STEALING THE BRIDE

Tired of waiting for the Marquis of Templeton to come to his senses and marry her, Lady Diana Fordham, the brassy heroine of this cookie-cutter Regency-era romance, devises a plot to ensnare him. Her plan: to run away with a man of ill-repute and wait for Temple, who acts like a typical London fop but is really a fearless undercover agent, to rescue her. A spirited spinster, Diana is one of the few people who knows Temple's true profession, and she has been pining after him ever since she learned the truth. Though Temple is reluctant to fall in line with her plan, he has little choice in the matter when his boss, a good friend of Diana's father, orders him to save her. His mission turns deadly, however, when a fanatical Frenchman, who wants Diana for his own mysterious purposes, enters the picture. Boyle crowds her tale with stock characters—a hero who is brave except when it comes to matters of the heart; a heroine who defies convention at every turn; and a villain who exudes evil from every pore. Add to the mix a pair of bumbling ancillary characters known as "pins and needles," who long to marry Diana, and you have a frothy confection buoyed by witty dialogue but weighed down with predictable plot turns and unremarkable characters. (July)