Enchanting Pleasures
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Gabby Jerningham travels from India to London in 1806, dreaming about her fiance, Peter Dewland. Peter, on the other hand, who likes living the life of a bon vivant, is dreading her arrival because his father has forced him into marriage. A second son shouldn't have to marry against his will, but his older brother, Quill, was injured in a riding accident and is considered unfit because of his limp and the severe migraines he gets when he makes love. But circumstances change when Quill meets Gabby. He's instantly attracted to her and her voluptuous figure, which truly repels the effeminate Peter, and Quill decides that he must have her regardless of his brother or his headaches. Peter is happy to terminate his engagement, but Quill must convince Gabby to transfer her affections. James' enjoyable romance includes an interesting subplot about the machinations of the East India Company in the early part of the nineteenth century. --Patty Engelmann

In keeping with the previous installments of James's regency trilogy (Potent Pleasures; Midnight Pleasures), this final volume offers dual romances, charismatic characters and a healthy dose of humor. Gabrielle Jerningham, aptly nicknamed "Gabby," has left India and her missionary father to marry dapper Peter Dewland, the Viscount Dewland's second son. A true romantic and a consummate storyteller, Gabby fancies herself in love with Peter even though they've never met, and she's dismayed that Peter's imposing older brother, Quill, is the one to greet her upon her arrival in England. Although Quill is pleasantly amused by Gabby's guileless beauty and unpolished manners, Peter is appalled by his "overfleshy" fianc?e and her pass? wardrobe. Peter's low estimation of Gabby heightens when he escorts her to a soiree and the bodice of her new French gown falls to her waist. To spare Gabby the humiliation of Peter's rejection, Quill pretends to be smitten with her and proposes that she marry him instead. The pair seem well suited until Quill reveals the reason why he is reticent to consummate their marriage due to a horse-riding injury, whenever Quill performs "rhythmical exercise," he suffers a three-day migraine afterward. Though far-fetched, this turn of events proves to be a lively, entertaining test of their marriage as Gabby visits apothecaries by day and experiments with other remedies at night. A side story involving the East India Company's search for a missing Indian prince provides the narrative with depth and a little political intrigue, and an additional romance between a former marquis and a gossip columnist is a pleasing touch. Once again, James weaves a story as rich in plot as in character. (June 12) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Lovely lady sets out to cure her new husband’s migraines—which improves their sex life to no end—in another winner from Regency-romancer James (Midnight Pleasure, 2000, etc.). A serious riding accident six years ago left Quill Dewland with a limp and excruciating three-day migraines triggered by any rocking motion. Horseback riding is out of the question, and as for sexual congress—well, it’s clear to the apoplectic Viscount Dewland that his eldest son may well be unable to provide an heir to the family fortune, even though Quill’s shrewd investments in the East India Company have multiplied said fortune many times over. Younger son Peter will have to marry instead, and the conniving viscount has arranged for a suitable young heiress to be delivered to London all the way from India for just that purpose. Peter, however, is a powdered, pomaded, social-climbing fop; one swift look at Lord Jerningham’s charmingly disheveled daughter, Gabrielle, makes him wince. Other men may admire her provincial impertinence, glorious bosom, and tawny, tumbling curls, but not Peter. Passionate Gabrielle is momentarily piqued—until she falls into Quill’s arms. Darkly handsome, powerfully built, and utterly unlike his finicky brother, he’s the man of her virgin dreams and quickly woos and wins her. But the terrible headaches that afflict him after lovemaking trouble her conscience. She searches for a cure, but Quill has other things on his mind, like the political machinations of unscrupulous Englishmen seeking to put a puppet ruler on an Indian throne to increase their own influence and profits. It’s whispered that Gabrielle smuggled an Indian princeling into England, a feeble-minded boy some want dead, although she’s determined to protect him. Quill gets to the bottom of that mystery, while Gabrielle consults a Brahman priest, whose secret herbal remedies will either cure her husband . . . or kill him. Delightful heroine, masterful hero, and an ingenious plot: intelligent, sexy fun.