Lady of Quality — Georgette Heyer

The spirited and independent Miss Annis Wychwood is a beautiful heiress, and hopelessly single, has twenty-nine and well past the age for falling in love. When she sponsored young pretty Miss Lucilla Carleton's "coming out," the town's social elite were shocked. After all, how could Annis find Lucilla a husband when she could not choose one for herself? Then Lucilla's handsome and egotistical uncle and guardian, Mr. Oliver Carleton, arrived to approve the sponsorship.

But when Annis embroils herself in the affairs of the runaway heiress, Lucilla, she is destined to see a great deal of her fugitive's uncivil and high-handed guardian, Oliver. Befriending the wayward girl brings unexpected consequences, among them the conflicting emotions aroused by her guardian, whose reputation as the rudest man in London precedes him. Chafing at the restrictions of Regency society in Bath, Annis has to admit that at least Carleton is never boring. And his brash and rakish manner quickly succumbed to the will of Annis, this remarkable heiress no man had yet subdued. Outrageous as he is, the charming Annis ends up finding him absolutely irresistible.