Free Sin With a Scoundrel: The Husband Hunters Club by Sara Bennett Page A

manufacturing business. Tobacco,” said her father enthusiastically. “One of the most useful products of our times, I believe. The doctor put me onto it to help ease my nerves, and it has done wonders for me.”
    John smiled. “I don’t actually manufacture tobacco. It grows in the Americas, and I import it and refine it locally in my factory—make it a little more palatable for the British market.”
    “I wonder you can’t make it smell any better, then,” said Tina, who abhorred her father’s addiction to smoking.
    John chuckled. “Believe me we do our best, Miss Smythe. Do you know, it isn’t just men who smoke tobacco, there are many women, too.”
    “I have often thought of taking it up myself,” Lady Carol said, and earned herself a beaming smile from Mr. Little. “Ring for some tea, darling,” Lady Carol instructed her daughter. “You’re not in a rush are you, Mr. Little?”
    Tina hoped he was, but he leaned back in the chair, completely at home in their drawing room. “Not at all, Lady Carol. I’d be delighted to join you for tea.”
    John Little had been to most of the exotic places Tina had read about as well as quite a few she’d never heard of, and despite herself, she was swept up in his tales. If only Horace would call in and see her enjoying the company of another man, her morning would be complete.
    Lady Carol was sipping her tea and seemed to be deep in thought. She had been rather subdued ever since she discovered just how wealthy Mr. Little was. Tina watched her uneasily, only half listening to her father speaking enthusiastically with Mr. Little. Mama was up to something, and it didn’t take long for her to discover what it was.
    “We should have a dinner party! It has been such a long time. We could invite the Thompsons, Horace, Mr. Little of course and perhaps Sir Henry and Lady Isabelle? What do you think?”
    Sir Thomas looked momentarily as if he’d been stuffed, as well he might. They had been dining on pigs’ trotters and cabbage all week, and his best brandy had been watered down until it hardly tasted like brandy at all. But something urgent in his wife’s fixed expression must have impressed upon him the importance of his reply, and at this point Sir Thomas would do anything in his power to please his wife.
    “As you wish, my dear. A dinner party. Yes, hmm, good idea.”
    “Mama,” Tina murmured, anxious to catch her mother’s attention. “Mama, there is no need—”
    But Lady Carol was well away with her plans, and even Sir Thomas was becoming quite caught up in the idea.
    Tina noticed that Mr. Little was entranced by her mother. Was it the fact Lady Carol had decided upon a dinner party, just because she liked him, that had won him over? And to be fair, Lady Carol did like him—Sir Thomas certainly did—but her mother also liked the fact that John Little was a wealthy man, and he’d called promptly upon her daughter after one meeting.
    Mr. Little finally made his excuses and left, pressing a gallant kiss to Lady Carol’s hand and promising to be present at the dinner party. He’d stayed well over the allotted time for first calls, Tina noted, but no one but herself seemed to notice or care.
    “Tina, we must have some more ladies,” her mother burbled. “We have too many men. Are there any young ladies you would like to invite?”
    Tina had lost touch with her London acquaintances while she’d been away at finishing school. For a moment she wondered whether she could ask Olivia or Marissa or Averil or Eugenia, but of course they would be busy with their own husband-hunting plans. No, she would have to think of someone else. But the only name that came readily to mind was Anne Burgess. As soon as she said it she wished she hadn’t. Anne was far too attractive and would take Horace’s attention away from her. So she hastily added Margaret Allsop, who wasn’t quite so attractive and rather more dull than Anne.
    This afternoon Richard Eversham must help