Return of the Viscount

Callen (Every Scandalous Secret) launches a series with a charming Victorian romance that might be called the case of the mail-order groom. Recently orphaned Lady Cecilia Mallory wants to run her late father’s earldom free of a meddling guardian. Sgt. Michael Blackthorne, a viscount and her father’s best friend, is on permanent assignment in India, and Cecilia thinks he’s her father’s age and likely to “die sooner rather than later, to be blunt about it,” so in a diverting about-face from tradition, Cecilia proposes a marriage by proxy. He consents, as a favor in memory of Lord Apperton. All is well for the fiercely independent Cecilia until Blackthorne is injured and returns to England—specifically, Apperton Hall—to recuperate. Hilarity ensues when Blackthorne encounters the beautiful woman he’d assumed was a plain frump and she meets the ruggedly handsome young man she’d believed was elderly. The lively banter and mild suspense are certain to entertain aficionados of historical romance. (Aug.)