Séquestrée dans son propre château par un intrigant qui veut l'épouser pour s'approprier son héritage, lady Théa Hardy s'enfuit et se réfugie en pleine forêt, dans une cabane où la découvre Marcus Ashfield, vicomte de Strensham. La prenant pour une pauvresse, il l'emmène chez ses cousins qui l'engagent comme servante. Là, Théa compte attendre tranquillement son vingt et unième anniversaire, six semaines plus tard, qui la rendra majeure et libre. Du moins, si le vicomte ne s'aperçoit pas qu'il a pris sous son aile non pas une servante, mais l'une des plus riches héritière de la contrée...
ELIZABETH BEACON lives in the beautiful English West Country, and is finally putting her insatiable curiosity about the past to good use. Over the years Elizabeth has worked in her family’s horticultural business, become a mature student, qualified as an English teacher, worked as a secretary and, briefly, tried to be a civil servant. She is now happily ensconced behind her computer, when not trying to exhaust her bouncy rescue dog with as many walks as the Inexhaustible Lurcher can finagle. Elizabeth can’t bring herself to call researching the wonderfully diverse, scandalous Regency period and creating charismatic heroes and feisty heroines work, and she is waiting for someone to find out how much fun she is having and tell her to stop it.
It felt so good to return to the comfort and simplicity of a Regency romance. This story is about heiress Alethea Hardy who is being held captive in her own home by unscrupulous relatives who are trying to force her into marriage to gain her inheritance. Thea manages to escape and is in hiding when she encounters Marcus Ashfield and his badly wounded cousin, Nick Prestbury. Marcus offers to put in a good word for "Hetty Smith" with another cousin if she is seeking employment, and she is hired as a housemaid.
Marcus, meanwhile, has inherited a title and estate but is desperately in need of funds. His accommodating cousin has invited three wealthy women for him to pick from, but all three are horrible. Marcus sees no option other than to propose to one of them. But when he closes his eyes, the face that fills his mind is that of Hetty Smith.
Do not read this book. I finally managed to get through it, although I almost gave up a number of times. The events of the storyline are confusing and not well written. I had to read sections a number of time to work out what was going on, and when I tried to skim I found it impossible due to the fact that even one paragraph skipped meant a whole section of the story went missing. Difficult to keep track of who was talking or how whatever was happening fitted in.
I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not a fan of Elizabeth Beacon's writing style. I've read a few of hers over the past few years and I just find them incredibly hard to get through. The stories themselves are fine, and the character building is actually really good. But there are random time jumps and some parts lack depth.
That was... HORRIBLE! Instead of going on and on and on about the hero/heroine wanting to have sex but feeling honour bound not to... The author should have develloped on Thea's change from a spoiled rich brat into a humble maid...