"At a minimum," Victor agreed, but honestly he had trouble imagining what else might go into it, aside from sexual attraction, which he obviously wasn't going to discuss with his sister. If he trusted someone, that meant he could allow them to handle the running of the household, the rearing of his children, and the management of the family's social image. Although he wasn't yet technically the man of the house, a trustworthy wife would be a boon to his mother, as she would be able to ease many of the responsibilities Mrs. Daphnel currently had and allow her to focus more on Beatrice. Trusting someone encompassed a lot, of course. Maybe the better question was how he would know that a woman was someone he could trust, after so brief an acquaintance.

"Is trust a symptom of a certain character or disposition, or is it built through a demonstration of skills?" he mused. If it were skills, he could simply ask about them. If it was something intrinsic, he didn't know how he'd assess it except through spending copious amounts of time with her. Probably through a formal courtship.

He was less concerned about enjoying her company. He'd thought that point was mostly an unachievable dream based on most of the debutantes he'd forced his way through conversations with, and had spent plenty of time telling himself it wasn't really that important, at least at the outset. He could grow to tolerate whoever he married, if she was upholding her end of their partnership. At the very least, they could find their own rhythm and minimize the time they spent doing any unpleasant bonding activities.

This was before he'd lit the garden roses on fire with Miss Dempsey, of course. Now enjoying someone's company didn't seem impossible after all.

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