The Wedding Challenge by Candace Camp

Author:Candace Camp [Candace Camp]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2008-08-30T07:00:00+00:00

TRUE TO HER WORD, Lady Swithington invited them to join her party in a visit to Vauxhall Gardens the following Tuesday. She did not entrust the matter to paper, but called upon them herself to issue the invitation. Francesca, smiling stiffly, reiterated her commitment to the fictitious meeting with her old friend, but added that she hoped that Callie would attend.

In fact, Francesca felt a ripple of unease about the whole endeavor. She knew how much Callie wanted to go, but she hated to think what the Duke of Rochford’s reaction would be to his sister spending time in the company of his notorious former mistress.

Of course, it was entirely the duke’s own fault, not Francesca’s, that he was in such a precarious position regarding Lady Swithington. She could not, she thought, be expected to protect him from what had been, after all, his own folly. It was her duty, though, to protect Callie, and in Francesca’s opinion, Lady Swithington was not a fit person for Callie to associate with.

However, everyone in the beau monde seemed to have forgiven—or at least forgotten—the reputation Lady Daphne had earned before her marriage to Lord Swithington fifteen years ago. Moreover, Francesca was not sure how well known the woman’s liaison with the duke had been. The duke was in general a very discreet and conservative sort of man, and while Daphne’s determined pursuit of him had been quite public, Francesca felt sure that few people had actually witnessed, as she had been unlucky enough to, the sight of Rochford and Daphne emerging from one of their trysts.

Francesca had not heard of Lady Daphne’s not being received by any of Society’s hostesses. Lady Odelia Pencully, a force in the ton, was peculiarly fond of the woman. So Callie would have some difficulty understanding why she could not associate with Lady Swithington, should such an association suddenly be forbidden. And Francesca could not reveal why Rochford would dislike Callie’s being around Lady Daphne without telling her the very thing that the duke would not want Callie to know.

She ought to attend the party herself, Francesca knew, but she had found it almost unbearable to be in Lady Swithington’s presence the other day at Richmond Park. She had thought that fifteen years would have healed all wounds, but in truth, being around Daphne had instead reminded her all over again of the reasons why she disliked her. Every time Daphne had mentioned Rochford, Francesca had grown stiffer, until she had felt as if she might break.

And, after all, Irene and Gideon would be there, as well as several other people. It was not as though Callie would be with Lady Daphne and her brother unchaperoned or associating closely with the woman. And Callie would be wearing a concealing domino and mask. No one would even know she was there. Nothing would happen to Callie or to her reputation. And if Rochford was upset by it, well, she reasoned somewhat snippily, then he should have been more careful about what he did fifteen years ago.

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