#TBRChallenge 2026: The Pirate and His Lady

The Book: The Pirate and His Lady by Margaret St. George

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin American Romance #462, 1992, Out of print - including digital, reprinted 2022 as part of Harlequin's defunct Dreamscapes line - also out of print, including digital. If you want this book y'all, you're buying a used print copy.

What Was It In Wendy's TBR?: So for you young'uns running across this post, once upon a time there was an author named Maggie Osborne who wrote some dynamite historical westerns. Well, she also wrote category romance under the name Margaret St. George. I didn't make the same concerted effort to hunt down the St. George books as I did the Osborne titles, but I tend to pick them up when I stumble across them at library used book sales or charity shops. I'm not sure how long I've had this one though since it appears I failed to catalog it (yes, I have my print TBR cataloged - don't hate the player, hate the game). 

The Review: Back in 1992 there weren't monster romances featuring heroes with tentacles, nor Kindle Unlimited for that matter, to give readers their WTFBBQ fix, there was just category romance. Now this may seem like a sad and long ago bygone era, but let me assure you, Harlequin got a lot of mileage out of throwing wacky at the wall and sometimes you'd stumble across stories with plots you could only compare to a fever dream. Ladies and gents, I present to you The Pirate and His Lady - a time travel romance featuring an 18th century privateer who washes up on the shore of Key West and is rescued by a modern, 20th century heroine. Published in the Harlequin American Romance line. Dear God, what a time it was to be alive!

Elizabeth Rawley and her Uncle Cappy (seriously) run a salvage / treasure hunting business in Key West, Florida. Her and the guy she's about to break up with are getting ready to attend Cappy's annual "Pirate's Ball" costume party when she spies a ship battle from the beach and she knows it's a "reenactment" of the battle between The Black Cutter and the Madre Louisa. Elizabeth knows this because she and Cappy have been hoping to find the Madre Louisa, which sank shortly after she defeated the Black Cutter in battle so they can claim the riches that were on board. The problem? Instead of catching a clue where on the vast ocean floor the Madre Louisa is located, all Elizabeth has accomplished is an unhealthy obsession with Richard Colter, Captain of the Black Cutter.  She's deeply moved by the reenactment which is happening on the 200th anniversary of the battle - except there's one minor detail.  Her boyfriend that she's about to break up with? Doesn't see a thing. Did Elizabeth hallucinate the reenactment?

After returning from the party, and breaking it off with the dud, she heads down to the beach only to stumble across a man. That man? None other than Captain Richard Colter, wounded and likely suffering a concussion.  He suspects nothing is amiss other than having just lost his ship and crew, what with Elizabeth rescuing him while wearing period colonial clothing. However once he's inside her house? Well, witchcraft comes to mind.

What follows is the comedy of errors one would expect in a time travel romance with some icky gender expectations tossed in for good measure. Richard talks like a pirate and has definite notions on a woman's place in the world - so single Elizabeth living alone, unchaperoned, never married, I mean she's probably a whore right? And he's flabbergasted to discover she's in her late 20s and not 18. Then there's of course modern day small appliances like the coffee maker and toaster - never mind the bathroom. Honestly I've never been the ideal audience for time travel because I find these requisite scenes rather tedious, but I got some chuckles when, needing to distract him, Elizabeth turns on the television. Needless to say she slips out of the house unnoticed and when she returns? He's right there on the couch where she left him and he's amazed that "King Larry" will be interviewing "the Madonna" later that evening. I couldn't help it, I laughed.

I'll hand it to St. George, she really threw herself into the question "What would happen if you threw a man with 18th century sensibilities into the 20th century?" Unfortunately, it's icky. All I could think of is that certain segment of Romancelandia who decries historical romance heroes who happen to have one enlightened idea about a woman's place in the world wringing their hands and crying anachronism! Anachronism!!!!!! Seriously, they'd love this book. To put it bluntly, Richard is a bit of a Neanderthal. Not the most offensive of this ilk I've read over the years, but Alan Alda this guy ain't. (And if you get that reference, congratulations - you're officially old)

For a good portion of this book Richard is the sort of romance hero who bemoans that Elizabeth won't simply do as she's told and then is flabbergasted that he can't do much about it. "So it's true. 'E can't discipline a woman, even if she needs a strong hand." My hero 🤮

Unfortunately Elizabeth didn't pick up the slack for me. She dumps the guy she's seeing at the start of the book because the next step would be them taking the relationship to the next level (yes, sex) and while she has every indication he'd be a gentle and considerate lover, sometimes a woman just needs to be "taken." And yet, once Richard is in her life? She struggles with the push-pull factor to their relationship.

There was the rub. Elizabeth would fight like a tiger to be the dominant partner in any relationship. But in her heart, she couldn't respect a man who would let her dominate him. And she sure as hell didn't intend to allow any man to dominate her.

Why is Elizabeth like this? Daddy issues. It was the 1990s folks, you shouldn't need to ask.

These gender roles, how masculinity and femininity are defined, make up the bulk of the conflict in this book and, likely not seeing anyway around this, St. George then moves the conflict to Richard potentially returning to his own time, will Elizabeth go with him, Cappy needing to close the business because they're broke, and the potential possible discovery of Richard's sunken ship which was carrying a boatload of gold - not the Madre Louisa. Unfortunately even as she moves off of it, it's still there. Lurking between the lines, bleeding into the margins. 

Where does that leave us? Well, even taking into account this was published in 1992, I found the gender dynamics and "expectations" pretty gross for most of this story. On the other hand? St. George slathers on the angst in the last third and how the time travel aspect is resolved and the discovery of Richard's sunken ship made those chapters sail (ha!) by for me. 

Would I recommend this? I mean, maybe if you were interested in gender and power dynamics in early 1990s romance, but trust me - you'd be better served to pick up a Maggie Osborne western if you're looking for unconventional, strong yet vulnerable heroines and the men who lose their hearts to them. If there's a Grossness Scale to be applied to vintage romance, this is 1990s Gross as opposed to Bodice Ripper Era Gross - but all of it's not great, we're just talking varying degrees. Very much a product of it's time.

Final Grade = C-