<Li>
::another crinkled smile around the eyes and a small one on his lips. it was a somewhat endeared smile::

She was and he did know, but didn't have enough proof to back out of the wedding without their being a scandal directed against him. Possibly followed by a lawsuit on behalf of the 'bride's' family...

::he paused and took another sip of the drink and then set it down on the table, his hands gently securing it there in case of a sudden rock of the ship:: ...You never told me at the time... ::his eyes became a bit more shrewed:: But perhaps you'll tell me now. ::"because you're drunk"::

Did you involve yourself in all that ::he removed his fingers now to wave them slightly to indicate "the scandal":: out of the goodness in your wine-soaked heart, or did the Baron ask you to do so? ::both halves of his question were laden with gentle sarcasm and his lips were twisted up in a more pointed display of the same. his dark eyes glittered with playfully-malicious humor::