What happens when an old maid meets a rakish colonel? Fireworks and a good story, that’s what.

Rosalyn has the family home sold out from under her to the dangerously gorgeous Colin, but she refuses to give up possession of the house. Going to the local lord separately but arriving there at the same time, they ask him to resolve the matter. When the legality of the transaction is upheld, Lady Loftus decides it will solve everything if the two of them marry. To induce Colin to marry Rosalyn, Lord Loftus offers him a Commons seat.

It doesn’t sound like an auspicious beginning for a marriage, does it? But Cathy Maxwell does such a good job of weaving a plausible plot around these events that the marriage becomes more than just one of convenience. The descriptions of the couple are so well-written that the reader can almost see Rosalyn’s mass of curls and Colin’s massive frame.

The details Maxwell imparts make all the difference. Readers can envision the slightly absent-minded Covey with no trouble, and the officious Lord Loftus appears as well as the unctuous Shellsworth. For animal lovers there is a particularly moving minor storyline in the plight of a much-harried fox and a flower-munching behemoth horse named Oscar.

The Seduction of an English Lady is a pleasant way to spend a few hours by being transported back in time through the story of a good old-fashioned romance.