3.5 stars. This won't win any awards for originality but Stuart's skillful execution of some admittedly well worn tropes was pleasing to me as a reader. Stuart writes well, her plotting is brisk and she packs plenty of intrigue into 270 pages. We've got secret identities and double crosses, murder and other assorted mayhem, marital infidelities, secret accidental funding of Irish terrorism, and of course the steadily increasing sexual tension between Bryony and Adrian as Bryony goes undercover as a housekeeper in Adrian's household to investigate the death of her unjustly disgraced father. 
 The romance is based primarily on flirtation and sexual attraction. There's lots of fun banter and heat and longing. Generally, I would like a romance story to feature a longer courtship and a more substantive connection between the leads beyond the carnal but in this case I enjoyed Briony and Adrian's dynamic even if I acknowledge it was kind of shallow. I liked Briony and Adrian a lot as individual characters, and I totally bought into their compatibility. 
 I look forward to continuing this series.