He unclenched his jaw and moved closer to her, lowering his gaze and then gradually looking back into her eyes. He slid his hands down her arms and then reached for the side of her neck - splaying his large hand across it and tilting his head to press a faint kiss to her delicate yet prominent jaw. "I have a difficult time not taking offense when the only thing I have left is involved, dear Dasha. What you seem to think is inferiority mattered a lot a century ago. Now if you could manage to stave off any further comments that I hope deep down you know not to be true I'm sure we can enjoy a pleasant evening together."
He pulled away slowly then and found her eyes with his own once more. "Your royalty among your people means no more to me than mine does to you. And in fact your frigid, empty way of living while you enjoyed said royalty was more crippling than it was rewarding. However, just because we don't agree with each other, doesn't mean I'm going to deny you your smugness. Nor should you deny me mine. I imagine we'd both be rather boring without it. And yes I would love to ride back with you. I have another proposition, however. We find the nicest hotel we can and I remember the pleasure of having you in relative luxury for the night instead of a travel trailer."