A Good Debutante's Guide to Ruin Read Online Free PDF Page A

the necessary funds? In any case, he was certain his aunt and cousin would see that she was properly attired. They could also polish any rough edges off her.
    He frowned at the direction of his musings. How she dressed or comported herself was not his concern.
    Aunt Peregrine looked up from her tea as he entered the room. “Ah, there you are, Declan-­dearest. I began to fret that you had forgotten us.”
    â€œHello, Aunt Peregrine.” He bent and fondly kissed the cheek of his father’s sister.
    The enormous cat in her lap hissed at him, not caring for his proximity. Dec bared his teeth at the beast and the cat growled. His cousin giggled and his aunt sent him a cross look. “Be kind, Declan-­dearest.”
    She only ever addressed him as Declan-­dearest. As if that was his full name. She was kind if not a little vacant-­minded at times, but he could not fault her for that. When his father cast him out, she had always welcomed him into her home. Every holiday from school, he always had a place beneath her roof and at her table. She was the closest thing to a mother he had ever known. Will and Aurelia were more like siblings than cousins.
    He bent and kissed his cousin on the cheek as well. “You’re looking well, Aurelia,” he greeted.
    Aurelia patted the space between her and her mother as though she expected him to squeeze between them. That infernal cat growled low and deep again as if to warn him not to even consider it.
    â€œCome, seat yourself and tell us of this . . .” Aurelia paused, watching him carefully. Unlike her mother, she was ever astute. Her doe eyes were watchful and took everything in at a swift glance. She finally arrived at her words. “Tell us of this new development, cousin.”
    Development . Trust Aurelia to use such a vague term with such meaningfulness.
    Aurelia was not like other females, given toward emotion and histrionics. At two and twenty, she was a bookish girl with a stinging wit. She missed her first Season when her father passed away, casting the family into deep mourning. A setback she never seemed to recover from. Now with one Season fully behind her and well into her second, Aunt Peregrine never hesitated to bemoan her only daughter’s unwed status. Aurelia teased that she would reside with Will once he married and produced the requisite heir.
    I’ll play doting aunt , she always declared. Will always looked terrified at that announcement. Whether it was the prospect of him marrying and becoming a father or his sister living with him permanently, Dec could only hazard a guess. His cousin grumbled enough at having his mother and sister spend the Season with him. Will would probably thank him the next time he saw him for taking them off his hands and out from beneath his roof for the Season.
    Dec seated himself across from them on an overstuffed sofa chair. “It is no more than I said in my letter. Rosalie . . .” He paused and looked at each of them. “Do you recall the girl?”
    His aunt’s eyes brightened and she sat straighter. “Was she not Melisande’s child with that dreadful orange hair?”
    â€œEr. Yes.” He didn’t bother adding he thought the color rather pretty. Unique. Then and now.
    She sniffed and her shoulders slumped back. “Tell me her hair has faded to a more palatable auburn.”
    â€œNot quite.”
    â€œWell, unfortunate that. Red hair is not the most fashionable. So many fabrics and colors don’t suit.”
    Aurelia rolled her eyes and took a sip from her teacup.
    He stifled a smile. He was familiar with his aunt’s inane comments and his cousin’s thinly veiled forbearance.
    â€œYes, well it seems that Rosalie has completed her studies and her mother . . . forgot to collect her.” He didn’t bother adding that she forgot to collect her two years ago.
    Aunt Peregrine tsked. “She doubtlessly doesn’t want