The Reluctant Dutchess by Roseanna M. White.

 Rowena Kinnaird is the heiress of a Scottish Earldom, and in line to be the wife of the next Kenneret clan leader.  But her intended is not the ideal suitor she had imagined, and since her mother's suicide, her father has also become abusive. In walks the Brice Myerston, the rock solid Christian friend from the first book in series, and now the Duke of Nottingham. Following promptings from God, he rescues Rowena, and they start the slow hard process of trying to get to know and love each other.  Meanwhile, Brice is still the owner of the ill fated red diamonds, and Lady Pratt, now widowed, is still determined to make them hers.

This is the second in the series that started with The Lost Heiress.  I liked that one, and I think I may have liked this one even better.  Brice is just such a nice guy.  He listens to and follows spiritual promptings, even when he doesn't understand them and when they are asking him to do something hard.  He is kind and patient and unselfish. Rowena is also a well drawn and interesting character.  I think she is believably traumatized and her response to Brice and their situation, and how long it takes her to come to trust him, is realistic.  One of the highlights of the book is the reader of the audio version.  She slips easily between Rowena's Scottish accent and Brook's French accent.  I was most impressed when she did Rowena trying to talk like an English aristocrat, but still sounding like a Scot. 

Like the first in the series, the plot about the diamonds was really just a side story to tie this book to the first.  It is a little more integrated into this book's plot, but still not much.  I guess the author just needs a device to make the stories feel like a series instead of stand alone books. (2016, 400 p)