The Last Chance Ranch Read Online Free Page A

“The one on the porch is Tonio Quezada, my son.”
    Tanya nodded at all of them, smiling at the younger ones. Ramón was impressed when she managed the same polite nod toward her son as she had toward the others.
    Then she looked up at Ramón with a smile of singular sweetness. Joy spilled from the wide blue eyes, eyes that somehow still carried a touching innocence. High color lit her cheeks. Her expression was meant to convey to him what she could not say in front of all these witnesses—the most heartfelt gratitude he’d ever received. Her face made him think of the statue of the Madonna in the church where he’d grown up—sweet and purely carved.
    “Let me show you your room,” he said briskly. “Tonio! Grab the bag.” He barked out other orders and the boys scurried to obey.
    All except Zach, an eight-year-old with a bristly blond flattop and a smattering of freckles across his sullen face.
    “What’s up, Zach?” Ramón asked.
    The boy tucked his thumbs into his jeans and stared at Tanya. “Nothin’,” he said.
    “Have you done your chores?” Tonio asked, coming up behind the adults.
    “You’re not the boss of me,” Zach snarled. Ramón frowned. The child was fairly new—he’d only been there for a little more than two weeks—and had come to the ranch only after his sixteenth arrest, when no foster homes would take him. A hard case, but he was so young, Ramón intended to keep him awhile if he could. “Zach, is there something on your mind?”
    His flat, hostile gaze flickered over Tanya, then to Tonio. “He’s always telling me what to do. Damn Goody Two-shoes.”
    Ramón gave Tanya an apologetic lift of the brows. To Tonio, he said, “Son, show Ms. Bishop to her room, please.”
    “Sure.” The long-legged teenager opened the door. “Right this way.”
    Tanya gave Ramón a single, terrified glance, then took a breath and followed her son.
    Ramón waited until they had gone inside, then remained silent a moment longer, watching Zach carefully. The boy was very upset about something. He was fighting tears even as they stood there. “Are you having some problem, Zach? You want to tell me about it?”
    Zach wavered a moment, then lifted his head and uttered an obscenity that more or less told Ramón to get lost.
    Ramón sighed. “I hope you had a good lunch, son—”
    “I’m not your son! I’m not anybody’s son! Leave me alone!”
    When he would have bolted from the porch, Ramón grabbed him firmly by the arm. Holding on just above the elbow, he headed for the dorms, Zach cursing and tugging all the way. “You know the rules, Zach. If you swear, you’ll go to bed with no supper. I hate to do it, but you leave me no choice.”
    A dark, burly man met them at the door of the dorms. “Zach will not be dining with us tonight,” Ramón said. “Will you see him to his room, Mr. Mahaney?”
    “I’m real sorry to hear that, Zach.”
    The boy, out of control now, swore again. The two men exchanged grips. “Mozart tonight, I think,” Ramón said, smiling.
    “Good choice,” David Mahaney said.
    * * *
    Tanya followed Tonio into the house. Her heart raced with a sick speed, making her feel almost faint. When the edges of her vision grew dark, she stopped abruptly, forcing herself to breathe in slow, steady breaths. It would not make a nice impression to hyperventilate and faint in the hall.
    Tonio stopped and turned around. “You okay?”
    Tanya nodded, breathing slowly, her hand on a carved wooden post. “It’s just been a long day,” she said.
    He smiled, and it wasn’t phony or falsely patient. “I’ll have Desmary bring you some coffee or something.”
    “No, that’s all right,” she said, straightening. “I’m fine.”
    “Sure?”
    Oh, Ramón, you’ve done a fine, fine job!
Tanya smiled. “Very.”
    By the time he’d led the way up a wide, sweeping staircase to the third floor of the old farmhouse, Tanya had calmed considerably. He showed her into a gracious,