The Illegitimate Duke: Diamonds in the Rough, Book 3

Barnes’s third Diamonds in the Rough Regency (after The Duke of Her Desire) revels in the power of unconditional love. Florian Lowell, a well-respected London physician and recent heir to a dukedom, bemoans his status as a very eligible bachelor. Juliette Matthews, sister of the Duke of Huntley, has admired Florian for his skills as a physician, and is somewhat surprised by her attraction to him at a London ball. Juliette soon becomes a committee member at St. Agatha’s Hospital, where Florian works, and donates a sizable sum to stop the spread of typhus. But Florian tries to resist his attraction to the beautiful Juliette, believing that he has been tainted by his notorious father’s crimes. When Juliette contracts typhus while nursing a friend, Florian takes her into his home to care for her and realizes that he can no longer ignore his love for her. Barnes’s fast-paced novel is complete with ever-present sizzling sexual tension between Florian and Juliette, whose romance is counterbalanced by the realism of medical advances of the times. (Sept.)