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The Piccadilly Gentlemen's Club #5
The Captain's Kidnapped Beauty
Rescue from an unlikely source!
Abducted and taken aboard a merchant ship bound for India, Charlotte Gilpin desperately searches for ways to escape. The heiress certainly doesn't expect rescue from the most unlikely of sources—Captain Alexander Carstairs, a man with whom she has crossed swords in the past.
Alex isn't sure what to make of Charlotte's claim to have been kidnapped—he wouldn't put it past this spirited woman to have cooked up the whole thing to avoid her father's matchmaking. But in the confines of the ship this confirmed bachelor unexpectedly finds Charlotte getting under his skin…again!
Abducted and taken aboard a merchant ship bound for India, Charlotte Gilpin desperately searches for ways to escape. The heiress certainly doesn't expect rescue from the most unlikely of sources—Captain Alexander Carstairs, a man with whom she has crossed swords in the past.
Alex isn't sure what to make of Charlotte's claim to have been kidnapped—he wouldn't put it past this spirited woman to have cooked up the whole thing to avoid her father's matchmaking. But in the confines of the ship this confirmed bachelor unexpectedly finds Charlotte getting under his skin…again!
282 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2012
8 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Mary Nichols
176 books44 followersBorn in Singapore to a Dutch-South African father and an English mother, Mary Nichols came to England when she was three and considers herself totally English. Her father, like many people who learn English as a second language, would have no sloppiness, either spoken or written, and Mary puts her love of the language down to him. He was also a great reader and there were always books in the house so that Mary learned to read at a very early age. She read anything that came to hand, whether it was suitable or not! By the time she was nine or ten, her one ambition was to be a writer.
Her first novel, handwritten in several school exercise books, was completed when she was fifteen. Not having any idea of how to go about finding a publisher, she wrapped it up and sent it to the editor of the woman's monthly magazine to which her mother subscribed. It says a great deal for that editor that she took the trouble to read it and sent Mary a long and very encouraging letter, which put her ambition into overdrive.
Finishing her education and finding a job took over in the next few years, followed by an early marriage and a family. When her children were all at school she joined her local writers' circle. Publication of articles and stories in a variety of periodicals and magazines followed, but the ambition to be a novelist never wavered and throughout the time she was writing and selling short pieces she was working on her novels.
Mary joined the Romantic Novelists Association in the 1960s. Her first novel was a contemporary one published by Robert Hale in 1981 and that was followed by nine more. Mary sent her first historical romance to Mills and Boon in 1985 and was delighted when a telephone call three weeks later told her it had been accepted. Since then she has been a regular writer for the historical series. Among these is a miniseries about a group of gentleman in the mid-eighteenth century who form a club to track down criminals, a sort of private detective agency, which naturally leads each of them into romance.
She is also the author of family sagas, published by Allison and Busby. She has also written a biography of her grandmother, entitled The Mother of Necton, who was the midwife and nurse in the village of Necton in Norfolk from 1910 until the advent of the National Health Service in 1948.
Apart from when her children were small, Mary always had a 'day job', being a school secretary, an editor of a house journal and an information manager for a database of open learning courses. Now writing full time, Mary spends part of every day at her computer producing her novels and divides the rest of the time between reading and research and gardening. Occasionally she gives talks about her writing to groups and societies. “Writing for me is an addiction,” Mary says. “I am not happy if I haven't got a book on the go and if my readers enjoy what I have written, then that is an added bonus.”
Her first novel, handwritten in several school exercise books, was completed when she was fifteen. Not having any idea of how to go about finding a publisher, she wrapped it up and sent it to the editor of the woman's monthly magazine to which her mother subscribed. It says a great deal for that editor that she took the trouble to read it and sent Mary a long and very encouraging letter, which put her ambition into overdrive.
Finishing her education and finding a job took over in the next few years, followed by an early marriage and a family. When her children were all at school she joined her local writers' circle. Publication of articles and stories in a variety of periodicals and magazines followed, but the ambition to be a novelist never wavered and throughout the time she was writing and selling short pieces she was working on her novels.
Mary joined the Romantic Novelists Association in the 1960s. Her first novel was a contemporary one published by Robert Hale in 1981 and that was followed by nine more. Mary sent her first historical romance to Mills and Boon in 1985 and was delighted when a telephone call three weeks later told her it had been accepted. Since then she has been a regular writer for the historical series. Among these is a miniseries about a group of gentleman in the mid-eighteenth century who form a club to track down criminals, a sort of private detective agency, which naturally leads each of them into romance.
She is also the author of family sagas, published by Allison and Busby. She has also written a biography of her grandmother, entitled The Mother of Necton, who was the midwife and nurse in the village of Necton in Norfolk from 1910 until the advent of the National Health Service in 1948.
Apart from when her children were small, Mary always had a 'day job', being a school secretary, an editor of a house journal and an information manager for a database of open learning courses. Now writing full time, Mary spends part of every day at her computer producing her novels and divides the rest of the time between reading and research and gardening. Occasionally she gives talks about her writing to groups and societies. “Writing for me is an addiction,” Mary says. “I am not happy if I haven't got a book on the go and if my readers enjoy what I have written, then that is an added bonus.”
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 7, 2020
I am amazed I finished this book.
did anyone notice that they are 3 kidnappinds in this book and 1 attempt to kidnap.
Really? how unaware are you of yourself ?
BTW the anti hero never paid for his crimes.
The father and daughter were more concerned for the business that anything else even after
all the perils they faced. (poisoning and drawning).
Note to self. if you hire an "expert" do as they say, DO NOT LEAVE your safe house and DO NOT GO to pay the kidnapper by yourself.
did anyone notice that they are 3 kidnappinds in this book and 1 attempt to kidnap.
Really? how unaware are you of yourself ?
BTW the anti hero never paid for his crimes.
The father and daughter were more concerned for the business that anything else even after
all the perils they faced. (poisoning and drawning).
Note to self. if you hire an "expert" do as they say, DO NOT LEAVE your safe house and DO NOT GO to pay the kidnapper by yourself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2025
I think perhaps this book should have been called 'Kidnap Caper' because the sheer amount of kidnapping going on was ridiculous. When the Captain himself ended up getting bundled into a carriage near the end I was crying out 'please no more, no more kidnaps'.
It was a fun read to be honest, some something a little out of the ordinary. I enjoyed that the heroine was in the coach making business. The hero's 'hurt past' was fucking lame, I had worse disappointments from my middle school crush. The fact it affected his life so much, well into his thirties - man up ffs.
It was a fun read to be honest, some something a little out of the ordinary. I enjoyed that the heroine was in the coach making business. The hero's 'hurt past' was fucking lame, I had worse disappointments from my middle school crush. The fact it affected his life so much, well into his thirties - man up ffs.
March 29, 2022
This is not nearly as good as the previous books. It is slow in the middle. The bad guy, the Earl of Falsham, does not get his just desserts. Charlotte is impulsive. Captain Alexander spends most of the book chasing after her, not to mention bathing Charlotte. You will have to read the book to understand. There are several throwaway scenes, and a harsh one in connection with Charlotte's father. Read the rest of the series, it is better.
May 12, 2023
A Georgian era story, but late in the era so not very much different from the later Regency, except in fashion, and in the greater danger and lawlessness of the cities. The heroine is daughter of a carriage maker. The hero is a sea captain who has left the navy to take up his new title. He also participates in a crime-solving club, mostly involved in rescuing kidnap victims. Obviously, by the title, the heroine is the one kidnapped. This is a nice little romance. I liked it. Good read.
February 19, 2018
What a rollicking good read! Well plotted, with many twists and turns, and characters with whom it is easy to identify this is romance with adventure. Faultless writing and historical background, too, this book has it all.
August 20, 2017
Meh. Picked it up for my Summer Reading Bingo game but it was so unmemorable I kept forgetting about it.
September 4, 2013
Best-selling author Mary Nichols continues her captivating series about The Piccadilly Gentleman’s Club with The Captain’s Kidnapped Beauty, a beguiling romantic adventure set in Georgian England.
There is absolutely nothing that Miss Charlotte Gilpin does not know about coach-making. The only daughter of one of England’s richest tradesmen, Charlotte has grown up in her father’s yard, surrounded by all the hustle and bustle of his prosperous business. However, Charlotte’s father has got ambitions for her – ambitions that do not involve his daughter spending the rest of her life getting her hands dirty. Charlotte’s father is determined to get his daughter married off to a titled gentleman – and he is not willing to compromise!
Charlotte would much rather be adding up figures in her father’s ledger than at yet another tedious society gathering. She’s got her plate full with juggling the incessant demands of the business with looking after her father’s household; she’s certainly got neither the time nor the inclination for a romantic attachment. Although she’s well aware of her father’s quest to find an eligible – and titled – gentleman for her, Charlotte is perfectly happy with her lot in life. She’d rather die than end up saddled with someone as infuriating and aggravating as Captain Alexander Carstairs for the rest of her life. However, little does Charlotte realise that she will soon end up having to rely on the sly cunning of the resourceful Captain…
When Charlotte is kidnapped and held hostage aboard a merchant ship bound for India, the wealthy coach-making heiress is beside herself! Fearful of her life and virtue, Charlotte cannot help but wonder whether she will ever see her father or England again. When help comes in the unexpected form of Alexander Carstairs, Charlotte doesn’t know whether she should be relieved that there is somebody in her corner or dismayed that the only person who can help her is somebody whom she’s always treated with disdain in the past. With danger round every corner and nobody else to trust, Charlotte puts her fate in the Captain’s hands. But when resentment gives way to an attraction that simply cannot be denied, Charlotte and Alex soon begin to wonder whether they will ever manage to vanquish the enemy that seems hell-bent on destroying their burgeoning happiness…
Will Charlotte and Alex find a way to triumph over all the obstacles that are standing in their way? Or will they be condemned to spending the rest of their life apart?
Mary Nichols is one of the most accomplished writers of historical romance writing today and The Captain’s Kidnapped Beauty is a spellbinding tale that will delight, enchant and entrall. Richly atmospheric, deliciously thrilling and wonderfully romantic, this absorbing Georgian historical has got it all from peril on the high seas to heart-pounding emotional intensity and gripping romantic drama.
Charlotte is a wonderful heroine who was strong, intrepid and intelligent and more than a match for the brooding and saturnine Alexander. Both characters were superbly written and I defy anyone not to fall in love with them from the moment they leap off the pages!
Written with plenty of flair and finesse, The Captain’s Kidnapped Beauty is a splendid historical romance that will hold readers in thrall from beginning to end!
This review was originally published on Cataromance.
There is absolutely nothing that Miss Charlotte Gilpin does not know about coach-making. The only daughter of one of England’s richest tradesmen, Charlotte has grown up in her father’s yard, surrounded by all the hustle and bustle of his prosperous business. However, Charlotte’s father has got ambitions for her – ambitions that do not involve his daughter spending the rest of her life getting her hands dirty. Charlotte’s father is determined to get his daughter married off to a titled gentleman – and he is not willing to compromise!
Charlotte would much rather be adding up figures in her father’s ledger than at yet another tedious society gathering. She’s got her plate full with juggling the incessant demands of the business with looking after her father’s household; she’s certainly got neither the time nor the inclination for a romantic attachment. Although she’s well aware of her father’s quest to find an eligible – and titled – gentleman for her, Charlotte is perfectly happy with her lot in life. She’d rather die than end up saddled with someone as infuriating and aggravating as Captain Alexander Carstairs for the rest of her life. However, little does Charlotte realise that she will soon end up having to rely on the sly cunning of the resourceful Captain…
When Charlotte is kidnapped and held hostage aboard a merchant ship bound for India, the wealthy coach-making heiress is beside herself! Fearful of her life and virtue, Charlotte cannot help but wonder whether she will ever see her father or England again. When help comes in the unexpected form of Alexander Carstairs, Charlotte doesn’t know whether she should be relieved that there is somebody in her corner or dismayed that the only person who can help her is somebody whom she’s always treated with disdain in the past. With danger round every corner and nobody else to trust, Charlotte puts her fate in the Captain’s hands. But when resentment gives way to an attraction that simply cannot be denied, Charlotte and Alex soon begin to wonder whether they will ever manage to vanquish the enemy that seems hell-bent on destroying their burgeoning happiness…
Will Charlotte and Alex find a way to triumph over all the obstacles that are standing in their way? Or will they be condemned to spending the rest of their life apart?
Mary Nichols is one of the most accomplished writers of historical romance writing today and The Captain’s Kidnapped Beauty is a spellbinding tale that will delight, enchant and entrall. Richly atmospheric, deliciously thrilling and wonderfully romantic, this absorbing Georgian historical has got it all from peril on the high seas to heart-pounding emotional intensity and gripping romantic drama.
Charlotte is a wonderful heroine who was strong, intrepid and intelligent and more than a match for the brooding and saturnine Alexander. Both characters were superbly written and I defy anyone not to fall in love with them from the moment they leap off the pages!
Written with plenty of flair and finesse, The Captain’s Kidnapped Beauty is a splendid historical romance that will hold readers in thrall from beginning to end!
This review was originally published on Cataromance.
November 5, 2015
DNF.
I'd set this one aside so that I could finish reading Highland Surrender (which was started on audio, but the narrator was atrocious, so I gave up and checked it out from the library to read instead). When I finished HS and it was time to go back to this one (after renewing the checkout on this one for an additional three weeks), I just couldn't bring myself to open it up again. So this one goes on the DNF list and I'm moving on to something else.
Aside from the author's penchant for antiquated language, I was very turned off in the beginning of the book by the first chapter, which name-drops at least a dozen characters I don't know or care anything about. (Once again, I managed to pick up a book that's part of a series without realizing it.) The story of this book actually starts in the second chapter. And while it seemed interesting, shortly after the hero and heroine meet, he goes off to the country and she gets kidnapped. I have no reason at this point to care for either of them or to be concerned that they're now separated.
He, being our hero, of course goes after her. And that's where the story really lost me. The setup is so implausible that I just couldn't bring myself to go to the extreme effort that suspending disbelief was going to take for me to get back into the story.
So I gave up on it at the 39% mark.
I'd set this one aside so that I could finish reading Highland Surrender (which was started on audio, but the narrator was atrocious, so I gave up and checked it out from the library to read instead). When I finished HS and it was time to go back to this one (after renewing the checkout on this one for an additional three weeks), I just couldn't bring myself to open it up again. So this one goes on the DNF list and I'm moving on to something else.
Aside from the author's penchant for antiquated language, I was very turned off in the beginning of the book by the first chapter, which name-drops at least a dozen characters I don't know or care anything about. (Once again, I managed to pick up a book that's part of a series without realizing it.) The story of this book actually starts in the second chapter. And while it seemed interesting, shortly after the hero and heroine meet, he goes off to the country and she gets kidnapped. I have no reason at this point to care for either of them or to be concerned that they're now separated.
He, being our hero, of course goes after her. And that's where the story really lost me. The setup is so implausible that I just couldn't bring myself to go to the extreme effort that suspending disbelief was going to take for me to get back into the story.
So I gave up on it at the 39% mark.
May 29, 2015
A lovely historical romance novel. It had suspense, tension and conflict of emotions and intentions. A fast read of more young adult content, if you know what I mean, but still a pleasure to flip through. I will have to keep Mary Nichols on the list of to-read authors.
Read
December 27, 2014Miniseries: The Piccadilly Gentlemen's Club
Category: Historical Romance
Category: Historical Romance
Read
October 2, 2012Miniseries: The Piccadilly Gentlemen's Club
Category: Historical Romance
Category: Historical Romance
December 23, 2014
Simple romance involving a captain and a modern lady. Some romance wont hurt.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews