To Catch an Heiress by Julia Quinn

When Caroline Trent is kidnapped by Blake Ravenscroft, she doesn't even try to elude this dangerously handsome agent of the crown. After all, she's been running from unwanted marriage proposals. Yes, Blake believes she's a notorious spy named Carlotta De Leon, but for six weeks until her twenty-first birthday, when she'll gain control of her fortune, hiding out in the titillating company of a mysterious captor is awfully convenient -- and maybe just a little romantic, too.

Blake Ravenscroft's mission is to bring "Carlotta" to justice, not to fall in love. His heart has been hardened by years of intrigue, but this little temptress proves oddly disarming and thoroughly kissable. And suddenly the unthinkable becomes possible -- that this mismatched Couple might be destined for love.

Caroline Trent has been passed from one horrid guardian to the next over her lifetime. Most of them were determined to get hold of her fortune, but by far her current guardian was the worse. When he gives his odious son instructions to rape her if that is the only way he can get her to marry him, she knows that it is time to get out. All she needs to do is to keep out of their grasping hands for the next six weeks and her fortune will belong to herself.

It is pure coincidence that she escapes from her uncle's house on the same night that agent-of-the-crown Blake Ravenscroft is watching his house, waiting for the appearance of the notorious spy Carlotta de Leon. Blake can't believe his luck when he captures the spy so easily, but of course, he isn't to know that the woman that he has kidnapped and taken back to his nearby house was actually Caroline.

What follows is supposed to be mad cap comedy as Blake deals with the incredibly stubborn Caroline who is scheming to have a way to stay with him for the six weeks she needs to be hidden away, and soon finds herself caught up in the work that Blake and his friend James do for the government, and thus involved in trying to catch her uncle in whatever it is that he is involved in.

Blake's friend James had to keep on leaving Blake and Caroline alone because they were irritating and I have to say that at times I agreed. Whilst sometimes the interactions were fun and cute, there were other times where the dialogue changed from fun and cute to irritating and over the top.

This is one of Julia Quinn's earliest books, and it is easy to see some of the elements here that make her one of the more popular historical romance authors going around. For me personally though, the storyline was good but the execution wasn't great. One interesting thing at the end of this novel is the relatively high body count, something that you don't normally see, but I am not going to say who dies or how!