Christopher St. Charles, Earl of Hartford, is staying with a friend at a country inn. The friend says he wants a girl that night even if his servant has to drug one for him. The servant does just that, but there is a mistake in the rooms and she winds up with Christopher -- only she's not a serving wench/whore, she's the vicar's daughter. Miss Juliet Barre had been bringing one of her remedies to the lady who owned the inn; she was poorly dressed and the servant mistook her for one of the maids and drugged her tea.
Christopher could tell she was still a virgin, but in her drugged state she didn't fight him. "With consummate skill he accepted the unspoken invitation and made her a woman."
Almost threw the book across the room at that point. What a pig. Made her a woman, indeed -- what was she before, a tree? a sofa? Continued only because Lange has a good mid reputation.
Book is basically Patient Griselda. How much garbage will Juliet endure before her husband decides she's worthy? The encounter has left her pregnant, and her husband sends her back to the country to be out of the way while he continues his affairs. He doesn't even notice when she's ill during the first trimester.
I finished this book to see if he ever realized how unworthy a person he is compared to his nice little wife, or if he went on believing he is better than she is. I was left with the lasting puzzle of why the author thought I should like this hero despite his consummate self-centeredness. I absolve the heroine of staying with him; in her era, she had little other choice.
Christopher could tell she was still a virgin, but in her drugged state she didn't fight him. "With consummate skill he accepted the unspoken invitation and made her a woman."
Almost threw the book across the room at that point. What a pig. Made her a woman, indeed -- what was she before, a tree? a sofa? Continued only because Lange has a good mid reputation.
Book is basically Patient Griselda. How much garbage will Juliet endure before her husband decides she's worthy? The encounter has left her pregnant, and her husband sends her back to the country to be out of the way while he continues his affairs. He doesn't even notice when she's ill during the first trimester.
I finished this book to see if he ever realized how unworthy a person he is compared to his nice little wife, or if he went on believing he is better than she is. I was left with the lasting puzzle of why the author thought I should like this hero despite his consummate self-centeredness. I absolve the heroine of staying with him; in her era, she had little other choice.
