All of us know someone who by rights should not be our friend. You know who I mean – the high-school classmate with the outrageous behavior, the co-worker whose logic (or lack of it!) drives you crazy, the girlfriend who exhibits too-stupid-to-live qualities. And yet these people have a certain charisma, a charm to them, that makes us laugh in spite of ourselves, so that we hang around, shaking our heads in despair over them. That’s my reaction to this book. So much of what I read irritated me, yet there was something there that kept me going to the end.

Niankwe “Wildcat” MacInnes, half Scots, half Delaware Indian, has his most valuable possession stolen from him. It’s his pindachsenakan, the bandolier bag that signifies his spiritual self, and the thief is none other than what appears to be a well-bred lady. Wildcat can’t figure out why the woman would have stolen the bag, and he tries to tell himself that once he gets it back from her, he can completely forget the entire episode, as well as the oh-so-appealing thief who’s thrown his mind and emotions into chaos. Oh, if life were that simple!

Elizabeth Langham, the widowed Countess Pemsley, knows why she took something she had no need of: she’s a kleptomaniac, stealing baubles and trinkets when she gets nervous. And she’s got plenty to be nervous about of late, since Peter Ballantine, the Marquess of Cresting, is giving Elizabeth every indication that he’s about to pop the question to her. Peter’s everything Elizabeth thinks she’s longed for, the picture of respectability and stability. But his mother’s coming to town, and rumor has it that the dowager’s a veritable dragon. If Peter and his mother ever find out about Elizabeth’s past, her future will be ruined. Besides, there’s that rather fierce and exotic-looking man who keeps popping up unannounced, demanding that she return his bag, which has mysteriously disappeared from its hiding place. How can she make Wildcat go away? Does she want him to go away?

There was so much about this book that pulled me out of the story, that I really should have disliked it a lot more than I did. Elizabeth is overly attached to her son Oliver, cosseting and practically stifling the kid. I felt sorry for him, and was glad for him when he went off to school. The story of Elizabeth’s past is actually a lot more complicated than she lets on, and it had an unsavory aspect to it for me. Without spoiling it, let me just say I had a greatly diminished regard for her late husband and his motivations than Elizabeth did, once the whole story was laid out.

As for Wildcat, I found it completely preposterous that a man of his exotic appearance (long hair, braided and feathered, with tattoos barely covered by his mixture of European and Indian clothing) would be accepted by even the working class, let alone the haut ton, in Regency England. I expected more reaction from the people he encountered, but with very few exceptions the other characters showed only mild curiosity toward him. And a lot of his speech struck me as too modern for a man of his time.

The other characters are almost all cardboard cutouts. Peter’s sister (and Elizabeth’s best friend) Valerie is truly stupid, making so many mistakes I came close to wishing her harm, while their mother is the run-of-the-mill dragon dowager with a secret of her own. Peter, on the other hand, would have made a good hero for one of Georgette Heyer’s books – one with a brainless-heroine-rescued-by-the-sensible-dependable-hero plot. He displayed grace, and I think it’s just as well he didn’t end up with Elizabeth. I thought he was too good for her.

In spite of all of the above, though, there was a certain charm to the book, a touch of creativity, and hints of some real writing talent buried in an outlandish plot and its unnecessary complications. Wildcat showed some flashes of genuine humor and humanity, and I only wish he’d had a better heroine and a more believable storyline. As for Peter, Ms. Claybourne could do worse than craft a story for him. He’s a refreshing change from the oversexed alpha males who seem to be all the rage lately. There are some gems hidden in this book – you just have to dig through all the junk to find them.