Whether she had actually had a beau or was cleverly working with his set up he neither knew nor cared at present. He had his answer and that pleased him well enough. Her method of responding did reiterate her cleverness which, as he could tell for now, was at least of the level needed for expertly navigating society. How many ladies would have blushed and simpered and corrected him? Not that that wouldn't have given him his answer either but it would suggest a lesser intellect.
What he definitely wasn't expecting was for her to turn the question back around on him. If she knew about his promotion already then she couldn't possibly have missed the fact that he was a widow and the way women gossiped she'd surely have heard if he'd so much as stared too long at an eligible lady. If he took her literally then his answer would have been along the lines of an outright denial at needing the praise of a wife to feel fulfilled but that almost certainly was not what she was asking. "Such an announcement would be lost on the wrong recipient." He waited a beat before continuing. "Hopefully the situation will be different next time."
He was starting to feel as though he ought to be asking her to dance but he didn't want to do so straight off announcing that he was seriously looking for a wife, she might think him interested and if that was what he ended up being he wanted to keep that information to himself until he was sure what his next move would be.
"How are you finding the evening thus far?" He was now curious about far more personal things; he needed to find that deal breaking flaw, if it was there, before he started to get the idea in his head that maybe the tedious search might be coming to an end. He would have to ease it out of her slowly though or else she'd catch on, he doubted he'd get much past her which could well be the very flaw he was looking for.
What he definitely wasn't expecting was for her to turn the question back around on him. If she knew about his promotion already then she couldn't possibly have missed the fact that he was a widow and the way women gossiped she'd surely have heard if he'd so much as stared too long at an eligible lady. If he took her literally then his answer would have been along the lines of an outright denial at needing the praise of a wife to feel fulfilled but that almost certainly was not what she was asking. "Such an announcement would be lost on the wrong recipient." He waited a beat before continuing. "Hopefully the situation will be different next time."
He was starting to feel as though he ought to be asking her to dance but he didn't want to do so straight off announcing that he was seriously looking for a wife, she might think him interested and if that was what he ended up being he wanted to keep that information to himself until he was sure what his next move would be.
"How are you finding the evening thus far?" He was now curious about far more personal things; he needed to find that deal breaking flaw, if it was there, before he started to get the idea in his head that maybe the tedious search might be coming to an end. He would have to ease it out of her slowly though or else she'd catch on, he doubted he'd get much past her which could well be the very flaw he was looking for.
