchess). But, I basically just don’t like sexist/misogynistic overtones in the stories I read for fun (which is a bit nuts for me to say given I know it that was common then).
Plotwise… I liked that it had two characters who loved each other being conflicted over the very real issue of maintaining their individuality and personal interests. It’s a modern concern that usually isn’t addressed in this genre, and it was very refreshing to see that here.
Their romance was nice, aforementioned issues aside, and definitely steamy at times. I enjoyed reading this book and think it was a nice continuation of the series, even if I didn’t love it as much as the previous book.