Fenton Foxworthy has asked a lot of married women to marry him and some are scandalised while others are very annoyed at him. He decides to visit his father, with whom he has a fractious relationship. On the way he's waylaid and left for dead. When he's rescude by the local vicar they all assume he's the new vicar, who is intended for Rebecca, the vicar's daughter.

Rebecca nurses him back to health and they discover that they both have a lot of respect for each other, possibly a tenderness. He asks her to marry him, bur she doesn't really know who he is. When she discovers who he is she starts to panic and the stress makes her stop eating. She's stressed by the idea of being his wife and it's not makig her happy. He's finding that he really wants her to be happy, no matter what it takes.

A lovely story that made me care and wnat things to be better, it's clear at the end that the prohlems aren't gone but they're both willing to work with it to create a partnership and to love each other and that's a better end than most stories I've read. ( )