Charity and Ethan (Ralston). Ethan's sister, Jenna was in love/courting but the douchebag was caught cheating on her so she called everything off. Homie, being the gentleman he is, tells her that he has the love letters that she sent him and that if they were released she would be ruined. Given that her brother is considered very straight laced/by the book/upstanding/a true gentleman he would've forced her to marry the loser. Jenna put a dare on the women's social club for 100 lbs to the lady who dares steal them back for her. Charity takes up the dare not for money but to protect one of her "sisters". The night she sneaks into scumbag's house, she picks a couple of locks and finds the letters. She also finds that she was not alone in the house. Jenna's brother Ethan was also in the house to steal back the letters.
They have some banter back and forth and while he tries to take the letters from Charity (she stuffed them in her shirt and he was unbuttoning her shirt to retrieve them) our cheating loser comes home with his lightskirt for the evening. Not to get caught Ethan and Charity hide behind some curtains in his library (or study or drawing room, who cares). As to be expected loverboy decides to tup his lady in the room so Charity and Ethan were privy to the sounds. Charity and Ethan are pressed up against each other behind the curtains and she keeps trying to see what is happening (the sounds weren't enough). Ethan is crazy aroused and Charity keeps squirming around him. They don't get caught and are able to escape the house (Charity keeps the letters to return back to Jenna the next morning).
Prior to going to visit Jenna and return the letters, at breakfast, her brother and SIL call her out for returning home late dressed inappropriately (she was wear pants and a shirt to be a thief because a ball gown would've been a problem). Her brother tells her that he plans to match her with some Lord thinking that marriage and kids would settle her down. She has no desire for that. At Jenna's, she returns the letters and finds that Jenna had twisted her ankle and had a pretty bad sprain. Her doctor suggested and they were going to retire to the Ralston country estate for a couple of weeks for her to heal. She asks Charity to come with to keep her company and she agrees (feeling like getting away for a couple of weeks will calm her brother's plan to marry her off). Ethan takes Charity aside and tells her to refuse to go with Jenna. He kisses her (passionately and admits that he desires her and while he can control himself, his desire is high and he may not prevent her from ending up in his bed (he tried to scare her into not going and it didn't work).
In the country with his mom and aunt, he finds that his mom has invited an eligible debutante, Alice and her mother to stay with them (they're playing matchmaker). Alice is a perfect match for Ethan, she has perfect manners, no chance of scandal, a good connection just all around countess material. Charity on the other hand took her time in the country to be full on hoyden. She and Jenna are riding horses astride, hair not perfectly contained, she runs through the house exploring in the middle of the night barefoot, dances in the rain and just lives life freely.
Ethan cannot stay away from her and his mother, Alice and her mother, his aunt, etc all see it. Alice keeps making snide remarks about Charity and how she's too old or has friends that aren't fashionable and wouldn't be a match Ethan would need. Funnily, Charity agreed with her. She cannot deny her attraction for him but she's realistic and knows what he's looking for in a future wife and it ain't her. That being said, they keep stealing kisses. In the rain (more like lightning storm), a tree he was kissing her against was hit by lightning and a branch falls and knocks him out. She runs to get help and he wakes up in his room in the middle of the night. She is sitting on his bed. She was kept away from him so she had to sneak in. She was scared that she had lost him and he's giving in to his desire and kisses her:
Ethan: "I am not letting you go back to your room tonight...but I am giving you a chance to run".
Charity: "I am not running from you."
Ethan: "In the event you mistake my intention, in a few minutes, you will be sheathed deeply onto my cock and sobbing with pleasure"
SERIOUSLY SEXY STUFF HERE.
They end up having sex.
"The pain was sharp, shocking and not at all what she expected...He moved slightly and she whimpered. 'Easy,' he said, 'the pain shall soon pass.' (Charity)'How do you know it? This has happened to you before?'" I love Charity she has a quick wit and is just all around entertaining. I want her as my friend.
Anyways, the next AM he looks for her and asks her to marry him. When she asked him why, he said because he ruined her and his honor dictated it. She tells him no. She wants to marry for love and he is cynical when it comes to love. He couldn't guarantee her that he would eventually love her so she declined to marrying despite loving him herself. Charity runs back to London to get away from her feelings for Ethan.
After a couple of weeks of them being distracted in their misery of wanting each other he goes to London and sets up a meeting with her brother. She thinks he plans to use a letter she wrote him (inviting him to an assignation) to force her brother into making her marry Ethan. So she sneaks into his townhouse to steal back the letter. He is of course waiting for her. They have another discussion about marrying and she's holding firm that if their marriage isn't based on love then she couldn't marry him. He returns her letter but she doesn't take it (its the first letter she sent; he keeps it because its the first one he's received). They end up having sex again almost like a goodbye bang. He ends up canceling the appointment with her brother and returns back to the country estate. He did tell her that if there were any consequences from their activities (i.e. a baby) she should tell him.
Misery continues and she finally realizes that like a seed love grows and they have the foundation needed for it to grow. She's unreasonable to expect after a short time for him to be madly in love with her but she knows how they feel about each other. She receives a letter from Jenna telling her that Alice is stepping up her pursuit of her brother and Charity needs to come save him (oh and she's bored and misses her friend). She runs back to his estate. He thinks she's back to tell him she's pregnant (which would've forced them to marry) but she had just got a visit from Aunt Flo and she nodes to him that she isn't.
They take a walk up to some look out and Alice is all over Ethan (staking her claim). At the lookout Charity wanders off and ends up falling when the ground gave way. Ethan runs to save her and he starts pouring out how he can't live without her and all his feelings and his plans to return to London and woo her. She's not knocked out and hears it. She tells him that she came down to tell him that she loved him and that she wanted to marry him.
I couldn't put this one down. So fun and sexy and Charity...she makes the whole book. I love her.