Switched Hearts: A Western Historical Romance Novel

by Ava Winters

  “Mr. McAdams is in his office,” Mrs. Hatch said formally, letting him know that she was aware that he had been summoned.

  Thank you, Mrs. Hatch,” Ian responded and immediately headed in that direction. He walked down a long hallway that led into the east wing of the house. His father’s office was the largest room in this wing.

  His father’s office door was open, but he did not immediately go inside. Instead, he knocked and waited for his father to admit him.

  As usual it took his father at least a full minute before he looked up from the papers on his desk and that he was going through. Ian stifled a pang of resentment at the small power struggle that Father always seemed to feel like he needed to provoke with Ian.

  Why did he feel like he needed to make Ian wait for his attention, especially when he had ordered him to show up in the first place?

  “Come in, Ian,” Father finally said as he waved a beefy hand towards one of the chairs that had been set strategically in front of his large oak desk. “It took you long enough to get here.”

  Ian did his best to keep his face passive. “I just got back from exercising Midnight. Stefan told me that you wanted to see me soon as I returned.”

  “How is Midnight coming?”

  “He is a fine yearling, with great propulsion in the hind quarters. I think he has great potential and excellent endurance,” Ian responded.

  Father nodded, looking pleased. He leaned back in his leather chair and stared at Ian for a long moment. Ian did his best to not squirm under his stern gaze, like he would have done when he was a boy. Instead he looked right at his father, doing his best to let him know that he could no longer be intimidated.

  “I wanted to inform you that we have some guests coming,” Father finally announced.

  Ian stared, trying to figure out what was going on. They always had guests stay at the ranch, so this was nothing new. Why did Father feel that he needed to tell him about these particular guests?

  “Who are they?” Ian responded, knowing that he was expected to ask.

  “Do you remember when we went to visit Whispering Horse Ranch in Albertson a few years ago?”

  Ian struggled to remember what visit his father was talking about.

  His father owned one of the largest horse ranches in the state of Texas, and he made it a priority to visit all the other successful horse ranches when he could. He always insisted that Ian accompany him so that he could learn the proper way to conduct business with other horse owners. They visited at least two or three throughout the year and sometimes they even traveled to neighboring states.

  “I don’t think I remember that particular ranch,” Ian admitted.

  His father glared as if upset that Ian couldn’t remember the visit. “Mr. James Wright owns the ranch. He has a daughter named Amanda who is just a few years younger than you are.”

  Instantly an image appeared in Ian’s mind of a lovely but spoiled young woman. He barely remembered the visit, but he did remember that she had been the typical sixteen-year-old child found on a successful horse ranch.

  She had been flighty and seemed to think she had needed to talk all the time. All she could talk about was a new dress her father had purchased for her. Ian had even attended a social event that had been held at the local schoolhouse for all the young men and women of Albertson.

  He had noticed that she spent most of her time flirting with the other young men who attended and had totally ignored him, although he hadn’t felt too badly about that fact. He remembered feeling relieved when the event finally ended and he could return to Whispering Horse Ranch and spend time in the horse barn.

  “Think I do remember her,” he admitted slowly.

  “I have invited her to come and stay at our ranch for at least a month,” his father said. “I expect you to spend time with Miss Amanda while she is here.”

  Ian stifled a groan. “Father, you know that I am spending most of my time working with Midnight. Star Bright also needs a lot of work in order to get ready for race season. I’m not going to have time to cater to a spoiled rich woman.”

  His father’s glare became fiercer. “I don’t know if you are aware of this, but Mr. Wright and I have been hoping that you and Amanda will eventually marry. It is why we visited their ranch to begin with four years ago. I have been in constant correspondence with Mr. Wright for the last few months and we still agree that a marriage between our two only children is a good idea.”

  “What?” Ian asked in disbelief, wondering if he had heard right.

  “I believe that you heard me. We feel that marriage between you two would be adventitious for both our families. It would enable us to run our horse ranches together.”

  With that last sentence, Ian understood why his father wanted the marriage to happen. He was constantly looking for ways to make Thunder Valley Ranch better than ever. It sickened Ian when he thought of the schemes that his father had carried out over the years for that very purpose. Now he was using his own son to get ahead. As well as a young lady.

  Ian knew that he was being groomed to eventually take over his father’s role in running the ranch. He had spent most of his life doing everything that his father wanted. But now he felt that this was too much.

  He barely heard anything while his father continued to give him orders about how he was to spend his time while Amanda was visiting. He knew that it was going to be very difficult to get out of this marriage his father was arranging.

  He could only hope that Amanda would do her part and put a stop to the plans of their fathers by refusing to marry him. After all, he still remembered the dislike she had shown him four years ago. He was sure that her feelings for him weren’t going to change.

  Finally, his father allowed him to leave the office with a wave of his hand. Ian went back outside and began the long walk towards the horse barn.

  He could see Stefan in the distance, riding Star Bright around the racetrack at a gentle trot. Ian wondered what his friend would say if he told him of his father’s announcement. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he pictured Stefan visibly shuddering at the news.

  Stefan was a man who had decided long ago that he was never going to marry, although Ian didn’t know why. Maybe he hadn’t found the right person. Just like I haven’t, thought Ian. Miss Amanda Wright is certainly not the person for me! But how will I fight Father about this topic?

  Chapter 5

  Amanda waited by the stagecoach while her father made arrangements for her two large trunks, filled to the brim with her belongings, to be stored on top. Luisa’s trunk was already in its place, looking much smaller against her large ones.

  “Have a safe journey and send me a message if you need me, for any reason,” her father ordered.

  “I will, Papa,” Amanda agreed demurely.

  She dutifully placed a kiss on his cheek before climbing into the stagecoach. Luisa was already inside and she smiled at her friend. She wasn’t at all surprised that her father had made arrangements for Luisa to come with her.

  After all, it wasn’t appropriate for a young lady such as herself to travel on her own. Luisa was a good companion as well as an excellent chaperone. Amanda was pleased that her friend was with her. She was also glad that there weren’t going to be any other passengers on this journey to Wilbourne.

  Over the last week, as she prepared for her month-long trip to the Thunder Valley Ranch, she had thought think of how to get out of marrying Ian. She now had a plan that she wanted to discuss with Luisa, and it wouldn’t be good if anyone else overheard it.

  The last week had been busy for Amanda, so much so that she had hardly had a chance to even talk with Luisa. Multiple dresses had needed to be brought out of her large dressing room. They were each brushed and pressed before being carefully wrapped in tissue paper and then placed in one of the two trunks she insisted that she needed to take with her.

  Her father had agreed that she needed a new gown, just in case there was to be a dance that she would need
to attend with the younger Mr. McAdams.

  They had even been able to fit in another shopping trip to Dallas. Now, her two trunks were in place on top of the stagecoach, along with Luisa’s smaller one. Sometimes she felt a bit guilty that she had so much while Luisa had so little.

  She had tried to give her friend some of her dresses that she hardly ever wore, but Luisa wouldn’t accept them.

  “I don’t feel right wearing your clothes,” Luisa had told her once when Amanda tried to insist. “Besides, my tastes in clothing are different than yours.”

  Amanda knew that Luisa was right; their tastes in clothing were different, but it was mostly because Luisa didn’t have access to the money Amanda had. The difference between their social stations never seemed to bother Luisa though.

  She seemed content to live in her small house with her father. Another glaring difference between them was the fact that when Luisa did have access to any money, she usually spent it on a new book. Amanda disliked reading and rarely sat still long enough to enjoy an entire book.

  She’d rather be outside with her father’s horses.

  Amanda sometimes wished that she had been born a boy because then she could live her life as she wished.

  She would be able to work with the horses her father owned and maybe race them for fun on her father’s training track. When she was younger, her father had allowed her to spend all the time she wanted in the barns and watching Luisa’s father, Mr. Lopez, train the horses.

  But ever since she had returned from attending that awful finishing school back East, he had greatly cut down on her freedom on Whispering Horse Ranch.

  There was silence between the two of them as the stagecoach pulled away from the station in Albertson. As they moved down the street and towards Wilbourne, Amanda wondered what Luisa was thinking.

  Was she excited to be going on this trip with her? She wasn’t sure if Luisa even knew what the purpose was and why they were going. Once they were on the outskirts of Albertson, Amanda decided that now was the time to talk.

  “Do you know why Father is sending us to Thunder Valley Ranch?” Amanda asked her friend, determined to get the conversation started in the direction she wanted it to go. She had spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out a way to get out of this trip to Thunder Valley Ranch. She had even again tried to talk her father out of sending her, but to no avail. Once she realized that she couldn’t get out of it, she next tried to come up with a plan to derail everything, and she’d finally come up with a good scheme. She didn’t know what she was going to do if Luisa didn’t agree to her plan.

  Luisa had been looking out of the small stagecoach window, her focus on the passing scenery. She turned to look at Amanda as she shook her head. “I just assumed that we were visiting one of your father’s friends.”

  “We are, but there’s a purpose behind it,” Amanda answered. “Do you remember when the McAdams’ visited our ranch when we were sixteen? Mr. McAdams is a good friend of Papa’s, and he brought his son, Ian, with him.”

  Luisa was silent for a moment, her brow furrowed as she thought. Then her face cleared with remembrance. “Oh yes, he did everything his father said. He rarely gave his own opinions. You hated that he wouldn’t talk for himself.”

  “I didn’t like him at all. He was the most boring person to talk to. I did everything that I could to avoid him. But now, my father and Ian’s father have come up with this awful and ridiculous plan. The reason why I have been invited to visit Thunder Valley Ranch is so that Ian and I can get to know each other. They want us to marry by the end of the year.”

  Luisa laughed, her eyes twinkling at Amanda knowingly. “You won’t be getting married anytime soon. Why, just last week you were telling me that you weren’t ready.”

  “My father thinks I am ready. He says that since I am almost twenty-one, I need to start thinking about settling down. Since I’m not interested in any of the young men here, he wants me to consider marriage to Ian. If we marry, we will be keeping our family’s business in the …family, so to speak.”

  “I take it that you are not on board with the suggestion.” Luisa’s eyes continued to sparkle.

  “No, and that is where you come in.”

  Luisa’s eyes immediately turned from laughing to suspicious. “What do you want me to do about it?”

  “I was thinking about possibly switching places with each other.”

  “What?” Luisa asked, confusion in her voice.

  “We look pretty similar. Remember how we used to pretend to be each other when we were younger? Sometimes we were able to pull it off. We even convinced our schoolteacher one day, for a few hours anyway.”

  Luisa nodded her head slowly. “It baffles me that people mistake me for you, but they do. At the dance last week, a man came up and asked me to dance, but called me by your name. I turned him down, of course.”

  Luisa had told her the story of what happened at the dance very matter-of-factly, but Amanda could hear the slight hurt in her voice.

  “I’m sorry that young men do not see you for who you are,” she said sincerely. Luisa was a wonderful, caring young woman, and it baffled Amanda that most people couldn’t see that.

  Luisa shrugged her shoulders, as if saying she didn’t care what people thought about her. Amanda wondered if this was true.

  “I don’t see how switching places is going to fix your problem though,” Luisa said.

  “I will pretend that I am you, and you’ll pretend that you are me. If we do a good enough job, we can pretend the entire time we are there. Father told me that if I did not want to marry Ian at the end of the month, all I would have to do is tell him. He isn’t going to force me. If we change places, I won’t get to know Ian any better, or be bored for a month, and I can honestly tell Father that it didn’t work out.”

  Luisa looked concerned. “But what if the McAdams figure it out?” She gave a slight shudder as if picturing what could happen.

  “I don’t think that will be likely. After all, it’s been over four years since Mr. McAdams and Ian have seen me. I think I’ve grown up and changed quite a bit since I was sixteen. I think that we can pull it off. And if they do figure it out, I’m sure that they will promptly send us home.”

  “I’m not sure how I feel about this,” Luisa replied slowly.

  “It’ll just be for a month, possibly even less. When we arrive back home, all I will have to do is let my father know that it didn’t work out. Life can get back to normal. Please say you’ll help me out!”

  Luisa was quiet for a long time and Amanda was content to let her think. She knew her friend well enough to know that she did not make choices quickly. She had to think through all the angles before making a decision. If Amanda tried to push Luisa to make a decision, she would end up saying no.

  Amanda used the time to look out of the small stagecoach window near her. She couldn’t see much, only endless desert. It didn’t look much different than land around her ranch at home.

  She saw a rabbit race alongside the stagecoach before veering off into the sagebrush. They rode by a few small farms. A dog who was tied up under a tree barked frantically at them as they past.

  After a few minutes, she began to see fewer farms and more wide-open land that hadn’t been developed yet. It was supposed to take two hours to get to Wilbourne. As the silence between her and Luisa continued, Amanda could only hope that her friend would have made her decision before they arrived.

  She didn’t know what she was going to do if Luisa refused to trade places with her.

  But she did know that she would need to come up with another plan and fast. The last thing she was going to do is put herself in a position to be forced to marry Ian. She shuddered again at the thought of how boring marriage to him would be. She couldn’t face the thought of even one month with him.