As they re entered the foyer. Valeria had moved to a high backed velvet chair, sipping from a fresh cup of tea. Her legs crossed in a way that made her emerald skirt cling to the curves of her thighs
Patrick stopped five paces away. His eyes were looking at the neck area of the lady, but it was covered with the type of dress she was wearing that suited perfectly covering her neck. This is likely to be deliberate to cover the harsh marks on her skin from what Patrick did.
Patrick had a slight guilty expression as he realized this fact. Although he should have understood that he marked her, and the thought of those purple stains hidden beneath her silk made should have made his seven inch dick twitch violently against his trousers.
He noticed how Valeria looked up at him and silently smiled when she notices his gaze at her covered neck.
"You're lucky I didn't want to lose profits over something like this. But if it were to happen again, I would like to simply mention how this would be a valid reason which will make me leave this marriage." Valeria scoffed as she said it, her eyes looking unimpressed with her smile on.
He inclined his head to be polite, responding apologeticaly. "I'll make sure such things wouldn't happen again."
I'm lying actually, I would probably choke you once more if you insult Reidward.
Patrick continued, "You must forgive the greeting, Lady Valeria," Patrick said, his voice smooth and low, channeling the movie villains he'd studied just like he practiced inside his private office.
"I find that starting from the ground up gives one a better appreciation for the foundations of our partnership."
Valeria's tea cup paused mid air. Her eyes flickered, searching for a hint of shame or a crack in his facade. Finding none, she let out a short, sharp laugh that sounded like breaking glass. This was not the Patrick she seemed to have met a day ago, this was not what she expected.
"A great recovery, Patrick. Though I suspect the foundation tasted primarily of horse manure," she replied, setting the cup down with a delicate clink. She rose, her dress rustling. "Let's move on. We still have those logistical synergies about to discuss."
"Or have you forgotten how to speak in sentences longer than a grunt since we last met?" She said in a light mocking tone.
Patrick felt the sting of the insult, but he remembered the book.
Indirect deflections, he said to himself
"On the contrary," Patrick drawled, stepping closer until he was just inside her personal space, a move he hoped looked dominant and not like he was still dizzy from the fall.
"I've merely been practicing the art of... selective silence. I find that when some people speak, the air becomes quite unusually stagnant. I wouldn't want to contribute to the pollution."
Valeria stiffened. Her eyes narrowed into suspicious slits.
To her, thisbastard did something to her just a day ago that made her be charmed, she does not want to fall for it again.
He seems to have improved a little.
She recognized the "stagnant" jab. It was a high society way of calling someone a bore. Her fan snapped open with a sound like a pistol shot.
"It seems you've been reading," she whispered, her voice dangerous. "Tell me, did the book have pictures, or did your butler have to act out the big words for you?"
Patrick's nerves was doing its best to control themselves, the bitch was lucky she didn't directly mock his butler.
Beside them, Reidward, who was currently trying to hide the fact that he was swaying, hiccuped loudly.
"The Young Master is a... hic ... scholar of the highest order!" the butler proclaimed, leaning heavily against a marble pillar. "He spent all morning studying... uh... anatomy! And etiquette!"
Patrick's face flushed as the maids nearby giggled, their eyes wandering shamelessly toward the massive, heavy bulge in his pants. They knew exactly which anatomy he'd been perfecting.
Patrick closed his eyes for a brief second, wishing the floor would open up and swallow him again. The maids' lingering gazes at his abs earlier flashed through his mind.
Goddammit, Reidward.
"My butler's enthusiasm for my education is as quaint as your concern for my vocabulary," Patrick said, firing back with the word he barely understood.
Valeria's eyebrow arched so high it nearly vanished into her hairline. "Quaint? You're calling my concern 'peasant-like'?" She stepped forward, her floral perfume hitting him, it smelled of expensive lilies.
"You've grown teeth, Patrick. I wonder if they're real, or just something you bought to impress me."
She reached out, her gloved finger tracing the line of his jaw, but with a terrifying, predatory intent.
Patrick had a flushed face, this was not in the manual.
Oh god. She's too beautiful.
Patrick's erection strained wildly in his pants, it imagined how if she pushed him, he'd have her pinned against the wall, his hands would probably be around her throat while his cock throbbed with the need to stretch her open.
"The merger between our families is a gear work of immense complexity," Valeria murmured, her face inches from his. "If one tooth is out of alignment. If one party is a fraud, the whole thing grinds to a halt. And I do so hate it when my toys break."
Patrick flinched, his resolve quickly dissolving but was able to surprisingly halt his melthing stae. He looked her straight in the eye, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. "Then it's a good thing I've recently undergone a... significant internal upgrade."
He continued without much thought, he wanted to get out of the foyer, the maids are around, theres a lot of eyes. The colorful manual said if two nobles talk about business it should be kept private and only the involved parties should be in the room along with people they trust.
"Shall we go to the study? I'd hate for the tea to get any more lukewarm."
Valeria stared at him for a long beat, the silence in the foyer heavy enough to crush a man. Finally, a small smirk touched her lips. It was the look of a someone who had just found a more interesting specimen to dissect.
"Lead the way, dear fiancee," she challenged.
As Patrick turned to walk up the stairs, this time gripping the banister with a knuckled death grip, he caught Reidward giving him a wobbly thumbs up.
I'm going to die, Patrick thought.
I am absolutely going to die in that study.