The Bartered Bridegroom

The Bartered Bridegroom is hardly the usual "comedy of manners" one expects from a Regency Romance. I am happy to say, however, that it is an engaging story of two people who have pretty much accepted the terms life has to offer, and who, with each other, find much, much more.Lord Benjamin Whitbury and Miss Katherine Oakes meet when she, dressed as a boy, is preparing to bid farewell to her horse, Fallen Angel. It's not just her prized pet, you see, it's the symbol of everything Katherine holds dear, because she adores anything having to do with horses. In fact, The Repository, as her brothers call her because of her ability to store and recall all bits of information regarding horses, is quite skilled at calling races. Her years of dressing as a boy and actually going to the racetrack, however, are over, since she has blossomed into an undisguisable young lady.But disguised she is, as Benjamin can barely credit his eyes. Instantly he knows, however, that he holds the upper hand in this meeting. Katherine pleads with Benjamin to keep his mouth shut and in exchange, he asks for a kiss. Keeping his options open, however, he tells her (after they've kissed) that he will hold her to granting him a favor sometime in the future. When the favor turns out to be a pretend, month-long engagement, Katherine is bewildered.In reality, Benjamin himself is being blackmailed, by none other than Katherine's secret fiancé, Cyril Cullman, or as he is best known in Society, the First Beau. Cyril, who up until now has been helping Benjamin gain his entrée back into Society, threatens to withdraw that frail hope of ever being accepted again if Benjamin doesn't take Katherine off his hands. When Katherine tells Cyril that this is just a farce because her papa owes Benjamin money, Cyril smoothly replies that he will wait for her.Benjamin is forced to go along with a ruse he helped create - although the brother of a Marquess, he is hardly welcomed in Society and, determined to make his own way in the world, finds rejection extended to a lack of employment offers. As he and Katherine parade around their phony betrothal, they begin to see each other beyond the ruse that they're forced to live. At the same time, they know that their time is short, and the planned quarrel that will end it all is just around the corner.Benjamin Whitbury has got to be one of the most honorable and stoic heroes I have met in a long time. Not only does he not wish to take advantage of his brother's money, but also he lives with the consequences of his actions every day. Each snub, each rejection, represents only part of what he has lost because of what he did and he chooses to make the best of it without oodles of angst to irritate the reader. Katherine, in the meantime, was a bit more recognizable - the Regency miss who doesn't follow Society's rules. She is puzzled by the false betrothal she must enter, and is unbelievably blind when it comes to Cyril's ma