I was vaguely disappointed by this story, after all the build-up of the relationship in the first four books in the series. Elijah and Jemma took a long time to get into bed, and even longer to get to "I love you", but their first love scene, in which they play chess, blindfolded, in bed, ranks among the more memorable love scenes I've encountered. The one in the half-ruined Roman baths was pretty memorable, too.

On the whole, though, I found myself far more interested in the Duke of Villiers' comings and goings, and the advent of the drug digitalis, than I was about the romantic reunion of the long-married, nearly-as-long-separated Duke and Duchess of Beaumont.