Nicole Cody, Love and Mayhem

Love and Mayhem

Nicole Cody

Signet, Apr 2006, $6.99

ISBN: 0451218108

In 1513, war weary Sir Iain Armstrong heads home to the Scottish side of the Borders to insure his family at Blackthorn, and that of his neighbor at Fleet Tower remain safe following the devastating loss to the English at Flodden Field, that cost the lives of his father and his future father-in-law. He stops at Fleet Tower to move the McCall family to his holding for their safety, and he informs his fianc e Lady Marion that she will be sent to the Convent of Newabbey on the Isle of Skye. She asks him to marry her now, but he cannot because she is only six years old.

Twelve years later he sends for Marion so they can marry. She avoids him, so he comes to Newabbey to get her. He explains her people need her, as her cousin Jack Fitzwilliam is causing trouble by claiming she is dead, and he is the heir and stealing from the poor. Iain says two monarchs want them wedded to bring security to the Borders. Marion begins to see her fianc is courageous and caring, even towards the downtrodden, unlike Jack who she remembers from childhood was a nasty villain.

This amusing Borders historical romance stars a delightful cast of eccentrics who freshen up what is typically a graveyard serious sub-genre with their antics. The fun begins when a despondent exhausted Iain has no time to mourn the death of his father or comrades, or even reflect on the battle defeat, as Marion sets the tone when she tells him to marry her. At their next meeting she dumps a bowl of flour on her head and her excuses for avoiding him are classic. Throw in her zany family, along with a tense normalizing subplot involving Fitzwilliam leading to a jocular sixteenth century tale.