Lord Holt Takes a Bride

Lorret (The Rogue to Ruin) launches the Mating Habits of Scoundrels series with this lively Regency romance that features not one but two semiaccidental kidnappings. Full-figured heiress Winnifred Humphries is engaged to a man she knows doesn’t love her, prompting her two best friends to conduct a study into the psychology of London’s eligible men. They get carried away, abducting notorious rake Lord Asher Holt for research. Asher escapes, but believes they robbed him of money that would have freed him from his villainous father. When Winn flees her wedding, she mistakes Asher’s carriage as one her friends arranged for her getaway. Asher seizes the opportunity to recover his money, but his plan swiftly goes awry when henchmen sent to collect his father’s gambling debts come after him, endangering both his and Winn’s lives. Despite Winn’s innocence and deep-seated insecurities about her body, Asher is charmed by her ability to hold her own in tense situations. Though their communication issues grow tiresome, Asher and Winn are endearingly complex characters with wit and chemistry to spare. Romance readers will be delighted. Agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit. (Apr.)