3.75 stars 
 Enjoyed this enough, I just don't know how to rate this one. I would have loved it more if I didn't keep picturing the heroine Cate as a 15 year old scamp tomboy the entire time. :/ 
 And I tried, really really tried but the visual in my head kept getting in the way of fulling connecting with the love story. And the number of times Gregor has to remind himself she's a grown woman and how adorable and cute she is didn't really help. I don't know I just couldn't get passed the way she's described as the impish orphan Gregor takes in 5 years ago. The way she carries herself, gets in scruffles and sighs dreamily over the most handsome man in Scotland wasn't really enticing for me personally. I've always loved the 'guardian falls in love with his ward' trope and the fact that the heroine was the pursuer this time was a very nice change of pace. I liked that. But I wasn't 100% sold that these two fit well and that bugged me. At times it came off a *little* forced especially on Gregor's part. A big part of that was probably Cate's 'I love him and we are meant to be together and I'm gonna make him see that' determined mind set. It's a tricky angle to work with. I actually liked Cate, she had her bratty stubborn moments that were annoying but she was brave, independent and kind. Gregor was his usual gorgeous rakish arrogant self with a sweet playful heart. It was interesting to see him brought down a peg or two. 
 The two things I didn't really care for were the homeless orphans forced in here and the stunt Gregor pulled to prove Cate wrong. Orphans are the bane of my reading experience. Ugh how I loathe it. They are 99% of the time used as red herrings to paint the heroine in a favorable light and it never really works for me. It's underhanded and manipulating your readers. I have nothing against kids or babies in stories if written well and they add something to the story. Here it just did absolutely nothing and only managed to make Cate look high handed and controlling and Gregor the big mean growly brute for 'scaring' the wee foundlings. RME. Having the heroine force housebroken orphans on an unsuspecting put upon hero and giving him the wounded puppy look for daring to not go along with her plans was a little rage inducing. It just toes the line of manipulative and selfish for me. I personally couldn't stand bratty Pip or his sob story and the grief he gave Gregor. I didn't buy Cate's excuses of him being misunderstood and I certainly didn't appreciate the reckless 'cover up' story she used to keep the 3 kids in Gregor's home. So selfish and childish. You don't do that to a man you supposedly love and respect. SMH. And as for Gregor's big no-no moment it did color my opinion of him and made the story lose some steam for me. I got tired of the you did me wrong I'm gonna get you back song and dance between the two, it came across petty and juvenile.