Magnificent! This book is so hard to stop reading and Derek Craven is now up there with Jamie Fraser (Outlander series). My goodness he's remarkable and splendid. 
 Sara is rather a timid mouse (as Derek calls her) but she quickly is shoved out of her timidness by Derek Craven. She can't help but assert herself and clearly she's buried that very nature. Sara is a endearing character for her compassion and her bravery. I adore her forthright nature and her willingness to look past what people do to survive. She's a well thought out and executed character. 
 Derek, on the other hand, was developed a bit in the first book (Then Came You) but while we knew he was crass and brutish we didn't realize the depth of pain and loneliness within this marvelous character. Derek's hard pressed to trust anyone in his life and the attack on him at the opening of the book confirms he's suspicions about people in general. The only problem is a woman he doesn't know, who appears to have no designs on him or his money saved his life and doesn't wish him to be indebted to her. 
 Derek is completely thrown of balance by Sara's presence and it just gets worse as the book goes on. 
 I have read many a Kleypas novel and I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is the best male lead she's written and I do believe she'll be hard pressed to come up with another as spectacular (if you know of one that matches or outdoes Mr. Craven... let me know). 
 Something I did love about Derek is his gruffness. At times I didn't enjoy it but mostly I loved it. He's a man of dubious beginnings and has had to fight his way into being who he is now. He's used to people using him and so someone as kind and as honest as Sara really does a number on him. His possessiveness really does endear him to me, though I like that it doesn't go too far. 
 I also enjoyed the appearance of Ivo Jenner who's daughter is the heroine of Devil in Winter. I can't say I love him as a character but I did enjoy the connection.