"Dangerous in Diamonds" by Madeline Hunter

The fourth and final installment of the "Rarest Blooms" series features Daphne Joyes, the proprietor of The Rarest Blooms flower business and the Duke of Castleford, a rich, bored, and unrepentant rake.  He is immediately smitten with the beautiful and ethereal Daphne, but she wants nothing to do with him until her business and home are threatened by his unexpected inheritance of the land on which they sit.

I had been looking forward to this book because the Duke is so spectacularly bold in his delight of being scandalous and Daphne is so upstanding and does not suffer rakes with seduction in mind.  Unfortunately, it moved rather slowly and did not really hold my attention until about 150 pages into it when the two protagonists finally become three dimensional characters.  The evil Duke of Latham, who played a big part in Daphne's secret past, unites the couple in unexpected ways and brings the book to an intriguing and satisfying conclusion.  359 pages.

For my posts of the other three books in this series, see "Ravishing in Red," "Provocative in Pearls," and "Sinful in Satin."