Like its predecessors, The Reluctant Smuggler is a different sort of Regency Romance, in that it takes place in a quieter location than the usual London settings. It also has a hero and heroine who don’t so much fall in love as sort of “back into” each other, as each pursue what they believe is their life’s destiny.

In Severn’s Well, Charlotte Deems awakens to find that her 2-year-old son, Oscar, is missing. Her frantic search leads her to the cliffs outside their home, where she finds Lord Sebastian Whitbury, who is in the process of rescuing the little boy. Along with the overwhelming relief of having Oscar safe and sound comes a sense of dread, because Charlotte suddenly realizes that she has caught Sebastian in his secret life as smuggler. Sebastian needs to be sure of Charlotte’s silence, and his initial request of a kiss to seal their secret is soon not enough, especially when he becomes convinced that the very proper Widow Deems has secrets of her own.

Sebastian’s solution to ensure Charlotte’s silence is to have her with him at night while he waits for the ship that is delivering his precious cargo. That way, he reasons, she is practically an accomplice and it’s not in her best interest to tell anyone about his activities. Little does he know that she may know more about his secret life than she lets on. Meanwhile, Miss Natalie Talbot, the young woman Sebastian wishes to marry, remains elusive, thanks to her protective father. Little by little Sebastian begins to see the difference between his feelings for Natalie, the perfect rose he admires fervently and his feelings for Charlotte, the real woman who touches his heart. And both Charlotte’s secret and Sebastian’s smuggling activities must be dealt with if there is to be a Happily-Ever-After.

Sebastian is the third son of a Marquess, with a bad reputation and not much money – he has to put his matrimonial plans for Natalie Talbot on hold until he makes his fortune (by smuggling). The opportunity that arises can hand him the life and the woman he wants, but it could also ruin him forever. More than anything, what Sebastian craves is affection, something sorely lacking from his family life. That he finds his match in Charlotte is poetic justice, given that she has just resigned herself to the idea of finding a husband she does not love, if only to secure her son’s future. This time, she begins the search without the youthful naivete that led her to her passionless marriage, but finds herself charmed by the rakish, but sweet, Sebastian.

The Reluctant Smuggler is a very charming book, but it did bother me that it takes Sebastian far, far too long to realize it’s Charlotte he loves. I’ve enjoyed books by Ms. DesJardien before, and although The Reluctant Smuggler may not stay with you long after you read it, it makes for a pleasant afternoon’s reading.