Fallen

A Scottish beauty catches the eye of an embittered English earl who is back from spying against Napoleon for the crown in Jensen's latest historical romance (A Grand Design, etc.). Gabriel Loudon, the Earl of Rievaulx, is burdened with guilt because he believes he betrayed his comrades when he bedded a prostitute who turned out to be a French spy. After a year of drinking away his sorrows in the gaming hells of London, Gabriel is asked by his old friend Oriel (the hero of Jensen's Entwined) to go to the isle of Skye to search for a Scottish traitor known as L' cossais and kill him. Gabriel, a hard-muscled hero with a cupid's-bow mouth, is to stay at the home of the MacLeods, Oriel's in-laws. There he meets the ""serene and capable"" Maggie MacLeod, who has been scarred by love. She was abandoned by a Brit named Peter, and she's reluctant to give her heart again, especially to another Englishman. As the lovers battle their attraction, Maggie walks along the cliffs, tells folktales and makes salves and herbal concoctions to heal the wounds of her fellow Skye folk. Jensen has a way with gentle prose that falters as her protagonists become lovers (""Oh, Maggie... What did I do to deserve this?""). But those who like this sort of formula porridge won't be disappointed. (Apr. 3)