Uncertain Magic 
By Laura Kinsale

    Roderica Delamore (Roddy) lives with her parents and brothers on a quiet Yorkshire estate. Her passion for horses leads her to a public race. While in disguise, she tries to stop a sick stallion from racing. Her psychic gift felt his pain during the previous race. Mistaken for a boy and hit by a groom, she comes face to face with the owner Faelan Iveragh, the Devil Earl of Ireland. Iverah admires Roddy for using the disguise and warning him about his stallion’s bad heart. When Roddy discovers Iverah loses big after pulling his stallion from the race, Roddy takes advantage of the situation. She offers him her inheritance, but in return he must marry her. He agrees, but voices his warnings more than once.

“Has no one told you about me?” he demanded. “God’s mercy, will your friends let you do this blindly?”

“If there’s aught to tell, my lord, I would rather hear it from you. As a man of honor.”

“Honor. There’s a piece of drollery. Half the world would tell you I can’t even spell it.”

Roddy said nothing. “I will not let him frighten me . . . “

    Roddy is determined. She wants a life; a family and most certainly love. The Devil Earl is perfect because she experiences nothing around him -- she can’t read his mind or his moods.

    Announcing the wedding generates harsh feelings. Roddy senses her family and friends dislike Iveragh. When Geoffrey Cashel, her true Prince Charming arrives, she mentions Iveragh to him and reads one word from his mind – “murder.”

      The wedding is just the beginning for these two, as well as the readers. Misunderstandings are expected, but a bride reading the thoughts of her husband’s former mistress is not. Will knowing another woman’s intimate thoughts about her husband be too much? What about Inveragh’s past misdeeds? Did she marry a murderer?

    Kinsale wastes no time in Uncertain Magic. The lead characters meet immediately and the story moves quickly. Inveragh’s dark side and mysterious past add suspense to the story. Roddy’s inability to read him as she does others piques one’s curiosity. The readers’ desire to learn everything they can about Roddy, Inveragh, and the magic between them is enough to keep the pages turning. Most romance readers know the psychic thread has been done time and time again, but it’s the path Roddy and Inveragh travel that makes this story unique.