Susannah Makepeace's life consists of balls, gorgeous dresses and a fiancé. She's the talk of the ton and beneath that exterior is a girl ready for her new life as a wife. That is until her father dies and leaves her penniless.

Susannah soon finds herself living in the small village of Barnstable with a widowed aunt who's offered her a place to live. During a morning walk, Susannah discovers a man swimming in a pond, naked, and she sketches every last bit of him.

Finding a woman looking at him is hardly a shock for the swimming viscount. It's the drawings that surprise him. When he meets Susannah at a ball the next night, Viscount Kit Whitelaw asks her to do sketches for a folio he must have completed before the month is through. But Kit harbors a secret -- he's a spy for His Majesty's secret service.

As it turns out, someone wants Susannah dead. While together, Kit manages to keep his spy skills in tune and saves Susannah's life more than once. After some investigating, there seems to be something more to this young woman, and Kit is determined to find out what that is.

This is a lovely romance that kept me engaged from the beginning. It isn't your typical romance where they fall in love, they break up, but then have a happy ending. BEAUTY AND THE SPY is filled with surprising compatibility and an extraordinary amount of luck. There are major sparks between the main characters, and I enjoyed seeing that there was no big misunderstanding. Ms. Long has created an excellent blend of mystery and romance that's perfect reading.