Wetherby frowned. “Oh? And what might that be?”
Andrew told him what Raymond had discovered.
The baron paled visibly. He tugged his cravat and swallowed. “It certainly suggests… I find this hard to believe, although…”
“Although?”
“Jenny was concerned about something Judd had said to her, but I believed it to be a flight of fancy on her part.”
“A flight of fancy? Surely, you know your daughter better than that? Jenny is a sensible young woman.”
Wetherby nodded. “I see now that I might have been mistaken about Judd.”
Andrew wasn’t interested in the guilt Wetherby would now have to deal with. He wanted to remove Jenny safely to Castlebridge as soon as possible. And her sisters even if it meant crossing swords with their father. He had promised Jenny and he would not fail her. And he would ensure Judd’s silence. No sense in telling Wetherby, of his plans, however. “Then you consider my suit favorable, Baron?”
“Jenny has no dowry. Judd was willing to overlook it.” The baron wasn’t about to give in easily.
“It is of no concern to me.”
“I suppose not.” He sighed. “Judd was to make a generous settlement, which would go a long way to see to the younger children’s futures.”
“Indeed?” Andrew seated himself at his desk and took up a pen. He wrote down an exorbitant figure and handed it to Wetherby.
The baron stared at it and then up at Andrew. “I can hardly reject such a generous sum. I shall have my solicitor draw up the papers.”
“There is one further matter, my lord,” Andrew said standing before him.
“Oh?”
“Jenny wishes for Bella and Beth to come with her. Bella will have her Season next year and Beth will live with us.”
Lord Wetherby frowned. “I am to lose my daughters? What sort of madness is this?”
“Jenny is concerned for her sister’s safety.”
“Safety? In my house?”
“Should you agree, my lord, I can arrange for your eldest son, Jarred, to be accepted into Oxford.”
“Oxford?” The baron held out his hand. “Welcome to the family, Your Grace.”
“Thank you.” Andrew shook his hand. He thought this man reprehensible in his careless disregard for his children, but he didn’t consider him a bad man. Merely a weak rather naïve one, and, with little clue as to how to manage his finances and run his estate, sought distraction in his books.
Andrew left the library in search of Jenny. He didn’t have to go far, she waited anxiously in the hall. She drew him into the parlor. “What did my father say?”
Andrew took her hands and smiled wanting to kiss her. “He has agreed to our marriage.”
Her hands trembled in his. “Did he agree to Bella and Beth coming with me?”
“He did.”
“Oh, Andrew.” Jenny’s eyes filled with tears and she smiled mistily up at him.
He drew her over to sit on the sofa, as a large scruffy dog ambled into the room, tail wagging.
“That’s Rufus,” Jenny said as the dog politely sniffed Andrew’s boots then went to nudge a black and white cat stretched out on the rug. The cat rolled over and cuffed the dog’s nose. With a large sigh, Rufus collapsed onto the carpet and rested his head on his paws.
“Of indeterminate breed, but a dash of pointer perhaps,” Andrew said with a chuckle. He sobered, he already had a fair idea of what went on here, but he needed to hear the whole from the beginning, before he left and tackled Judd. “Tell me precisely what happened to drive you from home and what brought you back, Jenny.”
