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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 foryou.”
“He is not wrong. In his position,Iwould 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?”
