Though Samantha James is normally an author who, in my opinion, delivers, I found the wallpaper history combined with a scheming heroine and an fantastic myth just a little too much in Bride of a Wicked Scotsman.

A curse plagues Lady Maura O’Donnell’s family as a result of losing 200 years earlier the Circle of Light, an ancient Irish relic that once brought them luck and good fortune. When Maura’s father succumbs to the curse, she makes a deathbed promise to find the relic and return it to its rightful place. Before her father’s death, he reveled that the heir of the Black Scotsman – the pirate who stole it all those years ago – could possibly be Alec McBride, Duke of Gleneden, and now Maura must find a way to ingratiate herself with him in order to find the relic.

Alec, nicknamed the Black Scotsman because of his dark hair and good looks, is almost legendary among the young ladies of Scotland, England, and Ireland. As the guest of honor at a masquerade ball, Alec, who is dressed as a pirate, never expected to find his pirate mate in the form of a seductress he can’t resist. However, when he wakes with the lady in his bed and her uncle beating down the door, he realizes he’s the victim of a scheme concocted by Lady Maura, his lady pirate.

Safely ensconced within Alec’s estate in Scotland, Maura seeks the relic, while trying to avoid Alec and her attraction to him. To meet her objectives, contact with him is best avoided until she can find the relic and return to her clan. Alec, while suspicious, doesn’t want to deny the attraction he feels for Maura and wants to give the forced marriage a go. While he gets to know her, he launches his own investigation into the background of his little known wife.

The true mark of a wallpaper historical in my opinion is not being able to place the story within a particular historical setting easily and, unfortunately, James’ book falls into that category. While that doesn’t always bother me, it did in this context because it was combined with a myth involving a circle that floats suspended in air and can bring luck – both good and bad. That, along with some amazing coincidences, kept me from suspending enough reality to buy the story.

However, it was Alec’s seduction and the scheme to get Maura inside his estate that were really just too much for me to believe. Without entering into spoiler territory, the scheme was too elaborate and basically ludicrous. While reading, I continuously wondered why she didn’t just talk to him and explain the problem. Put simply, many problems and deceptions were avoidable and avoidable problems are a huge pet peeve of mine as a reader.

There were things I liked in Bride of a Wicked Scotsman. The scenes between Alec and Maura often sizzled and had amazing tension. Plus, once some of the truth comes to light, the two work together toward the same goal, which appealed to me far more than the constant deception. However, the great tension between the two wasn’t enough to make me forget about the unbelievable schemes that brought them together in the first place.