Page 54 of The Wedding Challenge

“I am perfectly aware that I exercise no control over Lady Haughston,” her brother retorted stiffly. “However, I would have thought that she had better sense than to allow any man to hang about you so much that it is the talk of the City. Especially Bromwell, of all people!”

“Francesca was not to blame. She was very careful to provide me with chaperonage the entire time I have been here. No one would dare intimate that I have done anything scandalous.”

“No, of course not,” Rochford retorted impatiently.

“And how was Francesca to know that you would take it so amiss if an eligible gentleman paid court to me? She did not even know Lord Bromwell until I came here.”

“I thought it was enough that I explicitly told you not to see him,” Rochford retorted. “Obviously you paid no attention whatsoever to me.”

“I am not a child to be told what to do and whom to see, without any reason given for your orders! If there was something wrong with Bromwell, you should have told me what it was.”

Rochford shifted on his feet, looking uncomfortable.

“What? What is so wrong with Lord Bromwell?” Callie pursued. “Why do you despise the man?”

“I do not despise him,” Rochford replied stiffly. “I have no feeling toward the man, bad or good. It is he who despises me. He has done so for years. I feared that he would try to attach himself to you in order to harm you…just to hurt me in some way.”

“Why?” Callie asked. “He has never said anything to me about hating you. I do not think he has ever spoken about you at all. Why would he dislike you so much that he would pursue me just to wound you?”

“It is not the sort of thing one discusses with a lady,” her brother began stiffly.

Callie’s dark eyes sparked with fire. “Then I fear that you and I have nothing else to say.”

She started toward the door.

“Blast it, Callie! I am trying to protect you.”

“I am sure that is very noble. But if protecting me means treating me as something less than an adult, than a person, then I do not want your protection.”

Rochford’s lips tightened. Callie sighed and, unexpectedly, tears sprang into her eyes. She started once again toward the door.

“Wait.” He turned, reaching out for her. “Callie, stop. Do not go. I will tell you.”

She turned and looked at him, waiting.

“Fifteen years ago, Bromwell challenged me to a duel.” He paused, then added, “For dishonoring his sister.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CALLIE STARED. “What? How could he think that?”

A faint smile touched the duke’s lips. “You do not ask me if the accusation was true?”

“Of course not. Really, Sinclair…what kind of a ninny do you take me for?” Callie replied astringently. “I know that you would not dishonor any woman, much less a lady. I am not naïve enough that I do not realize that you have had…relationships with women. But I am certain that they were perfectly aboveboard and…well, professional.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “Why did I ever think you would be overset by such news?”

“I do not know. But I do wonder why Bromwell would have believed such a thing of you. He is not a stupid man.”

Rochford shrugged. “He was very young at the time, and he was badly misinformed. He did not know me. He did not know that I was not the sort to force myself upon a woman—or to seduce a woman of virtue. And it would not have been hard for him to believe that I had…formed an attachment to Lady Daphne. Half the men of the ton were…fascinated by her.”

“And were you?”

“No.” Her brother shook his head. “Indeed, at the time, I was interested in quite a different lady, but…Lady Daphne was interested in me. She was a young widow and was clearly intent on marrying more money than she had the first time. She was always a grasping sort, and she believed that no man was immune to her beauty. She seized on me as her next victim. But I had no interest in marrying her—or having anything else to do with her. When I made it clear to her that her hopes were in vain, she was furious with me.” He shrugged. “She was not used to being turned down. In retaliation, I suppose, she convinced her brother that I had played fast and loose with her affections. From what he said to me, I believe that she may have told him she was carrying my child.”

“No!” Callie gasped. “So he challenged you?”

Rochford nodded. “To pistols at dawn. He would not listen to me.”