...innocents rushes in!

Never Entice an Earl (One Scandalous Season #2) by Lily Dalton  

Foolish innocent brave girl! How could she know that her eager effort to save her friend would end with her being half naked on the stage of a brothel just as the police raided it.
I must admit I really liked Lady Daphne Bevington. Her character was loyal and naive. That naivety was totally dangerous, to her! Yet her loyalty to her friend and lady's maid Kate Fickett, means that Daphne is willing to cut across the class boundaries with a disingenuous disregard for her own safety and reputation. One could view her action of taking Kate's place and descending into such a lewd place of entertainment as an action taken due to her  protected environment, or of a mistaken sense of her abilities to deal with problems. I think there's a bit of both. Really Daphne's inability to recognize the truth of social conditions outside her class, leads her into trouble with a capital 'T'.  Daphne just did not conceive that she would be a target as a young attractive female in a male dominated sleazy establishment that catered to expensive and questionable sexual habits. Her experience of the life challenges faced by the those in the lower social echelons, in the underbelly of London where life is cheap, was nil. Of course, that capital 'T' Trouble did follow her, in spades!   
Kate is also being pursued by the Marquess of Rackmorton, a lord of less than stellar reputation, a degenerate rakehell. He is looking to take an innocent bride and Kate has caught his fancy.
Meanwhile Lord Cormack Northmore is searching for the individual who destroyed his sister.
In that search Cormack and Daphne's paths cross. Daphne, keen to preserve her reputation which is teetering on the edge of tatters should her exploits be discovered, hides her true identity. Naturally, misunderstandings add to the twists and turns thrown across the path of true love, bringing varying satisfying degrees of tension to the storyline. All in all, a very enjoyable read.

A NetGalley ARC

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