Penelope "Pen" Creed has absolutely no desire to marry her fish-faced cousin, no matter what her domineering aunt, who is also her guardian, has to say. When Pen sneaks out of her window, using the bedsheets as a rope, she literally falls into the arms of Sir Richard Wyndham. Sir Richard has been having his own rough day after being pressured by his family to offer for the hand of a woman he doesn't love. When he meets Pen he's a little worse for drink and thus thinks it's a perfectly sensible idea to accompany her on the stagecoach to Pen's estate where she plans to convince her childhood love that they should get married. On the way, however, Pen and Richard will be embroiled in both a theft and a murder, all while trying to get Pen to her estate. In the midst of all the chaos, they'll also discover that maybe the spouse Pen has chosen for herself isn't the option either of them would prefer.

Georgette Heyer's Regency romances are always a delight and this one is no exception. There's plenty of humour, a light dash of mystery (it's not a particularly tough mystery but it adds some intrigue), the romance between Pen and Richard is sweet, and, of course, the historical details make the reading experience really immersive. If you haven't tried Georgette Heyer before, this is an excellent place to start. And if you have and you're a fan, this is definitely one to put on your reading list. ( )

Another cracking read from Heyer: often when I'm in the middle of these I think how perfect they would be for a mini-series, which I imagine will happen, one of these days. Hilarious and well-paced, this one. ( )

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The only question which hangs over the life of Sir Richard Wyndham, notable whip, dandy and Corinthian, is one of marriage. On the eve of making the most momentous decision of his life, while he is contemplating a loveless marriage with a woman his friends have compared to a cold poultice, he is on his way home, a little worse for drink, and finds a perfect opportunity for escape by her boring destiny.

He discovers a beautiful young fugitive climbing out of a window by means of knotted sheets, dressed in boy's clothing lovely Penelope Creed is fleeing from London. She is a brilliant London heires with and lavish life, and a proposed marriage to her repulsive fish-lipped cousin, a man she loathed. She has a shimmering dream of a love she had known once--and lost. Discovered by Sir Wyndham, he can't allow her to travel to the countryside all alone, so he offers himself as her protector.

And with her in flight across a landscape of excitement was a man like no other she had known-- handsome, sophisticated, but cynical. They had met by accident, been drawn together by danger. And now only his masked emotions and the shifting impulses of her own wild young heart would tell what their destiny would be.... When their stagecoach overturns, they find themselves embroiled with thieves, at the center of a murder investigation, and finally, in love. ( )

An amusing, highly improbable adventure with a tolerable touch of silliness. Heyer's romances are always entertaining (unless they're the badly written ones) because she writes romance with her tongue firmly in her cheek, and this one was truly tongue in cheek. A nice in-between read that was easily finished in a day. ( )