Betrothal

Lady Marjorie Entwhistle wants to be left alone to live with her grandmother and to be postmistress in 1730s Bath. However her father, determined to find her a husband, resorts to blackmail, convincing a high-born rake that marrying Marjorie is the only way to skirt scandal. Having avoided marriage six times, Marjorie finds herself unwillingly engaged to Lord Blake Chesterfield. Wise to her father's ways, Marjorie wants out and wants to know why Blake is being blackmailed, but he refuses to say and insists on the marriage. Lamb ( Highland Rogue ) hints darkly at Blake's secret for almost 350 pages, then blithely and quickly disposes of the problem, a blunt reminder that Blake and Marjorie's romance is sustained by gimmick rather than plot and character. Blake's secret is, of course, not a moral stain on his character; in fact, he's a loving man who believes Marjorie will make a great wife and mother, helps her solve a postal problem and aids her realization that her independence is little more than a sham, the result of manipulation by her older relatives. (June)