Page 125 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
His chest rose slowly with a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. His gaze flicked to her mouth and back to her eyes.
“I won’t,” he said after a long beat. “I promise. You’ll never regret being my wife, Lily.”
She gave a soft, teasing smile. “It’s a little late for regret, don’t you think?”
He smirked. “Then perhaps it’s time to consider gratitude instead.”
She turned toward her door then, laughing quietly. “Goodnight, Magnus.”
But just as she made to open the door, she thought of another thing. When she turned around this time, he was still standing there, watching her.
She let go of the doorknob and stepped closer to him. Just an inch. Then another. “Did you mean it?”
His voice lowered. “Mean what?”
Her gaze held his, lit by something deeper than hope. “That b eyond responsibility you felt towards me as your wife, you cared for me.”
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he closed the gap between them until their bodies were only a breath apart.
Then, he leaned in, slowly, deliberately, and pressed a kiss to the curve of her neck, just beneath her ear. She gasped softly reacting to his caress. He loved how responsive she was to him and the thought had his body awakening with desire for her.He felt the way her pulse jumped beneath his lips.
When he pulled back, his voice was gravelly against her skin.
“Yes,” he said. “It is sbecause I care for you that I intend to fulfil my responsibility to you and my responsibility is to ensure I am deserving of you.”
Her breath hitched at those words.
She didn’t respond, not with words. Instead, she turned to open the door, before backing into her room slowly, step by step, her eyes never leaving his.
And her husband followed.
By the time she reached the center of the room, the door had swung shut behind him.
The air had shifted, grown charged. It was obvious. The world outside could have fallen to ruin, and neither would’ve noticed.
Magnus moved closer before reaching out and gently tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering a bit too long. Lily leaned her head to his touch, caught in the strange, beautiful storm between them.
“I love you, Lily,” he confessed, his voice raw,real. “I love you so much. So much that it’s suffocating, yet it’s the best feeling I have ever felt.”
Her lips parted. There had been no warning. She had not even been expecting that.
“God help me, I think I’ve loved you from the moment you accused me of wanting nothing more than the manor and still looked at me like I was something you didn’t know what to name.” He stepped closer, their chests almost touching. “I’ve spent years building walls. Years of convincing myself that love was a weakness. That duty was safer. Predictable. Clean. But then you came along and made everything messy.”
She smiled through sudden tears. Tears she had not realized had started falling until one slipped to her mouth.
“You made me want things I had buried. You made me wantyou.Need you.”
Lily lifted trembling hands to cup his face. “I wanted to hate you,” she whispered. “You made that very easy, you know.”
He laughed softly. One of those rare laughs of his. “Yes, I know.”
“But I didn’t,” she said. “Because from the very start, you made me feel seen. And infuriated. And… alive.” Her voice cracked. “And then you made me feel alone again, when you pulled away.”
“I was afraid,” he admitted quietly. “Of loving you and losing you. Of not being enough for you. Of ruining you.”
“And yet,” she said, blinking back more tears, “here you are. My ruin. My salvation. My stubborn, impossible, wonderful husband.”
Magnus yanked her into his arms and buried his face in her neck.
