Another in the series that starts with a bang, with a dramatic midnight encounter at a roadside inn, and never lets up for a minute. But that’s entirely in keeping with the characters of our hero and heroine, the wild and independent Lady Freyja Bedwyn and reckless, rakish Joshua, Marquess of Hallmere.
Here’s the premise: Freyja, the elder of two sisters of the Duke of Bewcastle, has run away to Bath, boring as it is, to avoid the imminent confinement of the wife of the man she’d loved and hoped to marry. On the journey, her sleep is disturbed by a man entering her room to evade some pursuers. Even though he’s clearly a criminal of some kind, it amuses her to hide him. But in one of the coincidences that Balogh loves, there he is in Bath, and wouldn’t you just know it, he’s the Marquess of Hallmere. In no time flat, the two are causing all sorts of ructions in Bath’s sedate society, each intrigued by the other but equally determined never to admit to the least attraction. When Josh’s manipulative aunt appears with plans to marry him off to his cousin, he persuades Freyja into a fake betrothal to keep his aunt at bay.
I’ve never quite understood why any man would be troubled by this sort of scheming because men can’t be pressured into marriage in the way that women can be. So long as they’re alert to the possibility of compromising situations, they don’t have to do anything they don’t want to do. Still, it’s such a common trope in Regencies, and it makes for such a good story that I forgive it. Instantly there are all sorts of complications and the story notches up a gear.
I have to say, these two are among my favourite types of character. Freyja is the original wild child, up for any scheme that she thinks will amuse her, no matter how outrageous, and Josh is the consummate charming, roguish hero, a bit rakish but (as is usual) not nearly as bad as his reputation suggests.
As with all Baloghs, there some fairly graphic sex in there, but it fits with the nature of the two characters. There are some modern ideas as well, especially as relates to disabilities, and I wasn’t at all sure about the resolution for one character in particular, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Beautifully written, as always, with very few Americanisms apart from a few spelling differences. I enjoyed this one enough to rate it as five stars.
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