Gresham, for those who've read other books by Patricia Oliver, made his first appearance in Miss Drayton's Downfall; in that book, he was portrayed as a cynical rake who would even contemplate running off with another man's wife. Here, he is immediately attracted to Sarah, and is very willing to assist her in her predicament, too... but only if she becomes his mistress. Despite her refusal, he is willing to use whatever unscrupulous means he can in order to get what he wants.

However, as is frequently the case, when someone gets what they want it turns out not to have been everything they expected, and that's certainly so here.

As usual with Patricia Oliver, this book has plenty of excellent character introspection, angst, and a brilliantly-written resolution at the end. I've already read my copy several times, and - as with the rest of her Seven Corinthians series - this is definitely a keeper.

Here, the man who believes himself incapable of any finer feelings finds himself attracted to lovely but impoverished and increasingly desperate widow, Lady Sarah. He helps her out of a number of difficult situations, telling himself that his actions are merely a means of making her dependent on him and eventually giving her no option but to accept his carte blanche. She eventually does, but... things don't turn out as Gresham expects.

We learn just why Gresham has lost all faith in love and in women; and we see him undergo the difficult journey towards rediscovering his faith in humanity.

This is a book which I highly recommend on its own, but is even more worth acquiring as part of Oliver's Seven Corinthians linked series. One of my favourites in this series of novels, along with An Unsuitable Match.