Another winner from Joan Smith, with a charming heroine, an initially grumpy but soon melting hero, some amusingly horse-mad minor characters and a creative ending.
Here’s the premise: eligible Lord Southam is betrothed to manipulative Deborah Swann, but the marriage is being delayed by his eldest half sister, Gillian, who cordially dislikes Deborah, and the feeling is mutual. Deborah has sworn she won’t marry Southam until Gillie is safely married and out of the house. But where to send her? The girl’s head is full of horses and not much else, she’s too gauche to be set loose on the London marriage mart and there are no suitable relatives. But there’s the widow of Southam’s cousin, Beatrice Searle, who lives in Bath, and is also an old school friend of Deborah’s. She would do, and it would get Gillie out of the house for a few weeks. After all, what can she possibly get up to in Bath?
Bea Searle is delighted with the idea. She remembers Lord Southam very well, since he flirted with her outrageously at her own wedding, knows that he’s not yet married and sees a perfect opportunity to weigh up the possibility of a second, and very agreeable, husband. She’s very put out when it’s not Southam himself who brings Gillie to Bath, only her former governess, Miss Pittfield. For a while, she lets her peevishness sour her relationship with Gillie, but she soon sees that the girl is homesick and in need of some gentle mothering, and her sympathies are aroused.
After this, they get along swimmingly, as Bea introduces Gillie to her horsiest acquaintances, manages to smarten her up a little and takes her off for some gentle evening entertainments. But Southam is concerned by the seemingly raffish nature of Gillie’s new horsey friends, and decides to drive to Bath to take a look at them, and this is where the book really takes off. Bea and Southam, after a chilly start, soon rediscover the fun of flirtation, the raffish friends turn out to be a duke and his uncle, and Southam starts to make unfavourable comparisons with his future wife. Deborah’s managing ways are not nearly so agreeable as Bea’s lively, not to say welcoming, nature.
Once the project to marry Gillie to the equally horse-mad duke gets underway, there’s a trip to Bournemouth, where Southam makes the mistake of a heavy-handed nocturnal approach to Bea, and gets the sharp end of her Irish temper. Happily, he’s too far along the road to being in love with her to let things stand, so the story becomes the familiar one: how to escape his now unwanted betrothal to Deborah? I have to say, Southam’s methods are ingenious.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, despite a number of anachronisms and Americanisms. The banter between Bea and Southam is delightful, Gillie and her duke are great fun, and even Miss Pittfield is given a spirited personality. As ‘villains’ go, Deborah is as entertaining as they come, and no doubt she’ll find some other muggins to manipulate into marriage. A great read. Five stars.
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