Page 62 of The Bad Girl and the Baby

“No.”

“Do the two of you talk?”

He shrugged. Matt got the impression he wasn’t particularly popular. What the hell had he done? He wasn’t his fucking brother, but he wasn’t going to defend himself, either. “So what was she in prison for?”

“Ask Darcy.”

“For that matter, what was Regan in prison for?”

“Mind your own business.”

“I’ll ask Darcy, then.”

“Do that.”

They were silent for a minute. Still no bride.

“So,” Nate said. “Regan tells me you’re having a thing with Darcy.”

His eyes narrowed. “A thing?”

Nate waggled his brows and sent a pointed glance at Lulu, who was, for once, sitting still, spellbound by her new friend.

“Mind your own business,” he muttered.

“Actually, it is my business. Anything that makes Regan unhappy is my business.”

Matt shifted in his seat so he could see the other man’s expression. “And my having athingwith Darcy is making Regan unhappy?”

“Actually, more pissed off than unhappy. She thinks you’re using Darcy and will break her heart and mess things up with Lulu.”

“I won’t break her heart.”

“So youarehaving a thing?”

“Jesus.” He took a deep breath, checked on Lulu; her whole attention was focused on the little dog, which had somehow managed to climb from Nate’s lap into hers, and was licking her face. “Not that it’s any of your business,” he said. “But Darcy is a grown-up. She knows what she’s doing, and there is zero chance of me breaking her heart.” What had she told Regan, though? Why would she even think he had a chance of hurting Darcy? “We don’t have that sort of relationship. We’re just friends.”

“Yeah, of course you are. Friends who—” He broke off whatever he was going to say, though Matt had a good idea of what it was. “Friends who do other things,” he said, with a glance at Lulu.

“Again—none of your business.”

Nate ignored the comment. “You may think you know what you’re doing,” he said. “But believe me, the whole no-strings-attached affair never works. I know. I tried it. And you and Darcy already have strings.” He shot Lulu another pointed glance.

“Did Regan put you up to this?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. As you said—it’s none of my business.”

“And I take it you’re referring to you and Regan.”

“We had the whole no-strings thing sorted out.”

“Why?”

“Because we knew it would never work out between us.”

Now he was curious. “Again—why?”

“I’m the detective who headed the case against her, arrested her, and was ultimately responsible for her spending nearly three years in prison.”

---