Nobody's Angel

Set in the Carolinas during the colonial period, this saucy Cinderella story concerns the unexpected seduction of a Methodist minister's plain and practical daughter. Susannah Redmond, who has sacrificed much of her youth to care for her otherworldly father and her three motherless younger sisters, buys an indentured prisoner named Ian to help with the heavy chores. When Ian washes and shaves his beard, Susannah finds (to her horror) that he's the devilishly handsome prince of her dreams. Though she fears he will seduce her innocent sisters, she is the one who loses her virginity and her heart to him. It turns out, of course, that Ian is actually the wealthy Marquis of Derne. When he returns to England to right the wrong done to him and recoup his title and riches, he takes the incredulous Susannah with him against her will. Amidst the glamour of London's high society, she realizes she has given her heart and her body to a man whose social standing is far above hers. Though she returns home to Beaufort, all ends happily in this lighthearted romance, which is sure to please readers who relish sexy period romps. Robards wrote This Side of Heaven. (May)