Page 47 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
Maybe he had.
By the time Magnus returned from town, the heat had given way to dusk, and the atmosphere pulsed with the low energy that came with evening.
Carriages clattered by, and the echo of laughter reminded him of his friends.
He didn’t want to go to the club. But he wasn’t ready to return to Medlin Manor, either. Not while Lily’s voice still rang in his ears. Not when her words still echoed in his mind, the weight of them hurting like a bruise just beneath his ribs.
Eventually, he decided, why not?
Edwin was the first to spot him, flagging him down outside Harrington’s, grinning like a man who had never suffered consequences in his life.
Magnus allowed himself to be led inside.
The club looked just as he had left it the last time. Wood paneled, dimly lit, overperfumed. He spotted a few familiar faces that nodded in greeting, a table covered with cards, and small smoke rings curling up in the air.
Edwin didn’t waste time making himself at home. He slung one arm across the back of his chair and nursed a glass of brandy in the other. William, one of his best friends and the Duke of Mayfield, joined them shortly, sitting across from him. Despite being the proper one, he had loosened his cravat a touch.
“Look who the wind dragged in,” Edwin said cheerfully as Magnus took a seat. “We were beginning to think that Medlin swallowed you whole.”
Magnus wasn’t surprised by that remark. After all, rumors flew across town like birds. However, he didn’t answer immediately. He reached for the decanter instead and poured himself a glass of brandy.
William reclined in the chair beside him, his shrewd eyes watching every move. “If you joined us here for a night of sulking, I must say I could’ve stayed home with my wife and child.”
“And missed the exquisite scent of pipe smoke and desperation?” Magnus muttered, before raising the glass to his lips.
“You’ve become gloomy,” Edwin observed, setting down his glass “That house is doing things to you.”
Magnus’s gaze flicked toward him immediately. “You mean the manor?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I mean the people in it,” Edwin clarified, taking a sip of his drink.
“I’m not sure ‘people’ is the right word,” Magnus drawled. “It’s more like one exasperating woman, one self-righteous brother,and servants who keep offering me warm bread and worried glances.”
William’s lips twitched, but he didn’t smile. Instead, he sat forward. “Eveline told me about you living with the Medlins.”
Magnus said nothing. Like he said, rumors flew across town like birds.
Well, except in his case, it wasn’t a rumor.
His jaw tensed.
William reached for his drink. “I won’t pretend it isn’t a strange arrangement, but Lily… She is?—”
“I know what she is.” The words came out sharper than Magnus had intended.
“She’s a good woman,” William continued, nonetheless. “My wife trusts her. She’s gentle. Kind.”
“I know that.” Magnus interected. “She is Cecilia’s friend, remember? And I happen to be living with her now so you do not need to remin me of her charms.”
Edwin shot him a smug look which he didn’t appreciate and even William had an amused smile on his face.
Shite.
He shouldn’t have revealed how much talking about his ordeal with Lily affected him.
Magnus looked away, sipping his brandy.
“I guess there is no need to scold you anymore,” Edwin noted, looking between the two men with an amused expression.
