Title: Tempestuous Ducal Romance! So Handsome! So Kind! ♥
Author: kiki_eng
Rating: PG
Length: 2,070 words
Summary: Duke Adam Lambert, besotted with Mister Kris Allen, orchestrates their being stranded alone together during a storm, compromising Kris' virtue. To save Kris' reputation and the honour of his family they must marry.
Warnings: Non-con: Adam manipulates Kris into a situation where the most socially acceptable option available for Kris is to marry Adam, which is frankly terrifying and not romantic at all. The wrongness of Adam's actions is not acknowledged within the text of this story.
Prompt: Here.
Notes: Many thanks to readbystarlight for beta-reading.


“I hear the gardens here are among the finest in the country,” Kris says, to fill the silence.

“They are indeed,” replies Lambert, “I spent many summers here as a boy and am intimately acquainted with them. They served most excellently as a means of escaping unpleasant obligations then. Tutors and so forth, you know,” he says, smiling charmingly.

Kris smiles back, a little, before freezing when he spots Gokey through the glass.

Lambert’s smile turns a little wry. “Of course, they still answer to that purpose now. I would be much obliged if you would humour me by submitting to a tour of them, so that I might see them without being terribly rude at a party, talking to no one, and of course you must tell me what you think of them.”

“I am certain that I would find them most charming, Your Grace, but I fear that it looks like rain,” Kris says with regret.

“Nonsense,” Lambert says, cheerfully. “These clouds are just passing through. I am quite well acquainted with the weather patterns of the area. I assure you that there is very little risk of rain.”

“Given your assurance of fair weather I would be happy to accompany you.” Given your assurance of fair weather I can find no civil course of action on short notice but to accompany you. Kris thinks testily. I can not find within myself the inclination to make such a discovery that would allow me to do otherwise.

“You are too good. Now, you must feel free to tell me how charming you find them at great length,” he says as they set off together. “I feel rather a great deal of vicarious pride for them- one of my many sins,” he says, laughingly.

~*~

“You simply must see the ruins,” Lambert says, grinning infectiously.

“I do believe the wind is picking up,” says Kris, nervously observing the wind sweeping through a lonely oak. “It might be best if we turned back now.”

“Oh, it is only a light breeze and we are part of the way there, already. The main garden does so benefit in its appearance, being viewed from afar. It is simply incomparable, viewed in its entirety. Do you not find it so, Mr. Allen?”

“Indeed. Its geometry is quite remarkable, Your Grace,” Kris replies politely, having turned his head to observe the gardens.

“Oh, I am so glad you agree, and the ruins are only but a bit farther. You simply must see them,” Lambert says, still walking forward with great enthusiasm.

Save me from absurd Dukes Kris thinks longsufferingly, as he hurries to match Lambert’s stride.

~*~

“Are they not utterly charming?” asks Lambert, as his normally impeccably coiffed hair dances about his face in the wind.

He is truly a ridiculous and, God help me, endearing person. Kris thinks.

“They are most charming,” he concedes. “I so thank you for showing me them, but I fear that the fair weather has turned on us and we must head back to our party presently.”

Lambert smiles a little at Kris and the heavens open, rain pouring down upon them.

“I am most regretful for my error in judgment and I do so wish that that was a possibility. I fear that we must weather the storm in the guest house,” he says, taking a hold of Kris’ hand and pulling him in that direction. “I simply could not bear it if you were to fall ill on account of the rain - my having led you out here.”

“Will the guest house not be locked?” Kris protested. “I assure you that my constitution is not at all delicate, I am certain that we can make the trip back.”

“Oh, it is much too far in this weather,” Lambert says, dragging Kris forward,“and I have the key,” he adds brightly, “so we needn’t worry about property damage.”

’We needn’t worry about property damage.’ ‘Needn’t worry.’ I have been a fool he thinks.

“This is most improper,” Kris says, as Lambert closes the door behind them.

“Of course,” he says, moving into the house. “You must take off your clothes. I am certain that Bell keeps some things here. It is more of a hunting lodge than a guest house, though Bell does not much enjoy hunting. He is so delightfully eccentric. Do you not find him so?”

Kris sputters a little.

Adam makes a triumphant noise from the next room. “I think these will fit you,”he says, coming back into the room. “What are you doing standing by the door? You must go and change at once. I will of course wait here and change after you. Perhaps I can get a fire going in the meantime.”

Kris stares at Lambert incredulously.

“I assure you that I set the rug on fire instead but once, and that was years ago, in my boyhood! Go, go,” he says, “and then you can hurry back and help me put out any accidental fires, though I assure you there will be none.”

Kris takes the clothing and goes; he is wet, after all. He cannot possibly set the whole place alight in my absence he thinks.

~*~

Lambert, indeed, does no such thing. There is a fire in the grate when Kris returns, and though Lambert seems inordinately proud of it, Kris can detect nothing amiss.

Lambert changes into a set of clothing that he apparently keeps in the guest house, and engages Kris in a conversation about music while they wait out the storm. So engaged is Kris that he does not notice that the storm has ended until Lambert remarks upon it.

~*~

“This is appalling,” says Gokey. “You must marry him.”

“Well, if I must,” says Lambert. “If you’ll excuse me, I must borrow one of Bell’s rooms, and Mr. Allen.”

“I suppose you cannot ruin him much further,” says Gokey peevishly.

“I am so glad that you think so,” he says, before turning and spotting Kris.“Mr. Allen! I wonder if I might speak with you in the library for a few minutes.”

“Certainly,” he says.

~*~

When Lambert ushers Kris forward and closes the door behind them Kris experiences a keen sense of déjà vu.

“I am most grieved,” says Lambert, and Kris’ heart sinks a little, “for I am afraid that I have besmirched your reputation, us having spent so long together alone in each other’s company and being late to return after the storm had past. I regret most deeply that I have caused you pain and beg leave to make amends. I wonder,” Lambert says, sinking to his knee, “if you would do me the profound honour of becoming my husband. I believe that your family had other plans for you?”

Kris nods.

“I fear, though, that they may be an option no longer?”

Kris shakes his head. No one would take a second son of compromised virtue. The offering Adam is making now, out of a sense of obligation, presents the best possible chance of Kris’ family retaining some measure of respectability.

“You are many of the things that I desire in a spouse, indeed, you are all of them, and though this offer arises out of hasty circumstance I assure you that it is sincere, that I am sincere in my desire to wed you. I… feel certain that we would not lack for conversation.”

Kris laughs a little hysterically, and Lambert smiles.

“While I would have liked the luxury of a more lengthy courtship, I feel that we are suited. Will you consent to marry me, Mr. Allen?”

Lambert is brazen and impulsive and a little bit strange. He is also kind and intelligent and handsome. Kris can not remember when he last had so much fun in an afternoon. While he wishes that any of these things could be real factors in his decision it is no decision at all, really; there is only one answer that he can make, the offer being made. “Yes,” he says, and Lambert lights up.

Kris finds himself smiling at him in response.

~*~

They are to be wed in Town, and wed shortly, and for all that Kris enjoys Lambert's- Adam's company, he cannot help being uneasy as the wedding approaches. The arrangements being made for the wedding are on such a scale as to be bewildering. A Lambert wedding, even, or perhaps because it is a scandalous one, is an event. Kris hears whispers when he goes out and finds himself much gawked at. It might be humourous were he not also the object of so much venom, and so much hastily put on good will. He finds himself much despised by persons whom he has never even met and while he can scarcely conscience feeling guilt over having the nerve to marry so wealthy a man he thinks that he is beginning to feel a little guilt over marrying Adam.

While Lambert seems to genuinely like him, to be a genuine person, Kris wonders a little if he feels trapped by this marriage. For all that Lambert is truly making the best of this situation it can not be his ideal. Lambert is a man high enough that he does not need to marry Kristopher, and Kris wonders a little that he should.

Lambert has been acting more the part of a suitor than a fiancé, wooing Kris, sometimes outrageously, in between soliciting his opinion on floral arrangements for the wedding and attempting to stealthily transform Kris' wardrobe into something more to Adam's liking. Kris is certain that one of his coats has been replaced by another identical save that it is rather more fitted than formerly and has a just barely discernible sheen. If Adam, he reflects, is indeed attempting a covert transformation he is failing most miserably. He is beginning to suspect that Adam is rather too shameless for true stealth.

While Kris finds himself delighted at Adam's wooing and takes a kind of mischievous joy in returning Lambert's flirtations, he worries a little at how happy, how genuine a person Lambert seems and wonders if he falls just short of being truly those things, if Lambert's wooing is not a desperate attempt at finding happiness in an unlooked for situation. Kris thinks that he might be happy with Lambert but he worries a little about what Lambert might be doing to his own happiness by saving Kris.

~*~

Kris is out on the high street with Lambert's friend Bell a few days before the wedding when he hears a voice in the crowd. "If I had known that Lambert were such a fool as to let himself fall into such circumstances, that he'd marry to save some worthless chit's reputation, I would have had my Matthew throw himself at Lambert a great deal harder. That Allen's a canny one, trapping Lambert, I'll give him that."

Bell's eyes harden and Kris freezes. "You don't think-" he says.

"No," Bell says.

"Does Adam think that..." and Kris trails off.

Bell stares at him disbelievingly and says, "You can not possibly be this oblivious."

"Adam," Bell says, as they head back to the Allens’ residence in Town, "is in love with you."

"He has been very good to me," corrects Kris.

"Adam," Bell says, "is about the least subtle man I have ever met. You realise, don't you, that he compromised your virtue?"

"He has been very good to me," Kris repeats.

"Adam," Bell says firmly, "has been in love with you for< em>some time. It may shock you, but it was not a coincidence that nearly as soon as your parents began to talk seriously of marrying you off that you became unmarriageable to anyone but Adam." Bell quirks an eyebrow.

"He-"

The eyebrow stays quirked. "He has been in love with you for some time. Miss Iraheta," Bell continues implacably, ignoring the protest Kris knows is writ on his features, "was a most useful ally to him."

What? "Allison-"

“-wanted you to be happy instead of only dutiful. She also likes Adam.”

“She introduced us.”

“I know. She is his favourite. After me, and you, of course.”

~*~

When Kris arrives home he finds Adam sitting with his brother in the parlour, waiting on him. Adam looks up at him and what Bell has been telling him is suddenly obvious. Oh, he thinks, oh. He does not mind, he thinks, being “trapped” at all.