What a Lady Most Desires

Cornwall’s nifty Regency meanders a bit, but it boasts a solid story with plenty of plot twists. On the eve of a definitive battle against Napoleon’s army, Lady Delphine St. James eyes Royal Dragoon Major Lord Stephen Ives across a crowded ballroom. Though he barely registers her presence, she boldly sets forth to greet him personally and wish him luck in the upcoming fight. When drunken Captain Rothdale intervenes, requesting a dance from Delphine, Stephen smartly rescues her. After being wounded and blinded in the battle, Stephen recovers all but his sight under Delphine’s tender care. But fellow Dragoons accuse him of theft and cowardice under fire, and the evil Rothdale has his eyes on Delphine’s dowry. Cornwall steadily develops both characters and plot, and the reader’s hopes ebb and flow with Stephen and Delphine’s shifting fates. (Sept.)