Page 103 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
“Funny you should say that.” He paused again, this time deliberately. “I saw Nathan last night.”
The name dropped between them like a stone into still water. His pulse quickened.
“Where?” He furrowed his brow.
“In a gambling hell off Fleet Street.” Edwin shrugged casually. “He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, and he wasn’t alone. There were two men with him—the sort of men who don’t wait to be paid back in cash. One had him by the arm, and the other… well, I’ve seen that look before. It ends in trouble.”
Magnus’s jaw tightened. “If they harm him…”
“Then you’ll have a problem to solve before your Duchess finds out,” Edwin finished for him, sipping his drink. “Unless you think she won’t notice.”
Magnus didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Because Lily would notice, just as she noticed every change in his mood, every shadow he tried to hide.
And damn him, he had come to expect it.
Back at Blackmore Manor, Lily sat in the small morning parlor. She stared at the embroidery frame on her lap without taking a single stitch.
Perhaps it was boredom, but the silence in the room wasunbearable.
She had been restless since Magnus left, pacing from one room to another as though the right corridor might lead her to answers. But the truth was obvious—she had brought chaos into his life. She had brought him her brother’s debts, his mess, her stubborn temper.
Mrs. Gunther appeared in the doorway, interrupting her thoughts.
Lily looked up to see the folded paper in the woman’s hands.
“Your Grace, the draper sent over the latest swatches for the green drawing room.”
Lily tried a smile. “Thank you. I’ll check them later.”
The housekeeper nodded. She was about to turn and leave, but hesitated when she noticed something. “You’ve not touched your tea.”
“I’m not thirsty,” Lily simply replied, before returning her gaze to her embroidery.
Mrs. Gunther stepped back inside, her expression somewhat unreadable.
“You carry yourself as if the weight of the world sits on your shoulders, Your Grace. But you have strong hands. You can share the burden,” she told her gently.
The words got to Lily so much that her throat tightened.
“And if he doesn’t really want me?” she eventually asked.
“Then he’s a fool,” Mrs. Gunther said simply.
Lily’s eyebrows flew up in surprise.
Mrs. Gunther let out a chuckle before turning around and leaving her to her thoughts.
As the silence fell over the room, Lily rose abruptly. She was determined not to sit and rot in the quietness, choosing the garden as a great option for fresh air.
She stepped into the garden right as the morningsun disappeared behind the clouds. As she wandered along the path between the yew hedges, she watched the Flowers dance in the soft breeze.
Lovely.
Her smile dropped when she suddenly heard a rustle behind her. It sounded strange amidst the usual quiet of Blackmore Manor that had come to be her home since she had married. Even if there were many servants in the household, they moved quietly and avoided her as if afraid of offending her. .
She sniffed.
Where was that smell coming from? It was acrid, like tobacco.
