A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin_The Debutante Files

He no longer cared what others thought of him. Everyone knew his father died despising him. The speculation over that did him no favors. He was accustomed to others thinking the worst of him.

He could have cast her out . . . much like his father had done to him. And perhaps that was why he did not. Instead he had agreed to give her an allowance every fortnight, and paid off her debts while spreading word that the Duke of Banbury would not honor her debts again.

He had not seen her since. He assumed she had grown some sense of economy. He snorted. Apparently she had not wasted a penny to look after her own daughter these last few years.

“Might I make a suggestion, Declan-dearest?”

His attention snapped back to his aunt. She shot a quick glance to Aurelia and then looked back at him, her eyes bright with whatever plan she was hatching.

He nodded.

“Why not usher her into Society this Season alongside your cousin.” She smiled almost ruefully. “Perhaps the attention of two might draw more bees to the honey pot.”

Aurelia’s face reddened. “Indeed, what’s another sow to market?”

“Aurelia!” his aunt cried in outrage. “Must you be so vulgar?”

“I did not just use an offensive bee metaphor, Mama.”

Declan casually covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.

“Assuming this girl does not bear some hideous deformity and you bestow a respectable dowry on her and she can smile like any well-trained monkey, you should be able to marry her off, cousin,” Aurelia offered in her most sober tones, nodding her head with over-exaggeration, her brown curls bobbing. “Only I can’t seem to manage it.”

Aunt Peregrine nodded agreeably, missing her daughter’s sarcasm. His aunt fairly bounced in her seat. It was the final straw. Her cat meowed its protest and bounded from her lap, waddling its fat arse somewhere behind the settee. “Indeed, indeed! Place a dowry on her, if you truly want to be rid of all responsibility for her. Who knows when her mother will return?”

Dec considered their words. His aunt was serious. His cousin looked like she couldn’t care one way or another. This would involve more than a week. And yet he might be rid of her faster and permanently if he helped her secure a match for herself.

As much as he didn’t relish ushering Rosalie through a Season, he recognized the merit behind the plan. It was a short investment of time, but then he’d be finished with her once she married. He wouldn’t have to worry about her turning up on his doorstep again when her mother shirked her responsibility.

“Very well,” he agreed. “I’ll give her a dowry.” He’d give her an obscenely fat dowry. “And I give you leave to do whatever you need in order to prepare her.”

Aunt Peregrine rubbed her hands together with satisfaction. “We’ll stay here with you through the Season, but the world needs to see firsthand that the Duke of Banbury has taken her under his wing. The ton needs to laud her as much for her connection to you as for her dowry.”

“Meaning?”

“We request your presence at several of the Season’s functions.”

He sighed, nodding. “Very well. Let’s do it properly and then be done with it.”

Aunt Peregrine grinned. “The Colton ball is next week. We can introduce Rosalie then. That should give us enough time to ready her. Oh! We have much to do.”

He nodded, not really caring, just grateful that he could pass the chore of shepherding Rosalie through the marriage mart to his aunt and cousin. He’d endure a few balls for that.

“Make certain your calendar is cleared.”

He winced, not liking the sound of that.

She continued, “Everyone needs to see you there like a proud papa—”

“I’m not her father.”

Aunt Peregrine shrugged her thin shoulders. “Very well, then, a doting brother.”

“Nor am I her brother,” he said tightly, his jaw aching with sudden tension.

“It might help if you behave as though you can abide the girl,” Aurelia pointed out.

He forced his jaw to relax. “Of course I can abide her.” It was her mother he despised. He simply wanted no contact with either one of them, but he wouldn’t dwell on that. This was the situation he found himself in and he would suffer it. “You have carte blanche to do what you must to see her wed as soon as possible.”

Then he would have his life back.

“Carte blanche?” Aurelia tsked. “Two little words you should think about carefully before saying them to Mama.”

Aunt Peregrine’s eyes fairly glazed. Will kept his mother on a fairly strict allowance, claiming it necessary. Dec knew his uncle had left them with little other than the entailed properties. Will had mentioned on more than one occasion that he would have to wed an heiress sooner rather than later. Aurelia’s dowry was woefully insubstantial, doubtlessly explaining why she remained on the shelf. That and her sharp tongue.

“Ladies.” He rose. “I think everything is well in hand. I’ve an errand.” He was meeting with his solicitor today over another matter, but now it was just as well, considering he would have to make arrangements for a dowry for Rosalie.

“I trust you will reintroduce us to Rosalie before you scurry off,” his aunt said. “It’s been years since we last clapped eyes on the girl.”

“You’re family, Aunt. You don’t need me here to become better acquainted.”

She started to protest, but he said his farewells and made a hasty retreat.





Chapter 5


Rosalie woke slowly, stretching languidly. She felt delicious . . . the bedding was positively the most luxurious thing to ever touch her skin. She had been too weary the night before to even dig through her valise for her nightgown. She had merely stripped down to her shift and climbed into the vast bed.

She must have slept late. Sunlight poured into the room through the parted damask drapes. She blinked up at the canopy overhead as she replayed the events of the night before.

She had seen Dec. He had been cold and harsh and uncompromising.

And even more beautiful than memory served.

She sighed and dropped her hands to her stomach. It was such a disappointment to see that he had grown into such a beast. Clearly, he loathed his connection to her. He was probably embarrassed. She was without rank or standing in Society. She didn’t possess money or even clothes that qualified her to rub elbows with him.

His words echoed through her head. Stay out of each other’s way. Indeed. She would quite gladly stay out of his way.

“Well, you’re not so hopeless. Not hopeless at all. I see we have much to work with despite that shocking hair.”

Rosalie squeaked at the sound of the voice and yanked the counterpane to her chest, popping upright in bed.

Her gaze landed on a well-dressed lady holding an absurdly fat cat in her arms. The stranger approached the bed, scrutinizing her carefully as she stroked the animal in her arms.

“Who are you?” Rosalie demanded, her fingers tightening around the bedding, quite certain good manners weren’t necessary when one was confronted in a state of dishabille in her bedchamber.

“You don’t remember me? I’m Lady Merlton. Declan’s aunt. He sent for me.”

Staring at Lady Merlton, she vaguely recalled her now. Mostly Rosalie recalled that her mother had not liked her. Lady Merlton was far too pretty. Even now with her ashy blond hair and past the first blush of youth, she was an attractive woman. And Mama didn’t like pretty ladies. It drew too much attention away from herself.