The Valentine's Day Ball (Regency Romance)

Having been awakened by Frontenac, his valet, and finding himself not in his own bed, Sir Jared Branden was not having the most splendid morning of his life, but even worse was the `angel' that appeared across the hall from him when he was fully dressed and seeking to break his fast. None other than Maria Addams, the woman who jilted him ten years ago to the day - Valentine's eve. Although, now she was the `dowager countessa' - widow of some infernal Italian count she had met on her `grand tour' of the continent.Crossing swords and words with her this very morn was not something he was expecting, but they could not seem to exchange friendly words between them if their lives depended on it. Maria did not know why he was here - but finding him standing there - handsome as ever - always seemed to weaken her knees until he opened his mouth to say something so `Jared like' to hasten up all parries to his sword thrusts. Would he interfere with her latest scheme to save a young damsel from a forced marriage arranged by her cruel guardian? I really enjoyed this very light regency romance - the characters were darling and their very witty and biting `word plays' were highly amusing. Ms. Carroll also offers up a wonderful cast of secondary characters - from the stuffy and irreverent valet to the `clueless' damsel in distress. Very, very funny and a delightful read I can certainly recommend