Surrender

Quick's ( Seduction ) light, amusing touch animates a pair of stock Regency romance characters: the experienced fortune-hunter and the naive but spirited maiden. Victoria Huntington is an heiress with a taste for any adventure but marriage. Her late mother's second marriage was unhappy, and she herself is weary of men who want to espouse her money. Enter Lucas Colebrook, Earl of Stonevale, claiming strictly honorable intentions. He'll court her, he promises, by satisfying her yen for risky pursuits, escorting her to the London normally off-limits to ladies, such as its gaming ``hells'' and brothels. When Victoria's boundless curiosity prompts her to suggest an amorous liaison (even as she dismisses Lucas's marriage proposal), they are discovered at an inn, and only a wedding can salvage Victoria's reputation. With charm and humor Quick portrays this irregular courtship and marriage, which is eventually clouded by Victoria's learning that Colebrook had indeed been after her inheritance and by a sinister secret from her past that threatens not only their happiness but their lives. (Oct.)