An Affair without End

An Affair without End is the third and final book in Candace Camp’s Willowmere series but it works just fine as a stand-alone read. In fact, the book itself works just fine: It’s well written, captivating, has winning leads and engaging secondary characters, and presents a pleasant dash of intrigue.

The primary lovers in this book are older and more self-aware than many in historical romance. Both Vivian Carlyle and Oliver, Lord Stewksbury, are adults – who act as adults. Their relationship unfurls untroubled by big misunderstandings or too stupid to believe choices. The obstacle they face is a simple one — they are very different people who, despite being drawn to one another, don’t believe they would suit as husband and wife.

Vivian, at 28, has decided marriage isn’t for her. She’s lovely, wealthy, easily bored, and unusually independent. She defines and enjoys her own pursuits. She charms men with ease and enjoys the social life of the ton. But the only man she’s desired — carnally – is Oliver, whom she has known all her life. Oliver, several years older than Vivian, is seen by most as a conservative, even stuffy man. He’s a got a great deal of responsibility all of which he takes quite seriously. He’s unmarried, but knows, at some point, he will need an heir and thus he plans to marry a conventional bride to bear said heir. He’s always thought Vivian lovely, but sees her independent streak as reckless and her interests as flighty.

One night, after first waltzing (Why does it always have to be a waltz? Couldn’t our lovers first feel a frisson of passion during a Quadrille or even a reel?) and then witnessing a jewel theft together, Oliver ardently kisses Vivian. He is shocked to have done such a thing and, when next he sees her, apologizes for not behaving like a gentleman. Vivian tells him she quite enjoyed their embrace. She wants an affair with Oliver—she too thinks they wouldn’t suit as spouses, but feels they would suit beautifully as lovers. Oliver believes such an arrangement would be hazardous to Vivian’s reputation and as such too risky — and too ethically iffy – for him. However, after a few more blazing kisses, a misleading statement by Vivian that leads Oliver to believe she’s had other lovers, and a night spent drinking more than he should, Oliver lets himself be seduced by Vivian and their love affair begins.

Oliver and Vivian, when they aren’t making love, are trying to catch a jewel thief who is stealing valuable pieces from members of the ton. The mystery is given just the right amount of space in this romance and was fun to try to decipher. (Oliver’s dog Pirate, as winning a pet as has ever graced the page, is crucial to revealing the villain.) As Vivian and Oliver spend more time together — advising their younger peers, chasing down clues, and telling each other that, no, really, they don’t suit — their perceptions of and feelings for one another begin to gradually change.

As Vivian and Oliver are falling into bed, Vivian’s brother Gregory, the erudite Lord Seyre, future Duke of Marchester, is falling in love with Camellia, one of Oliver’s wild American cousins. (Her sisters have been featured in the other two Windmere books.) Gregory and Camellia are a sweet, winsome couple and the scenes they share are charming. One of my favorite encounters in the novel occurs when Gregory, who is walking along the street where Camellia lives just to be near her, encounters her as she is sneaking out on a dangerous nocturnal errand. Rather than scold her, he asks, very nicely because she’s wielding a pistol and is a crack shot, if perhaps he could walk along with her and she could protect him. She laughs and allows him to accompany her on her adventure. As the story progresses, they each worry the other is too good for them. They are both delightfully wrong.

An Affair without End isn’t an especially unique historical romance but it’s a very well executed one. Ms. Camp is a capable writer – I wish she’d give grammar lessons to some of her fellow authors. Her sentences make sense, her paragraphs flow smoothly into one another, and her prose is fitting. Her characters are clearly defined and distinct from one another and their differences are reflected in both their diction and actions. I enjoyed reading her book.

I do have one complaint. Given Vivian’s and Oliver’s intelligent competence in the other realms of their lives, it’s especially surprising that neither of them gives a thought to unintended pregnancy. Oliver is not a virgin but a man in his mid-thirties. Vivian, though sexually inexperienced, is in every other way a woman of the world. It’s unbelievable that neither worries about the physiological consequences of their love affair. Vivian wants not to marry and Oliver loathes scandal — surely one of them would have suggested some method of birth control. It’s baffling they didn’t. Ms. Camp is a smart writer and I am sure she knows how babies are made. I expect her clever characters to behave as though they know that as well.

That aside, Vivian and Oliver are smart enough, by the tale’s end, to realize that their differences are complimentary rather than divisive. Oliver needs Vivian’s passion and humor just as she needs his inherent ability to act ethically and with an open heart. I believed in their blissful ending. The two deserved what they happily wrought: An affair without end.