The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae by Stephanie Laurens

Rating:  5 stars

The only book I haven't read in this series is book 1. This book - the 3rd one - is so worth waiting for.
For those of you who may not have read this book or the two earlier books in this series - this is the basic storyline: Some mysterious Scottish Earl has been behind the kidnapping of two of Celia Cynster's daughters - Heather in book 1, and Eliza in book 2. At the end of book 2 they had reason to believe that the Earl was dead so everybody breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed the guarding of daughter #3 - Angelia Cynster (also the youngest of Celia's daughters). Angelica's sisters were all successfully rescued & obtained fiancees out of their ordeals. Over the course of the two books little hints are dropped about the mysterious Earl and what his motives are. He never did the actual kidnapping himself & instructed his accomplishes to take care of the kidnapped women. Once he realized each woman had found love - he backed off on his kidnap intentions of that woman and just looked to watch over the woman and her intended.
At the opening of book 3 Angelica (the youngest and what is believed to be the most headstrong, & resourceful sister) spots a dashing figure in the ballroom. Three guesses who it is that she spots.   :)  The Earl had just planned to do some reconnaissance - imagine his surprise when the object of his mission descends on him and aggressively pursues him, engineering a private tete a tete out in the garden.
This book was so good for so many reasons. The characters were fabulous, the passion - steamy, the plot - interesting. These kinds of stories are usually ruined in several typical ways:
1.) There is an adversarial, very antagonistic relationship between hero & heroine throughout 90% of the book
2.) The hero treats the heroine cruelly, the heroine acts like a ninny
3.) The hero & heroine learn to trust each other but then a twist late in the book upsets that trust on a colossal scale


How Laurens makes this story fab:

1.) The heroine is super attracted to the hero before the abduction and is the furthest thing from a passive, wimpering little heroine. She is a classic Cynster.
2.) The hero is super sexy and treats the heroine w/ the utmost respect at all times. He is also a clever man, and caring.
3.) All through the journey to the hero's home in Scotland, Angelica and Dominic (her hero Earl) work together and plan together. Dominic's staff are won over by Angelica and it makes for a nice atmosphere for the long trip.
4.) The story is littered with scenes of the Cynster family planning what to do about Angelica's disappearance (both the men & the women). Of course all the Cynster men come riding to help out at the end. Yea!