Despite her tone, he was gratified by her answer. While he certainly agreed that there existed some number of stupid or dull gentlemen in society, he was not. He was afraid perhaps she would launch into some criteria that were truly disqualifying, like a particular alignment of astrology charts or a willingness to indulge in romantic poetry.

Her question genuinely startled him. Victor had to take a moment to puzzle out why she thought he might have come in with the intention to vex her — though if that had been his intention, he could see now he had done quite an efficient job at it. Was this one of those subjects that women forbade themselves to speak of? That seemed counterintuitive, since he knew it was the only thing on most of their minds at society balls like this. Regardless, there was no mistaking the look in her eyes.

"Alright, I've vexed you," he allowed, though he still had not lighted on any good reason why discussing her criteria for marriage would be particularly vexing. Perhaps she was holding onto resentment about when he'd asked her age, but he'd walked that back immediately; she'd volunteered that information on her own, as far as he was concerned. But in any case, it hardly mattered why. "What shall I do to redeem myself?"

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