And the Miss Ran Away With the Rake - Elizabeth Boyle

When Daphne Dale reads the advertisement, she’s delighted.  “Sensible gentleman of means seeks sensible lady of good breeding for correspondence, and in due consideration, matrimony.”  It’s just the sort of thing she’s been looking for.  Posing as Miss Spooner, she replies to the ad, and begins an engaging correspondence with Mr. Dishforth, a gentleman entirely suited to her.

Fortunately, Mr. Dishforth is nothing like the womanizing, charming Lord Henry Seldon.  The Seldons and Dales have detested each other for some time and it is little wonder why.  Henry Seldon is a rake of the first water.  Even touching him briefly sets Daphne’s senses all aflutter and the rogue is not above using his considerable charms to undermine Daphne’s firm resolve.

Thankfully, Mr. Dishforth vows to come to her aid and Daphne is delighted when he proposes to run away with her to Gretna Green.  Still, who is Mr. Dishforth anyway?  Selecting the mysterious man from among the handsome young men of the ton seems an almost impossible task and the loathsome Lord Seldon keeps getting in Daphne’s way, too.  Surely, Mr. Dishforth and Lord Seldon cannot be one and the same man!  That prospect would simply be too horrible to contemplate.

Good period piece.  It’s a bit of a Romeo and Juliet tale, as well, with two factions hating each other for all of the wrong reasons and a pair of star-crossed lovers caught in the middle.