Samantha Northrup is holding on as best she can. The daughter of the late Vicar of the village of Sproule, it is past time for her to move out of the vicarage as a new vicar (the son of a local family) is eager to move in. Although she has earned her place as the village healer, nursing many villagers through a contagion of influenza, rather than a cottage of her own the village elders have decided to place her into a home provided to her by a pair of village spinsters as unpaid labor. She has nowhere else to go. Then a stranger knocks upon the vicarage door at midnight, soaked in icy rain and demanding the keys to the Ayleborough vault. Despite her best efforts to defend her father's charge, the wild man gains the keys and enters the vault.

Yale Carderock is stunned by what he finds in his family's vault. Not only is there a tombstone with his name upon it, worse yet there is one for his father as well. Years ago he sailed off as a lowly seaman, determined to show his father he could make his own way in the world and thrive. Returning as a rich owner of many ships, it falls to ashes when he learns his father has died in the meantime. Rather than challenge his right to the name carved on his tombstone, he assumes the name of his former tutor, Marvin Browne. When 'Marvin Browne' develops influenza and is discovered in his room at the inn near death, the locals refuse him refuge, fearing another outbreak of the illness that claimed so many lives previously. Despite the harm it can do her reputation Samantha demands he be given into her care.

Cathy Maxwell has created a more-than-pleasant read with likeable main characters. Her depiction of the villagers and Samantha's situation slices deep with an honest description of what it must have been like for a woman on her own dependent on the whims of others. Her deft strokes of humor and the hints of what might come entranced me into reading the book in one late-night sitting. BECAUSE OF YOU was previously published in 1999, if you have discovered Maxwell's writing recently, you can now enjoy one of her earlier books.

Book Summary

Is a reckless rogue worthy of the love of an innocent enchantress?

Pretty Samantha Northrup knows it is her duty to marry, but the chaste English vicar's daughter secretly desires to be swept off her feet by a man whose kisses leave her breathless. And when a seductive stranger arrives at her door one stormy night, Samantha's neat and orderly life is turned upside down—especially when she finds herself in a most compromising position . . . and is forced to marry a man she barely knows!

Samantha is unaware that her mystery bridegroom is Yale Carderock, the dashing, disinherited rakehell son of a duke, banished by his father years before. Now Lord Yale has returned,wealthier but only somewhat reformed, and he is bewitched by his lovely new bride's awakening sensuality and innocent fire. But can this marriage of convenience be something more . . . and can a confirmed cad and society outcast truly change his ways enough to merit the lady's tender love?