For Lord Ragsdale it means fall quietly and deeply in love with this totally unsuitable woman. But, to Emma’s surprise, reforming this man entails becoming his friend and hearing him speak movingly of his father and the terrible misfortune that has poisoned his life. She befriends the silly mistress, Fae Moulle, and finds a way for her to earn a respectable living.

Emma Costello does all of these things, and far more creatively than one would expect. To pay the debt of gratitude, Emma decides to reform Lord Ragsdale, getting him to agree, one drunken night, that if she reforms him she will have compensated him for the money he lost that night.Īnd what does she have to do? Pay off the silly mistress, stop the drinking, organize the bills, and make Lord Ragsdale into a suitable husband for one Miss Clarissa Partridge. One night Lord Ragsdale saves Emma from a horrific fate and winds up with her indenture papers. She also happens to be an Irish indentured servant. Okay, I know what you’re thinking: spunky Irish maid, too tantalizingly sexy to ignore, innocent but tempting – spends a lot of time “trembling under his lustful gaze.” Often says things like “unhand me sir.” Well, not exactly.Įmma Costello is a woman of education, beauty, strength, and uncommon good sense.

When Lord Ragsdale meets his intellectual match it is in the person of a servant, Emma Costello. But this book has a different, refreshing perspective which, I believe is utterly American. If this were a typical Regency Romance, Lord Ragsdale would soon meet a feisty and irresistible female member of the ton, with whom he would form a passionate attachment. Luckily, as readers of the book, we get to eavesdrop, but it makes his own life quite dreary. Rather than trying to remedy his plight, he spends a good deal of time talking to the wittiest and most intelligent person he knows, namely himself.

Saddest of all – he cannot speak of his grief over his father’s death.īut Lord Ragsdale takes this reality in stride.

This fascinating man has no one with whom to hold a worthwhile conversation or share his hilarious and insightful jokes. He squanders his talents on careless amusements, and surrounds himself with people who have not one half of his insight and wit. Lord Ragsdale is an intelligent and witty man who is bored.

Reforming Lord Ragsdale by Carla Kelly