The Pirate and His Lady by Margaret St. George is a unique and bittersweet time-travel romance that explores the challenges and bond that develops between a woman from the present and a pirate captain from the past.
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The Pirate and His Lady by Margaret St. George, Maggie OsborneRating:
Published: 1992
Illustrator: Unknown
Imprint or Line: Harlequin American Romance #462
Published by: Harlequin, Silhouette
Genres: Category Romance, Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Romance, Time Travel Romance, Pirate Romance
Pages: 250
Format: eBook, Paperback
Buy on: Amazon
Reviewed by: IntrovertReader
MILD SPOILER ALERT
The Book
The Pirate and His Lady by Margaret St. George (who writes wonderful westerns under her maiden name of Maggie Osborne) isn’t a historical romance but a time-traveling adventure published by Harlequin’s American Romance line in 1992.
This book was originally released around the time when romances began to branch out from traditional plotlines and introduce paranormal aspects.
A decade later, Silhouette would republish this book under their special Dreamscapes: Whispers of Love reissue series.
The Plot
Elizabeth Rawley is a bookish young woman obsessed with all things pirate, especially the legend of Captain Richard Colter and his ship, the Black Cutter, which, along with its treasure, had been sunk off the Florida coast after being engaged in a battle over 200 years ago.
While attending a “Pirate’s Ball,” she witnessed a strange sight: two ancient-looking ships blasting away at one another in the waters of the sea. When she goes to the shore, she finds a washed-up body. But the man isn’t dead; he’s very much alive and dressed in a puffy white Seinfeld shirt and other pirate regalia. Was he a guest of the party dressed in costume? Who could this man be?
Why, it was Richard Colter, the captain of the Black Cutter. How could this be?
Elizabeth takes Richard back to her home. Richard’s adjustment to twentieth-century life is difficult, as he’s a man out of place and time. While modern luxuries have made humans’ lives easier, Richard fared much better off in the past. That’s because, back then, he was a man of wealth and privilege. Now, he has nothing and is in a new world. Even watching TV fills him with a sort of amazed dread.
Elizabeth and Richard fall into a lovely romance as they try to figure out why Richard has been thrust into the future.
Does the lost treasure have anything to do with his improbable appearance?
Richard is faced with a choice: stay in the future or find a way back to his past. But does he want to go back? Because now, in the present day, he has found Elizabeth, and the two share an unbreakable bond that transcends time.
Final Analysis of The Pirate and His Lady
The romance here is bittersweet, as most time travel romances are. I enjoyed Margaret St George’s The Pirate and His Lady for being a different sort of contemporary category romance.
Sometimes, different works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Here, I’m happy to say it does!
[reading-report]
Synopsis
HE CROSSED TIME FOR HER
Was she dreaming? Hours before the costumed “Pirate’s Ball,” Elizabeth Rawley witnessed a strange spectacle in the waters off Key West.
Engaged in mortal combat was The Black Cutter—Captain Richard Colter’s ship. Elizabeth was obsessed with the eighteenth-century ship’s treasure—and with its captain. A swashbuckling privateer who commanded the high seas and made women swoon for the favor of his wild passions.
Elizabeth knew they would have loved each other with a passion to rock the heavens. If only they hadn’t lived two hundred years apart.
Then, on a moonlit beach, she found the body washed ashore—in a homespun shirt, breeches and hemp tying back his long hair.
But this was no costume… And this was no dream. It was Richard Colter. And he was alive.