Oliver was born a loner. To a well-off mother, who owned a large estate. He was set from the moment he entered the world. The only thing was the circumstances of his conception. He was a bastard. Which shouldn't have mattered at his time, but Oliver remembered some of the comments his mother had gotten when he was younger.

"The whore's spawn."

He didn't remember when he picked up his hedonist lifestyle. Perhaps he could blame it on his father's absence, but perhaps there was no one else but him to blame.

Oliver traveled. Not just to escape his mother's insistence he marry one of her half-sister's cousin's daughter or whoever else would take him, but to experience Europe. He couldn't do that married. From Paris to Moscow, he drank, he gambled, and he took any man he could.

So he wasn't rich, but he was a fine cards player, with a hefty trust fund to support him while his mother waited on him to take a lady's hand.

"I'd like to go home after this," a sobering Olive recounted, "Maybe find a woman who doesn't expect any affection, have a son to make her happy..."

Adeline nodded, murmuring, "You don't have to please your mother. You're miles away from her."

"She should have considered me a mistake," Oliver shrugged, "She was expected to. The least I can do is give her a real kid to dote on."

Adeline reached out to hold Oliver's hand, sighing, "You deserve your own life. I don't want to marry either, but while I'm fed and clothed... A woman has a duty, you have your dreams."

"I don't have dreams," Oliver laughed.

He put a hand over Adeline's, warming it and murmuring, "You deserve a man you can be happy with. Or to hell with men, you can get out. Go to Paris, they'd love a woman with a dream."

Adeline sighed, and chuckled, "I don't have dreams..."

"Then would you like to travel to England?" Oliver asked, meeting her eyes and blushing.

Adeline pulled her hands back in shock, asking, "That's not a proposal, is it?" She shook her head, saying, "It's only that I have so much here, I can't uproot myself so suddenly."

"We can spend some time together," Oliver said, "And... I won't mind if there's another man. Or whoever else."

Adeline snorted, "So you're just going to get married to please your mother?"

"I have a very generous inheritance coming my way," Oliver muttered with a smile, "Only if I marry though, and time's ticking."

Adeline continued laughing at the other's dark jokes before shutting herself up. "So... is there another man for you?" she asked, "Because you're not here for the drinks."

"I believe you already know the answer to that," Oliver nodded still, smiling, "Of course, if you told anyone else, I'd have to take care of you."

Adeline raised an eyebrow while Oliver continued to nod. He wasn't serious though, so she chuckled once more.

"Would you like to come home with me tomorrow then?" Adeline said, "We can tell my mother we're a couple. Then everyone in town will know by the afternoon. It's efficient."

"I'd like that," Oliver said, "You made dating sound way more complicated than it turned out to be."

Adeline nodded with a warm smile. She was pushed into a relationship, yet she felt so freed now. She leaned back into the couch to finally feel comfortable, murmuring, "I'm a very simple woman. I'd like a cut of that inheritance."

"Will do," Oliver said.