Page 2 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
“Lady Lily?” a soft voice called, pulling her out of her thoughts.
She turned to see Summer walking towards her, probably from the kitchen.
She cleared her throat. “What is it?”
Summer gave Nathan a look as she drew closer, before cupping a hand over her mouth and leaning into Lily’s ear. “Something doesn’t add up in the household accounts. Your Ladyship might need to take a look at it.”
Lily swallowed past the lump in her throat and nodded. “Alright, I shall see to it right away,” she said and turned to leave.
“Lily,” Nathan called, as though suspecting what Summer had just told her. “There is something I have to tell you. I-I think you should know. You have to.”
His voice was shaking, so Lily could tell immediately that it was serious.
Her heart thudded heavily as she wondered what more trouble he had gotten them in.
She turned back to look at him, a frown creasing her face.
“What is it about?” she asked coolly.
His eyes darted around. “You should sit down first.”
He stepped closer to take her hand, but she pulled it out of his reach.
“Nathan, whatever it is you have to say, do it quickly so I may return to my chores.” Her patience was already wearing thin.
“You might… You might need to sit down to hear it. Please.”
She let him guide her to the only sofa left in the main hall and sat down calmly, telling herself that things could not possibly get much worse than they already were.
Oh my, what has he done now?
“Now, what is it you have to say?”
He sat beside her gingerly and laced his fingers in his lap, presumably to steady himself, just as he had always done when he was nervous.
“Uh… Well, last night I received a missive from the debt collectors, and I found out that Father had left behind a substantial debt after he died. And… it is now my responsibility to repay it, or else the debt collectors would confiscate more valuables. And charge more interest!”
Ah, so that’s how it is.
“So what did you do?”
He ignored her question and continued, “Well, Father owed a lot of money to quite a number of people, and… I… I mean, we have to pay it back, or we could lose everything we have.”
“What did you do, Nathan?” Now, the last shred of her patience had snapped.
“The debt came with the title, so whoever became the Earl after him would have to pay it back. And that’s me. I became the Earl, so now it’s my debt, but I found out about it only yesternight. They were going to come this morning. There was nothing else I could have done, I swear.”
“What. Did. You. Do?” Lily asked again, trying hard to keep her voice even.
“I tried… I tried to get the money last night.” He took a deep, shaky breath, but she was already trying to decipher the hidden message in his words.
“You tried to get the money last night?” she echoed.
He nodded quickly. “I did. I decided to gamble with the money I had on me, hoping to double it several times. I thought I would be able to make enough money to keep the debt collectors away for today, at least, but…” He drew in another breath. “I lost everything on me.”
Lily fought the urge to roll her eyes and walk away, because that was not the first time Nathan had lost money to gambling.
“And what happened?”
