The local doctor is drunk, again, so the squire sends for Laura Martin when his son’s friend Kit is accidentally shot while hunting. She has no experience with bullet wounds, but Laura agrees to give Kit what care she can until his brother arrives. She’s concerned to find that the brother they’re awaiting is the Earl of Beaulieu, but hopes he will not connect the drab widow Martin with the shy girl he met six years ago during her debut Season.

Finally Beau and his physician arrive, which Laura thinks will free her. She will be happy to return to her little cottage, inherited from the retired governess who took her in when she was ill, and where she has lived as the widow of a military man.

Unfortunately, Kit’s condition remains dire, and Laura is prevailed upon to stay and nurse him. She is too kind to refuse, but before long Beau realizes that she isn’t the middle-aged matron she pretends to be, but a pretty young woman.

Beau immediately thinks how convenient it is to have a lovely and discreet widow so close at hand during his brother’s convalescence. He is also struck by the appealing notion of seducing her out here, so far from Society, where his reputation might not be known. She might actually appreciate him for himself alone!

Hmm, would this be the charming self who seduces unprotected widows for fun, or the concerned self who seduces them while his brother’s life is hanging by a thread? Or perhaps he wants appreciation for knowing that women “valued baubles, time, attention - and marriage. All he need do is discover which combination of the first three this little brown sparrow desired, and the attraction to him she was taking such pains to suppress would win out.”

It’s all perfectly justifiable because he wants her so badly. He’s a little puzzled, though. Since she’s obviously in a precarious financial position, why she isn’t more anxious for a protector? Who, he wonders, has knocked all the joy and zest for life out of her? (Let’s see… might it have been some selfish cad out for what he could get?)

When Beau and Kit’s sister arrives, she is very grateful to brother’s savior. In fact, Ellie wishes to take Laura to London and sponsor her, helping this pleasant young woman to find a husband and new life. Beau is against it, naturally. His idea of gratitude is to make her his mistress. After all, he has lots of money and, when they part, the glory of having been his paramour will give her such social cachet she’ll be able to have her pick of men.

Shortly, however, two local suitors who actually want to marry Laura complicate his seduction. Maybe it would be a good idea to whisk her off to London after all, where he can work unobstructed.

If all this seems to be very much about the, er, gentleman, that’s because for the first half of the book Laura remains something of a genteel cipher. She is hiding from the world, and Ms. Justiss isn’t telling us much either - until we realize that it’s just her history we don’t know. From her every word and action it is clear she is kind, modest, educated, well mannered and a delightful and well-bred lady. Clear, that is, to everyone except Beau, who cannot see past the end of his own arrogance.

Laura deserved redemption, but didn’t get one. Beau never paid enough attention to her to realize that her exceptional qualities made her a woman he should honor; he just followed his hormones around. Then, at the end, presented with all the facts of Laura’s life, he realized he was wrong. Gee, what a relief.

Ms. Justiss is clearly a writer of no small ability. She created a lovely heroine in Laura, who was willing to forgive and love Beau. By the end of the book, I’m afraid I wasn’t feeling so charitable.

--Judi McKee