To Catch a Flame: To Catch a Flame

Readers who don't put a premium on originality may find this fast-paced tale of 1760s England amusing, with its masterful hero and spunky heroine. Isabeau DeBurgh, a beautiful woman with a hot temper and a vocabulary to match, earns a living at what she does best--highway robbery. But the night she tries to rob Lord Griffin Stone, an aristocratic black sheep just back from America, her luck runs out; he wounds her in a sword fight. Griffin won't turn Isabeau over to the authorities (who might hang her) nor turn her loose to steal, so he decides to take her home, dress her up and teach her the finer points of etiquette. ( `` A lady does not fling herself upon the floor like a squashed pumpkin.'') Returning to the ancestral manse, Griffin faces the financial shambles of his late brother's estate, a sullen and secretive nephew, a grandmother with the charm of a pit viper, and a satanic cult. Meanwhile Isabeau develops a soft spot in her heart for Griffin, as he does for her. And why not? Compared to the rest of the crew, a mere thief looks pretty attractive. Cates is the author of Restless Is the Wind. (May)