Improper Gentlemen

Whiteside (The Shadow Guard), Robinson (Mistress by Mistake), and Marlowe (Touch of a Thief) collaborate on this uneven trio of tales featuring very bad boys. In the Old West of Whiteside's "Talbot's Ace," gambler Charlotte "Ace" Moreland is rescued from a perilous situation by commitment-shy gunslinger Justin Talbot. As they come to terms with their tumultuous pasts, their sizzling passion evolves into a tangible love. Robinson's witty multidimensional characters are vividly entertaining in "To Match a Thief," in which Lucy Dellamar pretends to be the mistress of broke Lord Ferguson until he sells her home to Sir Simon Keith, her first love. Suspense abounds in Marlowe's late Victorian "A Knack for Trouble" as Rosalinde Burke reunites with Aidan Danaher, Lord Stonemere, years after they shared a night of passion in a Bermuda prison. Though the stories have little in common, all will appeal to fans of antiheroes and historical romance. (Aug.)