Page 84 of Regally Binding

Strike folded his arms. “The army trained me well. It helped me deal with unpredictability at a level I’ll hopefully never have to live through again. This business gives me control. We don’t have to accept every job offer, and soon, we’ll be able to pick and choose clients and countries much more easily.”

“Bear told me you went into the army suddenly. How come?”

Strike shrugged, stepping closer as if he were more comfortable than seconds earlier. “For the same reasons you’re thinking of not taking the princess role.”

She tilted her head. “So Bear didn’t tell you I’m going to take it because of my mum?”

“He told me. But I know you’re still thinking of not doing it.” Bear must have guessed.

“Because of my confidence,” she replied.

“Because of love.”

“Whoa, hold on. I don’t love Bear, and he certainly doesn’t love me. We’ve just met, and I can’t love him, because that doesn’t happen. It’s the thing of TV dramas,” she blustered.

“The same dramas where a woman finds out she’s a princess at the age of twenty-four before learning her half-uncle might be trying to kill her grandad?” Strike was unsmiling. “I’ve known Bear years, and the man you see right now is the person he rarely is. He doesn’t let his barriers down and refuses to let people close, apart from me and my parents. Even then, he’s not as gentle and caring as he is with you. You’ve brought that side out.”

Liss nibbled the cookie and kept her head down.

Strike continued, “I mean this in the nicest way, but when you go, which you will because you feel you owe it to your mum”—she gritted her teeth—“it will crush him, and I’m scared I’ll never see the Bear that’s lived here over the last few days again. So when you leave him, you make sure he knows it’s over between you two, because he needs a future, not a life spent wondering what could’ve been while he hopes you’ll return to him.”

Someone hurt Strike. As much as his request stung, there was pain behind it, and it was Strike’s pain, not Bear’s.

“I’ll take your words on board,” she replied with a glare as Bear returned to the room.

“What words?”

Strike shrugged. “I was saying that if we prove Alex and Marianne have attempted to murder the King, then Liss has quite the future. Her life is going to be anepicTV drama.” He stared at Bear and cocked his head out of the room. “A word.”

So Strike’s cold demeanour returned. What a fucking joy. But he had a point. Whatever Bear felt for her, she didn’t want to ruin his life because she was honouring her mum’s memory. But she couldn’t be a bitch to him either.

Instead of energising her, the stew and cookies brought waves of exhaustion. Liss settled back against the pillow, grabbed the book Isla gave her the week before and waited for Bear to return and explain what Strike meant about her life becoming an epic TV drama.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

“Princess,” Bear’s whisper from outside the dark room was enough to stir her from the book.

Liss eased her head from the pillow. Stretching her arms and neck was tricky. She’d had too much rest and not enough exercise, and her grogginess was a side effect.

“Hey,” she replied as he stepped into the room.

“Can I sleep in the bed with you? I didn’t want to assume,” he replied. Opening one eye, she watched him wait by the side of the bed. His boxers rested on his hips like a tantalising tease. Bear stepped from side to side like a teenage boy asking a girl to dance. His vulnerability stabbed at her chest, and she pulled back the duvet and beckoned him in.

He jumped into the bed. His bulk tested its strength. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly with a grin.

Liss turned out her lamp and stretched against him. “What time is it?”

“About three in the morning. Strike’s dropped the pills at the lab, and he’s staying in town tonight. He wants us to have time together.” They lay on the bed and stared at each other like two best friends on their first sleepover.

“Are you sure that’s what he wants?” Liss remembered Strike’s warning. It wasn’t fair to drop that bomb on Bear and cause problems in their friendship before she walked.

“I think so. Strike said he hadn’t seen me this happy. I can’t imagine what has brought on the change to my personality though.” His eyebrows danced with amusement. He held her hand and brushed the inside of her wrist with his mouth. “Incase you were ever in doubt, this is all you, Liss. We don’t have long together, but I want these days to be special, which is the least you deserve. I can’t take you on a date, and I can’t romance you like…”

“Like?”

“I’ve never romanced anyone.” His eyes flitted upwards.

“You just fuck them, eh?” she joked.

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