The Pleasure of the Rose

Bonander’s fast-paced historical, the first in the MacNeil Legacy series, abounds in implausibilities. In 1857 Texas, Fletcher, who has abandoned his Scottish father’s MacNeil surname and calls himself Maker of Arrows in the style of his Native American mother, is wrongly convicted of murdering his lover, Lindsay, who was actually shot by her husband. Belatedly, he realizes it’s time to change his roguish ways. Two nights before his hanging, the MacNeil family solicitor, Geddes Gordon, rescues him so he can return to Scotland and take his rightful place as the Duke of Kintyre. But in order to keep his inheritance, he must produce an heir within one year, or he loses everything to his cousin. Geddes’s widowed sister, Rosalyn, one of the few remaining MacNeil servants, can’t believe a “half-breed savage” is their new leader, and she’s even more appalled when her brother suggests she marry Fletcher and provide the requisite heir. After an unexpected sexual encounter—improbably instigated by Rosalyn while Fletcher is asleep and dreaming of Lindsay—the two decide to marry in order to save her reputation. Rosalyn decides to make the best of the situation, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead for them both. Bonander (A Taste of Honey) interweaves issues of women’s rights with mystery and suspense to keep the story moving, but readers eager to see a mixed-race historical romance hero may struggle with the slurs that the suspicious Scots constantly fling Fletcher’s way. Agent: Katie Kotchman, Don Congdon Associates. (Aug.)