Sweet Treason

Lady Katherine MacGregor's sedate life is destroyed when deserters from the English army cross into Scotland and kill her family. Vowing revenge, she becomes a spy for the Jacobite cause. She poses as a prostitute and steals a satchel containing secret documents from an English officer. She is caught, but claims she thought she was simply stealing the officer's money. James Burke, an English officer and viscount, is given the responsibility of escorting this "Scottish prostitute" to Lancaster for her trial on charges of treason. The first half of the book is a wonderfully funny road romance, as Katie and Burke match wits and exchange barbs during their journey. He suspects she truly is a spy and is determined to discover the truth. Still, he finds himself unsettled by his growing attraction to a woman he disdains as a prostitute. She slowly is forced to admit her attraction to one of the hated English. Eventually, recognizing her feelings for him, she saves his life, which sets in motion a chain of events that lands him in hot water. I love this book for several reasons, but mostly because of the fabulous characters. These are two of the most real people I've ever read in a romance. Gaffney modulates these characters perfectly. Although flawed, the characters always remain likable. In some romances, readers are "told" by the writer that a character is supposed to be arrogant, or intelligent, or some other such adjective, but the actions of the character don't really bear that out. In this novel, the personalities of the main characters directly influence their actions and the course the book takes. Sweet Treason also contains wonderful bantering dialogue that makes me laugh out loud at times, and yet I wouldn't call this book a comedy. It takes a turn to the dramatic about halfway through, and the drama is just as involving as the comedy is funny. The love scenes are fresh--I didn't read them thinking I'd read scenes like them a dozen times before. Even the secondary characters are well-developed and original. I also found the heroine's "pathological lying" to be quite logical for the story--after all, her life depends on her ability to clear herself of treason charges.

I enjoyed this story, as I do just about all of Patricia Gaffney's books. Katherine and James were wonderful characters, with Katherine being Scottish and James English. I must read!