The Yorkshire Lady is not the usual Regency comedy of manners during the Season. True to its title, some of the story takes place in Yorkshire, where our heroine makes her home. There is action and suspense, and more importantly, nice characters that engage the reader.

Rachel Barton is spending a few days as the houseguest of the Earl of Fairborne who wants to marry her. Rachel is not necessarily keen on marrying anyone because she has her mills to worry about, and the livelihoods of all the people who work for her. Still, she believes Lord Fairborne is a good friend and a good person, someone who genuinely cares about her. Much to Rachel’s surprise, she finds a man in the earl’s library one night. The man is searching for proof that Fairborne was involved in betraying French royalist spies to Napoleon. The man, Yves St. Armand, Comte de Rochemont, also has personal reasons for embarking on this mission since the woman he loved, Amalie de Maret, was killed just as she was going to tell him the identity of the traitor. Aided by Amalie’s brother, Yves vows to obtain justice and avenge her death.

Yves knows well that Fairborne wants to marry Rachel so that her fortune can offset his enormous debts, and he figures that if he thwarts Fairborne’s plans, the earl might get desperate enough to make a mistake. His initial encounter with Rachel in Fairborne’s library, has left Yves shaken – his lovers since Amalie’s death have always resembled her physically, so why has this tall, plain, steady woman touched him so? It is the same for Rachel, who is convinced this polished French aristocrat would never really be attracted to someone like her. Rachel doesn’t realize until it’s too late just how far Fairborne would go in order to get his hands on her money, or how dangerous a man he really is.

Yves is not one of those heroes who shall never love again. Instead, he is actually someone who has never really loved, but was not aware of it. In fact, it seems that Yves needs to have a lot of things explained to him before he realizes what his true feelings are. Yves has mistaken his passion for Amalie for love, and it takes a blunt conversation with Amalie’s brother to make him realize that for the first time in his life, he has true love right in front of him.

From the beginning, Rachel is quite aware that she is not in love with Fairborne but she believes that the marriage will be a good match for each of them since she is unaware of his true character. Rachel is a kind, sensible woman, aware of what “qualities” the ton determines she is lacking, but she does not waste time worrying about her suposed defects; she is secure in her knowledge and talents. I did, however, wish Rachel had been stronger in dealing with her companion, Verity, who was thoroughly obnoxious in her attempts to make a match between Rachel and Fairborne.

Although Rachel and Yves are initially thrown together because of his need for revenge, and their first encounter is a little contrived, the relationship that develops between them is a true one. If you’re in the mood for a satisfying Regency Romance that is not the usual romp, you will want to give The Yorkshire Lady a try.