Heaven Scent Read Free Page A

massive oak desk sitting atop a two-foot
pedestal, to the medieval suits of armor looming large on either
side of the picture window behind him.
    He was the youngest son of an English
duke, living in America where nobility did not receive the respect
it did in the mother land. So her father created it for himself,
demanding it from all who encountered him. And in most cases, he
received it from the Brahmin, the elite of Boston
society.
    But for Tarin, Henry Worthington was
simply a man that loved her. After her mother died, he had moved
her to America to give them both a new start. He had given Tarin
everything she ever wanted, and she was certainly grateful for the
good fortune. She had done her best to show him the respect and
love he deserved.
    But under no circumstances would she
allow him – or any man – to intimidate her.
    “Father,” she said from the gleaming
marble floor in front of his desk, “I cannot make it. I am
collecting petition signatures at the lectures this
afternoon.”
    Henry ripped the glasses off his face
and pointed a finger at her. “You assured me when you started this
nonsense about helping Gregory with that women’s medical college
that it would not interfere with my business. Yet, here we are,
arguing about it once again.”
    “I am not arguing with you, Father,”
she replied with an easy smile. “I am simply notifying you that I
have other plans. That is all.”
    “The evening party is at seven
o’clock,” her father said. “Your lecture starts at three and a
half. Surely that gives you ample time to collect your signatures
and do whatever women do to ready themselves for such an
affair.”
    What she wouldn’t tell her father was
the fact that the signature drive was not going well. Tarin would
sit outside the lecture hall until morning if it gained her
signatures.
    Tarin and her friend, Kitty, were
working six days a week to help Dr. Gregory gain legislative
approval for the first female medical college in the country. They
hoped to have legislative approval by summer.
    The approval would be a major step in
educating American women in the field of medicine, and put Tarin
one step closer to becoming a physician. It was an uphill battle
against a society that did not approve of female physicians, but
Dr. Samuel Gregory had given her a hope she never thought she’d
see. She would not allow the effort to fail.
    Tarin squinted at her father. Why did
he want her at this particular function? He had attended this type
of gathering alone before. A suspicion niggled at her
brain.
    “Father, is this another of your
matchmaking schemes?”
    Henry’s face reddened as he glanced
down at his desk and shuffled papers.
    “No, Tarin, it is not. The Sutherlands
have invited us to a small gathering at their home. I am
considering their business to ship some of my goods. I am at my
wits end with Hunter and his shipping crew. My crates are forever
arriving opened, damaged or missing altogether.”
    The Sutherlands were another of the
elite families of Boston society. Colin Sutherland passed on a year
or so ago, leaving one of the biggest shipping businesses on the
Eastern seaboard to his youngest son, Patrick.
    The responsibility wore on him. Each
time she saw Patrick at church or a society ball, he looked a
little older, as though the worries of the business were slowly
killing him.
    Out of all of her past suitors, Patrick
Sutherland had been the only one to pique her interest. But that
interest was short-lived when she learned he was narrow-minded like
all of the others. He wanted a wife that would stay home, manage
the household, have children, and be waiting for him in bed when he
decided to come home. A career was out of the question.
    Therefore, so was Patrick.
    “What is the latest on Rafe Sutherland,
Father? Is he well?”
    “Yes,” he replied, the color steady in
his face. “In her post, Isabel said her son is fit. She thanks
heaven above and General Zachary Taylor for getting him to