It was the beginning of July now, so two to three months put them either at the end of August or September. His initial goal of taking care of this matter before his next birthday in mid-October probably wasn't in the cards, then (presuming she would require more than a month-long engagement, which seemed to be in vogue these days as weddings trended towards the more extravagant). All in all, though, his timeline wouldn't be terribly far off, which was impressive given how much time he'd wasted sending letters back and forth to Octavia Fawley. Not to mention the Antonina shipwreck which had taken at least a third of the eligible young women off of the market for the following months. Not bad at all... assuming he could pull it off, and that he still wanted to forge ahead with things after he'd gotten to know her better. At the moment she seemed perfectly suited: she was well-bred, polite, reasonably pretty, could tolerate him being moody at least on one occasion and seemed to have a good sense of humor and decent taste. What more could anyone want in a wife? Some men looked for either love or for passion, Emrys knew, but he didn't consider either prerequisites. Love was mainly meant to ensure devotion and fidelity, which he frankly didn't care about (though he would not come out and admit as much anytime soon). Passion was nice, but it was changeable; having it one moment didn't ensure it would stick around for the length of the marriage. Besides, he had no trouble finding outlets for passion. He needed other qualities in a wife, which he believed Miss Cosgrove possessed.

"That seems quite agreeable," he said with a small smile. "I imagine two people of means and good taste can accomplish quite a bit in two or three months."

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