Page 62 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
She stiffened, her fingers curling around the porcelain handle of her teacup. Her breath caught, even as she kept her expression blank.
Magnus said nothing for a moment, only crossed the room with those quiet, measured steps that managed to fill the whole space. Always too composed. Always too distant.
Until he wasn’t.
Until that day.
Lily looked up slowly, meeting his gaze across the room. His coat was dusted from the wind and the morning chill, his hair tousled slightly from riding. He looked as if nothing had changed. As if he hadn’t held her like she was the only real thing left in a world made of duty and stone.
Butshehad changed.
Everything had.
“I trust you’re well,” he said in the same even tone he used with tenants and estate managers.
Her lips curled into a dry smile. “I was wondering when you’d remember I existed.”
He blinked, only once. But it was enough to tell her that he’d felt the sting of her words.
He approached the table, and when he stopped beside her chair, she finally noticed the tight set of his jaw, the lines around his eyes.
Not untouched by the past days, then. Just better at hiding it.
“I’ve come to speak to you properly,” he said. “About the matter we last discussed.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You mean the part where you kissed me senseless and then vanished for three days?”
His jaw tightened further. “Yes, that matter.”
Lily stood up slowly, smoothing her skirts with deliberate calm. “Well then,” she said, turning to face him fully, “by all means, Your Grace. Speak properly.”
Magnus’s gaze darkened for half a breath, and she knew the sarcasm hadn’t escaped him. But he kept his posture relaxed and his tone rather professional.
“I’m offering marriage. Once again.”
She stared at him, her mouth dropping open. “I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me.”
“I heard you. I’m asking if you’ve lost your mind,” she huffed. “For three days, you acted like nothing happened, and here you are, asking for my hand in marriage once again?”
He exhaled slowly. “This is not a romantic proposal.”
She scoffed. “Obviously.”
“It is, however, a logical one,” he continued.
She gave a short laugh, dry and brittle. “Oh, how delightful. Nothing sets the heart racing quite like logic.”
Magnus ignored the sarcasm and stepped closer. “Bailey is no longer an option, I presume?” He raised an eyebrow.
Her jaw tightened at the glint in his eyes. “Why are you so confident?”
“You let me touch you.” His voice lowered, and the tension between them crackled. “In ways you wouldn’t let anyone else.” He stepped even closer. “And Nathan’s debt won’t vanish. This house still hangs in the balance.”
Her cheeks burned, but she didn’t flinch. “So, you propose to save my reputation? How noble.”
He didn’t answer, not directly. Instead, he met her eyes, and for a fleeting moment, something flickered in them—something that looked suspiciously like regret.
