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I like the historical romances where the hero and heroine are already - or soon enough - married, often for the wrong reasons or convenience or whatever, and fall in love from there. I don't know, there's just something really kinky about it.

In this one, Madelene Colgate is the subject of a high-stakes bet her brother, Sir Matthew, has concocted in order to raise funds: she must marry in three days. Famous for her temper, and having broken two engagements in the past already, the bet is eagerly taken up amongst the men of the ton, and Matthew, orchestrating it from behind the scenes, already has a man for the job. Assuring his sister that because his friend, Mr Brelford, prefers men, she'll get an annulment without trouble, and because she loves her brother despite everything he's put them through, Madelene begrudgingly agrees.

But Matthew isn't the only one keen to take advantage of this bet: Gabriel Westcott sees it as the perfect opportunity to exact revenge on Matthew for seducing his sister and then refusing to do the honourable thing. His sister died in childbirth, and in Gabriel's mind marrying Matthew's sister without her knowledge is the perfect revenge. Disguised as Mr Brelford, he marries Madelene in secret and takes her to his country estate, revealing himself along the way. Madelene remembers him well from the duel he fought with her brother over Gabriel's sister - the duel that left Matthew with a lame arm.

Yet, they both enter their newly married state in civilised form, and Gabriel is far from the angry tyrant Madelene was expecting. In fact, she warms to him even as he hides his desire for her, determined to make her want him in turn. But an attempt is made on Madelene's life, and her brother is in trouble yet again - this time with an Italian "count" insisting on having a dagger returned to him on pain of death - makes married life far from dull.

There were definitely some things I really enjoyed about this - namely, Gabriel, who reminded me somewhat of a Georgette Heyer hero - and when it was just Gabriel and Madelene, it was good. But when it's Madelene and Matthew, you want to wring both their necks. Madelene goes from sensible and smart to a complete blind idiot who must be rescued by Gabriel all the time, and who trusts her brother over her new husband (okay, so he did marry her under false pretences, but how can she trust and value Gabriel one moment and then do such stupid things the next?); and Matthew needed a good slapping.

There were also some plot holes, and I don't know how much of it were just slips or weak editing, and how much of it sloppy writing. I also thought it would have been better without the action and stolen-dagger plot line, which just got in the way of what was growing nicely between the main characters. Though it did give Gabriel the chance to completely redeem himself. It's almost hard to reconcile the man acting on revenge at the beginning of the novel, with the man we come to know throughout the rest of it. But it was decently plausible, plus it's revealed he didn't just have revenge on mind: he wanted Madelene for her own sake.