The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page B

to sleep.”
    She quickly closed her eyes. Darkness. She could hide there, hide from the hideous truth she sensed behind Tanek’s impassive face.
    She let the darkness carry her away.
    “Y ou do not eat my soup,” Tania said as she sat down at the table. “Perhaps you think it unworthy of you?”
    Joel Lieber scowled. “Don’t start that. I’m not hungry.”
    “You work from dawn to dusk and your secretary says you seldom have lunch. You must be hungry.” She calmly met his gaze. “Which means you think my soup unworthy. But I don’t see how that can be, when you haven’t tasted it.”
    He took up his spoon, dipped it into the soup, and brought the spoon to his mouth. “Delicious,” he growled.
    “Now the rest. Hurry. Before my roast gets cold.”
    He put his spoon down. “Stop giving me orders in my own home.”
    “Why? It’s the only place you will take orders. You’re a very arrogant man.” She sipped delicately at the soup. “But you can be forgiven your arrogance in the operating room, since you probably know best. Here,
I
know best.”
    “About everything under the sun. You’ve made my life a torment since you moved in with me.”
    She smiled serenely. “You lie, you’ve never been so contented. I give you fine food, a motherly shoulder to lean on, and a clean house. You would be lost if I left you.”
    Yes, he would. “Your shoulders aren’t at all motherly.”They were straight and square and always looked as if she were going forth into battle. Sadly, she
was
accustomed to battle. She had been born and raised in the hell Sarajevo had become. Nicholas had brought her to him four years before, half starved, wounded, and scarred from shrapnel. Eighteen years of age, with the eyes of an old woman. “And I got along very well without you for a number of years.”
    She snorted. “So well, Donna divorced you because she never saw you. A man must have a home as well as a career. It’s good I came in time to save you.” She took another sip of soup. “Donna thinks so too. She thinks I’m the best thing that ever happened to you.”
    “I don’t appreciate you conspiring with my ex-wife.”
    “I don’t conspire. I talk to her. Is that conspiring?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m here alone all day. I need to practice my English, so I talk on the phone.” She said with satisfaction, “My English is getting much better. Soon I will be ready to go to the university.”
    He went still. “You will?”
    “But don’t be frightened. I will still stay with you. I’m very happy here.”
    “I’m not frightened.” He glowered at her. “I’d be glad to be rid of you. You’re the one who marched into my house and took over.”
    “I could do nothing else,” she said simply. “You would have grown old and sour as an unripe olive if I hadn’t come to you.”
    “And you’re here to keep me young and sweet?”
    “Yes.” She smiled. “Young, I can do. Sweet is a greater challenge.”
    She had a wonderful smile. Her face was angular and strong, with wide, mobile lips and deepset eyes. It was not a pretty face until she smiled, and then Joel felt asif she had given him a special gift. He had taken away the scars, but God had given her that smile.
    She said calmly, “Though it would help if you would take me to your bed.”
    He looked down and hastily took a sip of soup. “I told you, I don’t jump into the sack with teenagers.”
    “I’m twenty-two now.”
    “And I’m almost forty-one. Too old for you.”
    “Age means nothing. People don’t think that way anymore.”
    “I do.”
    “I know, you make it very difficult for me. But we won’t argue about it now.” She rose to her feet. “You’re already upset and you’ll blame the indigestion on my soup. We’ll finish dinner and then you can tell me what’s wrong over coffee in the library.”
    “Nothing’s wrong.”
    “You know you’ll feel better talking about it. I’ll get the roast.”
    She disappeared into the kitchen.
    “D