Captain Nicholas Sinclair is a Navy hero, but the loss of his ship with most hands in a battle where he saved the Admiral makes the King send him to the countryside to recover from his recent ordeal. Along the way, the King would like him to look into Thornwood Hall, and see why the property has not made a profit for several years now. Nicholas agrees, but he has a secret agenda on his mind: to sell the property and buy his own ship so he can get back to the war that much sooner.
Arrayed against him is the current mistress of the estate, Becky Forester. She is the widow of the former owner, raising three children on the estate, her own brother and sisters. Because she knows that she will not be able to keep the property, she has been secreting the money away so that she can raise her brother and sisters no matter where she is finally cast up by fate. But by shorting the king, she has comitted treason against the crown, and her life, money and freedom are forfeit if her ruse is discovered.
Nick finds it ludicrous that she would have no money with how carefully she manages the estate, and her mistake in thinking that he is the villainous son of one of the tenants on the estate gives him the chance to see her firsthand. Soon, she twigs to his deception, and in revenge, sets him up as a nursemaid to her little brother, no more than a child. He, in turn, uses his run of the house to poke into her finances. He definitely suspects her of cheating the King out of his taxes, but he also finds himself attracted to her, and enjoys baiting her and kissing her.
Finally, one day he leaves the estate, only to return as himself. He's decided to go ahead with his plans to sell Thornwood, and goes around getting the tenants on his side. Becky feels disgusted with his plans, but she cannot stop them, and while her heart causes her to give into Nick's kisses, she knows they can have no future together.
Nick, however, is befriended by Aphra, Becky's sister, who has been mute since the night their parents died. He had befriended Becky's brother in his ne'er do well guise, now Peter feels lied to and wants nothing to do with him. Nick shouldn't care about either, but he does. He still goes through with the plans to sell Thornwood, but when he borrows money against the purchase price of the estate, it is stolen, and Becky is finally enough in love with him to offer him all the money she has saved so that he can get a ship. Even though it will leave her and her family destitute after the estate is sold. Can Nick turn down her sacrifice? Or will it take Becky being arrested for Tax Fraud to make him realize his love and make him give up the sea for Becky?
Or perhaps it will be an attack on her by a disgruntled former estate worker that brings the entire family together that finally allows Nick to confess his love.
I wasn't disposed to enjoy this book, but I was charmed by it. Well, at least the ending, which was heartwarming. But to get there, you must slog through a great deal of uncomfortable pages in the beginning and middle. The end, while wonderful, doesn't exactly make up for the slog before, so this was a less successful book for me. The good parts don't last long enough to be really enertaining. It's an okay book, but I wouldn't seek it out unless you are really desperate to read something.
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