A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin_The Debutante Files

A serving maid looked up. “Can I help you, miss?”

This was her chance. She opened her mouth. And that’s when the portly innkeeper walked into the room. His eyes widened at the sight of her. “You!” He looked around as though he expected to see her mother or Horley near. Finding no sight of them, he tsked his tongue and wagged a finger at her. “Now you didn’t sneak out, did you? You’re going to worry your family. You need to go back to your room.”

He came at her and she backed up several steps.

She held up her hands in supplication. “Please. You don’t understand. They’ve abducted me. My name is Rosalie Hughes and they’re forcing me to Scotland with them.”

He blew out a heavy breath, cocking his head to the side. “Not going to be difficult, are you, daft girl?”

“Papa,” the maid, presumably his daughter, said. “What is amiss?”

“No worry, Frannie. Just not right in ’er head, this one.” He tapped the side of her head. “Her family is upstairs. We just need to get her to them.”

The words were all she needed to hear. They were enough. She bolted. They weren’t even interested in hearing her out. As far as the innkeeper knew, she was some daft, out-of-her-head girl.

She raced through the main room, past the startled-looking men.

“Grab her, Frannie!”

Footsteps pounded across the floorboards. Adrenaline spiked through her veins, propelling her out the front door of the inn. The night air was chillier than when they had arrived, penetrating the sleeves of her gown and making her wish for a cloak.

She dove across the yard and into the trees, and instantly it was like plunging into a deep netherworld. The soft sounds of the woods were all around her. Whispering wind. Creaking branches and rustling leaves. An animal scampered nearby as she barreled into the brush.

She had no idea where she was going, only that she had to get away. Even if the girl, Frannie, couldn’t catch her, she was certain the innkeeper was waking Horley even now. Horley, who was determined and persistent and maybe just a little bit mad. He’d come this far. He’d convinced her mother this insane scheme was a good idea. He wasn’t going to simply give up. He was going to come after her.

With that burning thought, Rosalie pushed ahead into the murky woods surrounding the inn. She didn’t even care that the trees seemed like ominous skeletons, dark and encroaching on every side. It was the stuff of nightmares, but being forced to marry Horley, facing life without Dec—that was the real nightmare.

She slowed her pace, trying to get her bearings. Her instinct had been to run. To escape. But now she realized she should have been mindful of her location in relation to the road. She would have to surface eventually and find help. She had no idea how dense these woods were. She didn’t want to become lost, her body discovered weeks from now by some hunter. She shivered at the notion.

“Rosalie!”

She jerked at the sound of her name, close. Too close. Her heart leapt to her throat.

“You’re really vexing me, Rosie! It’s late and cold . . . and a branch just tore my jacket—my favorite jacket!”

With a gasp, she started running again. Unfortunately, leaves and twigs on the ground crunched as she ran. Stealth was impossible. She froze with a wince when a branch cracked beneath her foot and Horley shouted, “I can hear you! Stop this game. You’ve already worn my patience thin. Show yourself and I won’t thrash you to an inch of your life.”

She wasn’t entirely certain he exaggerated. The man had abducted her. Who knew his limits? She didn’t want to put him to the test and find out.

She rotated in a small circle, her gaze scanning all around her, desperately seeking something, anything—some way of escape to present itself.

There was nothing. Nothing but brush and trees and bramble.

And then that changed. She cocked her head, listening. She could hear him now. Not far, crashing through the woods.

“Have it your way, Rosie! When I find you, your pleas won’t matter.”

She took two careful steps, bringing herself flush with a giant oak. Perhaps it would hide her. If he didn’t pass along the side where she stood.

Her hands pressed against the scratchy bark, scraping the sensitive skin of her palms. The solid feel of it seemed almost to absorb her shivering—or at least helped her feel more in control.

She dropped her head back and looked up at the canopy of branches. Turning, she practically embraced its width, seized with an idea. She had climbed plenty of trees as a child, much to the dismay of her nanny, but it couldn’t be that much harder now. She was older, but not old. She could still manage. She had to.

Securing a foothold, she clawed a few feet up the trunk, her gaze fixed on a low branch. She lifted her arm and stretched for it. Curling her fingers around the solid width, she scrambled higher and hefted her body over it, belly down. From there she rose until she was standing, both hands gripping the tree to keep her balance, and stared down, relieved to see she wasn’t that high up yet. She had a good view of the area below. Which also meant she was visible, too. At least for anyone at a distance. She frowned. Too visible.

Gritting her teeth, she reached for a branch to start working her way higher and it snapped in her hand, shattering into twigs and fluttering down to the ground.

“Ah. Rosie. There you are. Come down, love, and take your punishment like a good girl.”

She gasped and peered through the latticework of branches at Horley. His face was cast in shadows, but his eyes glittered brightly, like a predator looking out from the dark.

“Not coming down? You don’t want me to come up after you, believe me.”

She flexed her grip around another branch, clinging to it and holding herself utterly still. She couldn’t speak, much less move. She definitely wasn’t going to climb down and deliver herself into his hands.

“Very well. Here I come.”

She watched in shock as he started to climb. Then her shock turned to dread as she realized he was actually making progress. If she remained frozen where she was, he’d be on her in moments. So she climbed as well, telling herself that this wouldn’t end as badly as she was beginning to fear.





Chapter 25


When Dec described Rosalie to a serving maid at the fourth inn they reached, an odd expression came across her face. They’d ridden hard, stopping at every inn along the north road until reaching this one.

“She might sound like someone I’ve seen.” Her gaze shifted cagily, looking around the room.

He slid a glance at Will and Max and then stepped closer to the girl. Rosalie wasn’t exactly inconspicuous with her hair. “You have no idea how determined I am to find her. You really don’t want to play games with me. If you’ve seen her, you need to tell me. I’ll tear this place apart, beam by beam.”

She paled and called out, “Papa!”

Dec winced as she bellowed three more times for her father. A heavyset man lumbered down the stairs, clutching the railing. “Shut that caterwauling, Frannie.”

When his gaze landed on Dec, Will, and Max, he hesitated, assessing and scanning them before descending the final steps.

“Gentlemen, in need of a room? Food?” He smoothed his hands over his ill-used and soiled jacket.

“Papa . . . they’re looking for her! That redheaded girl who ran away!”

The innkeeper’s gaze shot to his daughter before returning to them, his eyes wide with alarm. “You’re after the daft girl who—” His voice ended with a yelp as Dec stepped forward and grabbed fistfuls of his jacket in his hands.