Portrait of My Heart

In her sequel to Where Roses Grow Wild, Cabot has written a wildly sexy black comedy, set in Victorian England, about a duke's long-lived and exasperating love for a beautiful artist. Witty dialogue abounds from the first page, but what sets this romance apart are the hero's (Jeremy, Duke of Rawlings) charm and keen sense of humor, which immediately endear him to readers despite his seeming selfishness and immorality. Artist Maggie Hubert, to whom Jeremy has proposed many times since she was 16, believes she is not duchess material and so has pledged to marry a French gallery owner. Jeremy, who went into Her Majesty's service to prove himself worthy of Maggie, sets out to win Maggie's love and break her engagement. First, however, he must convince Maggie and the world that the Star of Jaipur he was given in India in return for soldierly duties is a sapphire, not, as rumors have it, a princess who insists they are betrothed. There is only one minor flaw in this jewel of a romance: the hero's title is apparently also his surname, a faux pas that will annoy more historically conscious readers. (Jan.)