Kat Martin, The Handmaiden’s Necklace

The Handmaiden's Necklace

Kat Martin

Mira, Jan 2006, $7.99, 416 pp.

ISBN: 0778322076

Rafael Saunders finds a note written by his fianc e Danielle Duval asking his friend Oliver Randall to come to her room tonight. Stunned Rafael arrives at Danielle's room to find a naked Oliver in bed with her. He like everyone else blames Danielle for the scandal though she swears she is innocent.

She remained in hiding for five years, but two weeks before going to America to marry her new fianc businessman, Richard Clemens in Philadelphia, her beloved Aunt Flora coaxes Danielle to make an appearance amidst the ton. Rafael attends the same bash. He angrily asks why the betrayal, but she still insists she is innocent and that he betrayed her. Stunned Rafael hires Bow St. runner Joseph McPhee to learn the truth; two weeks later, Joseph reports that Oliver hates Rafael, duped him, and that Danielle told the truth. He wounds Oliver in a duel, but Danielle has left for America. Rafael pursues the one woman whom he loves not knowing whether he can overcome the mistakes he perpetrated on his beloved.

The circumstantial evidence that condemned his beloved five years ago haunts Rafael, as he realizes how much he allowed Oliver to dupe him, which in turn makes him a less than sympathetic protagonist, but perfect for this deep Regency romance. Thus the audience empathizes with the unfairly scarlet lettered female who hopefully will find happiness in America. Oliver's plan seems weak as he destroys two lives without a blink, but also assumes somehow he will win Danielle's hand. Still historical romance fans will appreciate this fine tale starring a mortified lead male trying to overcome all the mistakes he caused when he failed to follow up on his beloved's crying pain of innocence.

Harriet Klausner