As always, a wonderful read from one of my favourite writers, with a very unconventional hero and heroine, a lovely slow-burn romance and a villain thoroughly redeemed.
Here’s the premise: Miss Belinda Morrison is settling contentedly into permanent spinsterhood with her aunt, carefully tending their small farm for her absent brother. A new vicar with an eye to acquiring both Belinda and her prosperous property sets her a challenge, which she sees off in outrageous (but very funny) style. And this sets the tone for the rest of the books – I‘ve rarely laughed so much at a Regency romance.
But there’s another new neighbour, a mysterious and reclusive single gentleman, living at a neighbour’s house while the neighbours are away. When Bel’s cat disappears, she gets to meet Mr Nigel Lymington, who has been pampering the cat with ham and lots of stroking. Bel is happy simply to rescue the cat, but Nigel is intrigued by this self-sufficient woman who manages her farm and isn’t remotely interested in him or society generally.
Readers with a better memory than mine will know that Nigel appeared in an earlier book as the villain and got deposited here in Derbyshire, far from his usual haunts in London, by the tides of the plot. Needing to rusticate because of some shenanigans in that book, he’s hiding not just his person but also his identity. I had forgotten all that, but it doesn’t matter at all, and the locals soon find out that he’s actually the Duke of Warrenton, avoiding both a creditor and his ancestral responsibilities as duke. I confess, I’ve never found tales of an impoverished duke terribly plausible. All those vast acres they invariably own (because dukedoms weren’t handed out without land) produce a fabulous income, as a rule. But let that pass.
From this point on, the romance unfurls at a steady pace, although with characters as unusual as this, there are constant surprises along the way, all of them delightful. I have to say, I love a story that surprises me, and this one does it in spades. Eventually, it dawns on Nigel that he’s never going to win his lady unless he follows her example and takes care of his own land and tenants. Well, he knows it because she tells him very clearly – ‘Fix it,’ she says, and off he goes to do just that.
This is the only (very, very small) niggle I have with the book, that Nigel disappears off to Lincolnshire for months on end, without making any contact with Bel to reassure her that he is coming back and yes, he still wants to marry her. All this while the avaricious vicar is still hovering around Bel. It would have served him right if she had married the vicar in the meantime.
There are some surprising (that word again!) twists at the end before the romance wraps up neatly. A beautifully written book, redeeming a previous villain in splendid style, with a charmingly eccentric heroine and an honourable mention for the cat. Five stars.
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