Nothing But Velvet

Against a backdrop of glittering Georgian England, an embittered hero seeking revenge kidnaps a feisty heroine. What more could a romance reader want? Deprived of a dukedom and sentenced to hang after his younger brother murders their father and frames him, Jason Sinclair escapes and then returns incognito to clear his name. Set on preventing his dissolute brother's marriage to heiress Velvet Moran, he kidnaps the strong-willed lady. Since she's actually broke, however, and had no idea that her fiance was a deadbeat, she's grateful for the intervention. Soon she and the reluctant Jason join forces and pursue clues that point to his innocence, but they are thwarted at every turn by the evil usurper After steaming up half the windows in England and escaping more perils than Pauline, this engaging couple finds redemption in the nick of time. The humor's never jokey, the heroine's naive but not a nitwit, in other words it's a boisterous carriage ride in which Martin (Bold Angel) shows herself to have a firm grasp on the reins. (July)