The Wedding Challenge by Candace Camp Page A

felt that whatever was wrong with the man was something he deemed too indelicate for feminine ears. It was, she thought, easy to see why Callie had become irritated.
    “I have a thought,” she offered. “Something that might help you and Callie to…get over this little rough patch.”
    “Indeed.” He turned his eyes on her somewhat warily.
    Francesca laughed. “Do not look at me with such suspicion, I beg you. ’Tis nothing terrible. I invited Callie to stay here in London with me, at least until the Season starts. Indeed, through the Season, if it is all right with you or you do not wish to return to London for the whole time. I think that Callie is a little bored at Marcastle, and the duchess…well…”
    She trailed off, and Rochford could not keep from grinning. “Ah, yes, the duchess.”
    “Callie is a lively young girl, and I am sure it must be tiring for the duchess to have to look after her,” Francesca continued diplomatically. “And Callie, while she appreciates all that her grandmother has done for her, chafes a bit under her control, I think.”
    “Yes, I know, and it is no wonder. Grandmother rarely finds a situation that she cannot worsen by lecturing. I know she has been wearing on Callie’s nerves this winter. I have no idea why she took it into her head to spend so long with us instead of taking the waters at Bath with her friends.”
    “She is, it seems, growing anxious about Callie’s unmarried state.”
    Rochford let out a groan. “She is enough to make a person swear off marriage altogether just to spite her.” He cast Francesca a faintly abashed look. “You will think me ungrateful, I know, to speak in such a way about her, after she has done so much for Callie and me—taking us on when she should have been settling down to a well-deserved old age of leisure. But one cannot live one’s life according to her dictates.”
    “Do not expect sympathy from me, Rochford. You know my parents,” Francesca responded lightly. “Still, as devoted and dutiful as I know the duchess to be, I think she would welcome a little respite from chaperoning a lively young woman. I, on the other hand, would welcome the company. The city is always dull at this time of year. Callie and I could visit the shops and attend the theater. It will be ever so much more enjoyable to have someone with me.”
    The duke narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. “Did my sister put you up to this?”
    Francesca laughed. “You are far too suspicious. Of course Callie is not averse to the scheme, but I can assure you that I would very much enjoy her company, as well. Sometimes it is a trifle lonely here by myself.”
    He gazed at her consideringly. Then, somewhat to Francesca’s surprise, he shrugged and said, almost offhandedly, “Of course, if you and Callie wish it, I am quite willing for her to stay with you. You know, despite what Callie may have said, she does not really have to obtain my permission to visit a friend for a few weeks. She is, after all, over twenty-one. And I am not a tyrant.”
    “I am sure you are not,” Francesca replied, then added, with the charming little catlike grin that was her trademark, “But do not forget, I have known you long enough to point out that you can be a trifle, shall we say, imperious?”
    “Oh, really?” His straight black brows soared upward. “I challenge you to produce an example of it.”
    “I could produce a hundred of them,” she retorted. “I remember when I was ten and rode my pony onto your drive and frightened that horrid peacock that used to parade about the front lawn of your house. And you told me that Dancy Park was your land, and you would not have me disturbing your bird.”
    “Good Gad, I had forgotten about that peacock,” he said, and laughed. “Damned noisy thing. Did I really say that? I am surprised I did not cheer you on. Well, if you are going to dig back so far for examples, I should point out that you were a rag-mannered child, and I am