Something about this story resonates with me. I love marriage of convenience romances – I suspect more than a few marriages even in the US or UK are made for convenience instead of love – and Man of Velvet is written very well. Neither character loves the other at first, in fact they dislike and distrust and the love surprises and grows slowly as they come to know each other. There is a nasty Other Woman, a little boy, minions galore with housekeeper, butler and maids, a semi-Other Man, lovely setting, rich descriptions. What’s not to like?

Plot Synopsis – Skip to Avoid Spoilers

Man of Velvet starts with Diana doing a bit of housebreaking, entering Caleb’s country home via the French doors into the library. Her mission: Retrieve her younger sister Deana’s love letters to Caleb’s brother Barrett who died recently in a car accident. Unfortunately Caleb is there and finds her in the library, tries to seduce her until Diana taunts him that he is less-skilled a lover than his brother. Diana knows Caleb thinks she was the woman Barrett was in love with but that’s OK with her; she and her sister intend to leave Connecticut as soon as Deanna has her baby.

One reason Deanna wanted her letters back is she feared Caleb would try to take her baby once born. Deanna was right to worry. She died having Barry, her baby, and Diana took him up to a tiny railway junction town in southeast Vermont. She had ended up there after her car broke down and she found a place to stay with the veterinarian’s family. Everyone assumes Diana is Barry’s mother and she lets that assumption ride.

Two years the story gets going. Diana is returning to Vermont from a trip to Hartford Connecticut to deliver her watercolor book illustrations. She and Steven, the son of the publishing company owner, hit it off and Steven intends to follow up. Unbeknownst to Diana, when she gets off the train and meet Barry and her landlady’s family, Caleb is in the train crossing the junction. He recognizes her, realizes the boy must be his dead brother’s child, and decides to come and get Barry and take Diana too.

Caleb shows up a few days later, tells Diana he will get custody of Barry, spend whatever it takes – despite the fact that she is (as far as he knows) Barry’s mother, not his aunt – and that she can come along too as his wife. Diana didn’t think the law would necessarily protect Barry and her from Caleb, especially given she is actually the aunt, not the mom. She tries to head Caleb off by getting fake engaged to Steven but it doesn’t work and Caleb drags her off to the Justice of the Peace.

The wedding scene is hilarious because Barry doesn’t stop crying and Caleb keeps telling JP to hurry it up. Diana is wearing jeans and she’s clearly not at all happy while the JP and his wife are dumbfounded.

They get back to Hartford and start living together, although Diana refuses to sleep with Caleb. The servants all like her and Barry and Caleb introduces them to his friends. Caleb agrees that Diana can continue being friends with Steven provided they only meet at Diana’s home.

The big problem is Irene, Barrett’s widow, who was supposedly crippled in the car accident that killed Barrett. Caleb essentially coerced Barrett into marrying Irene; Irene really wanted Caleb but settled for Barrett for his money. She is ice cold, manipulative, devious and wants Caleb. Somehow Caleb, who is ordinarily sharp in business and people, allows Irene to deceive him over and over; she uses tears and self-pity to guilt Caleb into believing her. She used to run to Caleb every time Barrett didn’t do what she wanted and eventually Barrett ignored both her and Caleb’s pressure and fell in love with Deanna.

Irene doesn’t like Diana and wants to displace her but realizes she need to be ambulatory if she wants Caleb to ever marry her. Irene informs Diana that Barrett had told her that he wanted a divorce to marry the girl he loved, that she herself had been driving the car and deliberately had gone off the road because she knew Barrett was not in his seatbelt although she was, and she figured she had a good chance of living although Barrett likely would die. Yes, she is that hateful.

Author Terrill shows us Caleb and Diana becoming more aware of each other, liking each other more and being attracted to each other through a couple scenes. Caleb tries to seduce and/or talk Diana into bed but she resists. Diana doesn’t want Caleb to know that she is not Barry’s mother and she does want to punish him for forcing her into marriage. She teases him a few times and Caleb sees her with Steven (and Steven’s almost fiancée) and he decides he wants her and intends to sleep with her. Caleb gives a huge party every year for his business and at the end of the evening, after Diana has teased him verbally and provoked him by flirting, he tries to make love to her. Diana tells him it’s not on, that she hopes he aches all night and that it’s her revenge for forcing her to Hartford.

Caleb goes into her room and forcibly seduces her. To be blunt it starts as rape but quickly becomes mutual. Caleb realizes Diana is a virgin and thus not Barry’s mother. She explains and they seem to have a happy future together.

Irene won’t let that happen. She does everything she can to make trouble between Caleb and Diana, guesses that Barry is actually her dead husband’s child, not Caleb’s, and hysterically calls Caleb to tell him that Diana gleefully told her. This is not true and Diana tells Caleb off, but the downslope starts.

Diana knows Irene can walk. She overhears Irene telling Caleb that yes, she is just beginning to walk (not true, she walks well now) and that it means they can be together, they can have a life together. Diana is hurt and furious. It seems Caleb takes Irene’s word over hers, always lets Irene get her own way and puts Irene ahead of Diana. She takes Barry and goes back to Vermont.

Caleb comes once and she tries to explain but they are both too angry and hurt. Eventually Caleb’s housekeeper tells Diana that Caleb is terribly ill and that, oh, by the way, Irene left and won’t be back. Diana packs Barry up and hightails it back to Caleb. I love you and happy ever after.

Characters and Emotional Connections

The genius of Man of Velvet is the slow growing of intense emotions between Caleb and Diana. Neither wants to admit how important the other has become and both want to shield themselves from emotional hurt. Caleb once had been jilted by his fiancée for a richer man and Diana saw how cold and controlling Caleb was with his brother. Diana also fears that Caleb will realize she is not Barry’s mother, presumably fearing that he might divorce her and keep Barry if he knows she is only the aunt.

The four vignettes that show Caleb and Diana increasingly interested in each other are richly detailed and feel real. Barry gets bee stung and Caleb helps remove the stinger, puts him to bed, then lies down with Diana to comfort her. Comfort turns to arousal, then to passion. Diana recognizes that Caleb has handed her a weapon for revenge. She starts looking for an opportunity to get Caleb aroused so she can turn him down. Nasty yes, but deserved.

The next week or so Diana is edgy and irritable – we can surmise it’s partly due to sexual frustration – and Caleb organizes a house party at the country home where Diana retrieved her sister’s letters and met Caleb. They end up having to share a room and bed two nights and there’s a bit more teasing and attempted seduction in between friendship, fun, trips to craft shops and walks in the country.

The last scenes that precipitate seduction are at Caleb’s grand party. He comes home early and finds Steven is putting sun lotion on Diana, then he takes over the job and makes it clear he’s claiming possession.

At the party Diana has to listen to Irene make little innuendos and barbed comments all during dinner and she retaliates by mentioning to Caleb, in front of other people, that they could get an annulment. Caleb gets rid of the company, carries Irene back to her room (since she supposedly can’t walk and doesn’t like to use her crutches or wheelchair), then comes to Diana and kisses her, arouses her. Diana realizes this is her opportunity and asks Caleb whether he wants her. Yes. He does. Well, the answer is NO. Caleb recognizes this is her revenge and Diana runs upstairs to her room. She’s restless and knows she is as frustrated as Caleb but she still doesn’t want sexual intimacy with him. He comes in and that’s that.

Irene watches the entire time that Caleb and Diana are falling in love and she escalates her campaign to remove Diana and replace her. First she pulls away as Diana hands her a tea cup, to make it look as though Diana is ignorant and clumsy, then she hands Barry a costly, large glass unicorn which he breaks, disparages him to make people think he’s as clumsy as Diana. She complains about Diana and Barry to Caleb, cries and tries to make him feel guilty and sorry for her. She tells Diana that she knew Barrett was having an affair (supposedly with Diana) and that was why she caused the accident, that she knew Barrett had given the ambulance driver a message for his lover and makes it clear she is glad Barrett was dead.

Why Diana Leaves Caleb

Diana is fed up with being second to Irene and sick of the endless comments and Irene’s look-at-me act and tired of Caleb not putting her, his wife, first. Both Diana and Caleb know people could be unfaithful, and are not sure of each other, a rich earth for Irene’s lies. It is a culmination of little things, exacerbated by Irene telling her that now that she can walk and give him a son, Irene believes Caleb will divorce Diana and marry her. Irene is cutting, disparaging and vicious.

Later Diana is out when Caleb needs to fly to London at the last minute. He asks Irene to pass on the message to Diana that he’s going and wants to talk to her when he returns. Irene of course neglects to pass on anything other than Caleb told her, not Diana.

Caleb’s response when Irene tells him that she’s getting back the use of her legs is the final straw for Diana. When I read Caleb’s comments I can see why Diana felt she has lost Caleb to Irene: “Keep your mind on just one thing, what it means to me if you can walk again. Try please for me.” Irene: “It’s what I’ve always wanted, dreamed about – us. I’m sure, now that I can walk, we can have a life together.”

When Caleb comes after Diana he knows she saw him with Irene but it doesn’t mean to him what Diana thinks it means. Diana tells him she left to clear the way for him to get with Irene. He says that Diana couldn’t begin to guess what he needs, but he does not clear it up, instead tells her he knows she saw Steven several times and that he believes she left because she loves Steven. Diana is too emotionally spent to explain that Steven plans to marry his girlfriend or to confront Caleb about Irene.

The author doesn’t explain why Irene left after Diana had gone back to Vermont, but we can guess that she made a play for Caleb and he refused to divorce Diana and was pretty blunt about not loving or wanting Irene. While Diana was gone Caleb found a letter Barrett had written Deanna that made it clear he felt Caleb was partially at fault for having coerced him to marry Irene, that Irene took advantage of that over and over and that Barrett was done with Irene regardless whether she allowed a divorce. Caleb shows the letter to Diana when she comes home and apologizes for doubting what she had told him about Barrett and Deanna and Irene.

Diana

Diana is no fool and no patsy and no doormat. She had worked in an antique store for years before becoming an artist illustrating children’s books and she does not hesitate to state her opinion of some jade Caleb found for a friend. Irene tries to make Diana look foolish without success.

Diana is devoted to Barry. Not only is he Deanna’s child but Barry is a lovable sweet child with plenty of character. One touching scene is the bee sting incident; before the bee stung Barry he and Diana had been throwing grass clippings at each other and romping on the lawn. She gives up her freedom for Barry, marries Caleb whom she fears and resents in order to avoid a losing custody battle.

We see Diana as warm, caring, generous, open, honest, forthright, friendly. She makes friends with all the staff – this is the same staff that resent and dislike Irene for her temper and dishonesty. Diana doesn’t mince words except she is reticent about calling out Irene to Caleb. She doesn’t tell Caleb about the little nasty comments and tricks nor tell him that Irene can walk and walk well. She tries to tell Caleb about his brother’s marriage and defend her sister, but of course, Caleb doesn’t believe her.

Early in their marriage Caleb tells Diana she doesn’t need to work and he doesn’t want her to. Diana had earlier signed a contract for so many illustrations with Steven’s publishing company and tells Caleb she intends to keep her commitment. They agree that she may do so, that in exchange, she dresses better and wears fewer jeans and t shirts. I thought this was funny because Caleb is the original stick-to-the-agreement business guy yet he wants her to drop her contract. Surprisingly Diana goes along with it, primarily to keep the peace and because she is aware that she must dress better to move comfortably in Caleb’s world.

Normally no one likes a sexual tease but given the immense provocation of Caleb pressuring her into marriage, I admire Diana for finding a weapon, however distasteful, to use against him. Caleb knows what Diana is doing but he’s pretty sure he can overcome any reluctance.

Caleb

Caleb is one of those guys who doesn’t ever want to admit defeat and hates to be wrong. He found Diana attractive when he caught her looking for Deanna’s letters and started kissing her to the point where Diana was convinced he would not stop. He despised her yet wanted her. Caleb’s mixed feelings last for a few months until he gets to know Diana and realizes she’s a decent, loving and lovable person.

Caleb comes to love Barry, in fact he lets everyone believes he is Barry’s father and thus Diana’s lover. He comments to Diana that Barry will have everything that would have been Barrett’s,

Caleb is a pushover for Irene, especially when Irene cries. There’s guilt there but something else too. Caleb ignores Diana’s tears when he forcibly seduces her but when they are done he obviously feels something besides satisfaction. Tears unman him.

Caleb chose to be hard and cold. His mother left them when he was 17, his dad drank himself to death and nearly destroyed the company, his fiancée dumped him for a richer man when she realized how far down Caleb’s company had gotten. Now he’s worked hard to build his company back and he refuses to meet his mom and his stepdad and won’t extend friendship or forgiveness to the ex-fiancée. It’s intriguing that such a hard man who despises others who break their commitments is such easy prey for Irene.

Even after they sleep together Caleb somewhat distrusts Diana and keeps himself aloof. He takes her out that next morning to run and share “the best part of the day” with her, early morning, and he makes love to her again and again.

Things go downhill badly once Irene calls Caleb in hysterics because Diana supposedly had taunted her with Barry being Barrett’s son. Caleb believes Irene, chastises Diana, then later comes in their room to apologize and make peace. Diana pushes him away, hurt because he doesn’t trust her, doesn’t believe her, seems to value only their physical connection. After that he sleeps in a different room and leaves Diana completely alone. At this point neither has told the other I Love You, and both are wary.

After Diana leaves Caleb and Irene have a shouting match, after which Caleb makes her a settlement (small by Irene’s standards) before Irene goes to her sister’s. (The settlement plus Caleb’s comment about Barry inheriting Barrett’s share makes me wonder whether Barret had died without a will, or had left everything to his children and only the minimum amount to Irene.) Caleb tells Diana later that she had been right about several things, that Irene can walk very well and that she will never interfere in their lives again.

Other Man and Other Woman

Irene is partially the prototypical Harlequin Other Woman, except she uses guilt and what she believes her superior suitability, plus her supposed good looks. Typical of the genre Irene spends most of her viciousness on Caleb’s wife, Diana, and acts tearful and helpless and oh-so-hard-done-by with Caleb. She makes snide remarks about and to Diana in front of Caleb and it’s pretty clear that Caleb allows her a lot of latitude and doesn’t do much to stop her until after Diana leaves him. Caleb feels guilty about Irene which gives her a huge weapon; the story hints the guilt is because Caleb coerced his brother although Irene wants to believe the guilt is because Caleb regrets that he had not married her himself.

Irene lets Caleb think it had been his brother who was driving in the car accident that killed him. That adds to Caleb’s guilty feelings and makes him blame Diana not only for the anger and hurt she (supposedly) had caused Irene, but blames her for Barrett’s death. Caleb believes that Barrett and Irene had argued about Diana, thus causing the accident. This is another weapon Irene uses against Diana and Caleb.

Steve is not truly an Other Man. Diana tries to make Caleb think he is more important than he is but all their interactions are strictly friendship, not romantic. Steve is a lovely, uncomplicated man who makes no secret that he likes Diana and enjoys her company. He states right at the beginning that he’s not going to tangle with Caleb; he respects him and knows he can be ruthless.

Overall

I liked Man of Velvet so much I bought a copy even though it is available to read for free on Archive.org. Author Terrill captures the growing love between Diana and Caleb just the way I would imagine it would be given these characters and situation. The dislike and distrust dwindle and liking and trust grow and it feels real.

Neither Caleb nor Diana is the typical, off the shelf Harlequin hero or heroine. Both are more complex, motivated by much more than basic emotions or desires, and that makes them much more interesting characters than those in many category romances. In the end, the reason I like Man of Velvet so much is the love that grows between Caleb and Diana.

5 Stars

I got my paperback copy on Thriftbooks and you can usually find copies on Amazon, eBay and other used book sites or read on Archive.org.

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