IN WANT OF A VISCOUNT

Leonora Garrison has come to London with her friendly brother and crass, social-climbing mother to find investors for their manufacturing business, which has been foundering since the death of her beloved father. Her curiosity extends not only to the workings of mechanical items—including the newfangled “writing machine” she’s trying to get off the ground—but also to matters more personal, so she sneaks out of her hotel for a visit to the Elysium, a club where it’s rumored women can have their fantasies fulfilled. When John Castleton, Viscount Wyeth, stops by the same night, the club’s owner, his half-brother Aiden Trewlove, asks a favor: Since they’re short staffed, would Rook, as he’s known, mind educating a spinster who desires her first kiss? Rook has spent his life suppressing his passion, not wanting to be associated with the reckless way his father produced unwanted children (including Aiden) with a string of mistresses. But he agrees to help, and when he meets Leonora in a dark room, their kiss leads to unexpectedly seismic feelings for both of them. After they meet again, at a dinner party for nobles who might invest in Leonora’s company, they tumble into a series of further sensual encounters—Heath can spend pages deliciously describing the way they each long for another kiss—but when they’re caught in a compromising position, they have to decide whether a compelled marriage is what they want. This final book in Heath’s Chessman series, like the others, features a brainy woman who wouldn’t make a traditional bride for a nobleman, and it’s a pleasure to watch Rook appreciate the very qualities in Leonora that many men find odd. Heath fans will enjoy spending time with the Chessmen and the Trewlove family, catching glimpses of previous couples, but Leonora’s mother could have served her purpose in the story without being so stridently awful.