Red Roses Mean Love

Setting: England, 1820
Sensuality: 7 At 25, Hayley Albright--the oldest of her orphaned family--firmly decides that she will not marry. Instead, she devotes herself to her household of boisterous siblings and eccentric servants, giving up her dreams of love and marriage until one moonlit night, when she comes upon a wounded stranger in the woods. Determined to save him, Hayley takes him home and nurses him back to health. Lord Stephen Barrett awakens in an unfamiliar bedchamber to find he's been shot in what appears to be the second attempt on his life. Deciding that the Albright home is a safe place to recuperate while he works out a plan to catch his assailant, he conceals his true identity by telling his rescuer that he is a tutor en route to his next assignment. What Stephen won't admit, even to himself, is that Hayley's warmth of spirit, beautiful face, aquamarine eyes, and lushly curved six-foot-tall body is a powerful inducement for him to remain in Kent. Before long, however, Stephen can't deny that Hayley stirs a fierce passion in him while the rambunctious children and devoted servants threaten to melt the icy coldness of his heart. But he must leave the Albright home to identify and capture his would-be assassin, for to remain would place the family in jeopardy. Will Hayley forgive Stephen for deserting her--if only for a little while--and can Stephen come to terms with the depth of his feelings for the beautiful spinster? In her debut novel, D'Alessandro pairs a moody, dark hero with a sunny, free-spirited heroine while demonstrating a marked talent for gathering a cast of lively secondary characters. The hero is endearingly obtuse about recognizing love and the heroine admirable in her determination not to pine for a man who refuses to realize their rare good fortune. --Lois Faye Dyer