The Reluctant Suitor

When Geoffrey Curwen, Viscount Morpeth wrecks his curricle, he walks to the nearest house to beg a night's shelter. It turns out that a girl he had known back home in Kent, Miss Margaret Heather St. Vincent, is living there in virtual poverty in a rundown estate with few servants and none of the clothes and amenities a young woman of her class should have. Heather's half brother the Earl of Stonington will inherit her entire L250,000 fortune if Heather remains unmarried at the age of 21, and she's only a month away from her birthday now. She is in the custody of Miss Honoria Stapleton, who stands to receive a hefty payoff from Stonington if Heather remains unmarried. When Geoff realizes the unfairness of Heather's circumstances, he is horrified, and cudgels his brains to come up with a solution for her. He's not terribly bright, a hero cast in the mold of Heyer's Lord Sheringham or one of PG Wodehouse's young men. He dismisses the idea of marrying Heather himself (although her enormous fortune would solve his debt problems forever), and hits on the idea of taking her to his mother, Lady Morpeth, in London. His mom could bring her out and find a husband for her easily, as Heather is "taking" as well as wealthy. Meanwhile Lady Morpeth herself has long been courted by Sir William Longchamps, who decides to take a hand as well. This is a clever and amusing tale very much in the Georgette Heyer tradition. Another regency that couldn't get published today as there is no graphic sex in it and it's way too carefully written.