Night Secrets

Martin continues her seagoing Regencies with this breast-heaver about tavern girl Brianne Brandy Winters and hard-muscled Marcus Delaine, Lord Hawksmoor and the owner of Hawksmoor Shipping. Brandy, the prettiest bit of baggage in Charleston, S.C., hates the boredom and the pawing at her fathers White Horse Tavern, so she stows away on Marcuss ship, the Fairwind, in order to see a bit of the world. While Brandy learns about life on the open sea, Marcus unsuccessfully fights off the urge to bed her. Disaster comes when someone trying to sabotage Hawksmoor Shipping sets up an accident that leaves Brandys lover paralyzed from the waist down. Its only after Brandys father dies, leaving her rich, that she goes to England, nurses the crippled, impotent Marcus back to health and virility and learns how to be a lady. Unfortunately, while historical romances often rely on an acceptable share of clichs, Martins at best are flat and puerile. (May)