Call Down the Moon

Nuns, mad houses, and batty aunts--Katherine Kingsley flirts with some deliciously loony elements, but manages to keep them from commandeering this Regency-set romance of a dissolute younger son, Hugo Montagu, who wants to clean up his act but can't quite stick to his good intentions. He's trying to finagle an escape from a whopping new gambling debt when fate hands him an irresistible temptation--he learns by chance that a beautiful mad woman is about to inherit a fortune. Since getting married seems an obvious part of his reformation, and since one look at the mad woman, Meggie Bloom, arouses in him a powerful attraction, he decides to propose marriage to her. Of course, Meggie's not mad at all. In fact, her open enthusiasm for life is exactly what Hugo needs. But there's lots of fun along the way before they realize that. Call Down the Moon is a sequel to Once Upon a Dream, featuring Hugo's brother, Rafe. --Ellen Edwards