The Husband Campaign, by Regina Scott, was released by Harlequin's Love Inspired Historical line. It is the third and final book of the Master Matchmakers series which is set in Regency England. The idea linking together the books in this trilogy is that the servants of several neighbouring noble houses are conspiring to find romantic matches for their aristocratic masters. In spite of this book being the final part of a trilogy, it can be read as a stand alone novel.
In The Husband Campaign, the aristocrats in question are John, Lord Hascot, and Lady Amelia, daughter of the Marquess of Wesworth. They find themselves coerced into a marriage of convenience to prevent scandal after John finds Lady Amelia taking shelter in an abandoned stable on his property. Neither wishes to marry each other as they are virtually strangers; Amelia wishes to marry for love, while John had previously been burned in love when the woman whom he loved married his brother instead. John is finished with society now, preferring the company of his horses, even refusing to sell them if he perceives that the prospective client would make a poor master to his animals.
Two of the servants who have supporting roles in this story are Marcus Fletcher, John's veterinarian, who assists him in running his horse breeding farm, and Dorcas Turner, the lady's maid that John hires to wait on Amelia. Turner ends up being an advocate for Amelia, helping Amelia's efforts to establish herself as the lady of the house, and in Amelia's campaign to win her husband's love when Amelia realizes that she wants more than what she and John initially agreed to when they first entered into marriage. Fletcher tries to help John realize that Amelia should be more precious to him than the horses that he owns.
Things are moving swimmingly along, until John's ex-love, now a widow, enters their lives. Also complicating the situation is the arrival of Amelia's father, a man who has never shown affection or approval towards Amelia. He is especially concerned about John's refusal to sell his horses to certain members of society, and threatens to take Amelia away if John does not meet the Marquess' expectations of providing for Amelia's social standing and protecting her reputation from scandal. Will Amelia and John be able to make their marriage succeed in the face of these obstacles?
I enjoyed reading this story. For a man who is uncomfortable with talking to women, John can be quite effective in getting his point across, especially by the end of book. He reminded me a little of Fitzwilliam Darcy, with his standoffish behaviour towards others, preference for the country, and also from the wording in a letter to Amelia. You'll know what I mean when you run across it in the book.
I also enjoyed how the lead characters acknowledged the Lord in this book, through their foxhole prayers. There were also a few concluding paragraphs giving us news about the two other couples from the other two books of the trilogy. I only wish that we could have heard about the story of how the Duke of Bellington (an extremely minor character who we never actually meet throughout the series) meets his bride, but perhaps that story might turn up in one of Ms. Scott's future stories. This was a nice end to the Master Matchmakers.
