Debra Mullins, Two Weeks with a Stranger

Two Weeks with a Stranger

Debra Mullins

Avon, Feb 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0060799242

Lucy and Simon agreed to a marriage of convenience, but their wedding night was so blissful she thought they could make a real go at it. However, the next morning he is off to London, leaving his country bride behind to rusticate. Though somewhat hurt by his hasty abandonment, Lucy decides to join her spouse in town, using the delivery of letters from a late friend to a daughter as an excuse.

The bookworm Simon married a country bumpkin as he assumed she would stay out of London where he works for the War Office. His current assignment is to seduce Isabella Montilucci to give him a list of names that in the wrong hands would expose British agents to Napoleon; Isabella's former lover, the late assassin Antoine LaRue is rumored to have given her the names. However, he cannot concentrate on his task when Lucy arrives in town and kisses him senseless.

This is a tongue-in-cheek Regency romance that exaggerates the dilemma between loyalty to the state vs. loyalty to your spouse as the lead male struggles between his assignment and his beloved, courageous wife. The storyline is fun because of Simon's internal skirmish though readers will get somewhat frustrated with him to "make up his mind, pick up on one and leave the other behind." A late twist and a hint of romance between two secondary characters augment the suspense though the climax is weak.

Harriet Klausner