No one notices the hired help!

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by Valerie Bowman   

** 1/2

A reasonably light hearted Regency romance with the plot revolving around three nobleman who end up at a 'ton' house party posing as footmen, or a groom.
(As an aside these house parties are obviously places fraught with Intrigue and danger--for everyone!)
It started off with Lucas Drake, the new fifth Earl of Kendall, who resigned his naval career post his brother's death. He knows he has to marry but he doesn't want to marry an empty headed, flittering social butterfly, he's looking for someone with a 'true' heart. Avoiding the debutante corps and their mothers is important. He convinces one friend to hold a house party where he will be installed as a footman. Two of his friends decide to join him, placing a bet as to whose disguise would be first uncovered.
The Earl has another major goal he's been pursuing, to drum up support amongst his fellow Lords for the Employment Bill his brother had been putting before Parliament.
Enter the politically passionate overlooked Miss Frances Wharton who does notice servants, but herself is totally overlooked by the ton except for Sir Reginald Francis the  older, self-absorbed suitor her mother is pushing her upon. Lucas and Frances, after some interesting scenes, discuss the Bill. Lucas finds that Frances is opposed to it. That's tough because he's not opposed to her. Of course the obvious conundrum and upset becomes how to reveal himself to her.
A lightweight read for this first in this series.

An Xpresso ARC via NetGalley

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