The Scoundrel Duke of her Heart by Violet Hamers
Chapter Seven
With her father absent from the house, Jenny had no choice but to use her morning to search the science volumes in the library for the geology handbook that she’d forgotten there last season. When she couldn’t find it, she returned to her room to study an odd-looking piece of rock she’d found at the park some days ago.
It was late morning before she put her work down to seek out her father. She found the butler, Gunther, in the foyer, instructing a new footman. “Gunther, has my father returned?”
“Yes, my lady. He is in his study but—”
She turned and began down the hallway that led to the study without waiting for him to finish his sentence. Many a time, her father did not wish to be disturbed in his study. Today was different, however. She had an urgent matter to discuss with him.
“Does your daughter know about your debts, Lord Hanover?” a voice streamed out through the closed door and Jenny’s hand paused on the doorknob as she recognized it. Instead of going in, she leaned against the door to listen.
“I keep no secrets from my daughter, Your Grace. She knows everything,” her father, Adolf, replied.
“Does she know the extent of the debts?” the dowager duchess asked.
“She does not need to know that.” Jenny’s heart sank at that.
If her father’s debts were so much, then he might have no choice but to make her marry Nicholas.
“You are cheating that girl. Her future needs to be secured and you are no longer capable of providing for her.”
Jenny closed her eyes, her heart twisting in her chest. She loved her father more than life and she grieved for the mistakes he’d made.
“I am not going to force my daughter to marry. It is not her responsibility to pay my debts,” Adolf defended.
“I am not asking that of you, Hanover. I am only asking that you secure her future. His Grace has the means to help you settle your debts.”
“I repeat, Your Grace.” His voice was more forceful. “My daughter will not marry to satisfy the caprices and ambitions of an old woman.”
“You have quite the nerve, Hanover. I do know that she has no better prospects.” The dowager was right. She didn’t have better prospects. She looked fair enough to tempt a man but her financial situation made her looks dissolve into thin air. She was also a bluestocking which never worked in a woman’s favor.
“And I wonder what she would think years from now when she looks back at the opportunity her father squandered for her.”
“Who is to say she wouldn’t find a better opportunity?”
The dowager laughed. “Oh, chances like this do not come often and you know it.”
A chair creaked against the floorboard and Jenny straightened. It sounded like someone was rising. “Those debts are not going to pay themselves,” she pointed out, “and the longer you delay, the fatter they will become. Good luck.”
As the dowager’s cane preceded her steps, Jenny stepped away from the door and darted down the hall. She could not be caught eavesdropping again. She ran up the stairs and stopped halfway, waiting for the dowager to emerge. When she did, Jenny descended the stairs.
“There is the girl I was looking for,” the dowager said on sighting her.
“Your Grace,” Jenny greeted, curtsying when she reached the base of the stairs. “I did not expect your visit today.”
“Well, I do have the habit of being where I am least expected.” She beckoned for Jenny to follow her into the drawing room. “Come, I wish to speak with you.”
Jenny followed, unsurprised that the dowager was leading her to the drawing room instead of the other way around.
“You look better this morning. I take it your illness was nothing serious.” She sat down.
Jenny could not decide whether to reveal the true cause of her condition last night but as she saw an opportunity he thought more about it. The dowager wanted a strong and healthy woman for Nicholas. If Jenny could claim to be sickly, perhaps it would change her mind.
“I…became nervous, Your Grace. I get sick when I am nervous.”
The dowager's brows rose. “Is that so? I do not recall you being that way when you were a child.”
Jenny sat down in one of the chairs in the room and folded her hands on her lap. “It is something that developed recently. It hinders me in a lot of ways.”
The dowager smiled. “Most young ladies would hide their weaknesses before a woman like me. Why did you choose to reveal yours?”
“You want the best for Nicholas and I am not the best. No duchess should be swooning when her situation is unfavorable.”
“Nicholas told me that you rejected his offer. He was supposed to come with me but he was taking too long to get ready. He will call upon you later.”
This was not working as Jenny thought it would. “Your Grace—”
“I see you are heedless of my warning last night. You need to understand that something greater than yourself is at stake here.”
“I know that, Your Grace. This has never been about me.”
The dowager looked surprised now. “This is exactly the reason I chose you. You are sensible beyond your years.”
A compliment? From the dowager?Jenny could not believe her ears.
“Do you know the extent of your father’s debts?” she asked.
“I do and he is going to take care of them,” Jenny defended.
“Believe what you want but the fact that he has lost control of his fortune remains. It is a mire from which he may never be able to extricate himself, at least not alone.” She rose from her chair and walked to the window. “What a sane person would call jeopardizing both of your futures, your father calls love and consideration for you.”
“He is not wrong. In his position, I would do the same. I would want my daughter to make her choice.”
The dowager ignored her statement and continued to deliver her own point. “He thinks he is being a fair parent to you, of course. But think, Jennifer, are you being fair to your father by throwing away perhaps the only opportunity he has to salvage his situation?"
Jenny felt slapped by her words. Was she implying that they had no other way out besides this marriage?
“I should think that one’s parent, the very person that brought one into the world, ought to rank above pride.” She pushed back the curtain and peeked outside.
“It is not pride.” Jenny refused to yield. "It is self-preservation.”
The dowager’s head snapped in Jenny’s direction. “Do you think me or my family harmful?”
“I have known you all my life. I do not think of you in such manner. I simply wish for my father to be free of his debts without further becoming indebted to anyone else.”
The dowager was quiet for several seconds. “How unfair this life is. What you are throwing away, some people would kill to have. I should have approached Viscount Down with my offer. I am certain Miss Bexley would only be too thrilled at such an opportunity."
“You should approach someone else with your offer, Your Grace, and keep my friend out of this.” Jenny was not afraid to fight the dowager to protect Daphne.
“You know, she could have been the best friend of a duchess if she couldn't be one. That would have elevated her status. Not to mention the good it would have done her prospects, too. I wonder what she would think when she finds out that you threw away an opportunity to rectify society's view of her.”
Jenny shot to her feet, fire raging within her. “You will not manipulate me like this.”
The dowager walked back from the window and came to stand in front of Jenny. “Pity,” she said, “I had planned to help her at some point if you agreed to marry my grandson.”
Jenny had never encountered a more selfish woman in her life. But the words she’d spoken just now bore some truth. She recalled her conversation with Daphne last night: Whichever way she looked at the situation, she appeared to have more to gain than lose from this marriage. For one thing, she could stop Daphne from ruining her life by getting deliberately compromised by some fool to secure her future.
She was not the sort of girl that could successfully trap a man into marriage and would more likely find herself the object of scandal. And her father… There was nothing Jenny would not do for him. Accepting money from Nicholas was not an option but having a dukedom like Nicholas’ backing could go a long way in helping her father revive his failed ventures.
Perhaps she had been selfish, thinking of no one but herself. A cold smile came to her face as her eyes met the dowager’s. “I must compliment you for convincing me to do something I never thought I could be convinced to do. His Grace shall have his duchess.”
A part of her was still screaming that in trying not to jeopardize the future of her loved ones, she was jeopardizing her own heart by entering into a union with Nicholas.
"I knew you were a clever girl." The Dowager remarked with satisfaction. "And do not worry about your nerves. I will ensure your life is free of stress.”
After saying that, the dowager crossed the drawing room to the door while Jenny slumped into a chair, wondering whether she had made the right decision or had just sold her soul to the devil. After what seemed like an eternity had passed, she rose to find her father. She still needed to speak to him but the reason had changed. She knocked on his study door and waited to be called in.
When no answer came, she turned the doorknob and poked her head in. “Father?”
He was standing before the window behind his desk. When he heard her voice, he turned around, worry lining every part of his face. “Jenny, my dear, how are you?”
“I am fine, father.” She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. “The dowager duchess just left. We talked.”
His shoulders tensed and she heard him suck in a breath. “What did she say to you?”
“What did she not say to me?” She smiled a little and sat down in one of the chairs in the room. “I have agreed to marry Nicholas.”
Adolf shut his eyes, looking pained. “Did she threaten you?”
The dowager had warned her, but repeating those warnings to her father would not help any of them. Instead, she said, “She made me see the advantages of the marriage.”
He came to sit down beside her, taking her hand in his. “And you are willing to walk down this path, Jenny?”
“I am, Father. Nicholas is hardly a stranger.”
His expression softened. The lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth appeared to smoothen. He was relieved. This put her at ease and assured her that her decision was the right one. “I don’t want you to do this for my sake. I want you to be happy, Jenny.”
“I will be happy. Seeing you happy makes me happy. I was given a choice and I made it.”
He was quiet for a short stint, then. “Would you like to see the contract?”
She nodded and he went to fetch it from atop his desk. The contract was a simple one. If she married Nicholas, her father would have his debts paid in exchange. There was a mention of his influence in the House of Lords but she already knew about that.
“It looks fair,” she said after reading it.
“It is more thanfair.”
She handed the contract back to him. “Are you going to sign it?”
“Yes, now that you have laid my fears to rest.” He returned to his desk and picked up his quill. “I shall sign it now and have it delivered to the dowager.”
Jenny could only nod in response because she was deep in thought. Nicholas had said their marriage would only be in name but the dowager expected her to produce an heir. She wondered what sort of marriage she would truly have with grandmother and grandson pulling her in either direction.
A knock came at the door and her father answered. “Come in!”
The butler opened the door and announced, “A caller for her Ladyship.”
Jenny suspected it was Nicholas. His grandmother had said that he would call. When she arrived at the drawing room, however, she found a different caller.
