The Untouchable Earl

In Sandas’s steamy second Fallen Ladies Regency (after Luck Is No Lady), debutante Lily Chadwick chases after passion, having been sexually awakened by erotic novels she reads surreptitiously under her covers. Avenell Slade, the Earl of Harte, incites a great deal of ardor in Lily and frequently gazes lustfully at her, but he scorns her company and jolts away from her slightest touch. Lily’s father’s recent death and a mound of unpaid bills force her and her younger sister, Portia, to hawk themselves on the marriage mart while elder sister Emma chaperones. When the debts come due faster than expected, Lily is kidnapped by a moneylender and destined for ruin—until Lord Harte intervenes. Sandas’s emphasis on the sexy portions of the story makes it easy to tolerate the awkward sentence structure and a flimsy wisp of a plot; if a titillating romance is the goal, this will do just fine. Agent: Nalini Akolekar, Spencerhill Associates. (Nov.)