The Wedding Challenge by Candace Camp Read Free Book Online

scolding.
    Her companion shrugged and strode after her, catching up to Callie as she called out, “Here! It is all right, Sinclair. Pray do not bellow.”
    Rochford hurried toward them, his face relaxing in relief. “What the devil are you doing out here? Are you all right?”
    Beside Callie, as they came forward into the light, she heard her companion suck in a sharp breath and stop dead still. She half turned toward him questioningly, then glanced back at her brother, realizing that he, too, had come to a sudden halt.
    Rochford stared at the man standing beside Callie, a black scowl drawing up his features. “You!” he snarled at the Cavalier. “Get away from my sister!”

CHAPTER THREE
    C ALLIE GAPED at her brother, amazed at his uncustomary rudeness. “Sinclair!” She went forward, reaching out a hand to her brother in a calming gesture. “Please, no. You misunderstand the situation.”
    “I understand it perfectly well,” Rochford retorted, his eyes never leaving the other man’s face.
    “No, you do not,” Callie retorted sharply. “This man did nothing to harm me. He helped me.”
    She turned back to her companion, who was gazing at the duke with an expression as stony as Rochford’s. Suppressing a sigh at such masculine behavior, Callie said, “Sir, allow me to introduce you to my brother, the Duke of Rochford.”
    “Yes,” the Cavalier said coldly. “I know the duke.”
    “Oh.” Callie looked from one man to the other, realizing that some other, stronger, undercurrent of feeling lay here, something unrelated to her being on the terrace with a man.
    “Lord Bromwell,” Sinclair responded, his manner, if possible, even stiffer than before. Without looking at Callie, he said, “Calandra, go inside.”
    “No,” Callie answered. “Sinclair, be reasonable. Let me explain.”
    “Callie!” Sinclair’s voice lashed out, sharp as a whip. “You heard me. Go back inside.”
    Callie flushed, stung by his peremptory tone. He had spoken to her as if she were a child being sent off to bed.
    “Sinclair!” she shot back. “Don’t speak to me that—”
    He swung to face her. “I told you—go back inside. Now.”
    Callie drew a breath, hurt and anger piercing her with equal sharpness. She started to protest, to take her brother to task for treating her this way, but she realized even as the thought came to her that she simply could not create a scene at Aunt Odelia’s party. Someone might step out of the door at any moment; there could even be someone in the garden now, listening. She had no desire to be caught in a blazing argument with her brother. She was embarrassed enough as it was, having been taken to task in front of this man, whom she barely knew.
    Her eyes flashed, but she swallowed her words. She gave a short nod to Lord Bromwell, then whirled and stalked past her brother without a word.
    The duke stood, watching the other man in silence, until Calandra had disappeared inside the ballroom. Then he said in a quiet voice as hard as iron, “Leave my sister alone.”
    Bromwell looked amused as he crossed his arms and considered the man before him. “How deliciously ironic…to hear the Duke of Rochford so concerned over the honor of a young woman. But, then, I suppose, it is different when the young woman is the duke ’s sister, is it not?”
    With a sardonic look at Rochford, he started to walk around him, but the duke reached out and caught his arm. Bromwell went still, his gray eyes icing over. He looked down at the other man’s hand on his arm, then up at the duke’s face.
    “Have a care, Rochford,” he said softly. “I am not the boy I was fifteen years ago.”
    “Indeed?” Rochford asked, letting his hand fall to his side. “You were a fool then, but you’re ten times a fool now if you think I will allow you to harm my sister in any way.”
    “I believe Lady Calandra is a woman grown, Rochford. And you are the fool if you think that you can keep her heart from going where it