by Ava Winters
He continued, “What I would like to do is send her home, but I also respect your father, and I know that he would not have sent her with you if she wasn’t needed.”
In an instant, many thoughts went through Luisa’s mind. She had spent the last ten years at Amanda side, acting as her companion. She had learned how to quickly read people. She had also learned how to think quickly and get them out of sticky and sometimes dangerous situations.
Again Mr. McAdams continued his rant, “I’m sure that at home, you do not have your companion with you all the time. I am going to expect the same here. My son will not be able to get to know you if you constantly have her with you all day long.”
She instinctively knew that if she insisted that Amanda stayed with her at all times as her companion, she would be immediately sent back to Albertson. Yesterday that would’ve been a perfect situation.
She knew that it was exactly what Amanda wanted to have happen. But that was before she had met Ian as an adult. At that very moment, she admitted to herself that she felt an attraction to Ian, something that she had never experienced with anyone else.
She wanted some time to get to know him better.
She thought of when she first saw Ian at the stagecoach station. He had taken his black bowler hat off and his sandy hair blew in the light breeze. His blue eyes seemed to almost look right through her as he kissed her hand. A sharp spark traveled up her arm and clear to her heart, something she had never felt before.
Luisa remembered Amanda’s description of Ian four years ago. He had basically done everything his father ordered him to. He seemed to almost bend over backward to do whatever he could to keep his father happy. If Ian had really acted that way four years ago, he didn’t seem to be that way now.
During dinner the day before, she’d enjoyed talking with Ian, even though she had to answer all of his questions as if she was Amanda. He acted interested in her answers before Mr. McAdams diverted his attention back to ranch business.
She enjoyed the tour Ian had given them that morning. She liked listening to Ian talk and she could tell that he loved the ranch.
She did not want to be sent home. She didn’t know how long this switching of identities was going to last. Their plan could be discovered a few hours from now or in a few days.
But she wanted to have as much time as she could with Ian, even though he really thought that she was Amanda. She knew that she would never have this opportunity again in her lifetime.
Luisa looked Mr. McAdams square in the eyes, doing her best to let him know that he was not going to intimidate her. But she was also going to do as he asked.
“Do you understand what I’m trying to say?” Mr. McAdams asked when Luisa didn’t respond right away.
“Yes, Mr. McAdams. I understand.”
“I will have Mrs. Hatch inform your companion where she will be eating her meals for the rest of your stay.”
Luisa shook her head. “Please let me tell her.”
Mr. McAdams hesitated before giving one nod. “Lunch will be served in an hour. I expect you to be there, without your companion.”
“I will be there,” Luisa promised.
Once she reached her room, she slipped inside and looked around for Amanda. She was surprised to not see her friend in the room, but was also relieved. She could only hope that Amanda wasn’t getting herself into another situation she couldn’t get herself out of. Luisa was not going to be able to rescue her like she usually did.
She slowly walked around the room, looking at every aspect of it. It was similar to the rooms that Amanda was used to in her house. It was just as large and decorated in a dusty rose color.
There was wallpaper with small pink roses on it. The wood floor had been polished to a high shine. A small maroon-colored sofa had been placed in front of the unlit fireplace. All of the furniture had been made from oak and stained in its natural color.
The curtains that hung on the windows were the same color as the sofa. The room was decorated in a way that made if warm and inviting.
She wondered what it would be like to actually have a life like Amanda had. She had never felt jealous before of Amanda. In fact she sometimes felt sorry for her. She was content to live in the small home with her father.
The door opened and Amanda walked inside, her eyes twinkling. Luisa’s heart dropped. She did not want to have the conversation she was going to need to have with her, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Where you been?” Luisa asked.
“Since you had to talk to Mr. McAdams, I decided to go to the nearest racing track and watch the trainer work with one of their new horses.”
“Oh, Amanda, you shouldn’t have done that,” Luisa said with a shake of her head.
“Why ever not?” Amanda asked, her eyes wide with surprise. “I didn’t talk to anyone and I only stayed there for a few minutes. They were working with a horse clear on the other side of the track and I couldn’t see what was going on as well as I wanted to. So I decided to go back to the horse barn and familiarize myself with Gladiator.” She gave a wry grin and held up her right wrist. “This was the result.”
“What happened?” Luisa asked with shock in her voice. There was a white cloth bandage wrapped around Amanda’s wrist.
“Gladiator bit me,” Amanda answered.
Luisa gasped. “You should have stayed away from him. I heard Stefan warn you about that horse. He’s got problems.”
“I know, but he looked calm enough. I really thought that he just needed to get used to me. I have never had a problem approaching a horse at home.”
Luisa shook her head. This was exactly what she was worried about. She wasn’t with Amanda, and she immediately got herself into trouble. “How bad is it?”
“Oh, it’s just very red. He barely broke the skin. Gladiator just gave me a warning bite.” Amanda was still smiling at Luisa as if it was all a joke to her.
“Are you going to listen to Stefan now?” Luisa asked. “I do think that he knows the horses on this ranch better than you do.”
Amanda shrugged but Luisa could tell that a small bite from a beautiful horse wasn’t going to keep her away from him.
“You probably should wash that,” Luisa suggested. “You wouldn’t want it to get infected.”
“I already did, with Stefan’s help.” Amanda continued to grin.
No wonder Amanda was acting so happy about a horse bite. She had gotten some attention from a good-looking man. Luisa was starting to regret that she’d agreed to Amanda’s plan of switching places. Her friend was going to get both of them in trouble with her habit of flirting with any male that she could see.
“What did old Mr. McAdams want?” Amanda asked as she made herself comfortable on their large bed.
Again Luisa wished that she didn’t need to tell Amanda what Mr. McAdams was demanding, but she knew it couldn’t be helped.
“He is insisting that you eat with the rest of the staff for every meal, in their portion of the house,” Luisa said slowly.
“Really?” Amanda asked.
“Yes. He quite insistent that you don’t eat with the family.”
“This is perfect,” Amanda squealed.
Luisa looked at her in shock. ““What do you mean?”
“This will give me the chance to get to know Stefan better,” Amanda said.
“What?” Luisa asked, shocked again at her friend’s thoughts.
“I’ll get to eat my meals with him. I’m sure once he knows I’m interested in getting to know him better, he’ll be willing to spend time together,”
Luisa shook her head in disbelief. This was the last thing she’d expected Amanda to say. It was also the last thing she wanted to hear Amanda say. Luisa had spent the last ten years getting to know Amanda and she had learned to spot any trouble that her friend got herself into very quickly.
Every instinct in her body was sending her a very clear message. Things were not going to end well since Amanda had obviously decided to s
et her sights on Stefan. He was going to cause a whole heap of trouble and it would crash their secret plans of switching identities. Did her friend ever think about things before she acted on them?
She remembered Mr. McAdams’ warning and decided to voice it. “Mr. McAdams also threatened to make you share a room with one of the maids in their part of the house. Luckily, he told me that since you are my companion, he won’t expect that, but if you cause any more problems, he will insist that you move over there.”
“I’m glad for that, at least.” Amanda shrugged. “I wouldn’t have liked sharing a room with anyone else, except you.”
“Did you hear what I said? You have to stay out of trouble,” Luisa repeated herself slowly, as if she was talking to a child.
“I know, and I will. I promise. I just want to get to know Stefan better. He is just a diversion to keep me busy while you are doing your job in discouraging Ian to want to marry you, I mean, me,” Amanda answered. “I have to do something with my time.”
Luisa knew that there wasn’t anything else she could say to convince Amanda that getting to know Stefan wasn’t a good idea. But she couldn’t help thinking about the fact that she would also get to know Ian better. She would be able to spend more time with him without Amanda around. This was just too enticing to pass up.
She knew that they wouldn’t be able to keep up their ruse for much longer. Surely someone was going to figure out that she was really a servant and not used to the type of life that Ian lived.
She was aware that the moment that happened, she and Amanda would be shipped back to Whispering Horse Ranch. She also knew that once Ian found out that she wasn’t who she portrayed herself to be, any interest he had for her would vanish. He wasn’t going to be interested in spending time with a servant.
But Luisa desperately wanted to have this experience, something to look back on when she was an old maid as she continued to take care of her father’s house. Because she knew that she most likely would never marry after this chance of getting to know Ian.
“Are you alright with continuing with our plan?” Amanda asked, interrupting Luisa’s thoughts, her face serious as she looked at her friend.
“Of course,” Luisa answered automatically. She smiled to show that Amanda didn’t need to worry about that.
“I really would like to stay here for at least another week or so. I’m very sorry that you have to put up with boring Ian and his insufferable father,” Amanda said.
Luisa did her best to act resigned in accepting what Amanda wanted her to do. “I think it will be alright to stay for another week,” she answered. “I’m pretty sure that I’ll be spending quite a bit of time on my own, anyway. Ian will be busy with the horses and Mr. McAdams will be busy doing whatever he does in that fancy office of his.”
“What will you do then?” Amanda asked.
“They have a large library. I’m sure I will be able to find a good book to read. I could also spend some time outside in their gardens. Don’t worry about me.”
Amanda threw her arms around Luisa enthusiastically. “Thank you so much. You are the greatest friend a girl could ever ask for. I promise that I’ll make it up to you when we get home.”
Luisa found Amanda’s last sentence to be funny and tried not to laugh. What could Amanda possibly do to make it up to her? “Just promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?” Amanda asked.
“Promise me that you will think through things twice before you act on them,” Luisa advised.
“Of course I’ll think through things before I make a decision,” Amanda answered. “I always do, don’t I?”
Chapter 12
At promptly six o’clock that evening, Ian let himself inside his house and realized that he was looking forward to dinner for the first time in a very long time. Amanda would be there. He walked into the dining room and the first person he saw was her. The second thing he noticed was that Luisa wasn’t with her. His father had obviously gotten his way, again.
He didn’t fault Amanda for giving in to his father.
Ian knew of almost no one who could stand up to his father for very long, including himself, although he was trying to show his father that he was an adult and capable of making his own decisions. He wasn’t always successful, though. Old habits of giving in to his father, like he had done his entire life, were very hard to break.
He was aware that his father felt firmly that servants had to keep their place in society.
They were around the ranch to help keep it running smoothly, but they didn’t have the same social status as Ian or his father. Ian was aware that in many parts of America, the views of servants versus employers were starting to change, at least a little.
Servants were no longer treated as if they weren’t smart or capable of doing more than work for the wealthy families who employed them. But those changes definitely hadn’t started on the Thunder Valley Ranch. It was something that Ian wanted to change, someday. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to do much until he was running the ranch on his own.
Ian gave his father a formal handshake. This was something he had expected Ian to do since he was a young boy when he hadn’t seen his father for more than a few hours. He then turned his attention to Amanda who was watching them with a careful expression on her face.
“Good evening, Miss Amanda.” Ian greeted her with a slight bow. “It is a pleasure to see you this evening.”
“Thank you, Ian,” Miss Amanda said softly. Ian noticed that she was acting almost shy.
Before he could puzzle over this slight change in her personality, his father gestured towards the dining table.
“Shall we sit down?” Mr. McAdams asked, although Ian knew he was only asking out of politeness. His father had decided it was time to eat, so they were going to eat.
Miss Amanda nodded and allowed Ian to guide her to a chair. He held the back of the chair while she sat down and then he took his place across the table from her.
A maid immediately appeared and began serving the meal. His father didn’t wait for the maid to finish before he began his usual questions about Ian’s day. How were the horses? Did he work with Midnight and Juniper that day? How was the new jockey doing?
Ian sometimes wondered why his father didn’t just come down to the horse barn. He’d get most of his questions answered if he would do so at least once a week.
But his father didn’t participate in the day-to-day care of the horses, including the training of them. He had hired the best men to do those jobs and he expected them to do what they were paid to do. He also expected Ian to keep on top of every aspect of the horses’ training and care.
His father spent most of his time pouring over stacks of records of the history of their horses, as well as other horses that were owned by other people. He kept track of which horses of other ranches were winning and which ones lost their races. He seemed to know when certain mares had their foals and which ones the owners were going to sell or keep and train.
Ian had to admit that his father seemed to have a knack for deciding which of their horses should be raced and which should be retired, which ones would do well as a stud or kept for breeding.