If You Love Me

In 1836, the child Margery Mackinnon is kidnapped by Plains Indians and sold into slavery several times. In her twenties, about to be bartered again, she's purchased impulsively by William Woodville, a visiting English lord come to paint the noble savage. He decides that the uncultivated Margery is the instrument he needs to spite his demanding father, and once back in England, he turns on his heel, abandoning his bewildered bride. Two years later, he returns to make amends for his dreadful behavior--but can amends be made now that the ""barbarian"" is a leading society beauty who wants no part of him? A subtle, well-crafted romance from the popular author of Heaven Knows and So This Is Love; a shade above the usual fare. (Feb.)