Leo raised Victor's hand to his lips and nerves crinkled through his stomach. This wouldn't be entirely unexpected news, because Victor had told Leo that he was planning to marry soon before they'd even been on a proper first name basis. His courtship of Miss Dempsey also hadn't been a secret from the world, although in their interludes together neither of them had brought it up. Still, if he was paying attention to society news he likely would have heard that Victor was courting Miss Dempsey, and of course he would have known the logical conclusion. The engagement itself wasn't what they needed to discuss, though; it was everything that followed it. What did Victor's engagement mean for the two of them? They hadn't ever explored that.

"I'm engaged," he announced. "Miss Christabel Dempsey. I proposed this morning and she accepted." A beat, then he added in a conciliatory tone, "I wanted you to hear from me before it's in the paper."

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