Klaroline and regency au.
With Great Care
As the secret bastard, Klaus was never meant to inherit a cent from the Mikaelson fortunes. Though his mother set aside a small sum from her own income, he’d long since resigned himself to the generosity of his eldest brother and the business allowed him upon the passing of the Earl. When he’s named the illegitimate - yet sole - heir to a Duke’s estate, however, his entire future changes instantly. More important than finding a profession, it appears, is the sudden need for a wife to help him manage it all.
No stranger to the ladies of the ton, Klaus is certain he would be soon bored of any of them. Never one for more than a romp, matrimony was an altogether daunting prospect that he felt woefully unprepared to attempt. So, he asks for help.
Why he thought Rebekah would be his best guide into the marriage market, he has no idea. His misfortune is particularly apparent during the musicale she hosted just for him to pick a wife, when the ambitious mothers all clamored for the only two seats beside himself. During a brief break for refreshments, he slips into the private sitting room just off the parlor where the performance has left him trapped.
Of course, he chose the exact room set aside for the performers, including the fetching blonde singer accompanying the musicians. Caroline was her name, an American of all things. As such, she didn’t care for the stiff manners of the ladies who treated her as something lesser, and she had no trouble telling the so-called gentlemen just what she thought of their indiscreet advances - his included.
Eager to accept the challenge she posed, Klaus enjoyed the game of wooing her, made all the better by procrastinating the increasingly dire need to marry to keep his estate in order. Of course, it doesn’t occur to him that a single lady all alone in a foreign country must be well suited to keeping her own house and ensuring her economic well-being until he watches Caroline balance her accounts in the dark of night, the silk sheet wrapped around her all the more enticing at the possibilities suddenly filling his mind.