She's desperate for peace and safety...
Lucinda, Lady Denbigh, is running from a husband who physically and emotionally abuses her because she is unfashionably plump and has failed to produce an heir. Posing as a widow, she seeks refuge in the quiet countryside...
He's returned from the wars, wounded and tormented...
Lord Hugo Wanstead, with a wound that won't heal, and his mother's and Spanish wife's deaths on his conscience, finds his estate impoverished, his sleep torn by nightmares, and brandy his only solace. When he meets Lucinda, he finds her beautiful--body and soul--and thinks she just might give him something to live for...
Together they can begin to heal, but not until she is free from her violent past...
Another review book! I'm such a lucky duck. :~) I enjoyed this book; I really did. It was a fast read (I started it at around 3 and it's now almost 7) and was quite entertaining. Let's see if I can do the story any justice, shall we?
Lucinda is a pleasingly plump woman who was seduced into marrying Lord Denbigh. She thought it was for love, only to find it was all a sham and that he had married her for her money. She's stuck and has nowhere to go. At the beginning of our lovely story, she is told that he is throwing a party at his country estate and that she must attend. After finding out just what type of party he is planning, it is the last straw. She packs up a few belongings and makes a run for it in the dead of night.
Jump forward 3 months. She is now settled in a small house on an estate in Kent. While on the run, she finds herself being given the care of a small girl. Instead of giving the child away, she takes her and adopts her. Now, she is claiming that she is a widow to keep advances to a minimum and to be allowed to be somewhat independent.
Lord Hugo is your basic clod of a hero. A man who is too big, too broody, too...everything. After a disasterous engagement with the enemy, he finds himself going home to an impoverished estate after his father has died, his only solace being alcohol. He meets Lucinda by accident and is intrigued by her (of course).
Over the next few chapters there is your basic cat-and-mouse one-upmanship that you usually find in a romance as the two of them acknowledge their attraction and try to figure each other out.
Now, I have to be upfront here about something. I seriously despise reading books that contain adultery. I understand why Lucinda did what she did and why she decided to go with Hugo, but it really bugs me that the husband wasn't killed off first. Instead, there's more drama and it makes it hard for me to be happy for the couple once they do consumate their relationship. And especially for that time period. Flirting I could have handled, but the fact that they had sex while she was still married really bugged me.
Of course, this being a romance, everything was tied up nice and neat, but that MAJOR part of the story really bugged me.
All in all though, the story was quite entertaining. I enjoyed the strength of Lucinda, especially when her husband does show up. Vale...he grew on me and I hope he does get his own story some day. At first there's no redeeming quality to him, but by the end of the book I find that I have hope he finds his happy ending.
So, where does that lead me? If you enjoy a quick read with some emotional turmoil, then this is the book for you. The sex was decent, though I would've liked to see more description in the bedroom. I think you'll know what I mean when you get to that point.
My Rating: C
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