Jane Eveleigh has been blackmailed into marriage by Dominic Stainbridge, the Marquess of Lancaster. Lancaster is famous for his scandalous behavior towards women. He exiled one mistress to America after she shot him, and another killed herself when he dumped her. Lancaster is cold, narcissistic, and childish. Jane, the only woman to ever tell him no, gets him to agree that if they do not consummate their marriage in six months (because he’s kind enough not to take her by force) she can have an annulment.

Lancaster goes to bed on their wedding night suffering from a headache, the result of a blow to the head when Jane pushed him out of the way of a falling flower pot. Just before he goes to sleep he plans to pretend to be someone else to seduce Jane. The next morning when he arises Lancaster speaks with a Scottish accent and claims to be Colin MacKenzie, the Earl of Kintair from the year 1562. He claims that Jane has cast a spell changing his soul with that of Lancaster.

Colin’s passionate nature and fascination with modern conveniences like trains and running water confuse Jane. Is he Lancaster playing a trick? Lancaster suffering from a bizarre form of amnesia as a result of the bump to the head? Or is he truly who he says he is, the soul of a Scottish warrior from 300 years earlier?

Jane is a nice young woman, in a tough situation. She only married Lancaster because he forced her to. Yet, when it appears he is ill or in danger she protects Lancaster/Colin because basic human compassion compels her to. She’s no match for the Lothario in either form and soon loses her heart to Colin.

Colin/Lancaster is much tougher to like. By playing all the angles and never giving the reader a definitive answer on whether it’s Lancaster or Colin, the author has made it impossible to like him. I, like Jane, was constantly on edge, waiting for him to say gotcha. Even though Jane appears to get her HEA with Colin, it would’ve been more powerful if I’d known it was truly a man from the past. Or better yet, if I had learned that by playing his little joke, Lancaster had been truly reformed by the love of a good woman. Though even as Colin he wasn’t very nice. He was always calling Jane a witch and telling her they were at war. Not exactly words of love.

With a high discomfort level from my inability to trust the hero I couldn’t enjoy the rest of the story. The subplot of someone trying to murder Lancaster was unnecessary, though quite understandable considering his reputation. Even in the form of Colin I really couldn’t care less whether the bad guy got him or not. Jane deserved better.