“You’rehired.”
A huge smile lit up her face. “You won’tregretit.”
“I’dbetternot.”
Now all he needed to do was keep his hands off of his alluring new employee. As he furtively glanced at her sensual curves, he knew it would be a long, hard Christmasseason.
Chapter3
As Maddie followedMack through the kitchen, she couldn’t help but sneak peeks at his firm ass. Now that he was her boss, he was completely off-limits. But she could look,couldn’tshe?
She’d sweated through the whole interview, waiting for him to call her a fraud. She hadn’t realized how much she’d wanted the job until she’d been faced with the prospect of losing it. At least she could relaxabit.
Mack said, “Everything you need for the morning meal is already in the fridge. Before Sarah left, she made a supply list and I sent Hank into town to get everything. We print a menu foreverymeal.”
“A menu?” She panicked. Would she have to make more than one entrée per meal? She could probably fake one, but any more than that would instantly reveal her lack ofexperience.
“It’s a fixed menu,” Mack said, “but we occasionally make special dietary arrangements. For the first week, we don’t have any special requests. But that can change when guests arrive. Sometimes they forget to tell us about their gluten-free, vegan diets until they’re staring down a plate ofchicken.”
“I’m very flexible. I can work with whatever the guestsrequest.”
“Just don’t over-promise.”
“Iwon’t.”
“Let’s go upstairs and I’ll show you thebedrooms.”
A zing of awareness raced up her spine. They’d never even made it into a bedroom last night. Even though he was her boss, and a bit of an ass, she couldn’t help but think about the way he took charge in the cab of histruck.
At the top of the log-shaped stairs, he stopped. “There are twenty guest rooms plus two rooms to accommodate employees. Each room has a bathroom with showerandtub.”
“Will I be cleaningthose?”
“Yes. After the morning meal is complete, you’ll come up and make the beds. Some guests want their sheets changed every night, but most are fine with having them changed onceaweek.”
“I candothat.”
“Good.”
He walked down the hall and turned right. Toward the back of the house, he led her into a large laundry room. Industrial-sized washing machines and dryers lined thewalls.
“We stay on a very strict schedule,” he said. “As soon as the beds are made and the laundry is done, you’ll return to the kitchen to start lunch. Lunch is servedatnoon.”
“Who decides what toserve?”
He gave her a quizzical look. “You do. Shopping days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ll go with you right afterlunch.”
“What time is dinnerserved?”
“Six p.m. We serve everything family style. It cuts down on prep time and makes the guests feel more like one bigfamily.”
“That sounds fun. I never had a big family.” Just a house full of servants to cater to her every whim. As amazing as that sounded on the surface, it stifled any semblance of warmth in her family. Meals with her parents consisted of endless conversations about stocks, bonds, and corporate mergers. They had been of the mindset that children should be seen and not heard. So she’d spent most of her meals insilence.
“With five other brothers, our parents had their hands full,” Mack said. “But they did their best to make sure we always remembered that we were family. Our mom worked hard to make the holidays special. It was her favorite time oftheyear.”
“I bet you miss her a lot.” When he cocked his head to one side, she added, “Hank told me she’dpassedaway.”
“Yeah, twoyearsago.”
