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Bride Wore Scarlet
Scarlet bride
The first time Daniel Faber met Annie Kincaid he knew she was a danger to his bachelor status. Mistaking him for someone else, she'd thrown herself into his arms dressed provocatively in scarlet silk.
The next time they met, Daniel was convinced that Annie was not only his brother's secretary, but also his mistress! Whisking her off to Italy, Daniel intended to persuade Annie to wear scarlet silk again--but this time as a wedding dress....
The first time Daniel Faber met Annie Kincaid he knew she was a danger to his bachelor status. Mistaking him for someone else, she'd thrown herself into his arms dressed provocatively in scarlet silk.
The next time they met, Daniel was convinced that Annie was not only his brother's secretary, but also his mistress! Whisking her off to Italy, Daniel intended to persuade Annie to wear scarlet silk again--but this time as a wedding dress....
184 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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58 people want to read
About the author
Diana Hamilton
326 books74 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Diana Hamilton was born in a English town. Wanting to be a country child, her imagination came into play at an early age, transforming a neighbor’s tree into a forest, a hole in a stone wall into a gingerbread house, a gas puddle into a fairyland, complete with mountains, lakes and flower meadows. She loathed housework but made to do her share, to lessen the boredom, she told herself stories, in a very loud voice, featuring princesses and flower gardens, discovering that telling herself stories was almost as good as reading them in a book.
She loathed school with an equal passion and got through it by pretending to be somewhere else. Even so she left grammar school with respectable grades... And was sent to art college when she wanted to study to be a vet. This was nowhere as bad as it had seemed because it was there, at age 18, she first saw Peter. He had returned from two years’ active service in Korea to resume his studies, and Diana immediately fell in love with him.
Gaining a degree in advertising copywriting, Diana worked as a copywriter and married Peter. They moved to a remote part of Wales after the birth of their second child, Paul, when their daughter, Rebecca, was three years old. There, Diana enjoyed pony trekking and walking in the mountains; and her third child, Andrew, was born. Itchy feet brought them back to England to the beautiful county of Shropshire four years later and they have been there ever since, gradually restoring the rambling Elizabethan manor that Diana gave her heart to on sight, creating a garden out of a wilderness of nettles, brambles and old bedsteads.
In the mid-'70s Diana took up her pen again to write stories to read to her three children at bedtime. These were never offered for publication but the bug had bitten. Over the next 10 years she combined writing over 30 novels, published by Robert Hale of London, with bringing up her children, gardening and cooking for the restaurant of a local inn—a wonderful excuse to avoid the dreaded housework! In 1987 Diana realized her dearest ambition—the publication of her first Mills & Boon romance, Song in a Strange Land. She had come home. And that feeling persists to this day as, around 30 Harlequin/Mills & Boon romantic novels late, she was still in love with the genre.
Sadly, Diana Hamilton passed away on May 3, 2009, at her home in Shropshire, surrounded by her family. She will be sorely missed by her fans and everyone at Mills & Boon/Harlequin
Diana Hamilton was born in a English town. Wanting to be a country child, her imagination came into play at an early age, transforming a neighbor’s tree into a forest, a hole in a stone wall into a gingerbread house, a gas puddle into a fairyland, complete with mountains, lakes and flower meadows. She loathed housework but made to do her share, to lessen the boredom, she told herself stories, in a very loud voice, featuring princesses and flower gardens, discovering that telling herself stories was almost as good as reading them in a book.
She loathed school with an equal passion and got through it by pretending to be somewhere else. Even so she left grammar school with respectable grades... And was sent to art college when she wanted to study to be a vet. This was nowhere as bad as it had seemed because it was there, at age 18, she first saw Peter. He had returned from two years’ active service in Korea to resume his studies, and Diana immediately fell in love with him.
Gaining a degree in advertising copywriting, Diana worked as a copywriter and married Peter. They moved to a remote part of Wales after the birth of their second child, Paul, when their daughter, Rebecca, was three years old. There, Diana enjoyed pony trekking and walking in the mountains; and her third child, Andrew, was born. Itchy feet brought them back to England to the beautiful county of Shropshire four years later and they have been there ever since, gradually restoring the rambling Elizabethan manor that Diana gave her heart to on sight, creating a garden out of a wilderness of nettles, brambles and old bedsteads.
In the mid-'70s Diana took up her pen again to write stories to read to her three children at bedtime. These were never offered for publication but the bug had bitten. Over the next 10 years she combined writing over 30 novels, published by Robert Hale of London, with bringing up her children, gardening and cooking for the restaurant of a local inn—a wonderful excuse to avoid the dreaded housework! In 1987 Diana realized her dearest ambition—the publication of her first Mills & Boon romance, Song in a Strange Land. She had come home. And that feeling persists to this day as, around 30 Harlequin/Mills & Boon romantic novels late, she was still in love with the genre.
Sadly, Diana Hamilton passed away on May 3, 2009, at her home in Shropshire, surrounded by her family. She will be sorely missed by her fans and everyone at Mills & Boon/Harlequin
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 16, 2019
Re The Bride Wore Scarlet - Diana Hamilton goes the HUGE, GIGANTIC, Big Misunderstanding route in this one and fair warning, the continual Tarty Trollop Shaming in this is MASSIVE.
I suspect DH was meaning this book to be funny, but if she did, it fell remarkably flat.
This H was so full of double standards and so misogynistic that I was lighting candles to the HP Deity's for Toilet Seat Meteor to the Head Strikes for 182 pages of the 185 page book - and that was only cause the first three pages did not have the H in them.
The backstory on this is that the h is a sweet girl with a taste for vivid and figure hugging clothing. She is a fashionista h and loves to show off her savoir faire of high fashion style.
Unfortunately the h lives in England and is not mixing with the high fashion type. She works with and at the beginning of the book is engaged to, the conservative business Captain of Industry, but seekritly skanky dude types.
The prologue is the h going to a party with her ambitious and womanizing fiance. She wears a daring scarlet dress, that hints at more than what it actually reveals, but this is really more of a test for her fiance.
It seems Mr. Fiance, that seekrit Lothario, is looking to advance in his career and wants the h to conform to the staid, boxy power suited career woman type.
The h and he have words prior to the party regarding the fiance's sudden demands that the h change her fashionista ways, but the orphaned h has spent a lifetime being abused by her Aunt guardian for her failure to conform and her utter lack of manageability and how she can't seem to control her happy, kind impulses.
The Aunt guardian is dead now, after leaving her vast fortune to the local church. But the h learned long ago not to bow to someone else's insistence that she tame her vivid and happy vibrantly dressed ways for a more conventional outlook.
The h is also a unicorn groomer, but continually runs into the sexist view that if she dresses more flamboyantly, she must be the epitome of a Trollopy Tart.
The h feels kinda bad for fighting with her fiance, so when he abandons her at the party, she goes to find him and kiss and make up. She thinks it is her fiance outside on the balcony and she goes running out in true Gypsy Rose Lee style and flings herself into the man on the balcony's arms.
There is a big roofie kissing moment and by the weakening of her knees, the h realizes that in the dark and the shadows, she has just kissed the wrong man. She runs off and later finds out that the man she kissed with such contrite enthusiasm was her fiance's boss.
The fight between the fiance and the h on the way home that night marks the end of the h's engagement, she believes life is much to short to put up with a domineering, probably cheating bully who only wants to make her into something she has no desire to be.
The H is the guy the h kissed on the balcony and two things are relevant about him. First he is the half brother of the h's new boss and five years earlier he and his half brother got engaged to the same girl via her gold digger tarty scheming manipulations.
(DH gives us too much of the H's POV in this, the gold digger, tarty scheming manipulation denigrations are straight from the H's thoughts.)
This led to some tension between the two men and now the H's mother wants her other son, (the h's boss,) to marry the girl next door - but the h's boss has no intention of submitting to his mother's meddling marital arrangements.
Since the H and the half brother boss's mum's birthday is coming up, the h's boss asks the h to accompany him to the parental country home for a weekend visit.
The boss wants to give the impression that he and the h are a couple, mainly because the woman his mother has picked out for him has been mooning over him for years and he isn't too keen on an infatuated young lady who can't seem to get a coherent sentence out.
We all go the parental country home and as soon as the H sees the h, the tarty trollop tart shaming denigration begins.
The H says it out loud to the h's face and mentally reiterates many, many, many times about how much of a skanky bimbo the h is - to the H she is just like his and his half brother's former mutual fiance and the H decides it is his familial duty to do something about that, before she really sinks her hooks into to the H's half brother.
The H seems to blame the h for dumping her ex-fiance too. He is shown to think that the h is a horrible person for dumping a man than even the H admits was a notorious shady lady chaser, whose bedroom antics were legendary both within and without the H's company.
The H clearly believes that the h had no room to complain or argue about whatever treatment her slime pustule ex meted out and he never asks the h why she is no longer engaged, he just assumes that she got distracted by the lure of a wealthier guy when his half brother hired her.
Then there is the H's little nagging thoughts that the h's kiss was the best the H ever had in his life and in a spirit of noble sacrifice, he decides to kidnap the h to his nearby weekend cottage and seduce the h as is his hypocritical manly male right.
But the h believes the H is engaged and tho she is trembling fiercely from the Treacherous Body Lurve Force Mojo syndrome, she calls a halt to the seduction moves by reminding the H of his engagement and decides to leave the next morning.
Earlier at the H's mother's birthday dinner, the h noticed the woman the mum picked out a the future wife for the h's boss and it is obvious the girl is massively in love with the man. The h decides to give the girl a bit of helpful advice, namely treat the H's half brother mean and that will make him keen.
The lovelorn girl pays attention to the h's words and is soon driving the half brother mad when she completely ignores the H's half brother for the charms of some other equally handsome local men.
The H arranges to get the h back to London, after implying to his entire family and their guests that the h was an easy tarty trollop pick up who couldn't wait to jump into his cottage bed for the night.
The h stupidly returns to work with the half brother the next week and instead of reading him the riot act over his assumptions about what happened with the H, the h just wants to dress in drab gray and weep.
The h's boss then decides to really get into the spirit of pimping this h out and he sends her off for a week with the H. (The H put his thinking cap on and decided to get the h alone and isolated where he could work out all his lustful thoughts of the h out on her body.) So the H tells his brother he needs the h for an Italian business trip and the brother agrees the H can have her.
(The implication that the H can pump and dump the h is made very clear, tho the h's boss pretends he is just indulging the h's need for a mutual fling-completely disregarding the h's stated reluctance to be isolated with the H feelings.
The boss also tells the h that since his brother helped him when his business was starting out, he can have whatever he demands and the h finally yells at him and tells him he is nothing but a sewer gulping panderer and she is going to resign when she gets back.)
The h is too busy trying to correct her boss's wrong impression that she and the H are lovers to make it clear to the H that she doesn't want to leave, but there is none so blind or as totally tacky as an HP secondary Pimp Daddy character, so it is off to Italy we all go.
The h is really honest about herself as the H questions her closely over the course of the next week. She explains about her clothing choices and why she broke up with her ex-fiance. She also tells the H about why she kissed him on the balcony.
The H maybe sorta believes her, but his inner monologue tart shaming the h is still massive. Even when the h explains that she wants a husband, a home and a family, the H is still going on about getting his sweaty paws all over her.
Of course eventually the H wears the h down and she thinks she is in love and the H is all excited because he is getting his lurve club groove on. He doesn't seem to notice that the unicorns are dropping their little brushes and crying into their pretty pastel ribbons.
Eventually the h is able to complete the business deal the H brought her over for and the h goes back to work in England, convinced that she and the H are at the start of a beautiful romance.
Until she gets back to work and her boss explains about how he and the H got taken in by a scheming gold digger who tried to use both of them. Suddenly it all becomes clear to the h that the H was playing her to 'rescue' his half brother. The h doesn't even bother to tell her boss off, she just mopes around until the H shows up.
The H shows up and in a total 180 flip around, he is ready to propose. Apparently he decided that the h was good enough in bed to overlook her being a gold digging harlot, with the proper prenuptial agreement.
But the h is tired of being slighted by both the H and her boss and she lies and tells the H that she has found an nice elderly pet food billionaire to shack up with instead.
The H is hurt and the h is full of mopeyness. Then the h's boss decides that the h should be condemned to a lifetime of tart shaming with his beloved older half brother. He massively lies to the h to get her to his parent's country house. He claims he explained his and the H's lies to their parents and that they are quite happy to have the highly embarrassed h visit them again.
The h reluctantly goes, mainly because the family friend girl who finally got the h's boss to propose to her wanted her to come so she could thank the h for her advice. When the h gets there, the whole thing is a set up so the H can bully the h into marrying him. He is trying to forget that she is really a tart at heart and he is sure tying her down with six children will keep her too busy to cheat on him. .
The h is so lost to Treacherous Body Syndrome that she doesn't even care that her boss has basically prostituted her out. She agrees to marry the H and he claims he loves her and at the wedding, the h wears a figure hugging scarlet dress to prove that all is right DH's corner of HPlandia once again.
This one went to ludicrous extremes with the assumptions about the h's supposed Trollopy Tarthood. The only decent characters besides the h was the lovelorn girl and the H's father.
Frankly both the h and the erstwhile sorta OW lovelorn girl deserved better heroes than what they got stuck with. The H's mother is a bit of a problem too, but the H's father was really nice and how he got a son like the H is a total mystery.
This book is fine if you like the big misunderstanding drama. But if tart shaming wears you out and double standards just make you grab up your biggest cast iron skillet, you might want to pick a different HP outing and run away or at least have a quadruple Captain Consult if you run into this.
I suspect DH was meaning this book to be funny, but if she did, it fell remarkably flat.
This H was so full of double standards and so misogynistic that I was lighting candles to the HP Deity's for Toilet Seat Meteor to the Head Strikes for 182 pages of the 185 page book - and that was only cause the first three pages did not have the H in them.
The backstory on this is that the h is a sweet girl with a taste for vivid and figure hugging clothing. She is a fashionista h and loves to show off her savoir faire of high fashion style.
Unfortunately the h lives in England and is not mixing with the high fashion type. She works with and at the beginning of the book is engaged to, the conservative business Captain of Industry, but seekritly skanky dude types.
The prologue is the h going to a party with her ambitious and womanizing fiance. She wears a daring scarlet dress, that hints at more than what it actually reveals, but this is really more of a test for her fiance.
It seems Mr. Fiance, that seekrit Lothario, is looking to advance in his career and wants the h to conform to the staid, boxy power suited career woman type.
The h and he have words prior to the party regarding the fiance's sudden demands that the h change her fashionista ways, but the orphaned h has spent a lifetime being abused by her Aunt guardian for her failure to conform and her utter lack of manageability and how she can't seem to control her happy, kind impulses.
The Aunt guardian is dead now, after leaving her vast fortune to the local church. But the h learned long ago not to bow to someone else's insistence that she tame her vivid and happy vibrantly dressed ways for a more conventional outlook.
The h is also a unicorn groomer, but continually runs into the sexist view that if she dresses more flamboyantly, she must be the epitome of a Trollopy Tart.
The h feels kinda bad for fighting with her fiance, so when he abandons her at the party, she goes to find him and kiss and make up. She thinks it is her fiance outside on the balcony and she goes running out in true Gypsy Rose Lee style and flings herself into the man on the balcony's arms.
There is a big roofie kissing moment and by the weakening of her knees, the h realizes that in the dark and the shadows, she has just kissed the wrong man. She runs off and later finds out that the man she kissed with such contrite enthusiasm was her fiance's boss.
The fight between the fiance and the h on the way home that night marks the end of the h's engagement, she believes life is much to short to put up with a domineering, probably cheating bully who only wants to make her into something she has no desire to be.
The H is the guy the h kissed on the balcony and two things are relevant about him. First he is the half brother of the h's new boss and five years earlier he and his half brother got engaged to the same girl via her gold digger tarty scheming manipulations.
(DH gives us too much of the H's POV in this, the gold digger, tarty scheming manipulation denigrations are straight from the H's thoughts.)
This led to some tension between the two men and now the H's mother wants her other son, (the h's boss,) to marry the girl next door - but the h's boss has no intention of submitting to his mother's meddling marital arrangements.
Since the H and the half brother boss's mum's birthday is coming up, the h's boss asks the h to accompany him to the parental country home for a weekend visit.
The boss wants to give the impression that he and the h are a couple, mainly because the woman his mother has picked out for him has been mooning over him for years and he isn't too keen on an infatuated young lady who can't seem to get a coherent sentence out.
We all go the parental country home and as soon as the H sees the h, the tarty trollop tart shaming denigration begins.
The H says it out loud to the h's face and mentally reiterates many, many, many times about how much of a skanky bimbo the h is - to the H she is just like his and his half brother's former mutual fiance and the H decides it is his familial duty to do something about that, before she really sinks her hooks into to the H's half brother.
The H seems to blame the h for dumping her ex-fiance too. He is shown to think that the h is a horrible person for dumping a man than even the H admits was a notorious shady lady chaser, whose bedroom antics were legendary both within and without the H's company.
The H clearly believes that the h had no room to complain or argue about whatever treatment her slime pustule ex meted out and he never asks the h why she is no longer engaged, he just assumes that she got distracted by the lure of a wealthier guy when his half brother hired her.
Then there is the H's little nagging thoughts that the h's kiss was the best the H ever had in his life and in a spirit of noble sacrifice, he decides to kidnap the h to his nearby weekend cottage and seduce the h as is his hypocritical manly male right.
But the h believes the H is engaged and tho she is trembling fiercely from the Treacherous Body Lurve Force Mojo syndrome, she calls a halt to the seduction moves by reminding the H of his engagement and decides to leave the next morning.
Earlier at the H's mother's birthday dinner, the h noticed the woman the mum picked out a the future wife for the h's boss and it is obvious the girl is massively in love with the man. The h decides to give the girl a bit of helpful advice, namely treat the H's half brother mean and that will make him keen.
The lovelorn girl pays attention to the h's words and is soon driving the half brother mad when she completely ignores the H's half brother for the charms of some other equally handsome local men.
The H arranges to get the h back to London, after implying to his entire family and their guests that the h was an easy tarty trollop pick up who couldn't wait to jump into his cottage bed for the night.
The h stupidly returns to work with the half brother the next week and instead of reading him the riot act over his assumptions about what happened with the H, the h just wants to dress in drab gray and weep.
The h's boss then decides to really get into the spirit of pimping this h out and he sends her off for a week with the H. (The H put his thinking cap on and decided to get the h alone and isolated where he could work out all his lustful thoughts of the h out on her body.) So the H tells his brother he needs the h for an Italian business trip and the brother agrees the H can have her.
(The implication that the H can pump and dump the h is made very clear, tho the h's boss pretends he is just indulging the h's need for a mutual fling-completely disregarding the h's stated reluctance to be isolated with the H feelings.
The boss also tells the h that since his brother helped him when his business was starting out, he can have whatever he demands and the h finally yells at him and tells him he is nothing but a sewer gulping panderer and she is going to resign when she gets back.)
The h is too busy trying to correct her boss's wrong impression that she and the H are lovers to make it clear to the H that she doesn't want to leave, but there is none so blind or as totally tacky as an HP secondary Pimp Daddy character, so it is off to Italy we all go.
The h is really honest about herself as the H questions her closely over the course of the next week. She explains about her clothing choices and why she broke up with her ex-fiance. She also tells the H about why she kissed him on the balcony.
The H maybe sorta believes her, but his inner monologue tart shaming the h is still massive. Even when the h explains that she wants a husband, a home and a family, the H is still going on about getting his sweaty paws all over her.
Of course eventually the H wears the h down and she thinks she is in love and the H is all excited because he is getting his lurve club groove on. He doesn't seem to notice that the unicorns are dropping their little brushes and crying into their pretty pastel ribbons.
Eventually the h is able to complete the business deal the H brought her over for and the h goes back to work in England, convinced that she and the H are at the start of a beautiful romance.
Until she gets back to work and her boss explains about how he and the H got taken in by a scheming gold digger who tried to use both of them. Suddenly it all becomes clear to the h that the H was playing her to 'rescue' his half brother. The h doesn't even bother to tell her boss off, she just mopes around until the H shows up.
The H shows up and in a total 180 flip around, he is ready to propose. Apparently he decided that the h was good enough in bed to overlook her being a gold digging harlot, with the proper prenuptial agreement.
But the h is tired of being slighted by both the H and her boss and she lies and tells the H that she has found an nice elderly pet food billionaire to shack up with instead.
The H is hurt and the h is full of mopeyness. Then the h's boss decides that the h should be condemned to a lifetime of tart shaming with his beloved older half brother. He massively lies to the h to get her to his parent's country house. He claims he explained his and the H's lies to their parents and that they are quite happy to have the highly embarrassed h visit them again.
The h reluctantly goes, mainly because the family friend girl who finally got the h's boss to propose to her wanted her to come so she could thank the h for her advice. When the h gets there, the whole thing is a set up so the H can bully the h into marrying him. He is trying to forget that she is really a tart at heart and he is sure tying her down with six children will keep her too busy to cheat on him. .
The h is so lost to Treacherous Body Syndrome that she doesn't even care that her boss has basically prostituted her out. She agrees to marry the H and he claims he loves her and at the wedding, the h wears a figure hugging scarlet dress to prove that all is right DH's corner of HPlandia once again.
This one went to ludicrous extremes with the assumptions about the h's supposed Trollopy Tarthood. The only decent characters besides the h was the lovelorn girl and the H's father.
Frankly both the h and the erstwhile sorta OW lovelorn girl deserved better heroes than what they got stuck with. The H's mother is a bit of a problem too, but the H's father was really nice and how he got a son like the H is a total mystery.
This book is fine if you like the big misunderstanding drama. But if tart shaming wears you out and double standards just make you grab up your biggest cast iron skillet, you might want to pick a different HP outing and run away or at least have a quadruple Captain Consult if you run into this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 7, 2014
Adorable! It made me feel all lovey inside! It was definitely a great novel, if not a bit emotional.
March 11, 2014
sweet and a very light holiday read. I loved the heroine :)
June 23, 2024
This was alright. The first quarter is a slog! But finally when the hero takes the cotton out of his ears and starts thinking with his brain we got going. Who is interested in the woman both the hero and brother got engaged to? She sounded wild! Eh not a bad read.
August 25, 2024
Loved it
January 25, 2021
" Η νύφη με τα κόκκινα"- Diana Hamilton, Χρυσό 955,έτος έκδοσης στην Ελλάδα: 1999.
Πολύ ωραία δουλειά από την Diana Hamilton!!!!
Πολύ ωραία δουλειά από την Diana Hamilton!!!!
April 4, 2016
Pretty good but Some of the plotting didn't hold together very well. The hero and heroine wildly mistaking each other's actions and I'm like "really? you got that wild ass idea from what he/she just said? Only so that you could have a wild reaction to it because a normal person wouldn't have thought/believed that."
May 27, 2014
3.5 stars
The H was really misguided until she straighten him up.
The H was really misguided until she straighten him up.
own-but-wont-read-or-wallbanger
March 22, 2018Scarlet bride
The first time Daniel Faber met Annie Kincaid he knew she was a danger to his bachelor status. Mistaking him for someone else, she'd thrown herself into his arms dressed provocatively in scarlet silk.
The next time they met, Daniel was convinced that Annie was not only his brother's secretary, but also his mistress! Whisking her off to Italy, Daniel intended to persuade Annie to wear scarlet silk again�but this time as a wedding dress
The first time Daniel Faber met Annie Kincaid he knew she was a danger to his bachelor status. Mistaking him for someone else, she'd thrown herself into his arms dressed provocatively in scarlet silk.
The next time they met, Daniel was convinced that Annie was not only his brother's secretary, but also his mistress! Whisking her off to Italy, Daniel intended to persuade Annie to wear scarlet silk again�but this time as a wedding dress
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews