Miss Winthorpe's Elopementby Christine Merrillreviewed by Valarie PelisseroMarch 2010, 281 pages, Publisher: Harlequin, ISBN: 0373295847 Back Cover Blurb: Shy heiress Miss Penelope Winthorpe was only trying to escape her bullying brother. She never meant to wed a noble lord over a blacksmith's anvil!
Adam Felkirk, Duke of Bellston, had no intention of taking a wife. But then Penelope's plight moved him. Now the notorious rake has a new aim—to shock and seduce his prim and proper bride.
But the gorgeous duke will be taught a lesson of his own as scholarly Miss Winthorpe becomes his seductive duchess!
Of the books I've read by Christine Merrill, Miss Winthorpe's Elopement is by far my favorite. Penelope Winthorpe is rash and impetuous, but she is never TSTL. She is an intelligent and resourceful heroine who I really rooted for. Adam Felkirk is clueless and a bit of an idiot. Most of his actions are exasperating, but underneath it all he was the hero I wanted to win Penny's heart.
When the story opens, Penny is working on a new translation of Homer and is anxiously waiting the delivery of the text in its original Greek. She imagines how she will lovingly open the pages and caress the book, almost as if the book were a lover. Our Penny is practically a recluse. She had a disastrous first season, can't tolerate her brother Hector, and now hides herself away from the world.
Penny's brother has decided that she has spent too long on her scholarly pursuits and refuses to allow anymore books in the house. Instead he suggests that since no man will marry her she should start volunteering. He likes this plan because as long as Penny is unmarried Hector can decide what she can spend her inheritance on. FINE! If the lesser of two evils is a husband then Penny will find a husband. Dragging her trusted footman with her, Penny takes the carriage and heads to Gretna Green. She is sure that fate will provide some poor sod along the way willing to marry her for part of her fortune. Preferably someone who likes to drink, and won't notice that she has hidden the majority of her fortune from him. Someone who will leave her alone to her studies and happily go his own way. It shouldn't be too hard, right? I absolutely loved this part of the plot. Normally our heroines already have a groom in mind when something happens to throw them in the path of our hero.
Enter our hero, Adam Felkirk, Duke of Bellston. He has just found out that he has lost everything, in fact, he has just enough coin left to get rip-roaring drunk. The only thing of value he has left is his life insurance policy. Adam isn't a reprobate or gambler, not at all. He loves Bellston and being duke, but ever since the fire when his affair with his best friend's wife was discovered, Adam has been cursed. First, that fire, then there was the drought that caused his tenant's farms to fail, and the final straw was losing the ship that he had sunk his remaining funds into. The only thing left for him to do is kill himself and let his younger brother collect the insurance and take over the title, but it has to look like an accident. So Adam gets fall down drunk and steps in the path of an oncoming carriage. Unfortunately, Adam forgets that he is exiting an inn and the carriage he steps in front of is slowing down to stop, so it doesn't even hit him. That particular carriage is carrying Penelope, and when a “gentleman” falls down drunk in front of her she believes that fate has intervened. She immediately loads him into her carriage, provides him with a lot more liquor and rushes to Gretna Green before he sobers up.
Penny and Adam are quickly married and Penny even makes up a license so that she will have something to show her brother and her bankers that she is married. Penny is mortified though to discover that she has just trapped the Duke of Bellston into marriage and offers to burn the license and forget the incident ever happened. But, drunk or sober, Adam still needs money and Penny can provide it, so he agrees to Penny's terms of a separate marriage.
Things do not go smoothly or happily for Penny and Adam as Adam continues to show just how clueless he can be. This is where the fun truly begins. They are very awkward around one another and can barely speak to each other. He stupidly brags that he will be hosting a ball to show off his wife, leaving Penny to either accept the insincere help of his friends or come with her own way of handling it. Penny is nothing if not resourceful and her solution is pure brilliance. Penny has to navigate the ton as well as fend off Adam's bitch of an ex-lover, but she does it all with style and aplomb, leaving Adam even more amazed by the treasure that is his wife. Miss Winthorpe's Elopement is a quick, delightful read in the vein of the Traditional Regency. This one is definitely going on my keeper shelf.
Reviewed by: Valarie Pelissero
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