Page 45 of Regally Binding

Bear’s mouth twisted to the side, and Strike glanced at her again. His eyes repeatedly flicked to the road, but they continued to return to her.

“So, are you officially going to join the royal family?” Bear asked.

She took slow breaths. It was a relief to talk to someone. Isla and Steve would be biased, and Nana would speak about parties and money but not the essential things. Although, Nana wouldn’t have coped with the lack of freedom either.

“I don’t want to. But it’s the opportunity to have a family, something I’ve searched for until I settled on the pub. There will be staff and duties, but since Mum died, all I have is Nana, and you’ve seen how messed up that relationship is. You guys wouldn’t get it.” Liss twisted her hair as she processed.

“You’re right. I’ve always had my family. Two parents who did everything for me, and then when I joined the army, I got another family. But Bear knows.”

Bear looked down and then back at her. His eyelashes fluttered softly. He took a deep breath before responding, “Yes, although—” A phone rang with the Mazdy ringtone. “Shit. That’s a certain agent.”

“Fucking hate that woman,” Strike snarled.

Bear looked from Strike to Liss. “It’s about our last job. They’re talking to a newspaper about us.” So it was the agent who’d called when they were in the stairwell yesterday. Maybe Mazdy wasn’t Bear’s significant something.

“Is it something I can help with?” Liss asked as her fingers tingled, and she tapped her feet.

Bear shook his head as the car’s speaker phone rang.

“No,” Strike grunted before adding to Bear, “We can’t do this with her in the back.”

“For fuck sake, Strike,” Liss replied as the phone continued to ring. “You guys have more on me, a future princess, than I’llget from this call. I won’t share anything I hear, and I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Liss motioned zipping her mouth shut before locking it with a fake key that she threw over her shoulder.

Bear smiled until he accepted the call.

“Janice, what is this?” Strike asked, pulling over to a parking spot.

“Hi, guys.” The American accent was breezy. Bear’s eye twitched. “How are you both?”

“We’re busy. What is this?” Strike repeated.

Liss rolled her eyes. If Janice hadn’t intended to cause them trouble before, she would now. They needed to practice their phone manner.

“Mazdy has spoken,” Janice announced. Strike mumbled something, and Bear side-eyed Liss as best he could in his passenger seat. “She wants to tell theDaily Maileverything about her illicit night with the bodyguard.”

Liss’s eyebrows jumped up.

“There was no night, and you have no proof,” Strike hissed. His eyes blazed, and his knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel.

“Because you deleted the photos of Bear kissing her,” Janice replied.

Bear fisted his hands as he growled. “She kissed me, and I stepped away, as you know. She forced herself on me, and I remained professional and stopped it instantly.”

So he didn’t have a thing for all his female clients? Liss hid the smile that threatened to dance across her face.

“That’s not what the photos suggested.”

“That’s why there are no longer any photos. You know the truth, and you know Mazdy forced herself on Bear and that he did the right thing.” Strike let panic slip into his voice. Janice had them against a wall. Bear inched forward as the seatbelt pulled him back.

“I know that, Mazdy knows that, and you guys know that, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t need to give the truth, because a story like this will sell even though it’s a lie.” Janice chuckled before continuing, “Lads, at the end of the day, I don’t need photos, because no one cares about proof. All I need is for Mazdy to sell this story to the papers, which she will because it will do wonders for her publicity and career, especially with the tour coming up. I’m kindly giving you a heads up. Shall I give the writer your number for a quote?” she added. Her cruelty dripped through the car’s speakers.

Strike’s face burned red. He was seconds away from ripping the phone from the holder and hurling it out of the window.

“Excuse me, Janice, is it?” Liss slid forward. Strike tried to end the call, but Liss slapped the back of his head.

“Yes, darling, and who might you be?” she replied with an emphasised drawl.

“I’m the lawyer for the ‘lads’ here, and I have been recording this entire conversation, darling,” Liss added cockily.

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