...deception and hurt!

The Harlot Countess (Wicked Deceptions #2) by Joanna Shupe

Rotter! Cad! I don't know who I was angrier at in the opening scenes--the bounder, the trusted friend, or the unsympathetic virulent females of the ton.    

Maggie has suffered, been attacked and she is the one who has fingers pointed at her, not the bounder who caused the problem.
And then her so called more-than-friend turned his back on her? Well, shame on him and on the rest of the hyaena pack masquerading as the ton!
Ten years later Maggie is back in London, using her reputation as the 'Irish harlot' to ensure her freedom, harbouring a heady secret life as the painter and salacious cartoonist Lemarc and quietly working to improve the lot of prostitutes.
Simon Barrett, Earl of Winchester has never stopped wanting Maggie. He turned his back on her once. He does not intend to do so again. Certainly they have the occasional very steamy and heady interaction, drawn as they are to each other.
Unfortunately all does not go swimmingly and Simon has much ground to cover--ground made rockier by his continued failure to fully understand and appreciate Maggie's position.
For some reason I felt the ending sort of petered out. Sure there was excitement and skulduggery but that just didn't quite cinch it for me.

A NetGalley ARC