Dark Wager

Everyone loves Clara, the good, if plain, eldest daughter of the Marquess of St. Genevieve, especially Lucien Bryland, Viscount Callan, the boorish, collicky hero who has been betrothed to her since birth. Lucien, who was orphaned as an adolescent when his long-suffering father killed his promiscuous mother and then committed suicide, has sworn off women. Believing his betrothed loves another, he decides to marry her and pack her off to his country estate to live in seclusion--an isolation interrupted only by Lucien's occasional conjugal visits to enlarge his family. A drinking buddy wagers that in six months Lucien will be so besotted by his new wife that he will never allow her to leave his side. By the time Clara has melted down the walls of her iceman's dysfunctional heart, the reader, whose affections and libido have never been engaged is ready to suggest to Clara that seclusion might not be such a bad idea. It might be kindest to say the second volume of this Regency trilogy has a less wimpy heroine and shows some better editing. (Dec.)