The Escape by Mary Balogh

The Escape by Mary Balogh.
This is book 3 in the Survivors' Club series.
Having survived his injuries during the Napoleonic Wars, Sir Benedict (Ben) Harper is trying to figure out what he is going to do with the rest of his life.  Having known that the life of a military man was his desired future, he never contemplated doing anything else. When those dreams are crushed, he ends up a lose ends. To pass the time, he visits his sister in the country while she is recuperating from an illness.
While out riding his horse, he literally runs over Samantha McKay whom he soon learns is a young widow still in deep morning. Samantha has been living with her uptight sister-in-law since the death of her husband and had to get out of the house for some fresh air. She didn't know that she would be accosted by horse and rider.
Having not started out on the right foot, Ben gets his sister to take him for tea at Samantha's home where he finagles time for an apology.  They soon become friends of a sort and when Samantha's father-in-law demands that she comes and lives with him, she goes to Ben for help.
They are soon on their way to Wales where Samantha has an old shack that has been left to her from her great aunt.  They must travel as husband and wife so that Samantha is not totally ruined by traveling alone with an unmarried man.  In close confinement and learning more and more about each other, Ben and Samantha find that they are fighting their attraction to each other.  What will happen when they reach Wales? Will they both find what they are looking for?
After reading Vincent's story in book 2 of the series, I didn't think that I could love the lead male character any more. I was wrong!!  I LOVED Ben in this story.  As with the other Survivor Club members, we've met Ben in the other stories but we see just a glimpse of him. 
We know that he is determined to walk again and has a good since of humor (you have to with all the other club members teasing each other all the time), but you don't get to see the depth of his character. I guess that is the same with any series you read, you learn the most about the character when it is their story. But I was just blown away by Ben, I wanted to take him home with me!! 
Samantha was also a very strong character.  She went into her first marriage head over heals in love with her husband and he didn't turn out to be the man she thought he was. Even knowing that, she stuck by him and nursed him after being wounded in the wars.  After his death, Samantha just wants some freedom.  The shack in Wales is her only way to get it and Ben is the only one that can take her there.
I can't say enough about this story. I really enjoyed reading it and didn't want it to end.  The next story in the series is about Flavian, Viscount Ponsonby, whom is a stutterer. I'm very interested to see where Balogh takes this story as I have a personal connection to a stutterer.

You can find this book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Indigo.

Thanks go to Random House via NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.