Page 129 of The Ruse

When I let myself really take her in, I had to swallow hard because she was so beautiful.

Stunning.

She wore a white ballgown like the rest of the debutantes had been instructed to wear, but while all the other girls simply looked nice in their dresses, it seemed like this particular dress had been made just for her.

Which it probably had been, since her mom designed fancy dresses for a living.

The dress was held up by thin satiny-looking straps, and the skirt was so full I wondered if it was heavy, with layer after layer of fabric underneath.

She wore white gloves that hit her just above the elbow and her hair was half up with the lower half cascading around her delicate shoulders in curls.

Logan nudged my arm and handed me a napkin, saying, “Here, you might want to wipe the drool from your mouth.”

I felt around my mouth to see if I’d been drooling without knowing it.

I hadn’t.

I elbowed Logan in the side.

“You should go up to her,” Logan said. “At least let her know you’re here.”

“You think I should?” I asked, feeling like I had a jackhammer in my chest.

“Sure.” Logan shrugged. “I mean, you’re friends, right? Friends say hi to each other.”

Yeah, they did.

But then, if I was going to just go and say hi, I probably should have told her I was going to be at the ball a long time ago.

We hadn’t actually spoken about it in any sort of depth. She’d noticed that I’d seen the text from Nash that night in her room. And she’d mentioned coming to New York for the ball. But that had been all. I’d never said anything about coming myself.

As far as she knew, I had no idea what a debutante even was.

“She’s going to see you later. Just say hi so it’s not so weird when you suddenly show up at her side later tonight, asking her to dance.”

“I’m allowed to dance with her even if I’m not her escort?”

“I think so,” Logan said.

He turned to Jace and asked him.

Jace shrugged. “I think that’s okay. Our mom already made us promise to dance with her.”

Okay. Maybe I should at least let her know I’m here…

But before I could make my way across the room, Scarlett suddenly showed up at their side, wearing a white dress of her own, and was beckoning for them to follow her backstage where the debutantes were probably lining up with their escorts.

I sat back in my chair again. I’d just have to figure out a way to approach her after dinner. This thing was going to last for several hours.

I’d have a chance later, right?

38

ELYSE

“Nash is coming, right?”I asked Cambrielle and Carter who were standing in a circle with our friends backstage at the debutante ball.

One of the women helping to put on the event came to announce we’d be starting in a couple of minutes. And even though all of my friends had been standing back here with their escorts for the past twenty minutes, mine was still nowhere to be seen.

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