So, I've been trying to remember a certain romance novel that I read some time ago, and while I remember some distinctive bits and pieces, mostly from the beginning of the story, they don't really provide me with search terms that let me use Google or the like to search for the book. So, I'm hoping that maybe one of the romance readers on this board might have an inkling what book this might be! I'll try to find detailed summaries of any books you might suggest on Amazon or something of that sort, so I should be able to tell you if it's the book or not.
Here's what I remember: the book opens with the heroine married very young to a cruel, abusive husband. In the first scene, she's running away from a group of his friends (on his estate, possibly) who were torturing a dog, which she rescued. She's trying to keep the dog from them, but they're catching up. Just before they do, she runs into the hero, a young man who is rather overweight, either on a small rowboat or near it. She explains her difficulties to him, and he brings her and the dog onto the boat and out into the water for safety. When the young men burst onto the scene, the hero claims that the dog is his and that she was bringing it to him. As he's of rather high rank, they don't dare do anything to him or to her in his presence. She's very grateful. He's sweet and shy.
That's sort of a prologue, and some years pass. She's a widow (who saw that coming?), and he was kidnapped somehow (possibly during war, although I think somehow the sea was involved, maybe he was in the Navy?). He was held captive for something like two years. Due to his long starvation and considerable physical exercise, he's now handsome and thin (who saw that coming?). They meet again, but I don't really remember how or much of anything else, although I seem to have a vague memory of reading much of the book wondering if they remembered that they had met long ago in the scene with the dog, so I have a feeling that either they don't recognize each other or they somehow don't refer back to that early meeting.
Does this at all sound familiar to anybody? I would have thought that it was a Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverley, or Mary Balogh, because they've written most of the ones I've read recently. But, I looked through all the books I own of theirs, at least, and I don't see it. I'd love to find this book again, so if you recognize it, or have a guess, please let me know!
