It seemed like he was getting to her, which made Ben grin a bit. He probably should have been a little nicer, but he was having fun ribbing her and it wasn't as though the stakes were very high for him. He wasn't going to seduce this girl, or even have an ongoing flirtation with her, because he was married now. She was unlikely, too, to be in a position to affect his business in any meaningful way. Eventually she'd get married and throw some society parties, and then maybe he'd have to take care not to offend her in order to get her business for Jewell, but that seemed to be a long way off if she was spending the first dance of the evening with some clumsy buffoon.

"I don't think it's the preferred method to slim down," he pointed out lightly. "If you took the bludger the wrong way, you might end up lopsided — and then you'd be the one stepping on toes at dances, which wouldn't help anything at all."