Surprising Lord Jack

MacKenzie fumbles the follow-up to Bedding Lord Ned. Escaping a cartoonishly evil aunt's forced marriage plot, Miss Frances Hadley dons a cross-dressing disguise and ends up having to share a room at an inn with Lord Jack Valentine. When he discovers her identity, she sees no reason why this escapade should ruin her plans to set up solo housekeeping in a remote country cottage. She knows Lord Jack's rakish reputation, and marriage, which he so magnanimously proposes, is clearly not what either of them wants. But that doesn't discourage Lord Jack from trying to do the right thing; his determined do-gooder sensibilities also lead him to rescue babies, fund homes for orphans and ex-prostitutes, and hunt serial killers. Toggling between Jack's superheroism and Frances's depressing family problems makes it hard for the reader to know how seriously to take any aspect of this flimsy Regency-era story. (Mar.)