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

to where—­and who—­he was today.
    She was going to have to sell the house. She had nowhere to go. She would have to plead with friends to keep her . . . and oh, how ill that would paint him, she pointed out. Her own stepson did not care to support her. Tongues would wag.
    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.
    â€œMight 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.
    â€œWhy 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?”
    â€œAurelia!” his aunt cried in outrage. “Must you be so vulgar?”
    â€œ I did not just use an offensive bee metaphor, Mama.”
    Declan casually covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.
    â€œAssuming 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.
    â€œVery 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.”
    â€œMeaning?”
    â€œWe 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.