For Love Alone

A Regency-set historical romance, Busbee's latest follows Gypsy Lady and Love Be Mine. Though graced by two charming protagonists, widowed Lady Sophy Marlowe and Viscount Ives Harrington (lately arrived from the Peninsular Wars), this romance-cum-spy-mystery sags badly in the middle and is barely redeemed at the last minute by a breathtaking land-and-sea chase. Sophy, who had been victimized by a brutal husband, has no desire to ever marry again. Ives, looking for a wife to bear him an heir (his entire family was murdered by a spy for Napoleon), doesn't expect to fall in love. Sophy, however, agrees to marriage when, as a suspect, she needs an alibi for a murder investigation. This is an unpromising start for a good relationship, but these passionate lovers have what it takes. Unfortunately, only the most patient of readers will persevere in sorting out the multitude of would-be villains in this uneven story. (May)