HONEYMOON SUITE

Fourteen-year-old Missouri rich girl Dory Lambert worshipped Chase McKay, the chauffeur's son, even after she saw him with his hands down her beautiful older sister Jill's pants. After the incident, Chase was packed off to college by the girls' father only to eventually become an incredibly wealthy architect. When Chase returns from New York to visit his father, Charles, 16 years later, he finds himself struck once again by Jill's beauty—and also by Dory's good looks and maturity. But after he bungles an attempt to bribe Dory into making his father retire, Jill launches Operation Cockroach. If Jill's scheme succeeds, Chase will marry her, and his money will refill her family's depleted coffers. Even as Chase falls in with Jill's plan, he finds himself attracted to Dory and wondering if he's chasing the wrong sister. Throw in an eccentric cast of characters, including a sweetly wicked little boy and a nerdy FBI agent who fires Jill's engines, and you've got... romance? Hardly. Chase doesn't emerge as a viable or even likable hero until the last quarter of the book, and readers will find it hard to believe that the object of his affections is someone he's never even kissed. Michaels (Mother of the Bride , etc.) has a gift for humor, but this Sabrina homage comes across as more silly than romantic. Agent, Stephanie Kip Rostan at the Levine Greenberg Agency. (Feb.)