Major Finlay Urquhart is on patrol in the rugged Basque territory of Spain when he encounters a soldier and takes the lad prisoner. But it's no lad, just a slip of a girl in men's clothes, and she's equally surprised that she's been caught by a soldier in a skirt. Finlay considers his kilt practical, but the partisan girl is a match for him. They're both scouting out a French arms cache in wooded, patrolled country. Will they live to see the British lines?

At this time warring armies are holding cities and plundering farms across Spain, but unlike the French, the British pay for supplies. Wellington is planning a strike on San Sebastian and needs to hold his army together, not split it up in sorties. If the partisans can seize an arms cache, so much the better. Isabella is an admirable heroine, determined to fight for the freedom of her country. She also resents that Spanish officers care more for the shine on their boots than whether their soldiers even have boots. The exigency of wartime has meant that normal restrictions on women are relaxed and Isabella means to make the most of her freedom. A shadowy Basque leader called El Fantasma, the Phantom, has to be informed about the cache, and she swears to do it.

After the years of conflict, we meet Finlay again speaking with his friend Jack, who is one of Wellington's aides. Finlay is warned that with the restoration of the Spanish monarchy, the former partisans are being killed as potential rabble-rousers. El Fantasma was invaluable to the cause of freedom; now he's a wanted man. Finlay agrees, for honour's sake, to try to save the leader he's never met. If he could find Isabella, she would be a good starting point.

I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure through vineyards, printing presses and Spanish high society, with gorgeous place descriptions and strong characters to match. Isabella's local foods contrasted with the Scot's tales of life in the croft add colour to this tale of sacrifice, duty and courage. We're reminded of how the common footsoldier was treated after the wars had ended, even as we're being treated to a desperate cross-country chase and a deepening adult romance. THE SOLDIER'S REBEL LOVER by Marguerite Kaye is well researched as always, full of danger, vivid emotion and larger-than-life characters to steal our hearts. At the end, the author assures us that she discovered some women were active partisans at this time, so I can't wait to see what her research will turn up next.

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