After reading the first two chapters of this book, I knew exactly where the story was headed. There were absolutely no surprises, and that made for a boring read. This book is part of a series, and the first two titles were apparently better than this one. Had I read the other books, it might better have clarified the exact family relationships among all the characters.

Nicola Falcourt has returned to Dartmoor after suffering terrible heartbreak there ten years earlier. Her sister, Deborah, has married the nasty Earl of Exmoor, Richard Montford. Richard happened to play a very large part in the tragedy that occurred in Nicola’s life, and she dislikes him intensely. Nicola had fallen in love with a servant Gil, which made Richard intensely jealous because he wanted her for himself. Nicola moved away from Dartmoor after the incident, leaving Deborah to marry Richard. Deborah has suffered a series of miscarriages and begs her sister to visit during her latest pregnancy. Nicola reluctantly returns to support Deborah.

The night that Nicola returns, her carriage is attacked by “Gentleman Jack,” a masked highwayman who takes serious liberties with Nicola’s person. She hasn’t felt desire since her love for Gil ten years ago, and wonders what could be wrong with her to respond physically to someone whom she doesn’t even know.

Jack, who had a successful life in America, nurses a serious grudge against Richard, the Earl of Exmoor. He only holds up vehicles bearing the Earl’s coat of arms in order to steal from him. Richard knows he is being made a laughingstock, and vows to capture the miscreant. When she makes it to Richard and Deborah’s home, Nicola hedges on a few details of the robbery when relaying the story to them, since it angers Richard and the highwayman didn’t really hurt her.

Nicola is one of those saintly heroines who is intelligent, independent, dismisses class boundaries, heals poor villagers, has good friends, and is generally liked by one and all. Unfortunately, she has a couple of harebrained schemes up her sleeve. She and Jack have many more encounters, instigated by Jack himself, and Nicola is perplexed about her attraction to a man who seems to hate her. In spite of her perfection and harebrained tendencies, I rather liked Nicola’s character, as she was definitely outspoken, and not a shrinking violet type.

I normally like highwayman heroes, but some of Jack’s behavior was too much for me. Jack treats Nicola shabbily because he was wronged in the past by a woman. He carries a Big Secret which he waits to share with Nicola, even though it directly impacts her life. He plays the “I’ve been wronged” card to the hilt, and manipulates Nicola’s emotions throughout the entire book.

The portions of the plot involving Nicola’s friends, who were obviously the other couples in this series, were interesting, and it appears that loose ends from previous books were tied up in this installment. Had the book not been so utterly predictable, I know I would have enjoyed it more. What I don’t know is precisely what I missed by not having read the earlier books in the series – I didn’t feel hampered in terms of plot, but had I known more about the interpersonal dynamics between and among the characters, I would no doubt have enjoyed it more. Unfortunately, every single title should be able to stand on its own. Still, I haven’t given up on this author, and will probably check out one of the earlier books in this series – both Nora and Jennifer awarded them grades of B, and neither is easy to please.