There’s one thing you can say about Heyer – she’s not at all predictable. One never knows quite what oddball characters and situations will spring up. This is one of her books where the actual heroine, that is, the love interest of the hero, is almost a minor character, subservient to the action, and the scene-stealer is the typical bouncy and troublesome ingenue. So far, so normal.
The premise is that Sir Gareth Ludlow is on his way to offer marriage to a suitable lady, one he’s known for years, but isn’t in love with. His much-loved fiance died seven years earlier and he’s finally decided he can’t put off matrimony any longer and chooses shy and very much on-the-shelf Lady Hester. But on the way, he crosses paths with Amanda, the aforementioned ingenue, who is risking her reputation by travelling alone. Honourable Sir Gareth is determined to save her from himself, so scoops her up and takes her to Hester’s house for safe-keeping. Amanda, of course, doesn’t want to be kept safe, and is determined to have her own way in whatever ingenious manner springs to her fertile imagination.
What follows is an entertaining romp, totally silly of course, which succeeds in throwing hero and heroine together in such a way that he comes to appreciate her, and she, who has loved him for years, finally feels able to accept him. And the ingenue and everyone else get appropriate happy endings as well, as is always the case with Heyer. Very enjoyable and funny, although I’m not a huge fan of these silly bits of girls rampaging around the countryside. Nor could I quite understand why Lady Hester would refuse Sir Gareth’s perfectly sensible offer of marriage in the first place. That made no sense at all. Even if he wasn’t in love with her at the time, he would have got round to it in the end. As indeed he did. However, I liked Sir Gareth and Lady Hester, so this one merits four stars from me.