A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin_The Debutante Files

Rosalie frowned. “Is it a high stake game?”

“Oh. Indeed. The only games to be had at Sodom are high stakes, but not in the manner you are thinking. So let us fetch her while she still has her clothes and hasn’t wagered away her virtue. I think that might be more than she bargained for at her first night at Sodom, don’t you agree?”

With a gasp, Rosalie quickened her pace, alarmed at the very prospect of Aurelia now naked in a room full of strangers.

Fortunately, when they found her she was still garbed and sitting at a table with none other than Lord Camden. Shirtless. She couldn’t see below the table to detect if he still wore his trousers, but he did not look too happy as he sat there—ostensibly losing at cards.

Rosalie stopped in the threshold. This room was better lit than the upstairs. Even with the wig and domino, there was a slight possibility he might recognize Aurelia.

She couldn’t hear what they were saying from across the room, but Aurelia’s lips were moving and her head was in that cocky angle of hers. Rosalie knew it meant her ire was up. Aurelia was annoyed, and if she wasn’t careful, the viscount would guess her identity, disguise or no disguise. They were quite familiar with each other, after all. Camden was one of her brother’s closest friends.

“Mrs. Bancroft,” she said, “would you mind having my friend meet me at the front door?”

“Of course.”

Rosalie watched for a moment as the proprietress made her way across the room, stopping at intervals to exchange pleasantries. She was the consummate hostess. She stopped at Aurelia’s table finally, patting the well-muscled shoulder of the viscount fondly. Of course he was a regular here, too—just like Dec—and the lady would know him.

Rosalie glanced over her shoulder, almost like she was expecting to find him there, conjured by the mere thought of him. She really needed to make herself scarce. If he saw her in this lighting, he’d take one look at her and know.

Suddenly, Aurelia was before her, face flushed and eyes bright with merriment. “Rosalie, how did it go?”

She shook her head. “We have to leave. I’ll tell you on the way home.”

Nodding, Aurelia followed her, holding her questions until they were in a hack and headed across town.

“Well?” her friend pressed, settling back on the squabs. “Did you have your first kiss then?”

“I saw Lord Camden was at your table,” Rosalie countered, not ready to talk about her kiss. “Did he recognize you?”

Aurelia made a snort and her flush deepened, creeping all the way down her throat into her décolletage. “That boor. Max only sees what he wants to see.”

“Did he recognize you?” she demanded. “Do you know for certain?”

Aurelia shrugged. “Possibly, but he wouldn’t have dared say anything. He wouldn’t risk ruining me. I’m Will’s sister. And Dec’s cousin. He wouldn’t be that inconsiderate of his friends.” This last bit was said with something of a sneer. As though she didn’t think he would refrain from ruining her reputation simply for her sake—only theirs.

Dread closed in on Rosalie, tightening her throat. If Camden mentioned seeing Aurelia at Sodom that night, Dec might walk down the path to concluding that she had been there, too.

Aurelia saw her expression and patted her hand reassuringly. “Max will not utter a word to anyone. Don’t look so sick. Trust me. Now tell me. Did you kiss—”

“Yes.”

The squabs squeaked as Aurelia adjusted her weight on the seat across from her. She fairly bounced in her eagerness. “Ohh, do tell. What was it like? What was he like? I’m sure Mrs. Bancroft wouldn’t have selected anyone for you short of—”

“He was like—” she cut in, pausing before adding, “Declan.”

Aurelia stopped bouncing where she sat on the squabs, her mouth dropping in a small O of shock.

“You kissed my cousin?”

Rosalie nodded. She needed to confide to someone, and as Aurelia was the only who could ever know about tonight, she was it.

“You and Declan kissed?” she pressed, as though that clarification were necessary in addition to this name.

Rosalie gave voice to her confirmation this time. “Yes.” Then she winced. “Or rather I kissed him.” She had flung herself at him.

“You did?”

“Well, the first time. And then he kissed me.” Properly. Thoroughly.

“But you initiated it?” If possible, Aurelia’s eyes grew even larger.

“I know,” Rosalie groaned, burying her face in her hands. “I shouldn’t have let it happen. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Yes, she did, but she wasn’t sharing with Aurelia that she found her cousin irresistible and the perfect candidate to act out all her wishes for something more.

“Well this is an amusing turn of events.”

Rosalie looked up from her hands and cut her a glare.

“Sorry,” Aurelia replied without an ounce of repentance. Clearing her voice, she attempted what she must have deemed to be the suitable amount of seriousness. “Did he know it was you?”

“Good God, no! No!” The idea made her skin itch. “And he can’t! He can’t ever know it was me.”

Aurelia nodded. Untying the strings from her mask, she dropped the fabric on the seat beside her. “Of course not.” She fell silent, her gaze speculative across the carriage.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Simply considering.”

“Considering what?”

“You and Declan.”

“There is no me and Dec. He’s trying to get rid of me, as you are well aware.”

“Yes. Rather desperately. Too desperately perhaps? I wonder why that is?”

Rosalie shook her head. “You read too much into this. He hates my mother and I am merely an extension of her.”

“I think that is a rather simplistic view. He might have thought that way in the beginning, but I’m sure he no longer does. Or he no longer will once he comes to know you better.”

Rosalie shrugged. Her gaze drifted to the small crack in the curtains and the passing buildings. “Really, this is moot. There is nothing more to say about it.”

“Well,” Aurelia continued. “You’ll be under his roof for the rest of the Season. Anything can happen. Perhaps you need to open yourself to the—”

Her gaze snapped back to Aurelia. “Nothing will happen.”

“But it already did.”

“And he doesn’t know that,” she reminded tartly.

Aurelia sniffed like it was a debatable point. “He wanted you tonight . . . I’d wager he wants you, Rosalie. That on some level, he knew it was you tonight. He just needs to realize it.”

Rosalie stared at her, stunned. “No. He does not need to realize it.” He must not. “Please do not attempt to match-make me with your cousin.”

Her friend settled back in her seat, her lips flattening into a mutinous line.

“Promise me, Aurelia,” Rosalie pressed, drawing out her name in warning.

“Very well. I promise to do nothing. Only because there’s nothing I need to do. You’re under his roof. I predict proximity and frequency of said proximity shall take care of matters.”

Rosalie swallowed.

A cold sweat broke out over her at the idea of Dec realizing she was the girl he’d been with tonight. If it was the eventuality Aurelia predicted, then perhaps she needed to hasten all her efforts toward matrimony. Because, despite what Aurelia suggested, she knew that Dec discovering the truth of this night’s deeds would not end well for her.