The Last Chance Ranch by Ruth Wind, Barbara Samuel Read Free Book Online Page B

touched her shoulder. “I’ll take care of them. Why don’t you take a little rest?”
    “No, you need help this morning.”
    “No I don’t.” Gently, she turned Desmary around. “I’ll get Ramón in here to help me with lunch. Zach is going to help me with washing the chilies, and I can get them roasted this afternoon. The boys will peel them tonight.”
    Desmary looked at Tanya for a long moment. “You’re supposed to go to town with Ramón today.”
    She shrugged. “We’ll go tomorrow. And I’ll get you some canning jars.”
    Moving with deep stiffness, Desmary removed her apron and limped toward her rooms. “Call me if you need anything.”
    “We’ll be fine,” Tanya said, giving Zach a wink. When they were alone, she lifted a bushel basket of chilies and carried them to the big stainless steel sink. “You bring them over here, Zach, and I’ll wash.”
    “Okay.”
    “What are you doing home this morning?” He carefully put the basket at her feet and straightened. “Got suspended yesterday.”
    “Uh-oh.” Giving him an exaggerated frown over her shoulder, Tanya turned on the water in the sink and upturned a basket of chilies. “What happened?”
    “That jerk Jimmy Trujillo called me names again.”
    “And you got suspended?”
    A frown drew his sandy-colored brows into a V. “No. I hit him and broke one of his teeth.”
    “Didn’t that hurt your hand?”
    Zach leaned forward. “Look,” he said, pointing to a gash on his knuckles. “That’s what happened.”
    Very seriously, Tanya took the proffered hand and peered at the cut. It was healing nicely, but she hung on to his hand while she patted her apron pocket. “I think you need a bandage.”
    “Naw,” Zach protested, but he didn’t pull away.
    Tanya located a Band-Aid—she kept them there for the small cutting knife wounds that inexperienced cooks naturally acquired—and covered the gash on Zach’s knuckles. Still she didn’t let go, examining his fingers and palm. “Your hands are getting chapped. You need to keep lotion on them.”
    “Okay.” He leaned on the counter to watch her wash the chilies. “Whatcha gonna do with those?”
    “Roast and peel them,” she said.
    “Can I help?”
    “For a little while.” Tanya looked at the clock. “You mustn’t forget your class.”
    “I won’t,” he promised.
    Tanya smiled at him, feeling a warm stir touch her heart. “I know.”
    * * *
    Ramón found himself rushing through his chores, anxious to get everything done in time to give himself a little break this afternoon with Tanya. For several days, he’d been searching for an excuse to be with her for a few hours—just to see how she was adjusting.
    Yeah, right.
    He sucked in a breath. Truth was, this morning she’d been almost more gorgeous than a woman had a right to be, her hair swinging, her color high with her exercise, her legs hard beneath the sweats, her breasts moving under the—
    No, he’d leave that thought alone.
    Pounding a nail into the broken bit of fence he was mending, Ramón cursed. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t had his share of women, although he did have to be discreet. In order to provide a good example, he didn’t stay out all night or bring women out here to sleep with him.
    Not that a man had to stay out all night to have his needs met. But the truth was, Ramón didn’t like to have sex casually. It always seemed to him sex was too intimate and revealing for anything except the deepest of relationships. Last spring, he’d broken off a long-term relationship with a teacher in Manzanares when she had finally admitted she didn’t think she could stand to live at the ranch with all those boys and still pursue her own career in teaching as well as raise kids of her own. He’d understood, and had not been particularly brokenhearted. Their relationship had been close and well matched, but had there ever really been a fire?
    Slam, slam, slam. He pounded nails into the fence, scaring a pair of