Heiress in Red Silk

by Madeline Hunter

April 27, 2021 · Zebra Books

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Content warning: attempted sexual assault of the heroine

Heiress in Red Silk is a book that hooked right into my emotions and gave me what I wanted and needed from a story right now. While it was by no means a flawless romance, I adored the heroine, and there was one scene that hit me straight in the heart.

This is the second book in the Duke’s Heiress series, but you really don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy it. The basis of this series is that a Duke dies in suspicious circumstances, and it turns out that rather than leaving his money to his family, he has left it to three women from poor and working class backgrounds whom nobody in the family has ever heard of. The second of these women is Rosamund Jameson, and in addition to inheriting money, she has inherited the Duke’s share in Kevin Radnor’s business. And for Kevin, this represents a big problem.

Kevin is an inventor. He is rather eccentric, very focused, and has a tendency to be extremely direct and bulldoze through social mores.

When a subject captured his attention, he investigated it thoroughly with a notable singlemindedness. Thus, at not yet thirty years of age, he had acquired an extraordinary expertise in fencing, mechanics, engineering, moths, ancient Greek, chemistry, and carnal sensuality.

Why yes, there is a lot of very hot sex in this book. (None of it involves moths or ancient Greek, however.)

Anyway, Kevin has designed a device that will improve the efficiency of steam engines. He has a prototype, and is at the stage of trying to get it built, but he is hampered both by financial considerations and the fear that if he lets anyone see his design, they will steal it. His uncle had invested in his invention, and owned 50% of it. And now that 50% is owned by Rosamund, an extremely beautiful farm girl turned milliner, with no education whatsoever. Kevin is appalled.

Rosamund Jameson may not be educated or speak the Queen’s English, but she is far from unintelligent. She is primarily interested in using her inheritance to open a more fashionable millinery shop in London, and helping her younger sister obtain an education. She is also carrying a torch for a man who we can tell from the start does not deserve her.

Rosamund made my heart so happy. She is the most pragmatic, sensible heroine I have read in some time, and I would like to be her friend. She has risen from a rather turbulent career in service to become the owner of her own millinery shop in Richmond. She is an excellent milliner, but an even better businesswoman – while she may not read or write well, she knows how to budget and plan, and is aware of both the costs and the benefits of opening a store in London.

Rosamund applies that practicality and pragmatism even to her romantic ambitions. The man she loves is the son of a wealthy household where she once worked. He seduced her but swore that he loved her and would marry her if only things were different. Well, now things are different, but while she takes steps to try to find her lover, she also recognises that his family will never accept her unless she can present the appearance of a lady. And so she matter-of-factly hires tutors to help her with her manners, her accent, and proper accomplishments. While Rosamund is in no way ashamed of her origins, she realises that they set her at a disadvantage, and so she intends to overcome them.

Obviously, there is no way a woman like Rosamund is going to be seduced by Kevin into anything that goes against her interests. When he attempts to charm her into signing away all control over the business that she part owns, she sees through this immediately. What’s more, she is not afraid to point out to Kevin that he may be a great inventor, but she knows how to actually run a successful business, skills that she has seen no evidence of in him.

I liked Kevin, and I understood his protectiveness about his invention, but I wanted to cheer at that. Rosamund finds the solutions to their investment difficulties and to the other challenges of bringing Kevin’s invention to fruition. Kevin, for all his eccentricities, is still a gentleman. Rosamund brings to the partnership an understanding of the world of Trade, and while this may mark her as being from a lower class, it is also, fundamentally, the world that Kevin is trying to enter, and one in which he has no expertise.

Much of the book is Rosamund and Kevin circling each other and trying to figure out not one but two unconventional relationships. A marriage of convenience is on the table from early on, as this would give Kevin control over Rosamund’s shares, and would give Rosamund’s sister connections. But Rosamund is not inclined to cede control of the business even to a husband. And so they are negotiating a business relationship as well as a sexual one and a romantic one, and also figuring out both how to manage disagreements in one part of the relationship without blowing up the other parts.

This could have been a very stressful book to read, but the reason this worked for me was that both Kevin and Rosamund are very direct and honest with each other. Kevin tends to say precisely what he is thinking because it never occurs to him not to; Rosamund is straightforward because she is not interested in wasting time beating around the bush, and because it’s a way of demanding respect from Kevin and from others.

I also like the way Rosamund refuses to be distracted or overwhelmed by Kevin’s seductive ways. Which is not to say she doesn’t enjoy them…

“Now, should we discuss Monsieur Forestier? I meant it last night, about providing some funds. I am a partner. It is my obligation as much as it is yours, should we do this.”

“You are very sure, in the clear light of day, that you still want to do that? Last night when you offered, you were disadvantaged.”

“My, you are conceited, Kevin. Are you saying that I was not of sound mind?”

He leaned in. “I was licking your breast.”

“Which was very nice. I was not so abandoned that I could not think, however.”

This review is a bit of a love letter to Rosamund so far, but I should probably give Kevin some attention, too. His protectiveness about his invention borders on paranoia, and leads to one of the book’s biggest flaws, which I shall get to shortly. But there is also a quiet kindness to him, and he is very good at just being there for Rosamund without judgment when she needs it. Kevin is also comfortable acknowledging when he has behaved badly, which is handy, because he has to do that several times.

One thing that struck me close to the heart was the thoughtful way an attempted sexual assault early in the book was handled.

For all my love of this story, it is not without flaws. Kevin is very protective and secretive about his invention and his company, and far too willing to assume that Rosamund is going to betray him – wittingly or unwittingly. This behavior sits in striking contrast to his attitude to her sexuality. He is far more the jealous lover over his machines than he is over Rosamund’s past, which is kind of fascinating.

I could understand his fear in the earlier parts of the book, but it came back again and again and again, and it became more frustrating with each repetition. Really, there was a point at which Rosamund and Kevin had apparently sorted everything out and revealed all their secrets and – oh, here we go again, Kevin is flying off the handle because Rosamund wants to talk to someone who owns a metalworking factory and he is accusing her of all sorts of betrayals. I was cross!

To make matters worse, the end of the book is very abrupt – there is a reconciliation, a declaration, and then you turn the page and you are reading about the next book in the series. While Kevin’s actions shortly before that reconciliation made me believe in his change of heart, it was still a little unsettling. I’d have liked a bit more time of them living together happily after everything was resolved.

Heiress in Red Silk is one of those books that makes my heart fight with my head when I review it. My heart is all a-squee from the magnificently pragmatic heroine, the hot sex, the fascinating relationship and business negotiations and the sensitive handling of sexual assault. But my mind is still a bit worried about Kevin’s odd jealousy over his inventions. If he had been behaving in this fashion about a male friend or former lover of Rosamund, I would have had no hesitation in labelling his behaviour dangerous and potentially abusive. This feels different, and Rosamund is clearly not someone who will take shit from anyone, and yet I am still a little uneasy. I don’t believe he recognised his own behavior and demonstrated sufficiently that he’d overcome it. I think overall, this one gets a B minus from me.