A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

Herrera (the Dreamers series) serves up a sizzling hot historical marriage of convenience plot in her first Leonas romance. Rum heiress Luz Alana Heith-Benzan, part of Santo Domingo’s exhibit at Paris’s 1889 Exposition Universelle, needs to break into European liquor markets and regain control over her trust. Meanwhile, fellow exhibitor James “Evan” Sinclair, the Scottish Earl of Darnick, must marry to inherit his mother’s whiskey distillery. Evan thus proposes a mutually beneficial marriage of convenience; he’ll gain control of the distillery and Luz will get access to his business connections. As husband and wife, they fight Luz’s trustee and Evan’s father—and their growing attraction to each other. Though the characters frequently think and act anachronistically in an effort to appeal to modern sensibilities (Luz watches a live sex show at a brothel without disguising herself and without damaging her reputation; Evan and Luz don’t consider divorcing scandalous or even difficult), the cultural diversity represented is historically accurate, beautifully integrated, sensitively explored, and incredibly refreshing. The sex scenes themselves offer a perfect blend of passion and romance, and Luz and Evan’s shared interests in the liquor business believably grounds their partnership. It’s high time romance diversified its tales of dashing dukes; Herrera doesn’t disappoint on that front. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary. (May)