Venture to Love

By the author of Promises to Keep, this historical romance is a familiar variation on the young-beauty-meets-cad-about-town theme. Silver-haired orphan Argent Wood arrives in London in 1805, determined to earn her own way in the world. In her first moments there, she makes the acquaintancequite innocentlyof handsome dandy Rawson Carlyon, whose cousin Theodosia Viner is conveniently in need of a lady's companion. Once settled into the Viner's exquisite mansion, the able Argent learns so much about business from Mr. Viner that she soon parlays a small inheritance into enough money to become half-owner of a cotton mill. A determined businesswoman, Argent is devoted to her mill and its workersbut is ever aware of Rawson's presence. Although he mysteriously disappears for months, he sees Argent each time he returns to England, his clandestine role in the war between France and England a secret he desperately wants to share with her. The enticing rebelliousness of hero and heroine, and their devotion to their respective causes, brings substance to the frothy plot. And whether detailing intolerable mill conditions, or tracking Rawson's activities on French soil, the pseudonymous Stirling's knowledge of the era enhances an otherwise stock romantic novel. (October 2)