"As an extremely wealthy laird, Gowan Stoughton, Duke of Kinross, can have any of the maidens at the ball he attends. The only problem is they are all English and Gowan is not so certain they are suitable. He is accustomed to the hard-working lasses from his Highlands, not these dainty noblewomen who spend their days drinking tea or some other such nonsense. But then he makes the acquaintance of Lady Edith Gilchrist. Utterly bewitched by the emerald-eyed beauty with lush golden locks, he knows he must have her. He must free her from her tower. 'Edie' had the misfortune of being dreadfully ill at her debut ball and barely remembers what Gowan looks like. Even worse, she accepted his proposal the following day. Edie's only true passion is playing music--until Gowan writes a scandalous letter and stirs the most irresistible desire. Yet when they marry, Edie realizes her husband needs a lesson and locks herself in a tower. Somehow Gowan must find a way to enter the tower and convince his new bride that she belongs in his arms."--Page 4 of cover.
I've been meaning to read this book for quite some time but I hadn't gotten around to it until now and while it was a great story, there were times when it dragged on for me and the hero/heroine got on my nerves.
That's not to say that I hated the book because I didn't. I thought James did a great job of making these characters real and I really enjoyed seeing characters from Julia Quinn's books in this book. I also thought it was interesting that the hero and the heroine in this book weren't compatible sexually. And that the hero was a virgin.
Overall, this book wasn't without its faults but it was still a solid read. The romance moved slowly and sometimes that works for me but in this one, I was impatient and wanted them to get it together already. But Gowan and Edie were great characters who came into their own throughout this book and I'm glad that I finished it.
I also enjoyed the secondary story between Edie's father and step-mother. Great addition to the story.
