Gideon North wants a wife. She must be practical and hardworking. But above all, she must have a hearty constitution. Horribly injured and scarred from his Peninsular War service, Gideon does not want to deal with a wife who flinches every time she looks at him.

Gideon’s estate manager Charles Borden was his sergeant in the war. Inseparable but almost always at odds, the two men agree that Sarah Whitley is the perfect wife for Gideon. Strong, beautiful and intelligent with a dry sense of humor, Sarah bears her own marks from a life spent in the shadows.

When Sarah learns to let go of her past fears, she frees both men to acknowledge the love and attraction that has always existed between them. The three become intimate but the eroticism of their encounters in the bedroom does not guarantee happiness. Gideon’s defenses mire them in the past. Only together can Sarah and Charles break through to build a future with Gideon.

It is not always easy for even very good authors to write a series of stories that reflect a consistency of writing excellence, of plot and character development, which continue to hold the interest of the reading audience. However, Kane has carried these characters throughout most of the preceeding stories so that the readers already know their place in this rather odd society of veterans of the Napoleonic War, all of whom end up taking a wife–a woman who becomes wife to two close and often involved men. In a previous book we meet Gideon North on his search for a wife, one which brings him to a meeting with the soon-to-become Duchess of Ashland. She sees fit to turn down Gideon’s proposal in favor of the two men with whom she has fallen in love. So Gideon’s wife search has already become known to those who have read the previous stories. Now we meet Sarah, daughter of a vicar who has remarried to a woman who has essentially made Sarah’s presence in the Rectory unnecessary and unwelcome. Sarah is a woman who has her own scars, so that when she meets Gideon she is probably one of the first women who has not turned away from his scars and injuries, truly wanting her own home and future family almost more than anything else, and willing to take on the curmudgeon Gideon appears to have become. She quickly discovers that Gideon’s insecurities bring a third person into their marriage bed and from the very first, she is involved in the on-again-off-again dynamic between Gideon and his estate manager.

Having read all the previous novels in this series, I found this one to be one of the most emotional. I think it grabbed my interest and my mental and emotional responses because unlike the other veterans in these stories, Gideon was so very mauled and disfigured, yet he longed for a home and family, some way to bring normalcy into his present and his future. He may have said he was looking for practicality and a hardworking spouse, but it is soon apparent that he is looking for a great deal more. His wounds are deeply embedded in his soul and spirit; they are a long way from being healed. But so are Charles’ wounds. Sarah’s acceptance and her openness to what the future may bring becomes a healing balm, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that the conflicts are easily resolved. How does someone so brutalized and injured, both inside and outside, let go of all that pain? It is the dominant question in this novel.

As in all good fiction, these characters work because they are involved in real relationships and real problems. Even contemporary readers can see corelation between the hurts of this awful armed conflict with the pain and trauma so many of our modern warriors carry for the rest of their lives. So many families have sent their sons and daughters off to war and those young people disappear–they are so very different when they return. So it is in these stories, and while the main love story is between Gideon, Charles, and Sarah, there is also the continuing back story of that loyal band of comrades and their families that surround each one of these men, giving them a sense of worth in a world that simply can’t or won’t understand the nature of their injuries and the relationships that have given them hope for the future.

So I found this novel to be one that I put on my “re-read” list, mainly because it is a really poignant love story (as are all the novels in this series) as well as reminding the reader that love and loyalty, family and devotion are capable of superceding the restraints of an oppressive society. I truly recommend this to romance fans and those who appreciate historical romance fiction in particular. I give this book a rating of 4.75 out of 5.

This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.