When the book opens, our hero (the Marquis of Hazelmere) mistakes our heroine (Dorothea Darent) for a country miss out picking blackberries and decides to steal a kiss. When she reacts undecidedly unlike a country miss, he has to reevaluate. What he finds is a girl outside what he's used to dealing with. For one thing, she's a bit older (twenty-two and unmarried, gasp!) and also a bit less than impressed by his prestige.
He again encounters her in an inn yard where she is being heckled by some of his compatriots. After coming to her rescue, Marc is only more entranced by her innate beauty and lack of artifice.
Of course, there are going to be trials and tribulations but these two strong-headed characters will eventually fight their way toward love.
There is a lot of tell don't show when it comes to Dorothea in this book. The entire book roles around the premise that she is so much more than the other debutantes but nobody tells her anything that's going on. Of course she ends up in the situation she does. Blergh.
Two stars
This book came out September 11, 1992
Borrowed as hard copy from the library
Opinions are my own
