Lady of Quality by Heyer

This is Heyer's last Regency novel.. though after her death her husband published her medieval novel My Lord John which she had worked on for years. Lady of Quality is rather similar to Black Sheep but the characters are not so well developed. Her heroine is an older woman, of 29, who lives in Bath, called Annis Wychwood. Annis left her brother's home to live alone in Bath, because she did not want to sink into the role of a spinster aunt. Her brother is married with 2 small children, and he insists on her having a middle aged companion living with her. Annis is travelling to Bath, when she comes across an accident, where a young couple's carriage has broken down. She offers them a lift to Bath, and learns that Lucilla, the young girl, is trying to run away from her home because her family want her to marry Ninian Elmore. She is an heiress and while she's been friendly with Ninian's family from childhood, she does not want to marry him. He does not want to marry her, either, so he aids her to run away. Annis likes Ninian but he seems rather too gentle, and unable to stand up for himself. He tells her that his father who used to be a soldier, has a bad heart and he's afraid if he defied him, it might cause a heart attack. Lucilla tells Annis that she has few relatives. She lived with an aunt who was her mother's sister and who was a nervous silly lady. Her uncle Oliver, her father's brother, seems to be indifferent to her, and he did not respond to her when she wrote to him to ask him to help her avoid an early marriage. Annis writes to Mrs AMber, the aunt suggesting that Lucy could stay with her for a few weeks, and gets no reply. Then Ninian arrives in Bath, angry because he spoke to his father and told him that he did not love Lucilla and he did not want to marry her, and his father got into a rage but didn't collapse or have a heart attack. He realises now that his father uses his health to domineer over his family, and he leaves home. Then Lucilla's uncle arrives in Bath, and he is angry with Annis for taking Lucy in and she tells him that he should have tried to understand his niece better and help her. He says that he has no interest in children and left her to her aunt. But he is not too pleased when he finally realises that the Elmores and Lucy's aunt have been conspiring to get her married.