theoldguardkinkmeme | Fills Post #2

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The first opportunity Frederica had to meet the Duke’s husband was at a ball given by Lady Ombersley, not quite the first of the Season but very close to it. As Frederica had no offspring old enough to be searching for spouses, and Jessamy was the only one of her siblings who could expect to make or receive an offer this year, she was not obliged to attend all the entertainments she was invited to; only those she might expect to enjoy.

When she first saw the Duke, however, he was not attended by a mysterious Italian; he was in conversation with Baroness Scythia’s wife. They made a striking pair. The Duke was dressed in English garb for this event, but his beard marked him out from all the other gentlemen even at a distance. Lady Nile was wearing a ball gown in a fine shade of jonquil, with violets embroidered along the hem and the neckline, that at least ten girls here tonight would beg their mamas to have replicated for them, and perhaps one in ten would have the complexion to carry off as well as Lady Nile.

“Your grace,” Frederica said. “And Lady Nile. It has been too long since I saw either of you.”

“We were traveling over the winter,” Lady Nile said. “And we will be traveling again shortly, but Andromache thought we might as well show our faces at one or two events, while everybody is in Town. And of course, there was a wedding to celebrate.” She cast an amused glance at the Duke.

He laughed. He had a very nice laugh, Frederica had always thought; it always invited one to be part of the joke, and not its object. “We were very pleased you could be there.”

“Speaking of which,” Frederica said, seeing her opportunity, “I was so hoping I might be introduced to your husband, if that is not too impertinent of me.”

“Not at all, Lady Alverstoke,” the Duke said at once. “He is just fetching Lady Nile some punch, and I expect will be back with us any moment, not having very many acquaintances yet. Unless Lady Ombersley has kidnapped him to make introductions.”

“One would expect nothing else,” Lady Nile said, hiding a smile behind her fan; her eyes gave her away. “She is very efficient.”

“Unlike any other ladies of my acquaintance, to be sure.” The Duke actually winked at Lady Nile, but she did not seem to mind at all; Frederica revised her understanding of the length of their acquaintance.

Baroness Scythia joined them only a minute or two later, with a man in tow who had to be the Duke’s husband. He was not quite what Frederica had expected. He was paler than the Duke, which one might expect in an Italian but then again one might not, and clean-shaven. He was very correctly dressed, with quiet elegance, and his coat showed off a very nice set of shoulders – Frederica was married but she wasn’t blind – but somehow the whole contrived to fade into the background in a way the Duke very much did not.

“Nicolò, may I present the Marchioness of Alverstoke. She is an old friend,” said the Duke. “Lady Alverstoke, my husband Nicolò.”

“The Duke is too kind; I may only claim an acquaintance,” Frederica demurred, as Lord Nicolò bowed.

“I had to rescue him from Sophy,” said Baroness Scythia, with a speaking look at her wife. “She was determined that he would meet everybody before the dancing had even really begun.”

“She was only trying to help,” said Lord Nicolò. “She said it would be a shame if I had so few introductions made that I had only one or two people I might dance with.” His accent was very strong; Frederica wondered if he might be more comfortable in another language, but neither her French nor her Italian were good enough to make the attempt.

“A fair point,” the Duke said indulgently. The way he looked at his husband made it clear that Charis had been correct about it being a love-match. There might have been nobody else in the room.

“Are you here with your brother, Lady Alverstoke?” the Baroness asked.

“He is here, but –” Frederica bit down on her tongue; she should not speak of his attachment to Aubrey Lanyon yet, when it was still undecided. “He is still very young, you know, and it is of no matter whether he makes a match this Season or not. Mostly Mrs. Dauntry and I are here to see our old acquaintance.” She glanced over to where Jessamy was conversing earnestly with one or two other youths who she knew him to have befriended at Cambridge.

“May I have your hand for a dance, later?” Lord Nicolò said, surprising Frederica.

“Certainly,” she said. Baroness Scythia made a claim as well, which was also accepted. Lady Nile said she would not add to Frederica’s dance card now it was so rapidly filling, but that she would be happy to dance with the Duke, who immediately agreed to the plan.

“See, I am learning,” Lord Nicolò said to his husband.

“Indeed; by the end of the night you will hardly need me here at all,” the Duke said. Lord Nicolò only shook his head, not with the alarm of someone who needed an escort, but the firmness of someone who knew his preferences. “That will never be the case.”

“They’re going to disappoint everybody twice,” Baroness Scythia said after they were gone. “Firstly because Yusuf is now unavailable, and twice because they will all expect their husband or wife to look at them like those two look at each other.”

“How did they meet?” Frederica asked.

“A hunting-party,” Lady Nile said. “They are both very good riders. Though we were not there, and the story is probably better had from them.”

“They should print invitation cards with all the salient point, or they will be repeating themselves everywhere they go for the next few weeks,” said her wife. “Lady Alverstoke, the music is starting – shall we?”

“Of course,” Frederica said, and put her hand in the Baroness’.

When it came time, Lord Nicolò proved to be an excellent dancer, as well as the rider Lady Nile had said he was. The Duke was an excellent conversationalist, and could hold a room in the palm of his hand; that was not at all his husband’s style, but his observations were all to the point. His eyes constantly strayed back to his husband, though, who was dancing with the Countess of Charlbury. It recalled Frederica very indulgently to the first days of her own marriage. Not that she did not still hold Alverstoke in all affection; but he was not joining her in Town for a week or two yet, so she could hardly look for him here.

“We are having a picnic when my husband comes to Town,” she said, as she and Lord Nicolò left the floor. “Would you and your husband care to attend?”

“We would be delighted,” Lord Nicolò assured her.

“Wonderful, but for friendship’s sake – with your husband at least – I must caution you not to commit yourself to too many engagements; the Season can be very wearying. Though I suppose if your brother is an ambassador, you may be used to it.”

“Oh, no, I had a very quiet life, and I was only meant to visit with my brother for a few weeks,” said Lord Nicolò. “But then I met Yusuf.”

“You know, I think my husband would say he had a very quiet life, or at least one convenient to his interests, and then he met me,” Frederica said, laughing. “So we have that in common.”

Dying a little at the idea of invitation cards (better yet, calling cards) with all the pertinent gossiped-about information in brackets underneath.

This is so good and I'm so glad you updated!:) I vaguely recognize some of the names from reading SBTB reviews of Heyer novels, but this fic is already making me really tempted to bump them up my reading list.

for the purposes of helping with that ;) the Heyer novels I am drawing on here are Frederica, Venetia, and The Grand Sophy, which are all among my very favourites (although massive content warning for an out-of-nowhere deeply anti-Semitic sequence in that third one).

I love this! And thanks for the reading list!

OP here again

So excited to see an update already! I love Nile's dress, too, and Frederica's prediction about being copied - your writing is fantastic, perfectly suited to the setting.

Re: Frederica being married, not blind - we're right there with her.

Frederica dancing with Andy! Wonderful idea!

> Lord Nicolò only shook his head, not with the alarm of someone who needed an escort, but the firmness of someone who knew his preferences. “That will never be the case.”

This was my favorite sentence! It's so beautiful!

Though I also love the last one, it was adorable.

Andy's suggestion of the printed cards was hilarious! Thank you so much for your hard work!

Fills Post #2

Fill: Joe/Nicky, regency AU, nobleman!Joe, unexpected marriage, gossip (2/?)

Re: Fill: Joe/Nicky, regency AU, nobleman!Joe, unexpected marriage, gossip (2/?)

Re: Fill: Joe/Nicky, regency AU, nobleman!Joe, unexpected marriage, gossip (2/?)

Re: Fill: Joe/Nicky, regency AU, nobleman!Joe, unexpected marriage, gossip (2/?)

Re: Fill: Joe/Nicky, regency AU, nobleman!Joe, unexpected marriage, gossip (2/?)