It took Law a split second to choose the most offputting fact about Jori. “She’s an ex-con.”
Yardley broke into laughter. “Oh my God. You’ve turned into a prude. I remember a time during your teens when Dad bailed you out regularly.”
Law sent her a hooded look. “I liked you better as a distant relation. Far distant.”
Yardley shrugged. “I’ll remember that the next time you ask for a favor.”
Law’s interest quickened. “So where’s the file?”
“At home. And we’re going to finish this meal before we go there. So, dig in.”
Law stuffed his mouth with his burger as his thoughts wandered to Jori.
She’d told him she’d be fine. But he couldn’t forget the image of her tangled in the sheets, wearing two different-colored socks and nothing else. The image burned through him like molten glass. Thinking of her equaled a hard-on. Nothing had changed because he now knew how it felt when she came with him buried to the balls inside her. No, wait, it had.
He closed his eyes briefly. It had felt so damn good he wanted to cry.
“She’s too nice for me.”
Law glanced up, expecting laughter from Yardley, but she was just staring at him with a thoughtful expression. “She’s a sweet girl who caught a bad break.”
He was pretty sure of that even though he’d stopped short of reading the newspaper about her trial that he called up on his notebook while waiting for his flight. What was he going to do with anything he learned about her? He didn’t plan to see her again. He’d deleted the article unread. But Yardley was looking at him as if she knew he’d been tempted. “What?”
“You think she wasn’t guilty.”
“It doesn’t matter, either way.” That much was true.
Yardley waited for him to continue. Instead, Law pulled an onion ring from his pile and offered it to Sam. The dog scarfed it down without chewing then sat up and nosed his thigh, hopeful of another bite.
Law broke off a portion of his burger patty and placed it on a napkin before putting it on the floor for Sam. One thing he’d discovered about his new companion, Sam liked to eat.
“Are you going to tell me about her?”
Law hunched a shoulder. “I got this damn doodle because of her. Sam’s a lot like her trainer.”
“You mean she’s friendly, cute, down-to-earth, good-natured, patient, and constantly evaluating and adjusting to your moods? I can see why you wouldn’t want to be around her. Sounds like a horror of a woman.”
Law frowned at his plate. “I don’t like me around her.”
“And that means?”
“I was … not kind.”
“Oh.” Yardley swallowed her smile. Being rude had never been a problem for her brother before. “The way you left it between you, do you think she’ll call if she decides she wants to see you again?”
He sent her a hard look. “I didn’t give her my number.”
Yardley sat back, watching him eat but saying nothing more. She didn’t know her half brother very well. Growing up, they’d only had contact for a few weeks a year. Their father purposely didn’t want his children to be too close.
It had nothing to do with their different mothers. Bronson Battise’s philosophy was that if a man couldn’t stand alone, he wasn’t a man. Women were something to protect and enjoy as long as a man was interested, but no more important than that. And just as easily discarded.
Yardley had suffered through that philosophy, becoming as much like a son as Bronson Battise would allow. It had never really occurred to her until now that Law had suffered, too.
She’d always thought her brother was a carbon copy of their father. A man’s man whom no woman would ever tie down for long. But maybe, beneath that Battise exterior, beat a different kind of heart. Perhaps Law was like her. He had learned to cover up his softer self the way she had, for protection.
She leaned forward, elbows on the table, and propped her chin on her fists. “It’s okay to need someone in your life, Law. It’s better than okay. I’m beginning to believe I deserve someone, too.”
Law regarded her with a wary gaze. “You ever wonder if there are more of us Battises out there?”
“You mean beside the two of us Dad acknowledged? Yeah. I’m sure of it.”
Law nodded. “When I was about twelve a woman and her daughter came to the reservation to visit. My mother wasn’t very kind to the mother. The girl, nine years old if I remember right, liked to hang around me. Something about her seemed so familiar. The vibe coming off her said kin.”
Yardley nodded. “I loved Dad but he was a bastard. We aren’t him.”
Law slid her a hard glance from beneath his brows. “I met a woman I wanted. I scratched my itch and left. Don’t read anything more into that.”
“If that’s all you think it was, you wouldn’t have mentioned her to me.”
Law couldn’t argue with most of that. But he wasn’t about to own it. He scratched his chin whiskers. “Think I’ll shave.”
Yardley grinned. He was changing the subject. That meant she’d gotten through to him. “Good beginning. If you’re done, let’s go home.”