I hoped to love this but I kept getting held back from really liking the heroine for some reason. The "three diamonds" are courtesans...a nice word for prostitute back then, only supposedly for one man at a time. And the heroine in this book is one of the three diamonds, a very popular trio. Events lead her to meet the Duke and all of London is abuzz with talk of the "Dangerous Duke" and the "Duchess of Dalliance". I couldn't get over the fact that Juliette wouldn't come clean about her past, and made no excuses for her supposed line of work; yet she expected Pelham to just accept her lifestyle. And of course, she got her feelings hurt when he wouldn't marry her and make her a true Duchess. What?! You're a prostitute! Not that people shouldn't be forgiven, but I think that the time frame of this novel is only two to three weeks. Give the man a break! He's a stuffy, pompous Duke! You have a reputation as a famous mistress, and you expect him to fall at your feet? Now, that's not to say that Pelham isn't quite the ass a couple of times. The man was downright cruel. But he changes quite drastically, and I just felt like Juliette expected major changes from him without even revealing her true self...let alone change to fit the title of Duchess. I'm oversimplifying the plot here, and I know that. This was just one of those books that didn't do much for me, for some reason.
