Novels: The Law is a Lady Read Online Free PDF Page B

"You're not actually going to make me sleep in this place."
    Cocking her head, Tory met his glance. ' 'You have a strange view of the law, Kincaid. Do you think I should book you a room at the hotel?"
    He washed down the steak with the soda, then grimaced. "You're a tough guy, Sheriff."
    "Yeah." Grinning, she perched on the edge of the bunk. "How's your dinner?"
    "It's good. Want some?"
    "No. I've eaten." They studied each other with the same wary speculation. Tory spoke first. ' 'What is Phillip C. Kincaid, boy wonder, doing in Friendly, New Mexico?"
    "I was passing through," he said warily. He wasn't going to discuss his plans with her. Something warned him he would meet solid opposition.
    "At seventy-two miles per hour," she reminded him.
    "Maybe."
    With a laugh she leaned back against the brick wall. He watched the way her hair settled lazily over her breasts. A man would be crazy to tangle with that lady, he told himself. Phillip Kincaid was perfectly sane.
    "And what is Victoria L. Ashton doing wearing a badge in Friendly, New Mexico?"
    She gazed past him for a moment with an odd look in her eyes. "Fulfilling an obligation," she said softly.
    "You don't fit the part," Phil contemplated her over another swig from the bottle. "I'm an expert on who fits and who doesn't."
    "Why not?" Lifting her knee, Tory laced her fingers around it.
    "Your hands are too soft." Thoughtfully, Phil cut another bite of steak. "Not as soft as I expected when I saw that face, but too soft. You don't pamper them, but you don't work with them either."
    "A sheriff doesn't work with her hands," Tory pointed out.
    "A sheriff doesn't wear perfume that costs a hundred and fifty an ounce that was designed to drive men wild either."
    Both brows shot up. Her full bottom lip pushed forward in thought. "Is that what it was designed for?"
    "A sheriff," he went on, "doesn't usually look like she just walked off the cover of Harper's Bazaar, treat her deputy like he was her kid brother or pay some boy's fine out of her own pocket."
    "My, my," Tory said slowly, "you are observant." He shrugged, continuing with his meal. "Well, then, what part would you cast me in?"
    "I had several in mind the minute I saw you." Phil shook his head as he finished off his steak. "Now I'm not so sure. You're no fragile desert blossom." When her smile widened, he went on. "You could be if you wanted to, but you don't. You're no glossy sophisticate either. But that's a choice too." Taking the pie, he rose to join her on the bunk. "You know, there are a number of people out in this strange world who would love to have me as a captive audience while they recited their life's story."
    "At least three of four," Tory agreed dryly.
    "You're rough on my ego, Sheriff." He tasted the pie, approved, then offered her the next bite. Tory opened her mouth, allowing herself to be fed. It was tangy, spicy and still warm.
    "What do you want to know?" she asked, then swallowed.
    "Why you're tossing men in jail instead of breaking their hearts."
    Her laugh was full of appreciation as she leaned her head back against the wall. Still, she wavered a moment. It had been so long, she mused, since she'd been able just to talk to someone—to a man. He was interesting and, she thought, at the moment harmless.
    "I grew up here," she said simply.
    "But you didn't stay." When she sent him a quizzical look, he fed her another bite of pie. It occurred to him that it had been a long time since he'd been with a woman who didn't want or even expect anything from him. "You've got too much polish, Victoria," he said, finding her name flowed well on his tongue. "You didn't acquire it in Friendly."
    "Harvard," she told him, rounding her tones. "Law."
    "Ah." Phil sent her an approving nod. "That fits. I can see you with a leather briefcase and a pin-striped suit. Why aren't you practicing?"
    "I am. I have an office in Albuquerque." Her brows drew together. "A pin-striped suit?"
    "Gray, very discreet. How can you