… A whore? The most educated woman who answered his advertisement was a whore? How would that look to the masses? Wait! And she was pregnant? Even as his eyes glanced down at her stomach, he hardly even had the time to be properly scandalized.

She spoke of marriage between them as though it were a done deal. He glanced away to gather himself, taking a long breath through his nose.

What had he gotten himself into?

“Sonia,” he said gravely, adrenaline throwing together a desperate plan.

She need not have anything on him to make his life difficult. Reporters had taught him that much.

“Before you decide on a husband –” he put his hand seriously upon her shoulder, “you need a lawyer. Your rights – your legal rights – as a widow are far greater than your rights as another man’s wife.”