Page 11 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
As expected, he wasn’t very happy to learn about it.
“But I told you not to go to him!” he snapped. “Why would you even do that and then strike a deal with him? Did I not tell you to stay put while I handled it on my own?”
“You seemed fine with the idea of me going to see the Duke the other day,” she said simply, not wanting to argue with him.
He threw his hands up in the air. “Of course, I was fine with it— because youinsisted. You were only supposed to convince him to give us back the house, not to strike a deal with him. How could you do that to us? You said you were only going to beg him!”
“I did what I thought was best for us, Nathan,” she stated calmly.
“Well then, maybe you weren’t thinking well enough,” he sneered.
Lily frowned at that. Her patience was fraying, but she had managed to keep her temper so far.
“Besides, we wouldn’t be discussing this now had you been home when I returned from Blackmore,” she continued, like he hadn’t just insulted her. “Where were you yesterday, Nathan? You didn’t even come home for dinner.”
Nathan seemed to calm down a bit, but he was still red with rage. Lily imagined he hadn’t expected her to ask such a question; it must have caught him off guard.
“It’s none of your business where I go,” he gritted out. “What do you think I went out to do? I was out trying to fix this mess.”
He said it like he hadn’t caused this mess, like they had both put themselves in this situation and he was only trying to be responsible by fixing it singlehandedly.
It amazed her how he behaved like a petulant child at times.
“Through gambling? You know that is not going to fix anything. It would only make it worse.”
“Oh, shut up!”
Lily slowly rose from her chair. “Instead of swallowing your pride and owning up to your mistakes, you sat back and refused to go see the Duke. So I had to do it for you, because you didn’t know how to face the problem! But, somehow, you still went back to gambling? Have you not realized by now that that is the cause of our problems?”
“Do not talk to me like that, Lily!” Nathan growled. It would have frightened Summer, but not her. “You might be my sister, but I’m still the man of the house, so you had better watch your tone.”
She scoffed.
Man of the house, my foot.
“My Lord?” Summer called, and they both turned to see her standing by the door.
She looked a little scared to speak, her eyes darting between Lily and Nathan, and stuttered when she tried to get the words out.
“Well, spit it out,” Nathan barked.
Lily couldn’t hide her frown when the girl flinched.
“T-There is a visitor at the door, My Lord,” Summer announced, her voice barely audible.
Nathan clapped his hands together. “Right! Just what we need,” he drawled. “A visitor.”
He turned to Lily with a condescending look.
“It’s a highly irregular time for a visitor, don’t you think, Lily?” he scoffed, putting his hands on his hips. Then, not waiting for an answer, he turned back to Summer. “Well? Who has the gall to come and interrupt our conversation?”
“It is the Duke of Blackmore, My Lord,” Summer replied.
And just like that, Nathan paled, his face almost as white as a sheet.
He turned to Lily as though expecting her to explain what was happening. But she simply ignored him and turned to Summer.
“Let him in, please,” she instructed, smoothing down her skirt.
