The Wedding Challenge. Candace Camp

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      Praise for the novels of

       New York Times bestselling author

      CANDACE CAMP

      “Lively and energetic secondaries round out the formidable leads, and…the mystery surrounding Gideon’s parentage continues to unravel until the very last pages, assuring readers a surprise ending well worth waiting for.”

      —Publishers Weekly on The Bridal Quest

      “Camp delivers another beautifully written charmer, sure to please fans of historicals, with enough modern appeal to pull in some contemporary romance readers.”

      —Publishers Weekly on The Marriage Wager

      “A clever mystery adds intrigue to this lively and gently humorous tale, which simmers with well-handled sexual tension.”

      —Library Journal on A Dangerous Man

      “The talented Camp has deftly mixed romance and intrigue to create another highly enjoyable

       Regency romance.”

      —Booklist on An Independent Woman

      “[An] entertaining, well-written Victorian romantic mystery.”

      —The Best Reviews on An Unexpected Pleasure

      “A smart, fun-filled romp.”

      —Publishers Weekly on Impetuous

      Also available from

      CANDACECAMP

      The Bridal Quest

      The Marriage Wager

      Promise Me Tomorrow

      No Other Love

      A Stolen Heart

      A Dangerous Man

      An Independent Woman

      An Unexpected Pleasure

      So Wild a Heart

      The Hidden Heart

      Swept Away

      Winterset

      Beyond Compare

      Mesmerized

      Impetuous

      Indiscreet

      Impulse

      Scandalous

      Suddenly

      Watch for the next installment of

       Candace Camp’s Matchmakers series

      The Courtship Dance

      Coming February 2009

      CANDACE CAMP

      THE Wedding CHALLENGE

      Dear Reader,

      The Wedding Challenge is the third book in the MATCHMAKER series and was probably the most fun to write. (And, yes, there are books that, no matter how much I love them, are not fun while I’m writing them.)

      However, this book was like telling a story about old friends, since I’ve written about Callie and her brother and Francesca in the first two books. Callie is a little younger than most of my heroines, and I enjoyed presenting her youthful enthusiasm and joie de vivre. And even though it’s set long ago and far away, with customs and manners that are years removed from us, I think that the challenges Callie faces will be something that most of us women can relate to.

      So choose your favorite reading place and settle down for a few hours with some good friends. Happy reading!

      Best wishes,

      Candace Camp

      For Leslie Wainger, editor extraordinaire,

       for her wisdom and her talent for sharing it.

THE Wedding CHALLENGE

      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      CHAPTER FOURTEEN

      CHAPTER FIFTEEN

      CHAPTER SIXTEEN

      CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

      CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

      EPILOGUE

      CHAPTER ONE

      LADY ODELIA PENCULLY’S BIRTHDAY BALL was the event of the Season—even though the Season had not yet begun. Not to have been invited was a cause for deep social embarrassment. To have been invited and not attend was unthinkable.

      Either by blood or by birth, Lady Pencully was related to half the most powerful and wealthy families in England. The daughter of a duke and a countess by marriage, she was a pillar of Society, and it was rare that anyone dared cross her. During her heyday, she had ruled over the ton as she did her family, with an acid tongue and an iron will, and even though she had, with age, remained more and more at her country estate, rarely coming to London even for the Season, she was still a force to be reckoned with. A prodigious correspondent, she kept up to date with the latest scandals and news, and was never averse to dashing off a note to anyone whom she felt needed the benefit of her advice.

      So this year, when she announced that she would celebrate her eighty-fifth year of life with a grand ball, it immediately became the one event that no one of any social standing or pretenses thereof could risk missing, even if it was in London in January, the most unfashionable and difficult time of the year. Neither snow nor cold nor the difficulties of opening up a town house for a brief visit could hold back the ladies of the ton, who comforted themselves with the fact that at least it would not be true, as it usually was in January, that no one would be in town, since everyone who mattered would be coming to Lady Odelia’s party.

      Among those who drove into London from their country estates was the Duke of Rochford, along with his sister, Lady Calandra, and their grandmother, the dowager Duchess of Rochford. The duke, one of the rare few who would have dared to refuse Lady Odelia, had been disinclined to do so. He was, after all, her great-nephew, and he was a man who believed in carrying out his family responsibilities. Besides, there was business he needed to attend to in London.

      The dowager duchess had come because, while she had never really liked her late husband’s older sister, Lady Pencully was one of the few people left of their generation—though, the duchess was careful to point out, Lady Pencully was a number of years older than she—and was, moreover, one of the even fewer number of women whom the duchess considered of equal standing. Lady Odelia was, quite simply, one of the duchess’s set, despite Odelia’s sometimes rather shocking lack of manners.

      Of the three in the carriage waiting in the long line of carriages creeping along Cavendish Crescent toward Lady Pencully’s door, only the youngest, Lady Calandra, was looking forward with eagerness to the evening.

      At twenty-three years of age, Callie, as she was known to those close to her, had been out for five years, so a London ball, especially one given by an octogenarian relative, would not normally have been cause for excitement. However, she had just spent several long months at the Lilles family country estate,