Why did he intend to marry her? He had already made a plan to, simple as that! God forbid he deviate from a plan.

Besides …

“Because I have been granted an opportunity I may never find again,” he said.

His eyes meandered over the paperwork. Holy moly, was that comma in the right place?

“I want to be a better father than my own was.”

Also, he had literally vomited all over his last chance at love, so why not run a brothel instead?