by Ava Winters
“Of course,” Luisa answered with a grin.
Ian actually took her hand as they walked down the hill, although she could have walked on her own because it wasn’t very steep. She loved the feel of her hand tucked in his and didn’t pull away.
When they reached the bottom, she expected Ian to drop her hand, but he kept holding it as they walked along the path that was no longer dirt, but stone. She could tell that each stone had been placed precisely in its spot, as if it had been made to be there. The garden actually wasn’t very large.
She listened intently as Ian told her how it was created and still cared for. A gardener was still given the job of its care.
He explained how each plant was watered from the nearby stream. Two wooden benches had been placed along the path under shade trees. She marveled at how cool the entire area felt, even though it was definitely a desert garden.
She found it interesting that Mr. McAdams had done everything he could to keep this garden alive even though his wife had been gone for years. It made her see him in a different light. It was obvious that he had loved his wife and missed her desperately. It wasn’t something that Luisa would have thought he’d even care about.
“Does … your father come here and enjoy this garden?” Luisa dared to ask although she was sure it wasn’t an appropriate question.
Ian nodded. “He does, but not very often.”
“If he doesn’t come here often, why keep it up?” She looked around. No one would even know it was here unless they were looking for it.
“It was my mother’s,” was all Ian said.
“Did she give the garden a name?” Luisa asked as she bent and gently touched what looked like a fuzzy cactus, but the spikes were sharp enough that one of them pricked her finger. She pulled it back and sucked on it for a moment.
“She named it Joy’s Garden,” Ian murmured. “Her name was Joy.”
“It’s a wonderful name for a beautiful garden,” Luisa answered as she tucked her hands behind her back. She began to walk along the stone path but soon realized that he wasn’t following, and she turned around. He was looking at her like he was trying to figure something out.
“Can you show me the rest of the garden?” Luisa asked.
“Oh,” Ian said as he shook his head a bit. “Yes. That’s why we are here, isn’t it?” He grinned at her.
Again he took her hand as they slowly walked around the entire garden. It really wasn’t very large, but she loved it. She made mental notes of some of the plants. She would love to create something like this back at home, although it would have to be quite a bit smaller.
Once they’d walked around the entire garden, the path led them to where they’d started at the bottom of the hill.
“I had better get back,” Ian said with some regret in his voice.
“Sure, I understand,” Luisa answered with reluctance. She had been enjoying this time in the garden, not only because of its beauty, but also because Ian was with her.
They walked back to the house in almost complete silence. The sun was high in the sky by the time they walked to the porch.
“I’ll see you this evening,” Ian said as he turned away and began to walk towards the barns.
“Wait. Ian?” Luisa asked.
“Yes?” he turned around, waiting for her question.
“Thank you for showing me your mother’s garden.”
“You’re welcome, Miss Amanda,” he answered.
She had been ready to ask him if she could go to the garden on her own when she heard him call her Miss Amanda. It was all she could do to keep a smile on her face as he smiled back before turning away, his mind obviously on whatever job he needed to do next.
It was a reminder that Ian thought that she was Amanda. She had just spent a perfect two hours with the most handsome man she’d ever met, and he thought she was someone else.
***
Stefan ducked into an empty stall and waited for Luisa to pass by. He was getting pretty frustrated that she kept showing up wherever he was. It was becoming a standing joke among the grooms and other trainers that whatever he was doing, Luisa was going to show up soon, looking for him.
“Here she comes,” one of the grooms, Jack, had said to him just moments before he ducked into the stall. He wished that Miss Amanda would just go back to where she came from and take her companion with her. Luisa was making it very hard for him to do his job properly. And why wasn’t she doing her job? He assumed that Luisa was probably getting paid well to be Miss Amanda’s companion. In his opinion, she wasn’t doing a very good job. He had seen Miss Amanda a few times on her own, walking in the gardens, and Luisa was not with her.
He shrugged his shoulders, dismissing that thought. It wasn’t his business what Luisa did with her time. He just wished that she would quit following him around.
He sank to the bottom of the stall, glad that the horse which usually used it wasn’t there at the moment, and it had been cleaned out with fresh straw spread on the floor, ready for its occupant to be returned. He heard Luisa’s footsteps as she walked by him.
He heard her greet one of the boys whose only job was to clean the stalls and he could hear the response, as if he had been excited that Luisa had noticed him. Luisa greeted some of the other horses. Something clenched in his gut as she murmured soft words to each horse. It was obvious that she loved horses and was used to being around them.
That thought didn’t make sense to him since she was Miss Amanda’s companion, but then he remembered that they did live on a horse ranch. She was probably around horses every day. He heard her stop at Gladiator’s stall.
“Hello, big guy,” she murmured. “How are you doing today?”
Stefan jumped to his feet and moved quickly out of the stall. “What are you doing?”
Luisa jumped in fright before she saw him, a hand clutched to her chest. Then she smiled as if she was thrilled to see him. “Oh, you scared me, Stefan.”
“I asked you what you were doing,” he repeated harshly.
He hated to see her smile dim, but he had to get across to her that this horse was dangerous. Didn’t getting bit on the arm teach her a lesson?
“I’m just greeting all the horses,” Luisa said.
“I told you to leave Gladiator alone.”
“For your information, I’m not trying to touch him. I’m just talking to him, or is there a rule for that in this big barn of yours? No one can talk to strange horses except those that are paid to do so?”
Stefan felt bad that he had jumped to conclusions. “I just don’t want you to get hurt again.”
“I’m not going to get hurt,” she retorted. She glared at him and then turned on her heel and hurried out of the barn.
Stefan regretted the way he’d spoken to her. But he was glad that she had left. Maybe now, she would quit walking around the entire ranch looking for him. Surely, she had better things to do with her time.
He turned to leave but then changed his mind and approached Gladiator. He murmured some soft words to him, like Luisa had been doing. Gladiator responded by tossing his head.
He looked in the direction Luisa had left and in that brief moment that he took his eyes off the horse, Gladiator banged his head against Stefan’s arm. Stefan moved out of the way before he received his own bite, and turned his attention to Gladiator.
Was the horse trying to get attention by biting or throwing his head around? Part of him was tempted to call Luisa back and help her become familiar with the horse while he kept him under control. Then he shook his head, much as Gladiator had just done moments before.
What in the world was he thinking? Did he really want to encourage Luisa to continue seeking him out? Gladiator snorted, as if he could read Stefan’s thoughts and he could have sworn that there was laughter in the horse’s large dark eyes.
Chapter 14
Two days after her accidental encounter with Stefan, Amanda still hadn’t been able to have a decent conversation with him. She had
decided that the time when Stefan jumped out of an empty stall, scaring her out of her wits before yelling at her about Gladiator, didn’t count.
She wasn’t used to having her advances towards a young man rebuffed. It seemed as if all her attempts at finding Stefan and just talking to him were being swooshed away. She was like a fly being flicked off the back of a horse.
There were times when she did find him. She could tell that he was very busy, so she just watched from a distance. Usually, he would be training a yearling or helping one of the jockey’s urge a racehorse to go faster around the track. In those instances, she instinctively knew she needed to leave him alone. She wasn’t even sure that he was aware she was watching him.
Now, she had been able to find him again, and she leaned against the fence as she watched him encourage a young jockey.
The next few hours flew by as she watched Stefan work and she realized that she could watch him all day. She could tell that the horses, as well as the men who worked with him, trusted him. There was respect between the men and Stefan and that she recognized.
Sometimes Ian was with Stefan and they worked together almost in harmony although from what she could tell, neither of them talked to each other much. But they sure seemed to get a lot done when they were together. She could tell that they were good friends and had great respect for each other.
At one point, later that afternoon, Stefan directed a couple of grooms to walk the horses he had been working with back to the barn to be cooled down and brushed. He then immediately headed towards her. That was when she realized that he had known she was there the entire time, even though he hadn’t even looked in her direction once.
“Hi,” Amanda called out to him when he was within hearing. “You do a great job with those horses.”
Stefan didn’t say anything as he walked closer. She suddenly realized that he kept a lot of his feelings deep inside. Didn’t he know that it was better to talk about what he was thinking or if something bothered him? It made her even more determined to get him to talk to her, about anything.
When he reached where she was standing, he looked at her, but he didn’t say anything, not even acknowledging her praise for what he had been doing all day long.
“You are determined not to get to know me, aren’t you?” Amanda asked.
“You don’t know when to give up, do you?” Stefan finally responded. “Why do you want to get to know me so badly?” he asked with a huff of frustration.
Amanda grinned at him. “I promise that it won’t be so terrible.”
Her heart skipped a beat as she could tell that he was trying to hide a smile. Maybe she was making progress.
Stefan looked over her shoulder and Amanda turned to see a man walking a young horse towards them.
“I need to walk this yearling around the racetrack and get him used to it. Would you like to walk with me?”
Amanda was careful to not act extremely excited, although she wanted to let out a happy laugh. It looked like the ice between them was finally breaking. “I would like that.”
Stefan opened a gate and the man handed him the halter of the young horse. Amanda could tell that this was probably one of the first times he had been in the paddock.
He bounced on his hind legs and showed incredible energy. Stefan walked to the horse and began to talk to him as he ran his hands all over his body. The horse’s flank quivered a few times at Stefan’s touch, but he allowed it.
Amanda wanted to touch the horse herself, but she refrained, knowing that she needed to let Stefan do his job.
She wanted him to trust her around horses and jumping into the middle of what he was trying to do with this horse wouldn’t be a good idea. Stefan began to lead the horse along the edge of the track and Amanda walked next to him. It didn’t take Stefan long to get the horse to follow him like an obedient puppy.
Amanda wondered what she could say to get a conversation going between her and Stefan, but instinct made her stay silent, which she was finding very hard to do.
Only remembering that she was supposed to be acting like Luisa made her keep quiet. Her friend always seemed to know when it was appropriate to talk and when not to. Amanda, on the other hand, enjoyed talking all the time, whether she was excited, or nervous like she was now.
She had to continually bite her tongue when she felt the words that seemed to want to burst out of her. After a while, she wondered if her tongue was bleeding, she was biting it so hard. When they had walked halfway around the racetrack, Stefan gave a sigh.
“I want to stay out of everyone’s business,” Stefan suddenly said. “I don’t want to get involved.”
Amanda hadn’t expected him to start speaking first. She’d thought that she would need to come up with a subject to talk about, one that he’d be interested in responding to. She wondered what he was even talking about. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that it isn’t my place to say what I feel when I don’t belong in the McAdams’ world.”
“And what world is that?” Amanda asked. She was actually very interested in his response because the McAdams’ world was also her world.
“A world where it is considered normal to force your son into an arranged marriage that the son wants no part of, just to strengthen an alliance between the two families. I think this is very wrong, especially when it is obvious that the two people aren’t at all suited for each other.”
Amanda was shocked at Stefan’s words. She could tell that he had thought very deeply about what was going on between Ian’s father and her own, although she knew that Stefan didn’t know that she was really the young woman Ian was supposed to marry. She wished that she could tell him that she totally agreed with him.
“I’ve only been working on Thunder Valley Ranch for a few years now. But I’ve gotten to know Ian very well. We’ve become good friends. It’s hard for me to watch Ian be forced into a marriage and there isn’t anything that he can do to stop it.”
“The marriage could be stopped if … Amanda decided she didn’t want to marry him,” Amanda dared to say, remembering her conversation with her father about this very thing.
Stefan scoffed. “What young woman would want to give all of this up?” He waved a hand at the racetrack, but Amanda knew that he was talking about the entire ranch itself.
“Some women might feel that there is more to a marriage than money and prestige,” Amanda said quietly.
“Maybe there are some women like that, but I doubt Miss Amanda is one of them.” He gave a sigh. “As I said, it’s not my place to do or say anything to stop this marriage. I’m just a horse trainer.”
“I think that you are more than a horse trainer,” Amanda dared to say. “I’ve been watching you. I think you do a lot to keep things going around this ranch.”
“Ian told me once what Amanda was like. He visited her family when he was twenty. He said that Amanda totally ignored him while flirting with any young man that gave her the least amount of attention. She spent her days shopping and doing frivolous things. She had just returned home from a finishing school that her father had sent her back East and I guess when she did talk to Ian, she complained about the schooling she had received.”
Amanda was so shocked, that for the first time in her life, she couldn’t think of a word to say. She wondered if this was what it felt like to eavesdrop.
Eavesdroppers never prosper, Hannah had told her multiple times when she was growing up. She now knew what her nanny had meant.