I like the premise. What were hot-blooded normal young women to do when a corset might be so tight as to make them faint? Should they be kept ignorant of the facts of life, or did married friends share tales with singletons? Was it right for men to sample as many courtesans as they wished, while expecting to marry virgins? Along with the masked Portia I observed proceedings at the ball. Lord Blackwood makes his interest known. Napoleon is raising an army however, and fortunes will be changed.

After the war, unmarried Portia has successfully developed a cider brand, the money funding an orphans' charity on her family's estates. Society is unsure it approves. Portia and her widowed friend Rose share confidences, each in love with men who don't wish to marry them. Receiving a message to meet Lord Blackwood at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, Portia goes happily - and next day is reported missing. Has she met a dreadful fate? Is the busy peer responsible, or innocent, as he claims?

The scene shifts with dizzying speed as Portia encounters more danger and exotic adventure than she could have imagined. Her reputation would now be in shreds - if anyone knew where she was. Does it matter, since she probably won't see home again, and even if rescue comes someone is determined to ensure she dies?

Not your average stately romance, A TOUCH OF PASSION is filled with lustful longing, fast-paced adventure and hidden menace. While I disliked Grayson's refusal to declare his love for a lady he clearly loved, his stated reason - that fine ladies are for sedate marriage and mistresses are for enjoyment - might be typical of the time, so Portia is the untypical and admirable stronger character of the two. Bronwen Evans lives in New Zealand which may help to explain how she has created a dalliance with a difference, sure to excite adult romance lovers and armchair adventure travellers.

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