The Wager

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Synopsis

After her parents died, sixteen-year-old Marianne Trenton became the ward of Horace Carstairs, an unscrupulous man to whom her parents were indebted. The man she calls "uncle" has never treated her well, always taking his anger out on her whenever he loses badly at the gaming tables, so when he tells her that she's being sent to live with another man, she's naively relieved, thinking he's probably a kindly old philanthropist. However, Peter, the man to whom she's been wagered is in actuality a handsome younger man who thinks she's a tart. When he tries to take liberties with her, Marianne is terrified, but thankfully he realizes his mistake and stops before things go too far. Peter instead makes Marianne his legal ward and sends her to a girl's school to finish her education. They see each other on her breaks from school, and soon Marianne finds herself falling for her benefactor, but when she discovers a letter from Horace that makes her think that Peter may be involved in a prostitution scheme, she doesn't know if she can trust him.

Peter Desmond has lived the life of a rogue until the night he wins Marianne in a card game. Thinking that the beautiful girl was Horace's mistress, he presumes she'll be eager to perform the same service for him, but he quickly comes to realize that she's actually an innocent, not even out of the schoolroom. Feeling guilty for what he was about to do, and knowing that if he returns her to Horace, the man will only try to prostitute her again, Peter legally takes responsibility for Marianne and sends her to boarding school to complete her education, but every time she's home on holiday, he finds it harder and harder to resist her. While she's away, he receives the business proposition from Horace that sickens him. Instead of going along with it, he hires private investigators to find the girls who've gone missing and return them to their families and also instructs the investigators to do everything they can to ruin Horace's other businesses. But when Horace finds out what Peter has done, he'll stop at nothing to get his revenge.

Review

The Wager is a stand-alone, historical romance set in the Victorian era. After her parents died, Marianne became the ward of Horace Carstairs, an unscrupulous man involved in all sorts of shady business dealings. During a poker game with Peter Desmond, Horace wagers Marianne as part of his bet and loses. Marianne believes she's being sent to live with a kindly, older philanthropist, so she's a bit unnerved to find her new guardian is a handsome younger man. But when he tries to take liberties with her, she's truly terrified. Peter thought Marianne was merely a tart who was playing mistress to Carstairs, so it takes him a bit to realize that her innocence isn't merely an act. Once he does, he's properly guilt-ridden, but knowing that if he sends her back to Horace, the man will likely just prostitute her again, he decides to make her his legal ward. Peter provides for Marianne and sends her to a ladies finishing school to complete her education. They only see each other on school holidays, but an attraction begins to take root as they get to know one another better. Marianne begins to have feelings for Peter, but after finding a letter from Horace inviting him to take part in a scheme to prostitute other young girls, she isn't sure she can trust him. For his part, Peter wants nothing to do with it, and instead hires investigators to track down girls that Carstairs has taken and return them to their families, as well as do things to sabotage Carstairs's other business ventures. But when Carstairs learns the truth about Peter's role in his downfall, he sets out to get revenge.

During her early teen years, Marianne's parents died. Her father was indebted to Horace, who was a moneylender, so when he came to collect on the debt, he found himself saddled with guardianship of Marianne as part of his compensation. When the story opens, Marianne is sixteen and has been living with "Uncle" Horace for two years. The man is a reckless gambler, and when he isn't doing well at the gaming tables, he takes it out on Marianne, physically abusing her. When Horace tells Marianne that she's going to live with one Peter Desmond, she's somewhat relieved just to be getting away from her guardian. However, discovering that Peter is young and handsome instead of the kindly older gentleman she envisioned, along with the way that he looks at her, makes Marianne uncomfortable, and when he escorts her to his bedroom that night and begins taking liberties with her, she's truly terrified. Before he's gone too far, though, Peter realizes that her fear and innocence isn't just an act, and when he finds out how young she really is, he doesn't touch her again. Instead, he makes her his ward and arranges for her to attend school. When Marianne sees Peter on her holidays, she's still a bit wary of him, but as they get to know one another, she begins to have feelings for him. Then she finds a letter on his desk from Horace discussing a prostitution scheme, and she isn't sure if he can be trusted. Just as she's about to make a decision about her future with Peter, he disappears and she comes to fear that Horace may have had something to do with it. Marianne was a pretty good heroine, but I didn't feel like her characterization went very deep. With her background, she could have been very tortured, but instead she seems to experience few, if any, ill effects from losing her parents so young and being abused at Horace's hands. I also sometimes felt like I didn't fully understand her reasons for thinking or doing some of the things she does.

Peter had a good upbringing, but during his teen years, he fell in with a school chum who led him down the path to becoming a dissolute rake, something that damaged his relationship with his parents, who he's barely seen since. He inherited an old family estate from his grandfather, and it's a place where he finds a sense of home and solace. Aside from the modest income from the estate, Peter mostly makes a living by gambling, something that he's very good at, and it's during a poker game that he wins Marianne. He finds her attractive, and believing she's merely a tart who'd been servicing Horace, he thinks nothing of trying to sleep with her. Even when she protests, he imagines it's all part of a game she's playing until she starts crying. At that point, he finally discovers the truth of her youth and innocence and feels guilty for what he's done. However, knowing that if he returned her to Horace, the man would just sell her again, Peter decides to legally make her his ward and makes sure she has everything she needs, including finishing her schooling. When he sees Marianne on holidays, he finds he still wants her and gradually begins to feel more for her than mere lust, but she rebuffs his advances. When the letter arrives from Horace, trying to entice him into the prostitution scheme, he's horrified and decides to rescue the girls instead, while also completely ruining Horace's business endeavors so he can't do it again. But when Horace becomes aware of Peter's involvement in his downfall, he seeks revenge. At first I wasn't sure if I liked Peter given that he accepted a woman as part of his gambling "winnings," but as he turns things around and tries to make amends by being the noble defender of the young women Horace is trying to profit from, I liked him much better. However, much like Marianne, I didn't feel like his characterization went very deep.

The Wager has been languishing on my TBR shelf ever since I was a member of the Harlequin Historical subscription service years ago. I'm glad that I finally got around to reading it, but it didn't really grab me the way I would have liked. First of all, the writing style leaves a lot of distance between the reader and the characters, because it's composed in a more omniscient POV. There are a number of little asides where the author inserts her own perspective, in essence saying that a character doesn't know something but this is what's happening behind the scenes. This style just doesn't work well for me. I much prefer deep character POV where I learn what's happening as the characters do. Because of not having deeper character introspection, I often didn't understand their motivations. I kept asking lots of "why" questions in my mind while reading. Why wasn't Marianne more affected by her past? Why was Peter a dissolute rake (aside from his friend leading him astray, which was rather weak reasoning)? Late in the story, why did Marianne decide to wager her virginity against Peter's estate? This was something that never came to fruition anyway, so it seemed rather pointless. Why did Peter suddenly turn his life around and start playing the good guy? Sure, he felt guilty about what he did to Marianne, but it wasn't brought out strongly enough to make a complete 180 and full destruction mode against Horace completely believable. Why was Horace such a tool? He seemed to just be evil for the sake of being evil. And these are just a few of the bigger issues. When I have this many questions, it makes it difficult to immerse myself in the story.

I will give the author some credit for doing a fun role-reversal in which the ladies end up helping to rescue the men from our villain. However, the way they did it, getting locked in themselves, wasn't exactly smart. I suppose, all's well that ends well, though. Another small quibble I have is that while the author didn't seem to have any compunction about writing a moderately descriptive non-con moment between Peter and Marianne when they first meet, there are no actual love scenes when they finally get together for real. Bottom line: The Wager had a few too many flaws for me to call it a genuinely good story. I did find some enjoyment in reading it, though, which puts it in the okay category, but I probably wouldn't be in a hurry to seek out more books by this author.

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