by Ava Winters
“He doesn’t do whatever his father tells him to do anymore,” Luisa said. “You need to remember, Ian was basically a boy when he visited your ranch. He has changed since then.”
Amanda remembered the conversation she’d had with Stefan and about how he purchased Gladiator without his father’s permission. She knew that the Ian she had met four years ago would have never even considered doing that. Maybe she was wrong about him and he had changed.
Then she realized that she wasn’t the young girl whom Ian had gotten to know four years ago either. She had grown up. And she was still changing, trying to become a better person.
Luisa continued her thoughts. “I do wish that Mr. McAdams would see Ian for who he really is though. He is so hard on him and criticizes him at every turn. It wears Ian down, I can tell.”
“I’m very happy for you,” Amanda said sincerely. “But what are we going to do now?”
Luisa looked at her with a peculiar expression as if she was surprised that Amanda had even asked for her opinion.
“I’ve been trying to figure out the same thing,” Luisa answered after a long pause. “Short of just coming clean to Stefan, Ian, and Mr. McAdams, I don’t know what else to do.”
“We can’t tell them that we’ve switched places, not yet,” Amanda argued.
“I am hoping that things will work out the way they are supposed to,” Luisa said. “I’m very nervous that Mr. McAdams is going to figure things out. He’s asked me a few questions about your father that I couldn’t answer. I was able to make something up that made sense, but he’s a very smart man. He’s going to figure it out, eventually.”
They stared at each other and then began to giggle.
“We’ve gotten ourselves in such a mess, haven’t we?” Luisa asked.
“No, falling for Stefan and Ian definitely wasn’t in our plans. I thought that we’d be back home by now,” Amanda said.
Amanda began to feel a little guilty for wanting to continue their scheme. She wasn’t being totally honest with Stefan and because of that, Luisa wasn’t able to be either with Ian.
Part of her wondered if they should just tell Stefan and Ian the truth. Maybe once the two men heard the entire story, they’d be understanding, and things would continue to go on as they have been. Except Amanda could be who she really was.
But she knew that the likelihood of them understanding was very low. No, she needed to have at least a few more days with Stefan. She needed time to figure out the best way to handle the situation.
She knew that she didn’t want to go home, not yet. She glanced at Luisa who was staring off into the distance, a small smile on her face as if she was remembering something private, that she didn’t want to share. She knew that Luisa felt the same way.
***
Ian led the horse he had been working with that morning into the barn and turned him over to a groom. He looked at the schedule he had made that morning to see which horse was next on the agenda to work with. Stefan joined him.
“How are things going?” Ian asked his friend.
“Good. I think Morning Glory will do great on the track tomorrow.”
Ian nodded, pleased with Stefan’s words. Morning Glory had been born on their ranch and was turning out to be a perfect horse for racing. He took to the training like a champion in the making. .
“How are things going with Miss Amanda?” Stefan asked as he leaned against a table covered in grooming brushes and equipment.
Ian glanced at him, not sure how much he should tell his friend. He was aware that Stefan was not happy at how his father was handling his future.
He didn’t like the idea that Ian was essentially being forced into a marriage not of his choosing. He wondered what Stefan would say if he told him that he was discovering that Miss Amanda was delightful and fun to be around. He found that he had begun to look forward to the dinner hour.
His father still monopolized the conversation, but Ian was always able to spend a few hours after dinner with Amanda, which he greatly enjoyed.
“It’s going pretty good,” Ian said, deciding to be honest.
“What does that mean?” Stefan asked as he narrowed his eyes.
Ian shrugged. “I expected her to be like she was when she was sixteen, but she’s changed. I guess she grew up. We’ve been spending quite a bit of time together, and I’m enjoying getting to know her better.”
Stefan seemed shocked, as if he didn’t know what to say. “I guess maybe she has seen that you’ve grown up, too. She didn’t seem too pleased to be here when she arrived a few weeks ago. I haven’t seen much of her but when I do, she looks happy.”
Ian was glad to hear that observation from Stefan. He put a lot of trust in Stefan’s feelings about certain situations. He seemed to be able to read a person and know what they were like from almost the moment he met them. It was one trait that made him such a good trainer because he also used that gift around the Thoroughbreds.
Ian decided to change the subject. “I’ve seen you spending at least some of your free time with Miss Amanda’s companion.”
Stefan didn’t say anything, but Ian detected a faint flush on his face which surprised him.
Stefan had never shown an ounce of interest in any young lady from the moment he had arrived on Thunder Valley Ranch five years ago. Ian had asked him about it once, and although Stefan refused to talk about the reasons, Ian had immediately picked up that a woman had hurt him greatly in his past, and he no longer trusted them.
“She always seems to be around,” Stefan said in a complaining tone of voice.
But Ian saw right through his bluster. Stefan didn’t mind that Luisa was around quite a bit.
“You could just send her back to the house if she’s causing problems,” Ian suggested, testing his theory.
Stefan shrugged. “She’s not a problem.” He straightened, pushing himself away from the table. “I actually came in here for a reason. Your father wants to talk to you again and has requested that you go to the house.”
Ian sighed. “I wonder what he wants now.”
He knew that dinner was only a few hours away. Couldn’t he wait until then to talk to him? He wondered what would happen if he ignored his father’s summons and made him wait until dinner. But he dismissed the thought. Even though he had been doing his best to stand on his own two feet with his father, he still didn’t dare ignore a summons.
“I guess I better go see what he wants. I probably won’t be back until later this evening.”
“Go ahead and take care of things. I’ll finish up with the next horse.”
Ian nodded and began the long walk to the house. When he entered, he was glad that the housekeeper wasn’t waiting for him. He found his father in his office, pacing the floor.
“Took you long enough,” his father growled the moment he saw him.
“I didn’t get the message until just now. You know that when I’m working with a horse, I’ve instructed no one to interrupt me unless it is an emergency,” Ian retorted. It went without saying that he didn’t consider his father’s summons an emergency.
“Sit down,” his father ordered. After Ian did, he continued, “I want to know how things are going with Amanda.”
Ian quickly thought of what he could tell his father that would pacify him. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about Amanda with him.
He also couldn’t believe that his father had expected him to leave his work with the horses just to report on how things were going with Amanda. Couldn’t he have asked that question that morning after breakfast or at least wait until that evening?
“I think they are going fairly well. I see her at breakfast and have spent some time together during the daytime. We also talk after dinner.”
“I want more information than that. Do you think that she is considering to agree to the marriage?”
Ian shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“Why not?” his father thundered, his face beginning to turn red, showing his
anger.
“We haven’t talked about it.”
“Why in the world haven’t you talked about it? Don’t you realize that marriage is the reason why she is even here?”
“Father, she has only been here for a few weeks. I want to get to know her and I want to allow her to get to know me,” Ian answered.
“You will have plenty of time to get to know each other after you are married,” his father retorted, waving his hand in the air as if dismissing Ian’s words as insignificant.
Ian had heard his father say this before, but it had been about his mother. He knew that they hadn’t known each other very well when they married. He liked to think that they had at least cared for each other. He was also aware that love had grown between them and his father had been devastated when she died. But regardless, he knew that that he would never put a young woman in that type of situation where she felt forced to marry him before they got to know each other. “Are you planning on talking to her tonight?” his father asked.
“I always spend time with her after dinner,” Ian responded, although he knew that he wasn’t going to bring up the subject of marriage until he was ready.
“I want you to bring the subject up. Put pressure on her if you need to. We need to get this taken care of so we can start planning the wedding.”
Ian took a deep breath. He knew that his father wasn’t going to be at all happy with what he had to say next, but he needed to say it. “Father, I will not force Amanda into a marriage with me.”
“What do you mean, force?” his father asked as if he didn’t have any idea what Ian was talking about.
“She was forced to come here because her father and you want a marriage between us. But if she doesn’t want to marry me, I will not force her. I don’t think that it is the right time to talk to her about marriage right now. We are still—”
His father interrupted, “It doesn’t matter what you think. I demand that you talk to her about getting married, tonight.”
For the first time, Ian stood to his feet before his father had given him permission to do so. He saw a look of surprise cross his father’s face before he carefully masked it.
“Father, listen to me carefully. I am willing to marry Amanda if she decides that she wants to. I actually do like her. I agreed to her coming here against my will, but I will not allow you to push either of us into something that we might not want.”
He left the room and quickly strode down the hall and out the front door. He waited for his father to hurry after him, yelling and demanding that Ian do exactly what was expected of him.
But surprisingly, that didn’t happen. Ian drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to calm down his beating heart. This was the first time he had really stood up to his father, and it felt good.
He hoped there wouldn’t be repercussions from his father’s anger.
Chapter 17
The next few days were some of the best Luisa ever had in her life so far. Ian started to spend every spare second together when he wasn’t working. She suspected that he spent more time with her than he should have because he seemed to have free time from about mid-afternoon until it was time to go to bed.
In the mornings, Luisa spent most of her time in the library, enjoying the large selection of books that were available. That was where Ian usually found her when he had finished his work for the day. He usually asked her about the books she had read that day before they left the house together.
They went on walks around the ranch. He explained to her in more detail about how the Thunder Valley Ranch was run. She was beginning to love the landscape and to appreciate its unique beauty.
Their walks always seemed to end in his mother’s garden. Luisa began to slowly learn about the plants and trees that had been planted there by looking up what information she could in the library .
There were actually a surprisingly large number of books that talked about the various plants, shrubs, and trees that grew in Texas and other desert landscapes.
They began to talk about everything that they could think of. Luisa told Ian what she could about her childhood and was beginning to desperately hate that she couldn’t be totally honest with him.
She did her best to only give vague information because she had to remember that he thought of her as Amanda. She felt like she was constantly lying to him. Besides, she wanted Ian to know her as Luisa Lopez, not Amanda Wright.
She listened while Ian told her about his childhood, although she noticed that he was careful to leave his father out of the conversation.
She knew that he wasn’t close to his father and this fact made her sad, especially when she thought of the close relationship she had with her own father. Ian told her about his years attending a college in the East and taking what business classes that were available so that he would be ready to take over his father’s ranch someday.
When he talked about the horses that he worked with and trained, she could tell that he loved what he was doing.
One night, a surprising thing happened. Luisa was sitting at the dining room table next to Ian, quietly enjoying her meal. Mr. McAdams monopolized the conversation like he always did at every meal.
Luisa didn’t like that he seemed to want to do that. It made her feel uncomfortable. She also suspected he did this because he wanted to show her that he had power over her and over Ian.
But she also recognized that she would never be able to change it, and it wasn’t really her place to try. She usually just enjoyed the delicious food the ranch cook prepared every evening and looked forward to the few hours she would be able to spend with Ian after the long, drawn-out meal was over.
Ian did try to direct the conversation sometimes so that Luisa could contribute, but his attempts only worked for a few minutes. Luisa actually admitted to herself that there was part of her that didn’t mind that Mr. McAdams didn’t allow her to talk much because she was less likely to say something she shouldn’t or make a mistake as she pretended that she was Amanda.
On this particular evening, Ian seemed very determined to stop his father from asking the same questions over again.
“Father, did you know that Miss Amanda enjoys reading?” Ian asked when Mr. McAdams paused to take a bite of roast beef.
Mr. McAdams’ eyes flickered over to her. He grunted as he helped himself to another spoonful of mashed potatoes.
Ian looked at Luisa and she knew that he was expecting her to say something. She quickly thought of the magnificent library she spent her mornings in.
“I am enjoying your library, Mr. McAdams. You have a great selection of books.”
Mr. McAdams looked directly at her for the first time that evening. “I’m sure that you have a library at your disposal at your home.”
“Of course,” Luisa answered as she thought of the library that she was allowed to use whenever she wished. In fact, Mr. Wright made sure that the latest books were available to her because he knew that she enjoyed reading. “But I am enjoying the books that you have about the West.”
“Which one is your favorite?” Ian asked.
“I love the book that has the drawings of the Rocky Mountains. I would love to see them someday. Whoever drew those pictures is quite talented.” Luisa made sure she looked at Mr. McAdams as she spoke. She wanted him to think that he couldn’t intimidate her, although inside she was shaking like a leaf. This was the first time she had said more than a few words to him since she had arrived. “The drawings are so realistic, that they make me feel like I’m almost there in the mountains.”
