After reading and enjoying the previous book in this series, A Bride for Lord Wickton, I was looking forward to its sequel. Although I wished for a little more depth in the other book, I did find it charming and enjoyable. Not so with the third installment.

Phillip Marrow, Lord Brasleigh, is the least sympathetic hero I’ve read in a long time. He was named as guardian to Miss Bella Lowe while fighting on the peninsula and is determined to be free of her. His solution is to arrange a marriage for Bella with a French émigré who has a battleaxe mother and a need for her dowry. Now not only has Bella not met this man, Phillip has not even met Bella. He’s placed her in the country with his butler to oversee her life and is upset with her for driving off a series of companions – none of whom he met either. And Bella isn’t 17-years-old, she’s a 23, so there isn’t even the excuse of her being too young to decide for herself. He simply doesn’t care.

Bella doesn’t win any prizes either. She’s generally more likable than Phillip, but does act a bit harebrained. When she hears that Phillip has her marriage all planned she runs away, rides the coach alone, and is – of course – set on by ruffians. Kindly Lady Stenhold takes her in and accepts Bella’s story that she is a widow. Not the most intelligent behavior, since she could just as easily have told her guardian she wouldn’t wed his choice. But then there wouldn’t be much of a book, would there?

Phillip’s response to Bella’s actions only deepens the hole into which his character has dug himself. He decides to teach Bella a lesson. He’ll pretend not to know who she is and seduce her, proving that she would be safer listening to her guardian then she is out in the world. If only she can be brought to see how wise he is and silly she is, then all will be right with his world. When Bella realizes what Phillip is doing, she further complicates their relationship with an even more preposterous plan.

The hero and heroine do redeem themselves a bit when their machinations are brought to light. Phillip begins to have an inkling that maybe, just maybe, Bella is a rational person capable of thinking for herself. Unfortunately his realization is too little, too late as far as the overall story is concerned. But it did make him, at last, a more sympathetic person. It easier to like Bella, who is a sympathetic character when she finally begins to act intelligently. Sadly, even this improved behavior was marred by another small plot to get the best of Phillip.

A Bride of Lord Brasleigh has a few of the charming moments that characterized the previous book, but they are few and far between. This was a disappointing read after my first experience with the author. Perhaps I’ll read the first in the series, A Bride for Lord Challmond, in order to ultimately make up my mind. And perhaps I’ll wait a while for the memory of this one to fade.