Stranger in My Arms starts with a wonderful premise. A not-much-beloved husband comes back from the dead, changed. His title is restored, his fortune on the mend, the only thing left is to woo his wife – a wife who does not have many fond memories of him, having married him for practical reasons and having found marriage, especially the conjugal part, not much to her liking. Now, I have to mention that the last book by Lisa Kleypas I read, Then Came You (although was a wonderful read much loved by many of my fellow reviewers at AAR) had a heroine that I didn’t understand. Therefore, I was not surprised that I felt the same for the heroine in Stranger in My Arms, but for different reasons.

Lara settled into widowhood without much regret. Although not treated well by the new Earl of Hawksworth and his wife, she has filled her life with charities and become content with her lot. Then she finds herself suddenly in a whirlwind of emotional upheaval and activity, for Hunter, the “late” Earl of Hawksworth, and her husband, has returned from India, where he supposedly had died. He looks like himself, and knows things no one but Hunter would know, and yet seems different. For one thing, he is suddenly behaving in a responsible manner toward his tenants and his estates. For another, he is suddenly completely devoted to Lara – he wants her to return his affections and return to his bed, a place where she was treated very poorly in the past. Lara, although not trusting Hunter’s intentions or motives, finds that being the Earl’s wife once again puts her in a position where she can help others even more. Although Hunter is more interested in finally making his own life better, he capitulates to Lara every time she requests his help.

Of course he has his own demands. In return, he wants her to respond to his seduction attempts. He finally has to blackmail her to sleep with him, as she remains unbending to him, even though he makes her feel desire like she has never felt before. The intimacy they share helps Lara to trust him completely. After quite a brouhaha near the end involving courts and testimony and some pretty nasty behavior by other Peers of the Realm, Lara and Hunter finally are able to find some joy.

First, I’d like to say that Hunter makes a great hero, but not a kind one. He is a man with a good heart, but only desires to finally make his life better. He is driven solely by his need for Lara to need him as much as he needs her. Anything else he does, he does because it helps bring him and Lara either security, or brings them closer together. He would do anything for her – lie, cheat, steal, kill, and would not feel remorse. I liked him very, very much.

As for Laura, well, I think she was way too good for her britches. I respected her need to help others almost to the point of obsession. I could understand why it was so hard for her to trust and desire to be intimate with Hunter. I did not understand why she felt an overwhelming compulsion for the truth to be told, though. She did two horrible things that were beyond me. One involved inviting Hunter’s ex-mistress to a ball so that he would be tempted to “stick his wick in” someplace else. This was not in the beginning of the book, but nearer to the end, after Hunter had done some pretty wonderful things for her. The other led to the court battle involving Hunter’s true identity when she could have confronted Hunter herself, preventing much grief. It made no sense.

Thank goodness the author redeems herself at the end. Stranger in My Arms has some wonderful aspects. Lisa Kleypas’ love scenes can not be topped. I think she made a hero that is equal to any of her others. The private marriage ceremony between just the two of them at the end is wonderfully touching and non-conformist. I also have to add that although I am not a fan of step-back covers, the one on this book is very tender and innocent – the most beautiful I’ve seen. To me, the one big problem I had with the book was the heroine, but having read Ms. Kleypas defend another of her heroines in one of Laurie’s past columns (see Issue #43 and Lisa’s response), a trait which I respect and admire, I’m looking forward to reading what she has to say about this one.