Medieval romance specialist Maguire (The Bride Hunt
) detours to the 19th-century English countryside with a derivative but passionate tale. The mysterious Kuabwa Mgeni is supposedly the long-lost Anthony Maddox, heir to the earl of Sutton but raised in the jungles of Africa. His aristocratic grandmother, Lady Sophia Sutton, asks prim spinster Grace Hawthorne to teach Anthony the manners appropriate to an English lord. As the forces of upper-class England gather to challenge Anthony's right to the earldom, he tempts Grace into compromising situations, forcing her to choose between the devastatingly attractive earl and a sudden wealth of more respectable suitors. Anthony's evolution from semisavage to English lord is not overly compelling and Maguire's setting is thin in period detail, but the sensual sparks between Grace and Anthony make for a satisfying if not superlative read. (Jan.)
