Heartless 32-Copy Floor Display

Life has taught Lucas Kendrick, Duke of Harndon, that a heart is a decided liability. Betrayed by his brother, rejected by his fiancee, Luke fled to Paris, where he became the most sought-after bachelor in fashionable society. Ten years later, fate has brought him back home, to the rescue of the very people who had once shunned him. Luke is amused by the advice that a wife will make his takeover of both the title and the family estate smoother, but amusement turns to desire once he sets upon Lady Anna Marlowe. Unbeknownst to Luke, Anna is also no stranger to pain, but her suffering can't be so easily overcome, not when her tormentor stalks her to the very doors of Bowden Abbey. Luke and Anna, each made fragile by the past, must learn to trust both each other and their love if they are to have any chance for a future together. Balogh's sharply drawn characters are set against the mores and manners of Georgian England. Her hero-painted, powdered and bejeweled-manages at the same time to be sexy, desirable and tres masculine. Thoroughly nasty villains and endearingly flawed siblings make for a cast of secondary characters who add much to an already fast moving plot. (Oct.)