INTRIGUE. TENSION. LOVE AFFAIRS: In The Historical Romance series, a set of stand-alone novels, Vivian Stuart builds her compelling narratives around the dramatic lives of sea captains, nurses, surgeons, and members of the aristocracy. Stuart takes us back to the societies of the 20th century, drawing on her own experience of places across Australia, India, East Asia, and the Middle East.    It was hard on Deirdre that she should come to care for a man whom her dearly loved artist brother, Sean, hated so deeply and, as he believed, with such good cause. And Sean, too, had his troubles, loving a girl whose father disapproved of him. Their romances are linked with the fortunes of the Sheridan Stud in Berkshire, where hunter and steeplechasers are bred and schooled, and the book is full of the charm of fresh country air and springy turf.