Page 4 of Bound to the Heartless Duke (Regency Beasts #4)

“ B ut why would you do that, old chap?” Edwin Crawford, the Duke of Gillingham, asked before taking another swig of his tea.

They were sitting in the drawing room at Gillingham Manor, staring out the open double doors at the grounds.

Magnus had arrived on the second morning after Lady Lily’s visit and had just told his friend about the Earl’s debts, the reckless gambling, and Lady Lily’s determination to pay off the debts.

He smirked. “Why wouldn’t I?” Images of Lady Lily in his study flashed through his mind. “I just wanted to do it.”

Edwin shook his head and set his teacup on its saucer. “Well, I do not think I fully understand your motives. Why would you strike such a deal with Lady Lily? I happen to know you handle your problems in a very different manner.”

Magnus leaned back in his chair, considering his answer.

Edwin wasn’t all that wrong, though; Magnus did have a motive for striking a deal with Lady Lily, but most of it wasn’t clear to him yet.

“Two nights ago,” he started, letting his thoughts guide his words, “I saw the same sickness in the man’s eyes I once saw in my father’s, and that helped me understand Lady Lily better.”

“A riddle, Blackmore. I have never been good at riddles.”

He chuckled softly. “The Earl of Medlin… I believe he has the same sickness my father had. Greed. Recklessness. I saw it in his eyes that night at the gaming hell. He was so… ready to put his home on the line for an amount of money that isn’t even enough to renovate the drawing room.

So, when Lady Lily came to see me yesterday, asking me to overlook his foolishness, I understood her situation clearly because I had been there myself. ”

He glanced at his friend to see whether he understood what he had just said, but Edwin still looked lost.

At least, he is not the only one.

“So that is why you felt inclined to help her?” Edwin asked.

Magnus shrugged. “I still haven’t figured that part out yet. But I’m not going to seize their house. I do not have any use for it.”

Or do I?

“I know that. But still, why would you do all of that just to help her? Are you attracted to her?” Edwin teased.

But Magnus simply waved him off.

Edwin wasn’t all that wrong, but Magnus would be damned before he admitted it. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t seen Lady Lily before, but they had never had reason to interact before this incident brought them together.

He conjured her image in his mind again, wondering what precisely had driven him to make her such a deal. But when she looked up at him that day, he knew he had to help her.

He wasn’t unaware of his reputation among the ton, so her coming to him must have been a Herculean effort. She could have chosen to use her connection to his sister, but he respected her for coming to him directly.

Still, he couldn’t help but put that condition, despite its ridiculousness.

“I do not like the Earl. It was his reckless behavior that put them in such a situation and pushed Lady Lily to come to me for help. How could a grown man be that irresponsible when it comes to his family?” He sighed.

“I do find Lady Lily… easy on the eyes, but it is not for that reason I offered my help.”

Edwin let out a mischievous chuckle. “Ah, you had better be careful, Blackmore, for the Duchesses of Gillingham and Emerton will not like that very much,” he joked.

Magnus shot him a glare at the mention of his sister, Cecilia, who was now Duchess of Emerton, and Ava, the Duchess of Gillingham, who happened to be close friends with Lady Lily.

Of all the men Cecilia could have married, it just ahd to be one of my friends.

“Then we had better make sure the ladies never find out about it.”

A long pause ensued.

“So, when do you leave?” Edwin asked.

“At the first cock’s crow. In two days.”

Lily eventually told Nathan about her conversation with the Duke at breakfast two mornings after. She had hoped to tell him much sooner, but he had been absent the entire day.

She even had enough time to write a letter to the matchmaker, half hoping Nathan would find out and demand an explanation. He hadn’t come home the previous night either, when she had hoped to sit him down and tell him about everything—the deal she had made and the Duke’s condition.

As expected, he wasn’t very happy to learn about it.

“But I told you not to go to him!” he snapped. “Why would you even do that and then strike a deal with him? Did I not tell you to stay put while I handled it on my own?”

“You seemed fine with the idea of me going to see the Duke the other day,” she said simply, not wanting to argue with him.

He threw his hands up in the air. “Of course, I was fine with it— because you insisted . You were only supposed to convince him to give us back the house, not to strike a deal with him. How could you do that to us? You said you were only going to beg him!”

“I did what I thought was best for us, Nathan,” she stated calmly.

“Well then, maybe you weren’t thinking well enough,” he sneered.

Lily frowned at that. Her patience was fraying, but she had managed to keep her temper so far.

“Besides, we wouldn’t be discussing this now had you been home when I returned from Blackmore,” she continued, like he hadn’t just insulted her. “Where were you yesterday, Nathan? You didn’t even come home for dinner.”

Nathan seemed to calm down a bit, but he was still red with rage. Lily imagined he hadn’t expected her to ask such a question; it must have caught him off guard.

“It’s none of your business where I go,” he gritted out. “What do you think I went out to do? I was out trying to fix this mess.”

He said it like he hadn’t caused this mess, like they had both put themselves in this situation and he was only trying to be responsible by fixing it singlehandedly.

It amazed her how he behaved like a petulant child at times.

“Through gambling? You know that is not going to fix anything. It would only make it worse.”

“Oh, shut up!”

Lily slowly rose from her chair. “Instead of swallowing your pride and owning up to your mistakes, you sat back and refused to go see the Duke. So I had to do it for you, because you didn’t know how to face the problem!

But, somehow, you still went back to gambling?

Have you not realized by now that that is the cause of our problems? ”

“Do not talk to me like that, Lily!” Nathan growled. It would have frightened Summer, but not her. “You might be my sister, but I’m still the man of the house, so you had better watch your tone.”

She scoffed.

Man of the house, my foot.

“My Lord?” Summer called, and they both turned to see her standing by the door.

She looked a little scared to speak, her eyes darting between Lily and Nathan, and stuttered when she tried to get the words out.

“Well, spit it out,” Nathan barked.

Lily couldn’t hide her frown when the girl flinched.

“T-There is a visitor at the door, My Lord,” Summer announced, her voice barely audible.

Nathan clapped his hands together. “Right! Just what we need,” he drawled. “A visitor.”

He turned to Lily with a condescending look.

“It’s a highly irregular time for a visitor, don’t you think, Lily?” he scoffed, putting his hands on his hips. Then, not waiting for an answer, he turned back to Summer. “Well? Who has the gall to come and interrupt our conversation?”

“It is the Duke of Blackmore, My Lord,” Summer replied.

And just like that, Nathan paled, his face almost as white as a sheet.

He turned to Lily as though expecting her to explain what was happening. But she simply ignored him and turned to Summer.

“Let him in, please,” she instructed, smoothing down her skirt.

That was when she just remembered that she still hadn’t told Nathan about the details of her deal with the Duke.

She couldn’t help but wonder how he would react when he found out, especially seeing his reaction upon learning that she had struck a deal with the Duke.

Summer had already shown the Duke to the drawing room by the time Lily got there. She hung back a little, listening in on their conversation.

“Would you like some tea, Your Grace?” Summer asked, her voice low and soft.

“No. Thank you,” the Duke’s baritone voice replied. “You can go.”

Summer passed Lily on her way out with a panicked look. Her cheeks were red and she looked even more startled to see Lily standing in the hallway. She sent the girl a look, warning her not to alert the duke to her presence.

Lily found herself watching the Duke intently. He was standing by the sofa, glancing around the room as if taking it all in.

He looked completely out of place, like a budding flower in a wasteland. The mere sight of him made her breath catch; it felt like she had laid eyes on him for the first time.

He was… quite a handsome man. Very easy on the eyes.

Reminding herself who it was she was admiring so much, she gulped and stepped into the room. She didn’t know if Nathan was on his way to join them, so she had begun to think of an excuse on his behalf when the Duke looked in her direction.

His glaring green eyes stopped her short, and it took a lot of her willpower to move again. Her eyes locked onto his, and she proceeded to rehearse her excuse in her head, silently praying she would not stutter when it was finally time for her to speak.

But then he looked away from her to something behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Nathan following behind her. She hadn’t even noticed that he had left the dining room.

“Quite a place you have here, Lord Medlin,” the Duke remarked.

The mockery in his tone as he addressed her brother did not escape her notice.

“Y-Your Grace,” Nathan greeted, clasping his hands behind his back. “Welcome.”

Where did his confidence go?

Lily took a deep breath, steeling herself, and stepped further into the room. They both stood in front of the Duke, as though awaiting instructions from their master.