Page 127 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
Her eyes widened. “Truly? So, does that mean that the debt is…?”
He folded the letter and slipped it into the inside pocket of his coat, then looked at her with that rare, vulnerable openness he showed only to her.
“No, Lily. Not truly. If I meant to repay the full amount owed, it would take at least another seven years. Possibly more.”
She blinked, surprised, her hand instinctively reaching for his. “Seven years?”
“But,” he continued gently, “I have no intention of doing that. That money… to be honest, most of it belongs to you. A portion has been set aside in Nathan’s name, for the day he is released. I intend to see him, give it to him, and hope that he’s learned something by then. But the debt, in truth… it ends here. With us. I won’t let it haunt our future.”
Lily stood very still for a moment, absorbing every word. Once realization dawned, her heart swelled, not just with love but also with something deeper—like profound admiration, the kind that made her eyes well with tears.
“You’ve been planning this… for how long?” she whispered.
“Since the day I brought you home,” he said, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. “Since the day I realized you were more than what I had bargained for, more than a means of repayment. You are everything. My wife. My joy. The future I never dared to imagine.”
More tears pooled at the corners of her eyes, but her smile remained luminous. “And Nathan…” She tilted her slightly. “Do you think he’ll change?”
“I hope so,” Magnus replied quietly, wrapping his arm around her again. “I believe some men are capable of it, if given a chance.”
She stepped closer, resting a hand on his chest. “Then I believe that, too. Though I must confess, I don’t know yet if I’d want our child to know him.”
That made him pause, his eyes shooting to hers in unrestrained surprise.
“Our child?” he repeated, his voice low.
Her eyes danced with meaning before a laugh escaped her lips, a faint blush blooming across her cheeks.
“I wasn’t sure when to tell you. But yes… I believe we will be three, come spring.”
The ensuing silence was so perfect, so absolute, that even the distant tick of the clock on the mantelpiece seemed to fade away.
Magnus looked at her as though he could scarcely believe what he’d just heard.
“You’re with child?” he asked, his voice hoarse, like a man seeing the stars for the first time.
She nodded, her lips trembling with laughter and tears all at once. “Yes, Magnus. We’re going to have a baby.”
A slow, astonished grin spread across his face. His arms tightened around her once again before he lifted her off the floor in one fluid motion. She shrieked, laughing, before her arms looped around his neck.
“Magnus!”
“Do you think I’ll let you walk another step after telling me that?” he asked, his voice rough with joy. “You’ve just given me the world, Lily. The whole damn world.”
She buried her face in his neck as he carried her through the hall. “The guests?—”
“May wait. I have urgent business with my wife.”
“And what business would that be, Your Grace?” she asked, breathless with laughter.
He kicked the door to their chamber open, stepping into the warmness of soft lines, golden lights, and the scent of jasmine.
“I intend,” he said, lowering her to the bed with a wicked grin, “to worship the mother of my child in a most thorough and scandalous fashion.”
She arched an eyebrow, her lips parted. “Is that so?”
Without breaking eye contact, he trailed his hand down her arm. “You’ve gone and made me the happiest man alive. I think you deserve a bit of mischief before the nobles descend,” he teased.
“Then don’t make me wait,” she urged in a sultry tone.
