Patricia Frances Rowell, A Scandalous Situation

A Scandalous Situation

Patricia Frances Rowell

Harlequin, Aug 2004

ISBN: 037329316X

In 1807, widower Lord Rob Armstrong heads home to his isolated estate Eyrie when he sees a carriage containing a young woman trapped in snow. He offers to help, but she points a gun at him. Still, he rescues her and her lame horse just prior to an avalanche. Rob takes wary Iantha Kethley to his home just before a blizzard hits. He explains that there are no women present at this time as he has just returned from India.

After a few days in his abode without a chaperone, Rob takes Iantha home where her worried family greets her in love. Rob asks her father for her hand in marriage, but her dad explains that six years ago Iantha was raped by masked aristocrats. Perhaps because his own child died, Rob still insists they wed and vows to Iantha that he will go slowly with her until she is comfortable with his touch. As Rob and Iantha fall in love and his kindness touches her soul, she begins to feel at ease, but her worst nightmare is back.

Regency romance readers will appreciate this strong tale of a wonderful, nurturing champion who helps his beloved recover from the horrors of rape. The storyline is at its best when Rob gently heals Iantha's soul with his tenderness. Iantha makes the storyline succeed as the audience can understand her fears of anyone but a child's touch and her need to control her situation including carrying a weapon. Though the villain's return adds suspense and a chance at his comeuppance, this confrontation takes away from the beauty of a fabulous historical narrative that accentuates the healing power of love.

Harriet Klausner