I really wanted this book to be my thing and, after finishing it, I would love the adventures of Ellen Burns after she decks the annoying Scotsman following her around and goes about her awesome spy business.
Romance novel heroes are always a matter of personal preference. Less so heroines, if only because the romance novel is so often a woman's fantasy and part of that fantasy is being "enough" as we are and the fantasy that men, though not perfect, will take direction and become better. So whether a given hero works for the reader is a delicate balance and one person's jerk is another person's Darcy.
Malcolm did not work for me; I kept thinking that Elle deserved better and deserved someone who actually LISTENED to her.
And I really liked the idea of this book and the work Cole did to create a civil war romance novel is incredible and I want to try more of her stuff and see if it's just Malcolm that I bounced off of. But man, this was not the right love interest for me.