Road trip romance novels are their own special breed of fun. In one simple plot point, you get a bunch of smaller tropes: forced proximity, a countdown clock, some hilarious external plot shenanigans, and (usually) only one bed.
When it is historical romance, the road trip gets even more exciting as characters are forced to find suitable inns, share horses, and otherwise encounter circumstances that are as foreign as they are exciting to us modern readers.
After all, everyone remembers the mad dash to Gretna Green in Lisa Kleypas’s Devil in Winter. With that in mind, I rounded up some more historical romance novels that use a road trip to deepen the characters’ relationship.
10 historical romance road trip books:
Waiting for a Scot Like You
Eva Leigh
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.73
The road trip:
Lady Farris is on her way to a very naughty holiday. The only problem is that she is coerced into bringing along Duncan as her bodyguard - and he is very determined to prevent her from having fun.
Synopsis:
Adjusting to life in peacetime isn’t easy for Major Duncan McCameron. Escorting a lady on her journey north seems like the perfect chance to give him some much-needed purpose. That is, until he learns the woman in question is the beautiful, bold, reckless Lady Farris. She makes his head spin and being alone together will surely end in disaster.
Beatrice, the Dowager Countess of Farris, is finally free of a stifling marriage and she has no plans to shackle herself to any other man. Ready to live life to the fullest, she’s headed to a week-long bacchanal and the journey should be half the fun. Except she’s confined to a carriage with a young, rule-abiding, irritatingly handsome Scottish soldier who wouldn’t know a good time if it landed in his lap. But maybe a madcap escapade will loosen him up...
Between carriage crashes, secret barn dances, robbers, and an inn with only one bed, their initial tension dissolves into a passion that neither expected. But is there a future for an adventure-loving lady and a duty-bound soldier, or will their differences tear them apart?
Lord Perfect
Loretta Chase
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.05
The road trip:
Bathsheba and Benedict are determined to avoid each other (because their attraction is so strong!), until they have to chase down their runaway kids on an epic treasure hunt road trip.
Synopsis:
The heir to the Earl of Hargate, Benedict Carsington, Viscount Rathbourne, is the perfect aristocrat. Tall, dark, and handsome, he is known for his impeccable manners and good breeding. Benedict knows all the rules and has no trouble following them—until she enters his life.
Bathsheba Wingate belongs to the rotten branch of the DeLucey family: a notorious lot of liars, frauds, and swindlers. Small wonder her husband’s high-born family disowned him. Now widowed, she’s determined to give her daughter a stable life and a proper upbringing. Nothing and no one will disrupt Bathsheba’s plans—until he enters her life…
Then Bathsheba’s hoyden daughter lures Benedict’s precocious nephew into a quest for a legendary treasure. To recover the would-be knights errant, Benedict and Bathsheba must embark on a rescue mission that puts them in dangerous, intimate proximity. It’s a situation virtually guaranteed to end in mayhem—even scandal!—if anyone else were involved. But Benedict is in perfect control of events. Perfect control, despite his mad desire to break all the rules. Perfect control. Really.
Lord Holt Takes a Bride
Vivienne Lorrett
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.81
The road trip:
Winn doesn’t mean to kidnap Lord Holt, but once she does, she has no choice but to take her with him on a road trip to avoid marriage to a man she hates.
Synopsis:
Heiress Winnifred Humphries refuses to marry the odious man her parents have chosen. She’ll marry for love or not at all. But how does a woman know a man truly loves her? Needing answers, she sets out to discover the marriage habits of London’s aristocrats. Yet when her friends kidnap a lord for research, Winn knows they’ve gone too far. Now she’s facing a wickedly handsome scoundrel who wants revenge.
Lord Asher Holt has the perfect plan to free himself of his father’s debts. But when a trio of foolish debutantes abducts him, their scheme ruins everything! Fuming and tied to a chair, Holt overhears that one of them is an heiress. Perhaps he isn’t above a little kidnapping either.
Yet, when the heiress runs away from her own wedding and straight into his waiting carriage, Holt finds himself on an adventure he’ll never forget, falling in love with a woman worth more than any treasure. But will Winn ever believe his heart only desires her... and not her fortune?
One Night with the Laird
Nicola Cornick
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.82
The road trip:
Mairi and Jack are on their way to a baptism, and Mairi for one is determined not to spend the whole road trip staying in the same place as Jack. Until, that is, someone starts attacking her party and Jack is the only one who can help…
Synopsis:
Fashionable society widow Lady Mairi MacLeod cannot understand the dark passion that binds her to Jack Rutherford. He is everything she dislikes in a man, rakish, arrogant and charming, and she would prefer to forget the night of wicked passion that she spent in his arms.
But when Mairi is threatened by a blackmailer, Jack is the only man who can protect her. As they work together to uncover where the danger lies, their passion reignites. Little by little, the masks they wear burn away, and their most private secrets come to light...
Outrageous
Minerva Spencer
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.84
The road trip:
Eva kidnaps Godric as part of a fuzzy plan to prevent him from complicating her brother’s life. However, Godric soon turns the tables (and the direction of the carriage) by insisting they head for a quick marriage in Scotland.
Synopsis:
When Eva de Courtney kidnaps Godric Fleming, her only plan is to stop the irritating earl from persecuting her beloved brother. But once she has the intriguing rogue in the confines of her carriage, she longs to taste the passion she senses simmering beneath his rugged exterior. Her forbidden plan is foiled, however, when Godric turns the tables, taking her hostage instead—and demanding they marry at once…
The last thing Godric wants to do is make the fiery, impulsive Eva his wife, despite her delectable mouth and alluring innocence. He knows from experience that nothing is forever, not even love. But honor demands he do right by the lady, no matter how stubbornly Eva tries to hold on to her independence. And while the road to the Scottish border is beset with danger, Godric’s greatest challenge is to keep his hands—and his heart—from his captivating bride-to-be…
DON’T JUST KEEP SCROLLING! JUDGE THESE BOOKS BY THEIR FIRST SENTENCES!
The Lord I Left
Scarlett Peckham
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.84
The road trip:
When Alice gets news that she needs to return home to the English countryside, she is desperate to find someone who will drive her there. She even accepts help from her moral opposite, Henry Evesham.
Synopsis:
Lord Lieutenant Henry Evesham is an evangelical reformer charged with investigating the flesh trade in London. His visits to bawdy houses leave him with a burning desire to help sinners who’ve lost their innocence to vice—even if the temptations of their world test his vow not to lose his moral compass…again.
As apprentice to London’s most notorious whipping governess, Alice Hull is on the cusp of abandoning her quiet, rural roots for the city’s swirl of provocative ideas and pleasures—until a family tragedy upends her dreams and leaves her desperate to get home. When the handsome, pious Lord Lieutenant offers her a ride despite the coming blizzard, she knows he is her best chance to reach her ailing mother—even if she doesn’t trust him.
He has the power to destroy her… She has the power to undo him…
As they struggle to travel the snow-swept countryside, they find their suspicion of each other thawing into a longing that leaves them both shaken. Alice stirs Henry’s deepest fantasies, and he awakens parts of her she thought she’d foresworn years ago. But Henry is considering new regulations that threaten the people Alice holds dear, and association with a woman like Alice would threaten Henry’s reputation if he allowed himself to get too close.
Is falling for the wrong person a test of faith …or a chance at unimagined grace?
Listen to the Moon
Rose Lerner
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.02
The road trip:
Sukey and John decide to visit his parents, leading to a memorable road trip montage as experienced by commoners! (Check out Rose Lerner’s website for a NC-17 deleted scene at the inn, too.)
Synopsis:
John Toogood always prided himself on being the perfect gentleman’s skilled, discreet, and professional. But now he finds himself laid off and blacklisted, stuck in tiny Lively St. Lemeston until he can find a new job. Any job.
His instant attraction to his happy-go-lucky maid Sukey Grimes couldn’t come at a worse time. Her manners are provincial, her respect for authority nonexistent, and her outdated cleaning methods...well, the less said about them, the better.
Sukey can tell that John’s impeccably impassive facade hides a lonely man with a gift for laughter—and kissing. But she also knows he’ll leave her sleepy little town behind the moment he gets the chance, and she has no intention of giving him her heart to take with him.
John learns that the town vicar needs a butler—but the job is only for a respectable married man. Against both their better judgments, John and Sukey tie the knot. The ring isn’t on her finger long before Sukey realizes she underestimated just how vexing being married to the boss can be...
Not Quite a Husband
Sherry Thomas
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.82
The road trip:
Will shows up to take Bryony back to England - which means an epic road trip through the mountains of India.
Synopsis:
Their marriage lasted only slightly longer than the honeymoon—to no one’s surprise, not even Bryony Asquith’s. A man as talented, handsome, and sought after by society as Leo Marsden couldn't possibly want to spend his entire life with a woman who rebelled against propriety by becoming a doctor. Why, then, three years after their annulment and half a world away, does he track her down at her clinic in the remotest corner of India?
Leo has no reason to think Bryony could ever forgive him for the way he treated her, but he won’t rest until he’s delivered an urgent message from her sister—and fulfilled his duty by escorting her safely back to England. But as they risk their lives for each other on the journey home, will the biggest danger be the treacherous war around them—or their rekindling passion?
Three Nights With Her Husband
Katherine Grant (me!)
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.67
The road trip:
Double and Mary Shayler are on their way to London with a very important delivery, but first their marriage has to survive!
Synopsis:
For Double and Mary Shayler, a road trip to London should be the perfect holiday away from Northfield Hall. Married for 25 years, they are on their way to visit their son and get some much-needed quality time.
The only trouble is that Mary is mad at Double. Still. And as much as he tries to apologize, he only seems to make things worse instead of better.
As they get farther and farther away from the comfort of their home, Mary and Double have to face the fears swirling behind their every do they still love each other enough to stay together?
The Duchess Wager
Katherine Grant (also me!)
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.20
The road trip:
When Margot gets word of trouble at home, she finally finds the reason she needed to leave her parents. The fact that handsome Fitz insists on coming along? For the most part, that’s a benefit.
Synopsis:
Fitz, the Duke of Harrodshire, views marriage as a business arrangement, not a question of the heart. Especially once he bets his friends that he won’t marry the next woman he fancies. He knows it will be an easy win - until they take refuge from a snowstorm at Bleneccle Manor and he meets Lady Margot Wickham.
At her parents’ home in Northern England to recover from her husband’s sudden death, Lady Margot Wickham isn’t sure she’ll ever be ready to face the duties of being a Dowager Countess. When unexpected travelers show up in a snowstorm, Margot is grateful for the distraction.
Until she realizes she might be too distracted by a certain duke.
When Margot gets notice of unrest at her husband’s cotton mill, she realizes she can put off duty no longer. Alarmed, Fitz volunteers to accompany her south. He plans to help her resolve the issue - but the road trip is a convenient excuse to stay close, too.