In the opening scene of Red Roses Mean Love, Stephen Barrett, Marquis of Glenfield, is viciously attacked as he travels through a forest. Unconscious and badly injured, Stephen is rescued by 26-year-old gentlewoman Hayley Albright and her two servants. When Stephen wakes up in the Albright home, he realizes that someone is trying to kill him. To protect himself, and the Albrights, Stephen tells everyone that he is a tutor, the penniless Stephen Barrettson. Hayley, the eldest child in a family of orphans, invites Stephen to stay with them until he is well enough to travel. Stephen stays with the family for many weeks. As he recovers, he acquires many of the skills of everyday life not afforded to the heir to a dukedom. These include learning to clean fish, wash dogs and weed gardens but Stephen also learns to live as part of a lively and loving family. And so we are given one of the classic romance settings: that of an injured nobleman, traveling incognito, who learns that the really valuable things in life cannot be bought with money.

There’s a lot to like in this charming book, not the least of which is the eccentric Albright family. Hayley’s father was a sea captain. Though he left his children penniless, they have the benefit of a large house, land and some wonderful servants who hail from his old ship. The children insult each other with lines from Shakespeare, the servants Grimsley and Winston say things like “Chain me to a gunwale and slap me with a sextant,” and the cook Pierre, regularly threatens to murder the cat.

Initially Stephen, whose personality was formed by a cold and loveless upbringing, is lost with these people. He trusts no one and expects nothing. The unruly Albrights with their outdoor tutoring sessions and spontaneous splashing games in the nearby pond, appall him. It takes Stephen some time to realize that it is he, and not the Albrights, who should change. Complicating matters is the fact that Stephen is passionately attracted to Hayley. So attracted that he cannot sleep at night. For the first time in his life he puts another person’s welfare above his own when he resists the urge to seduce her.

Unfortunately, whenever Stephen wants to protect Hayley, he finds himself being cruel to her. He kisses her passionately, then leaves her without a word. He ignores her at a party and flirts with another woman, thinking that it would be better for her to form an attachment to another man. Hayley is alternately attracted to Stephen and confused by his behavior. As for this reviewer, Stephen’s attitude got old fast. I started wondering just how intelligent he was. The man needed sensitivity training in a big way.

Hayley is one of the sweetest, least selfish heroines I’ve run across in a long time. She has sacrificed her life for her family and thinks nothing of it. Her love for Stephen is so honest and innocent, that when she tells him she loves him, our hearts break for her.

What keeps this entertaining book from being a keeper is Stephen’s Big Secret (cousin to the Big Misunderstanding) which goes on for far too long. Once he has given into his urges and finally made love to Hayley, there really is no excuse for not telling her the truth about his identity. Instead, Stephen abandons Hayley and breaks her heart. His reason is that he cannot bear to face her when she finds he has lied to her.

Does this make sense? What is she going to say, “Gee honey, now that I know that you are an incredibly rich marquis and not a penniless tutor, I’m just too disappointed?” After all, the man was lying because somebody was trying to kill him. Sounds like a good reason to me.

The conclusion to the book is satisfying despite the convolutions in the plot. The identity of the villain is a bit forced and unbelievable but the reconciliation between Stephen and Hayley is wonderful. Horrible as Stephen’s behavior was, I forgave him when he begged for forgiveness. This is one hero who knows how to grovel.

This is Jacquie D’Alessandro’s first book and I will be looking for more of her work in the future. It is entertaining and well written, with none of the amateurish phrasing that sometimes spoils first novels. Red Roses Mean Love may not be a perfect book, but it is a very entertaining one, especially if you like cold tortured heroes who learn to warm up to the love and friendship all around them. I’m very glad that I had the opportunity to read it.