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

conversation with. I believe you helped Peterson to the altar. Saved him from the Fleet just in the nick of time by marrying him to that ugly heiress.”
    “It was Peterson who did the proposing, not I,” Richard said politely.
    “That wasn’t how I heard it,” Horace retorted, and his blue eyes gleamed with malice.
    “Heard what?” Charles Smythe had joined them, clearly eager to support his friend. He cast a look at Richard that was coolly disapproving. “I’m rather surprised you are here, Eversham. My mother wasn’t particularly pleased to know someone of your reputation was coming, I can tell you. You’d better not go near my sister.”
    “Now, Charles, mind your manners,” Gilfoyle said with quiet authority.
    Charles flushed and cleared his throat, like a puppy that’s been reprimanded. Obviously, Gilfoyle was the stronger personality in that friendship but not for much longer if Richard guessed right. Young Charles was finding his feet.
    “I can always eat in the kitchen,” Richard suggested mildly. “If you prefer?”
    Charles chose to make a joke of it, laughing with some relief, and a moment later it was time to go in to dinner.
    T ina was very much aware that although she had greeted their guests, she hadn’t spoken to everyone. There was one person she hadn’t been able to bring herself to approach.
    “Mr. Eversham is your father’s guest,” Lady Carol said dourly, when she’d whispered the shocked question after she first saw him. “Just ignore him. That’s what I intend to do.”
    So she had. Trying to understand why he was here, in her house, was too difficult for her just now, and really she couldn’t deal with it.
    Anne and Margaret gathered about her, perhaps sensing her inner turmoil. Anne was wearing a pale lemon dress with white lace, which suited her pale coloring beautifully, while Margaret wore a pale green gown, which contrasted nicely with her red curls. Indeed Margaret looked far more attractive than Tina had expected, and suddenly she was anxious about Horace’s wandering attention. But he didn’t seem to notice Margaret or Anne, and once he’d greeted her, he barely glanced at Tina either although she saw him laughing with Mr. Eversham.
    What was he doing here?
    When she first saw him, she thought she was seeing a ghost. Indeed, she’d been struck dumb by the sight of him in her familiar surroundings. It was all very well to imagine him by her side, but for him to be here, in flesh and blood . . . She was still shaken by his presence. Had he come to help her win over Horace? Did he really think she could remember any of his instructions, let alone put them into practice, while he was observing her with those warm gray eyes?
    It was a nightmare.
    If only she could get him alone, to question him, but her mother was watching her like a hawk.
    His being here is going to ruin everything.
    Lady Carol led them in to dinner, where they all took their places around the long, mahogany table. Tina found herself seated between Horace and John Little while Anne was between Horace and Charles, and Margaret sat on John’s other side. She was surrounded by friends, she reminded herself, and Richard Eversham was far, far away at the other end of the table.
    But she was aware of him. No matter how she tried to pretend he wasn’t there, his presence colored everything around her.
    He had kissed her. And she had asked him to do it again! What if her mother were to find out? What if he were to tell her? What if people could see it just from looking at the two of them?
    She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. This was getting ridiculous. He would never tell, and neither would she. No one would know, no one could know. Her connection with him was a secret between him and her.
    “Miss Smythe, are you feeling faint? You are very pale this evening.” It was John Little, wearing a worried frown as he peered into her face.
    Mr. Little seemed determined to claim her attention. He