A Lady’s Rules For Ruin

A woman adopts an unexpected strategy for remaining single in Haymore’s sparkling second Lions and Lilies Regency series installment (after The Duke’s Rules of Engagement). Frances Cherrington is sick and tired of her family’s persistent attempts to find her a husband. She decides to use the latest candidate, Herbert Salt, to her advantage, allowing society to catch them in a kiss just before Herbert is set to leave the country. Having thus ruined her own reputation, she’s now free to pursue her interests, including volunteering at an orphanage. Then she meets the very proper Evan Locke, Earl of Winthrop, who comes to the orphanage seeking his young half brothers, whom his late father had never owned up to and with whom Frances already has a great rapport. Though Frances remains determined to stay single, she can’t deny her feelings for Evan, who has his own secret reasons for avoiding marriage. They embark on a steamy affair—until Herbert arrives back in London determined to restore Frances’s reputation by marrying her. Readers will adore Frances’s candor and Evan’s efforts to take his brothers under his wing. These admirable and defiant characters keep the pages turning. (Dec.)