HaBO: He Tries to Kidnap Her After a House Party

This HaBO request was submitted by Dionne, who wants to find this historical romance:

A bit of a long shot I’m trying to find the title and author of a book. I’ve gone through all my books and fear it may have been lost in a house move.

It’s a regency historical that was steamy/open door.

I only have a sketchy memory of it being about a book worm heroine who doesn’t need to look for a husband because she has a substantial inheritance so marriage isn’t anything she wants. She meets the hero at a house party that is being held for a week or two at a country estate. They are both guests. She’s there with an aunt or some relative.

He sees her reading in the gardens, behind a bush I think. She is avoiding socialising at the house party as much as possible to avoid fortune hunters. They converse back and forth.

They begin a secret affair whilst at the house party and he falls in love but she is adamant their time together is only for the duration of the house party. When it is time for him to leave he scoops her up out of bed and attempts to kidnap her after failing to persuade her to either marry or be his mistress. I can’t remember which one, but his sister, who is also in attendance at the house party discovers her in the carriage before he can get away…it’s an extremely funny scene…not sinister at all.

I remember the sister opens the door of the carriage, begins to get in, see’s the heroine gagged, bound and wide eyed in the corner of the carriage, pauses then backs out to speak to her brother.

I hope someone else remembers this book.

Can we HaBO?