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

to him. She abhorred the situation. He saw it gleaming in her golden eyes.
    Well, that made two of them.
    â€œCome.” He turned and led her up the set of stairs to the bedroom. He knew several of the bedchambers would have been prepared for his guests. The staff was accustomed to one or several of his friends staying the night on any given occasion.
    He led her to the room two doors down from his. It was mostly pink and yellow. He assumed it fitting for a young lady. Whatever else she was, she was that.
    He cast a glance over his shoulder at her, noting her small steps, her slim shoulders pulled back in very correct posture. Definitely a lady. Ironic, considering the little hoyden she used to be. And the identity of her mother. But then Melisande had fooled his father. Perhaps Rosalie was all pretense, too. His eyes narrowed, sweeping over her slight form in her shabby attire. Was she another social climber in the making?
    â€œHere you are.” At the door to her room he pushed it open and waved her within.
    She peered inside and gave a brisk nod. “Thank you.”
    â€œI’ll begin the search for your mother on the morrow. With luck, she is in Town.” His lip curled. “She always did prefer it to the country.”
    She swallowed, the delicate muscles in her throat working as she no doubt recalled the truth of that statement. “We can only hope.”
    Despite her words, her voice lacked a ring of anticipation. Surely she wanted to find her mother. She couldn’t want to remain here. Here, in the lavish town house of a duke. Bitterness welled up inside him. Perhaps that’s exactly what she wanted.
    â€œDon’t make yourself too comfortable, Miss Hughes,” he warned, unable to stop himself.
    She blinked and then her cheeks flushed darker. Clearly she read his suspicions. “I’m certain that won’t happen, Your Grace.”
    â€œMight I also suggest we stay out of each other’s way? I don’t see the need for us to reacquaint ourselves. We are not truly family, after all.”
    She nodded, her eyes unnaturally wide and bright in her face—as though she was forcing herself not to blink. She made him think of a kicked puppy right then and he shoved back the sensation that he was a veritable bastard. She looked down at her boots for a moment before meeting his stare again. “Indeed. We are not.”
    With a lift of her chin, she slipped inside the room and closed the door.
    He lingered in front of her door, staring unseeingly at where she had stood moments before, wondering how soon he might be able to locate her mother.

 
    Chapter 3
    T he chamber was cavernous. The bed swallowed her. She felt like a child at its center, engulfed in the fine linen sheets, her head lost deep in the plump pillows that smelled faintly of lavender.
    It was nothing like the room she shared with Rachel back at Harwich’s, and despite its opulence, she longed for that room right now. She longed for her friend. For the familiar. For smiles and eyes that did not stare coldly down at her.
    He hated her.
    She could see that at once. Perhaps this was just what he had become. Arrogant and pompous. A haughty nobleman immersed in his sparkling world of privilege. She was simply an unwanted relation to be tolerated.
    He was a duke now. Not a boy to abide her with grudging affection and fetch her down from trees. Something inside her chest softened at that memory. He had more than tolerated her back then. He had answered her questions, endured her following him all about the countryside with good humor. Where had that boy gone?
    She laced her fingers across her stomach and stared into the dark of the canopy above her as if she could see something there. Some truth, some bit of strength she so desperately needed right now. It did not matter how he felt about her. He would do his duty. He would shelter her until he located her mother, and then . . .
    Well, she wasn’t