My Irresistible Earl

Foley's follow-up to My Wicked Marquess and My Dangerous Duke fizzles melodramatically. Worldly diplomat Jordan Lennox, the earl of Falconridge, is an agent of a secret order sworn to protect the king. Mara Bryce, Lady Pierson, is a wealthy young widow and not at all interested in finding a new husband—but Jordan was her first love, who asked her to wait for him and then disappeared. Twelve years later, they meet again and sparks fly. Separated from Mara by his duty and wracked with regrets, Jordan wonders whether destiny has given them a second chance, but he is on another mission against a dark cult, and his decision to involve Mara endangers her even as he woos her. Characters are thinly drawn and inconsistent, and after a promising beginning, both romance and spy story become contrived. (Apr.)