Shifting Intentions: Shifting Hearts Book Two

by Ivy Hayes

  “I was babysitting for Bethany, she needed some help and I thought that was more important than getting ready for a dinner.”

  “You and I both know Bethany would have been okay if you pushed it until tomorrow.” While she is saying this, her eyes widen, taking in my borrowed dress and muddy appearance. “Why are you covered in mud?”

  “I had a close encounter with a wild horse and an even wilder man.” I look down at the dress and try in vain to smooth it out, “Bethany let me borrow this, since mine was soiled.”

  Mother sighs, exasperated, “You are going to need a bath before dinner, but please, Gwen, hurry. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes and I would like to start on time.”

  “Fifteen minutes! There is no way I can be ready in that time, it takes me nearly as long to get fully into my dress.”

  Seeing my startled look, she adds, “Fine, I will push it back. You can have a half hour, but not a minute more.”

  “Thanks,” I say and start practically running upstairs, “can you ask Rose to send up some water?”

  I swear I hear her chuckle behind me right before she responds, “I will. Enjoy your nice, hot bath, Gwen.”

  I burst into my room and immediately head to my wardrobe. I had been planning on wearing my red dress all night, I haven’t thought of preparing anything else. Being colder than it was in the afternoon, I decide to wear a long-sleeved dress, which leaves me two options: my brown, slightly drab dress and the emerald green one.

  Emerald is a bit bold for dinner, but I don’t have another choice. Taking the dress out, I lay it across my bed as Rose enters my room, carrying in the water. While she is filling the tub, I sit and start brushing out my hair. I am grateful none of the mud founds its way in, as washing my hair would have doubled my getting ready time.

  I make my way to the tub, just as Rose is pouring in the last bucket, “Thank you, Rose. I am eager for this bath.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t be too excited, I am afraid it is all cold.” She looks ashamed. Rose prides herself on always having everything ready for us, so a cold bath is very unexpected.

  “What?” I ask, not wanting to believe what I just heard.

  “The bath is going to be a cold one. I just used all the warm water for Parker’s bath and didn’t have enough time to heat more.”

  The cherry on top of my not-so-perfect day. Not only do I have to meet the man I am likely going to be forced to marry, but I must take a cold bath because he took all the warm water. If it wasn’t for Parker, or that maniac who can’t control his horse, I wouldn’t be in this predicament.

  I have no doubt Rose can see my anger rising, but not wanting her to think I am upset at her, I quickly say, “I am sure it won’t be too bad, Rose. Besides, the fire is right by my bathtub, so that will keep me warm. Thank you for looking after our guest.”

  That last sentence almost hurt to say, but I can tell it made her feel better. “Now, we must get going. I only have a short time to get ready and I am sure you still have some things you want to finish in the kitchen.”

  I move to walk her towards the door and hand her my soiled dress when we pass the chair I discarded it on. “I will see you at dinner, Rose. Thanks again.”

  “You’re welcome,” and she heads off.

  Moving quickly, I shut the door and strip out of my borrowed dress. I am not eager to jump in, but the faster I bathe, the faster I get it over with. Dipping my hand in, I shiver and contemplate not washing at all, but there is mud caked all over me, so I know that isn’t an option.

  I step in and wash myself in record time, not wasting a second so I can hurry out. I was unable to do more than rub soap over my whole body, missing most of my beauty routine, but I couldn’t stand another second of freezing. By time I stepped out and wrapped myself in a drying towel, I was shivering. Standing as close to the fire to warm up, it took a few minutes for the shivers to stop.

  To teach me a lesson, my mother must have put ice in the water before sending it up to me. I wouldn’t put that past her.

  I grumbled through getting dressed and, needless to say, I was very grouchy when I made my way downstairs for dinner. My busy day back-fired and I was exhausted, all I wanted to do was have an easy night in my room, relaxing before going to bed at an early hour.

  Being the last to arrive in the dining hall and I was grateful to see an empty seat next to my sister-in-law, Ash. I was not going to sit next to Parker and I didn’t want to have to make a scene if they forced me next to him.

  Looking around the room, I get my first glance at Parker. No, wait, I have already seen him before, nearly running me over with his horse. My anger immediately flares, and I stalk up to him, “You maniac.”

  I am yelling at him before most of my family even registered my presence. “How dare you nearly run me off the road, cover me in mud AND STEAL MY WARM BATH WATER.” I am practically screaming when Grant jumps up to intercept me. He blocks my view of Parker, but he doesn’t stop my ranting, “Did you tell anyone how you nearly killed a woman in town, then didn’t even stop to see if she was okay?”

  “My god, Gwen, calm down.” Grant says, trying to diffuse the tension, but I won’t have it.

  “Don’t tell me to calm down, you should be mad too. He almost killed me.” I try to push past him, but he completely blocks me.

  “It was an accident,” Parker rose to his feet saying, “my horse was spooked, and I couldn’t stop her.”

  “Oh, really? Seems you stopped her eventually, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now,” I snap back.

  “I looked back, and you were fine,” his voice was raising to almost the level mine was.

  I am interrupted from my response by my father’s booming voice, “Gwen, Parker stop. Nobody was hurt, and it was only an accident.”

  “Accident, as if.” I say under my breath, but not so quiet Parker and Grant can’t hear.

  “Gwen,” Grant says, “go sit down next to Ash.”

  I am hurt by my family’s lack of care over my incident with Parker this afternoon, but I refuse to look defeated. Holding my head up high, I turn sharply and make my way to the other side of the table, giving Ash a tight smile as I scoot my chair in next to her.

  After I take my seat, Ash beams over at me then says is a loud voice, “This is as good of a time as any, right Gregory.”

  My brother laughs, breaking the tension in the room then stands and places a hand on Ash’s shoulder, “Everyone, we have an announcement to make.” His face breaks into a giant smile, “We are pregnant.”

  “That’s amazing,” I say to Ash then reach over and give her hand a squeeze.

  My mother stands up and rushes to Ash and Gregory, pulling them both into a hug, “I am so excited to be a grandmother. How far along are you?” She directs towards Ash who immediately blushes.

  “Two months.” That is how long we have known Ash, she must have gotten pregnant immediately.

  “It happened suddenly,” Gregory added.

  “How have you waited this long to tell us,” I ask, “you must have been bursting with the news.”

  “We wanted to wait, to make sure the baby was growing healthy before telling everyone,” Ash responded. I completely understand, she went through quite the ordeal, and I could see them worrying about the baby having trouble after all that stress.

  “Next time, you must tell us sooner,” my mother says. She is so pleased, I can read it on her face. My father as well, they are both excited with the idea of a grandchild, and possible heir.

  “We will.” Ash promises.

  Everyone splits into chatter about the pregnancy, but it didn’t take long for the conversations to drift into Parker’s direction. From that point on, the rest of dinner was torture. They spent the rest of dinner drilling him with questions about his travels, about Westhaven, and other tidbits. Thankfully, my earlier outburst prevented anyone from trying to pull me into the conversation, but I was still forced to listen to all of it.

  I su
ffered through dinner in silence until the final course was finishing and I could excuse myself. I stand and immediately my head starts spinning. I had overindulged during dinner and had a couple more glasses of wine than I usually do. I pause, taking a second to stop the room from turning circles around me, then make a quick goodbye to everyone, “Goodnight, I will see you all at breakfast,” and start walking towards the stairs as graceful as I can manage.

  I am nearly to the top when I hear someone right behind me. I stop on the landing and turn to see Parker. I reach a hand up to my forehead, trying to hold back the headache that came from the suddenness of my spin and I bark out, “What do you want?”

  He steps close to me, way too close for comfort and I am forced to take a step back, bringing my back flush with the wall.

  “I only wanted to apologize,” he whispers softly to me.

  “Apology not accepted. I had a horrible afternoon and it is all your fault.”

  His arm twitches, like he was going to move to caress me, but he stops himself, though surely, he wouldn’t want to do anything so bold.

  “I wish that wasn’t the case. I am truly sorry my actions made you upset.”

  “It’s more your presence and less your actions leading to my current mood,” the sharp edge of my voice digging into him.

  He looks deep into my eyes, his glow amber, alight from the flames of the candles and I see a flash of pain pass through them. His eyes bore into mine, pleading with me to forgive him, but it won’t be that easy. I stand completely still, eyes unblinking as I meet his gaze.

  Wordlessly, he backed up a few steps and said, “I see, goodnight Gwen.”

  He headed back downstairs, without so much as a glance back. I watch his retreating form feeling more upset after this interaction. He followed me to apologize and all I did was slam that apology back down his throat.

  Where did that come from? I am not usually so blindly rude.

  Trying not to feel too bad as I stumble into my room, I decide those feelings will be for Gwen of the morning to sort through. Gwen tonight is too exhausted, upset, all I want to do it collapse into bed and sleep deeply through the night.

  FIVE – PARKER

  Rolling out of bed, I see the unusual sight of the sun already being up in the sky. I am normally an early riser, but after last night, it should come as no surprise that I slept in. Grant and I stayed up hours after the others retired to their rooms, drinking and catching up on what we have missed over the last few years. By the time we said goodnight, I was more than exhausted, and it should have been easy to fall asleep, but my thoughts were busily keeping me awake, toiling over the day’s events.

  Much to my dismay, those thoughts started and ended with Gwen, the golden-haired beauty I hadn’t expected to see.

  Our first meeting could have gone so much smoother, if only I could have calmed Powder enough to stop and check on her, instead of running her off the road and leaving her to pick herself up. Why, of all people in Cliffden did she have to be the one directly in my path?

  If only my luck will be better from here on out, especially when it comes to Gwen.

  I can say one thing with absolute certainty, I did not expect the beauty from town to be the woman I was sent here under the ruse of engagement to be with. Since she has gone this long without marrying, I expected her to be homely.

  My estimation could not have been more wrong.

  If I could have described my perfect woman to the best sculptor in the world, anything he made would have been a mere shadow cast off from the beauty that Gwen herself is. Her presence entranced me from the moment she entered the dining hall.

  She may be stubborn and a hot head, but I respect the hell out of a woman not afraid to speak her mind or demand justice, something I have done myself with my father a thousand times. Her anger at me was justified, and I wanted nothing more than to make amends, but she was not making it easy.

  Throughout dinner, I tried to meet her eyes, but she never so much as glanced in my direction. I wanted to give her a sorry smile and maybe a playful smile, but I never got the chance. Instead, whenever I wasn’t responding to a question, I was watching her, learning every little thing about her that I could.

  Many times, I lost my place in the conversations because I was too busy following her every move. I didn’t think it was possible, but she made eating look positively sinful. Each time she raised the spoon to her plump, red lips, I envisioned kissing them. Each time she moved her head, her golden hair would twinkle with the firelight and I found myself aching to run my fingers through it.

  At one point, Grant had to say my name I don’t even know how many times to snap my attention away from the dewy-eyed nymph across the table, something he didn’t hesitate to ask me about when we were alone later.

  I tried my best to convince him that I was only staring because she intrigued me. I am not used to woman yelling at me when I first meet them, that it was nothing other than idle curiosity leading me to stare at her. It was a weak explanation and I know he must think me already smitten with her, which would be true, if I wasn’t trying to keep myself distant from her.

  Growing feelings for Gwen would only result in one, or both of us getting hurt. My father is determined to attack, and even if I don’t agree with him, my presence here is helping his cause. It’s a damn shame too because every thought of Gwen excites me.

  I was so thankful we were already seated at the table when she started yelling at me. Her passion sent a wave of pleasure through me and my arousal became evident. Thank god no one noticed.

  Remembering when I followed her up the stairs, I was close enough to smell her soft scent of lavender and honey. I had to fight my desires to reach out and comfort her, which I knew based on her body language, that would not be a welcome caress. My goal was to get her to listen to an apology and hopefully forgive me, not make her more furious with me. So, with reluctance I took a step back, giving her space.

  I didn’t want her going to sleep as angry as she was when she first made it to the dining hall. My hopes were futile though, because she was not even close to ready to accept any form of an apology from me.

  I don’t blame her, but it doesn’t sit well with me.

  I wonder what would have happened if I let my temptations get the best of me and pushed her up against the wall and devoured her luscious, wine-stained lips as I dreamt of doing all through dinner.

  Knowing this train of thought will only lead me down a path of trouble, I finally rise from bed and wash my face with cold water, hoping it will shock some of my hangover away and help me gain some sanity. I dress quickly then make my way in search of food. I have doubtless overslept breakfast, but I am sure I can snag some extra food from Rose.

  Walking through the door to the kitchens I am instantly rewarded with the smells of bacon and eggs and the sight of Gwen’s perfectly beautiful face.

  Her and Rose pause their conversation for a second when I enter, then seeing it is me, Gwen sends a scowl in my direction and continues her conversation, as if I wasn’t there.

  “Maybe some sandwiches, fruit and some tea. It doesn’t have to be much, she is just coming for a short while.”

  “That’s is not a problem. Where should I deliver the food?”

  “Um,” she pauses, as if she hadn’t thought of that yet.

  I am not sure what they are discussing, but if I had to guess, Gwen was having a friend over for afternoon tea, so I do my part to offer a solution, “What about outside, near the creek? It’s a lovely day?”

  Her voice is icy, “It’s far too hot to be exposed to the sun like that.”

  Turning back to Rose she adds, “I would like it on the south side of the house, on the balcony where I will be under the protection of the roof covering.”

  “I will have one of the boys set up the table.”

  “Thank you, Rose. She will be here in an hour, so roughly then.” Finishing her business, Gwen stalks past me to leave the kitchen, swinging as far away
from as the room allowed.

  As she passes me, I find myself picturing her as the model of a water nymph in her ocean blue dress. It is sleeveless, showing off her slender and slightly tanned arms, while also revealing an ample swell of her delicate breasts as she bounces along. She is out the door and out of my sight in a flash and I have a sudden twinge of missing the sight of her.

  I am out of my wits with how beautiful she is.

  Shaking myself out of that, I turn to Rose and grin, “Good morning. I was hoping to sneak a late breakfast.”

  “My lady said you might be hungry, I saved you a plate before Gregory and Grant had a chance to devour all of it.” She moves to pick a plate up and unwrap it, inside there are heaps of bacon, eggs and potatoes. I almost drool at the sight and Rose chuckles then places it at a barstool. “Would you like something to drink with it?”

  “Do you have coffee?”

  “Of course,” she busies herself with turning on the kettle and I dig into the food in front of me.

  While I am eating, she says, “Gwen won’t stay mad forever, you know? That girl has so much spirit, but she will eventually calm down and see she is being unfair.”

  “That is good to know,” I respond, “I feel terrible, but I couldn’t have done anything different, Powder was spooked and there was no stopping her.”

  “I know, and she will too.” Rose sets a steaming mug down in front of me and I eagerly grab it, taking a sip of the dark drink.

  “This is hitting the spot, thank you.”

  “Don’t get used to it,” she winks at me, and I can tell she is only half joking at me, “I only let you get away with it since it was your first night.”

  I laugh, “I will be on-time tomorrow.”

  I like Rose, she is comforting, and kind. She reminds me of the early memories I have with my mother, before she died. We have some small talk while I finish eating and she busies around the kitchen preparing lunch. Seeing I am only getting in her way, I hurry to finish then make my leave, thanking her profusely for the delicious breakfast.

  After I leave the kitchen, I make my way outside feeling ten times better. I wander around the grounds trying to take in the sights of the Cliffden land. Despite my hesitations for the attack, I do need to discover if Lord Cliffden is preparing for one of his own. If he is, I should be able to find evidence of that somewhere on the grounds to support my father’s claim.