The Reluctant Countess

At only 26, Lady Theodousia Crawford Langley, “Dousia” has shown that she is a force to be reckoned with. She helped to manage the accounting books of a family shipping company, has lived through the pain of losing the husband she loved, and fought off the housebreaker who killed her father. She killed the criminal with his own knife during his attempted assault on her body. After selling off their assets in Virginia, Dousia brought her younger half-brother, William to England to claim his title and entailments. She is to act as guardian until he reaches his majority. When an unknown man enters her room at the inn, she pulls all her inner resources together to fight him off…and melts in his arms. He has mistaken Dousia for a whore and refuses to listen to her protests. When it is obvious that he will not stop, she aims her gun on him.

Captain Justin Rivington, the Earl of Lytton, had no idea that Dousia was a woman of quality. As she was in his room, he assumed that her cries were part of a role-playing game and that she was his newly arranged mistress. When he realises that he has compromised a lady, Justin is more than willing to marry her. Her responses to his advances were initially quite refreshingly uninhibited. He is brought up short by her adamant refusal to his proposal, but his sense of duty runs deep. Following the proper introductions, Justin realises that he lives on an estate that borders on Dousia’s new home. Her Uncle Jon was keen for the pair to meet, so Justin turns to Jon to put forward his case for marriage. Dousia is outraged when she is told that she must marry Justin, a man that she has known for one day, and under such demeaning circumstances. When they unfairly put forward her case as a guardian as questionable, she reluctantly agrees to a long engagement under her own terms. This is quite a feat for a young woman during this era.

Dousia is a character with admirable qualities; even when forced to follow the dictates of society, she plots her own route. She is able to stand up to Justin’s mother, Lady Caroline with witty repartee and she is the first to question the accuracy of the estate’s books. Dousia has a very keen instinct for self-preservation and needs it to survive in the cutthroat world that she has been born into. This reader found Justin much more difficult to fathom. He is obviously straining at the seams to get to Dousia but at times his restraint is too casual. Justin lets Dousia dictate the terms, but perhaps he guesses that this is the only way to win her affection. Even though he has grown to love her, he is also willing to let Dousia abandon their plans if it is her wish. Karen Woods’ plot is quite intricate and many of the secondary characters lives and loves are woven through the main storyline. A dangerous element is exposed upon Dousia and William’s arrival in England, and seemingly resolved, but the shadow still looms in the background. The final chapters are quite dramatic, leaving a happy ending with a bittersweet twist. I have thoroughly enjoyed this historical tale and will be keeping a watch on this author.

Reviewed by: Naomi