by Ruth Wind
An answering spark lit somewhere deep and cold within her, and Tanya found herself noticing again his mouth—full-lipped and sensual. On another man, it would have seemed too lush, but amid the savagely beautiful planes and angles of his face, it seemed only to promise pleasure beyond all imagining.
The cinders of burned-out feelings within her flared a little brighter, stirring a soft, tiny flame of awareness she’d not known in a long, long time.
Abruptly she quenched it, stamping hard at the spark to kill it. She tore her gaze away and poked her soda with the straw. “Why don’t you tell me about my job?”
As if he understood the reason for the abrupt change of subject, Ramón replied in an impersonal tone. “You’ll be cooking. Desmary has needed someone for quite some time, but it’s hard to find someone with institutional experience in such an under populated area.”
Tanya couldn’t resist a small, wry dig at her own background. “If it’s institutional food you want, I’m a master.”
He chuckled. “Good. Desmary, the head cook, can’t move around as well as she used to, but there’s no place else for her to go. You’re going to be her feet and her helper.” He paused to dip a chip in salsa. “She’s pretty independent, so if you can be discreet about helping her, I’d appreciate it.”
“No problem.”
“We’ve got a full house at the moment, twenty-five boys. They all have KP, so basically you’re in charge of just getting them fed, and they clean up. Anybody who wants to cook can sign up to help, and you’ll usually have a couple of boys every day.”
“How old are the kids?”
“The youngest right now is eight. They don’t often get into serious trouble much earlier than that. The oldest is seventeen. Most of them are twelve to fifteen.”
Tanya half smiled. “It’s going to be quite a switch for me to go from an almost completely female environment to one dominated by males.”
“And teenage boys are more male than they’ll ever be again.” Ramón shook his head. “There are few women out there. I’m trying to change that, so the boys can learn to treat women with respect.” He lifted one shoulder. “You may not always get it.”
“I can handle that.”
“You’ll have to.”
That sounded a little intimidating. Tanya lifted her eyebrows in question.
“There are rules to create discipline and order, to teach the boys how to behave themselves. If one of them is disrespectful, you’ll be expected to manage the situation.”
Tanya frowned. “What constitutes disrespectful?”
He grinned. “If it wouldn’t have gone over in 1920, it won’t go over now.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not at all.” His face was sober, but the dark eyes shone with intense passion. “Some of these boys are like animals when they come to me. They don’t know how to eat at the table, or how to dress for regular society. They treat women and girls like sluts or possessions, like a pair of shoes.”
Like a possession. Tanya felt the tightness in her chest again. That was the way Victor had treated her. And she’d allowed it for a long time. She looked away, to the calm scene beyond the windows.
“I’m trying to give them dignity, Tanya,” he said. “I think you can help me.”
Dignity. What dignity had she had, all these years? Had she ever known it? “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all I ask of anyone,” he said, and picked up the check. “Are you ready?”
A swift wave of nerves and anticipation washed through her. “Yes.”
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