Miss Katherine Honeywell, newly arrived from the Cape, has beauty, charm and intelligence. Her only drawback, in the eyes of the ton, is her distressing loyalty to her cousin, Bredon, whom the world believes to be a murderer fleeing from justice.
But to Mr. Lysander Derwent, her godmother’s son, Kate is the most infuriating girl he has ever encountered. She provokes his senses, arouses his temper, and even helps to ruin his prospective marriage to Lady Sophia Trennick. Yet when Kate falls foul of Sophia’s brother, the Marquis of Wayleigh — Lysander's declared enemy — what annoys Mr. Derwent most is that it is not apparently for his sake, but for her cousin Bredon’s!
A bad mish mash of two of my favorite Georgette Heyer books - The Grand Sophy and The Talisman Ring - with some very boring melodrama tagged on. And to top it all, the hero assaults the heroine at their first meeting, and she keeps hoping for a repeat performance! Like a lot of old Mills&Boons romances, a book best left forgotten.