Grace Gibson gifts Regency fans with a fantastic tale of transformation, friendship and love. It was fascinating to watch as the hero converts from a rascally rake into a formidably favourable country farmer. He could have so easily come across as a resounding bore but as each little tidbit is revealed I found myself growing to understand his personality as I learned of his past and his predicament. Mary is a wonderfully refreshing heroine. She is intelligent and fun and yet not without her own faults. I loved the verbal sparring matches that took place between these two. I enjoyed seeing the Marquis fall under the spell of simple country living and how he grew to admire and respect Mary’s father. This story has it all laughter and sadness, mystery and mirth and I’m looking forward to seeing what else this author has to offer as I thoroughly enjoyed the characters I met on these pages.
Perhaps the term 'profligate' is too kind for Robert, Marquis of Denley. He has gambled away his fortune, publicly dueled, and earned a reputation as a cur. Desperate to staunch the family's financial hemorrhage, Robert's uncle forces Robert to rusticate in Yorkshire for the purpose of marrying him to the squire's daughter. This uninteresting alliance would permanently remove his reckless nephew from Society.
But Mary Fanley, a country miss who thinks the pretensions of the bon ton are absurd, has no idea Sir Robert is being coerced into marrying a 'veritable nobody'. From their first encounter she infuriates him with her dismissive wit. So begins a war of horrific insults and unvarnished contempt.
Yet just as Mary begins to seem quite palatable, a smooth dandy arrives to settle an old score, forcing the Marquis to pay for his past.
