In the Night
Kathryn Smith
Avon, Feb 2005, $5.99, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0060740663

In 1818, Winthrope Ryland shocks the siblings when he asks the older sister, widow Viscountess Moira Tynsdale, instead of the younger beauty Minerva Banning to dance. She is stunned, but Minnie comes to her rescue saying she still mourns her Tony, dead two years. Later, a shook Moira tells her friend Octavia (Wy's sister-in-law) that she reacted stupidly to his request because no one ever asks her to dance. Later, Wy demands a kiss from Moira but she refuses, believing he is using her to get to Minnie.

William Daniels, who conned Wy into stealing for him years ago demands Wy do one last job or else his brother North's political ambitions will be destroyed; William says he has proof that North worked for Bow St. and saved Wy from prison. William wants Wy to steal a tiara from Moira, but after sharing sex with her for the first time, she catches him acturally returning the tiara to her that he already purloined. She orders him to leave though they both are in love. He must deal with the blackmailer if he has any hope of ever having Moira in his arms again, that is if he can persuade her that he can be trusted.

The solid cast makes IN THE NIGHT a fine Regency romance. Readers are blessed with a strong lead couple playing sexual chess, the return of Wy's three other brothers and wives of the married duo, and an interesting secondary character who happens to be gay and the heroine's best friend add depth to a fine tale. Though the final confrontation feels somewhat anticlimactic, sub-genre fans will appreciate fabulous historical romance.

Harriet Klausner