There were thoughts of the other occasions when he'd choose to grip her around her precious airpipe, but she didn't stay in those memories for long. He'd not grasped her to be deliciously rough in complete secrecy. Her thick lips made a thin sound and it pleased him just as much as her moans, filled with vibrato. He liked to tear her from her thoughts. When her skirts thwarted her balance sans his return of her neck and arm, his heart bubbled with excitement. The table became her gentleman. Such wonderful reflexes in the recently clever girl.<br/><br/>Quietly he looked her up and down when she assembled her properties after the minor assault. It made him think they could perhaps make up right there, with hot coffee spilling over her thighs while he parted them. Elsie was very good at being pliable in that regard. It was an incredible saving grace for when she did things like leave him to wake and eat alone. She caressed the creases on her dress until they were gone. It was the end of the show, for now. But what was marriage if not an endless row of encores?<br/><br/>He upended her once more, after that, and she showed it on her face. It was a beautiful pastime, to surprise Elsie. Oscar nodded to the side at her disbelief and acceptance of his offered influence. "It's really no trouble. It's a good cause, yours, you just need to be more strategic about your pursuit of it." And not let it interfere with your duties to me. He helped tuck some hair back in place and even dragged a knuckle gently over her desirable cheek, as though to lift her spirit and tell her things were not all that bad between them, anymore. That he found her pleasing, again.<br/><br/>He almost grinned when he saw her train of thought flitting over her expression. So many things connected over the map of he features, but the end result was proper, which he hadn't expected. What a delightful wife she could be, if she applied herself. As a reminder, and a way to cement her own decision, she examined the skin around her pulse - he hadn't been in the mood to bruise her and leave her without choice of neckline - and picked a very reasonable answer.<br/><br/>"Nothing of importance indeed." It had all but expelled the bad blood she'd put between them. She'd practically saved their day. Too bad she had to be taught a lesson to learn, and not have that instinct in her bones already. Her father had been right about her. "All things of pedigree need some firmness to grow up right." he said, and thought it was a great modesty from himself, that he'd have the patience with her and her antics. And it had been a compliment to her family tree too, hadn't it?<br/><br/>"I'll leave our attire to you then. Maybe you could send me what you're wearing on a note with our errand boy." Jarl, a good kid with a good head. His family was happy for the coins they'd agree to anything. The boy was a wiz at procuring contraband with watertight discretion.<br/><br/>Oscar held her face in his hands and kissed her dramatic lips carefully at first, but the tail end of what should have been a peck became something deeper. Punishment and reward. But it had to end eventually. "I am headed out, finally, to meet someone who's trying to sell me something." They were always after his money, and he'd let them have a taste if the wares had double value. Many good opportunities in this new world.<br/><br/>He plucked up a cane, ornamental considering his perfect health and beautiful legs. "You know, if you want to meet with the Anthony woman, I can invite her." It would sound as a condition for her freedom coming from the lips of her liberator. People tended to comply, then. "You two can talk tactics while we boys bore each other with other matters." Generous when he could be. "Maybe she'll have a story or two about her incarceration. She's lived a life now." he laughed to himself and touched the tip of the cane to the floor twice. "And, darling." he added. Green eyes were colder than her blues. "Don't be late. It's at seven." So as to not repeat her morning debacle in the evening, too. Public mishaps were particularly unforgivable, considering his political plans.