She seemed to dislike the question, but at least she'd managed not to choke on her champagne, so that was something. Victor was too loose to mind that he had perhaps caused offense, and her question rolled off him like so much water off a duck's back. "I do, apparently," he answered with a shrug.

It occurred to him just a second too late: he could have answered an interesting one and that would have been clever. Perhaps clever enough that she would have forgiven him for the impertinent question. As it was, he was still confident she would forgive him, sooner or later, but he might have to take some time and effort to earn it. Hopefully she wasn't opposed to answering questions in the meantime, because he had plenty of follow-ups now that she'd replied to his first question.

"Do you have especially high standards for husbands, then?" he continued with a raised eyebrow. "I was under the impression that most young women were of the same mind about such things."

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