Historical
Sold to a Laird
By Dottie
Feb 22, 2010 - 5:06:09 PM

Lady Sarah is the daughter of the Duke of Herridge, who had made his disdain for her perfectly clear.  After two Seasons, she is still not married.  Needing money, her father refuses to give her a third Season. Her father is against anything Scottish, so he looks down on his Scottish wife and his half-Scottish daughter, treating both of them poorly.  However, she and her mother were devoted to each other.  Once, when Sarah did not want to attend a certain function at the end of the Season, her father beat her in front of the staff.

Douglas Eston, Scottish, has never abused the weak or defenseless and could not believe the way the duke treats his daughter.  At the age of eight, Douglas had been an orphan, living on the streets, stealing and begging for enough to eat.  In the process of robbing a man, Alano, Douglas was saved.  Alano rescued him, buying him books and teaching him to read.  Douglas was a voracious reader.  Alano also taught him manners, how to dress and act properly.  Traveling, Alano taught him other languages and Douglas lost his Scottish accent.  He now speaks like a gentleman, and he is teaching himself everything about England, even taking notes in a notebook he carries around.  He had tried gambling without success.  Then he found what people wanted, buying it from one town and selling it to the next, which made him extremely wealthy.

Sarah went to see her father to beg him not to send her sick mother to Scotland, fearing she would die on the way. Knowing he would refuse to see her, she went right to the library to see him as soon as she was let in.  With him was another man, Douglas Eston, who stood when she entered unlike her father.  When she asked him about her mother, he did not answer her.  Instead, he turned to Douglas who was there looking for investors for a new invention and told him that instead of money, he would give Sarah to him as a bride and he would give him a place to work also.   Douglas finally agreed, figuring to protect her.  Though Sarah balked, her father threatened to go ahead and send her mother to Scotland that very night, if she didn’t marry Douglas.  Her father refused to let her out of his sight until she was wed.

Douglas has had his own experiences with fear and he recognized them in Sarah.  He wanted to protect her from her father.  He just knew if she slipped away before he had spoken to her, he would regret it for his whole life.  After the wedding, they returned to her home, the family estate Chavensworth, but she refused to be a good wife to him and swore she would never submit to the marriage bed.  He made sure she slept in the same room, though she was determined to sleep on a cot.  Gradually, she sees that her husband is different from her father.  Through her mother’s death, Douglas stays by her side, offering comfort and she finds it hard to resist his charm.  Will she begin to see that life as Douglas’ wife can be much more rewarding than life as the duke’s daughter?  What will happen when Douglas’ invention does not provide income as quickly as the duke expects?

SOLD TO A LAIRD is an amusing and deliciously wicked historical romance, which I could not put down until I had finished reading the last page.  I absolutely loved this book!  Douglas fell in love with Sarah at first sight, but Sarah sees herself as the duke sees her.  She doesn’t see the beauty in herself that Douglas sees in her and she even believes that submitting to the marriage bed will make her a harlot.  Douglas is very patient and loving with her, determined that their marriage will work.  Full of well-drawn characters, humor, witty repartee, romance, very sensual love scenes, a captivating plot and a few surprises, this story is a delight.  I highly recommend SOLD TO A LAIRD to anyone looking for a captivating story.