Page 100 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
As if you have bribed him, she wanted to add, but she didn’t want to go too far.
A long silence followed.
Then, in a deceptively soft voice, Magnus said, “I told him to never speak your name again. And I made sure he understood what would happen if he disrespected my wife in my presence ever again.”
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
He took a step toward her, slowly, as if he were approaching a skittish kitten.
“Bailey didn’t come for love,” he continued. “He came for a transaction. That transaction has been permanently canceled.”
Lily’s mouth hung open, and she swallowed thickly. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Because I don’t owe you every answer just because I’ve given you my name.”
The words hit her like ice water. Her eyebrows rose to her hairline; she couldn’t help but find his words extremely insulting.
He seemed to regret his words when he saw her expression but he didn’t retract them or attempt to make apology for them either. “I see,” she said quietly. “So I’m supposed to smile and play the Duchess while you conduct secret meetings and hurl vague threats like some… brooding Byronic hero.”
He said nothing.
“I thought after last night?—”
“Last night,” he cut in, his voice tight, “was a mistake.”
That did it. That squeezed something raw inside her, the pain almost bringing her to her knees.
“Oh, was it?” she drawled, taking a step closer so they stood toe to toe. “Is that what you tell yourself to sleep at night?”
She noticed his breath hitch as she closed the last bit of distance between them.
She reached out and pushed against his chest, not hard, but enough to feel the firm muscles beneath his shirt, the tension in them.
“Because you didn’t seem to think it was a mistake when you had me pressed against the wall like you wanted to devour me,” she taunted, throwing caution to the wind.
It seemed her brother’s betrayal had hardened her heart.
A muscle twitched in Magnus’s jaw. She saw it and pushed against his chest once more.
“Say it,” she challenged, her voice shaking. “Say you regret it. Look me in the eye and say it.”
He didn’t. Not at first.
His hand caught her wrist. His grip was gentle but still firm enough to hold her in place.
“I regret everything,” he rumbled. “Because you make me forget all the things I’ve built to keep my life exactly as I need it. Order. Control. Distance.”
“And I suppose I ruin all of that,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he murmured. “You do.”
There was nothing more than air between them yet neither moved to close the gap. Lily didn’t want to be the one to do so. She wanted him to stop running away from her, wanted him to choose her. And then, she saw it in his eyes—the war. The maddening war raging inside him. His wish to draw closer to her and his merciless restraint.
But his restraint was fraying.
His thumb brushed along the inside of her wrist, where her pulse fluttered wildly.
“I told myself I would not touch you again,” he said, his voice rough. “That I could have you as a wife in name only. That it would be enough.”
