Page 55 of The Wedding Challenge

“Did you meet him?”

“Of course not.” The duke grimaced. “Bromwell was nothing but a lad. Seventeen or eighteen, just a student at Oxford. I could scarcely let him throw away his life like that. And certainly I had no intention of deloping, when I had done nothing wrong.”

“You were not exactly aged yourself,” Callie pointed out. “Fifteen years ago? You were only twenty-three.”

“That may be, but I had had to grow up quickly because I came into my inheritance young. I had been running my estates for five years by then. I felt worlds older than that young hothead. But…” He sighed, shaking his head. “I did not handle the situation well. I was angry at Daphne for her lies and angry at…well, everyone, I suppose. I was short with the boy. I spoke to him sarcastically, contemptuously. I made it clear that I thought him a young puppy, not worthy of meeting on the dueling field. In short, I embarrassed him. And it was at my club, in front of a number of others. The young are very full of pride. He hated me, not only for what he perceived as my wrong to his sister, but also for humiliating him in the eyes of the ton. He went back to Oxford, but he held on to his anger, nursing it.”

Callie went to her brother and put her hand on his arm. “Sinclair, I am so sorry. I wish that you had told me.”

“It is not the sort of story one wants to tell one’s sister. It was not something in which I showed to advantage.”

“Lord Bromwell has hated you ever since?” Callie asked. She understood everything now—why Brom had pursued her, why he had stopped so abruptly. His only purpose in all of it had been to hurt her in order to get back at her brother. “Did he never learn the truth?”

Rochford shrugged. “I have heard from others now and then that he still despises me. Lady Daphne found someone else to marry her. I believe she never had a child, but that is easy enough to put down to an accident, another bit of tragedy befalling her. She was always a skillful liar. Her brother was not the only one whom she fooled.”

His face was grim, and Callie squeezed his arm sympathetically. “I am sorry. No one who knows you would believe you would play fast and loose with a woman, surely.”

“Perhaps they did not believe I acted dishonorably toward her. But there were those who believed that I was involved with her.”

“The woman in whom you were interested?” Callie asked him tentatively.

He gave her a faint smile. “She fell in love with another, I am afraid. I cannot blame all of that on Daphne. One cannot help where one loves, I have found.”

Callie frowned, swept with sadness. She had never thought about the possibility that her brother might have been in love once, or that he might have lost that love. It had, frankly, never occurred to her that any woman would not have leapt at the chance to marry him. She felt a little guilty, as well, that she had simply assumed Rochford was too cool and aloof for love, and that that was why he had remained single.

Rochford, as though sensing the thoughts stirring in her mind, spoke, returning to the subject of the earl. “In any case, I suspect that Bromwell may never have learned what his sister is really like. Love can blind one to all sorts of things. And neither of them has really lived much in the ton. I believe that he went abroad after he finished at Oxford, and then several years ago, when he inherited, he chose to live on his estates. Daphne’s second husband was wise enough to keep her close. She has not been much in society for several years. And I doubt that anyone is too likely to discuss his sister’s morals in front of the man. Perhaps he is still able to believe her an innocent victim.”

“He does, I think,” Callie said. “He did not tell me anything of what happened, but he has spoken very highly of his sister. Indeed, I met her. She was…very pleasant.”

“Oh, Daphne excels at subterfuge. There are those who like her—Great-Aunt Odelia, for one. I cannot blame Bromwell. I would despise any man whom I thought had hurt you in any way. As I feared he would hurt you.”

“You should have told me.”

“I know. I realize that now. I am too accustomed to regarding you as my baby sister. I forget that you are a woman—a very wonderful and intelligent woman.”

“Perhaps not so intelligent,” Callie replied, with a wry smile. “I did not see through Lord Bromwell’s deception. I believed that he was genuinely courting me. But now I understand why he was so assiduous in his attentions. But you need not worry. He has ceased calling upon me. I think that he must have sought his revenge on you in that way. He was very attentive, in order to make everyone take notice, and then, when he abruptly stopped, everyone was able to witness my embarrassment. I was the object of gossip. It was, in a much smaller way, the sort of thing that had happened to his sister.”

“I am so sorry, Callie.” The duke wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. “I would have given anything for you to avoid that hurt.”

Callie leaned her head against his chest for a moment, letting herself rely, just for a bit, on his strength, soaking up the feeling, as she had when she was a child, that Sinclair would somehow make everything better.

But then she pulled back and smiled up at him. “Do not worry. Clearly I would have been wiser to do as you said. I cannot escape the realization that I was hurt through my own rashness. Anyway, I am not so very hurt. I am chagrined, most of all, at my own foolishness. It is nothing more than a little social loss of face. Embarrassing, but nothing more. My good name is unsoiled. I can put up with a bit of gossip about me. It will all blow over in a few weeks. There will be some on-dit or other that will take precedence over my problem.”

“I feared that he had much worse intentions when I heard that he was courting you.” Sinclair smiled. “I should have realized that you would have the good sense not to let yourself be maneuvered into a compromising position.”

Callie, thinking of the kisses and caresses that she had shared with Bromwell, could not quite meet her brother’s eyes. “I do not know that he ever intended to do any more than make me a bit of a laughingstock.”

“I am glad to learn that he was not wicked enough to force his attentions upon you. Despite his dislike of me, I did have a certain respect for the man for his loyalty to his sister, however misguided he might have been.”

A silence fell on them. Rochford was clearly uncomfortable talking about such things with his sister, and Callie, rather guiltily aware of just how much freedom she had allowed Bromwell, had no desire to speak for fear the guilt would show in her voice.

Callie shifted a little. Rochford cleared his throat.

“I—um, I need to return to Marcastle. I left rather abruptly, and there are still several things that must be done. I also have some matters that require my attention at Dancy Park. So I shan’t be staying.” He looked at her, a faint smile quirking up his lips. “Do not worry. I will not try to compel you to return with me. I can see that you are well, and that you are quite able to take care of yourself. It was foolish of me to come tearing up to London.”

“A little,” Callie agreed with a smile. “Still, I am glad that you care about me enough to do so.”

“Of course. Your well-being is what matters. I did not come here because of ‘family duty’ or the ‘honor of the name’ or any of that.”