Rendezvous With A Romance

Gabriel Forester is a soldier through and through and that is the only thing he wants to do with his life.  He doesn’t want to get married, have kids, or settle down. When he finds out that he has unexpectedly become the new Duke of Lattimer, he thinks it will be an easy few weeks leave to go to London, settle business, then head back to the Continent and war. What he doesn’t expect is that one of his homes has a steward who prefers threats to responding with the necessary information to inform the new duke of his property’s worth.  He heads up to Scotland, plans to replace the steward with someone he can trust, and then leave; however, he doesn’t expect to find that the steward ends up being a spitfire woman with a sharp tongue and insults aplenty  who sends him into a bog rather than in the correct direction to his property. 

Fiona has worked for the past four years to take care of and run Lattimer Castle in a way that sustains the tenants and keeps a roof over their heads and the English out in the cold.  She doesn’t expect that her insults and threats lead to the new Duke of Lattimer showing up on her doorstep unannounced and ready to replace her. She has worked too hard for a Sassanch soldier to come in a steal it from her.  She isn’t afraid to insult, berate, and put up as many obstacles in the way to send the English soldier back to England.

Neither expects that in their bickering and verbal back and forth to come to see the enemy isn’t really an enemy.  He isn’t what she expects in an aristocrat or in an English soldier.  She isn’t what he expects to find and the more time they spend together the more drawn to each other they are.  He doesn’t hide his interest in her and in fact quite plainly states he wants her in his bed and she resists for a time.  I enjoyed their story, the plot was strong, the conflict well developed, the villain not quite what you expect until he is revealed, and the passion was good. Overall, enjoyable, not too slow, and it was entertaining.