The Gamble

If hard-to-love heroes are your style, try Parker's protagonist. When Highwayman Black Jack Law sets upon heiress-in-distress Sabrina Lyndsey, he misses the necklace in her bodice but steals a kiss that leaves her quivering. What he gets for his trouble is a chit who manages to shoot him with his own pistol. But this highwayman is actually a peer, Lord Jack Laughton, and a truly unpleasant libertine. Being a vengeful sort, he decides to use her inexperience and her obvious passion and then discard her--only this time as Lord Laughton. Author Parker (Risque and Tempest) makes excellent use of class differences in 1740's England. But the hidden-identity scenario rings false (given Jack's unusual eye color, Sabrina should have found him out), and the characters from the all-important secondary love story are dreadfully unlikable people. Still, they share an exciting adventure, and Jack's transformation from a cold-hard shell to a man able to love is well done. (May)