by Ava Winters
“I have something to tell you and you aren’t going to like it,” Amanda began.
“If it’s about the fact that you are leaving in less than a week, I’ve already thought of a solution,”
“You have?” Amanda asked curiously, although her heart seemed to drop clear to her toes.
“Yes. I have some time off coming to me. I thought I’d take a week or so next month. I can come to Whispering Horse Ranch for a visit, if you’d like me to. I can meet your father and …”
Amanda raised a hand to stop him from talking. She was glad that he was thinking about the future, but she was now determined to come clean. But the fact that he wanted to come for a visit was making it much harder.
“Let me tell you what I need to tell you. Then we can talk about that,” Amanda said.
Stefan must have heard the seriousness in her voice, but he just nodded.
“I’d like to ask you to just listen to what I have to say. It’s going to take a while to explain … everything.”
“I can do that,” Stefan said quickly, but Amanda could see the concern in his eyes.
“Before I continue, I want you to know that I have enjoyed getting to know you. These last few weeks have been the best I’ve ever spent with anyone in my life.” She took a deep breath. “But I’m not who you think I am. I’m not Luisa Lopez.”
Stefan looked confused. “I don’t understand.”
“My name is Amanda Wright. Luisa is my companion and a good friend.”
She quickly began to tell him her story, starting when she had that first conversation with her father when he insisted that she had to come to Thunder Valley Ranch to see if she was compatible with Ian. She had been very upset that her father was putting her in the position to basically be forced to marry a man she didn’t like.
Amanda could tell that Stefan wasn’t liking what he was hearing as she told him how she came up with the idea that she and Luisa switch places. She explained the conversation she’d had with Luisa in the stagecoach.
They looked so similar, and it had been so long since Mr. McAdams and Ian had seen Amanda, that she had hoped that they wouldn’t suspect that Luisa wasn’t really Amanda. To her surprise, things had worked out exactly the way she wanted them to. Mr.
McAdams had acted exactly like she had expected him to. All he seemed to care about what combining his ranch with her father’s.
But she hadn’t counted on what ended up happening. Luisa and Ian had become close. And she had also enjoyed getting to know Stefan.
“So let me get this straight. You decided that you didn’t want to spend the month getting to know Ian, like your father wanted. So you came up with this grand plan of switching places with your companion. Then you and I meet. You’ve been pretending all this time to be someone you’re not. You’ve been living a total lie.”
Amanda didn’t answer, for she couldn’t think of a thing to say. She could tell by Stefan’s tone of voice that he was very disgusted, and she didn’t blame him. She him to see why she had come up with this crazy plan, but she also knew that in Stefan’s eyes, the reason didn’t matter.
“Do you realize that you are doing exactly what you’ve accused Ian of doing? Not standing up to your father?” Stefan asked fiercely.
Amanda looked at the ground. She hadn’t thought of it in that way before. “I know we shouldn’t have done that. I have learned a lot about myself since I’ve been here.” She looked at him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. But she could immediately tell that Stefan was no longer listening. There was nothing that she could say to get him to understand.
***
Stefan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The woman that sat before him wasn’t Luisa Lopez, but Amanda Wright. She was the rich heiress of a successful Thoroughbred ranch and he was a lowly trainer. He felt so furious that he didn’t trust himself to talk for a long moment.
It was obvious that Amanda only thought of herself, just like Ian had talked about when he’d first met her four years ago. She hadn’t changed. She made choices and decisions to fit her purposes and didn’t care who she would hurt in the process.
Not only had her decision affected him, but also Luisa and Ian.
“Does Ian know what you’ve done?” Stefan practically spat the question at her.
“Luisa and I are going to talk to him after I tell you,” Amanda said softly. There were tears in her eyes and Stefan turned away, trying not to let the sight affect what he knew he needed to do.
The first thing he thought was that he would likely lose his job when Patrick McAdams, and Amanda’s father, James, found out the truth.
He was sure that James wasn’t going to want his little girl to be with a man who only trained horses. He wanted Amanda to marry a man who would inherit money. It was the whole reason why he had sent his daughter to Thunder Valley Ranch to begin with.
He suddenly felt Amanda touch his shoulder. She had risen from the rock where she’d been sitting. “I’m sorry, Stefan. But I am telling the truth that I have …fallen in love with you. I do need to come clean with my father, as well as Ian and Mr. McAdams, but it doesn’t change my feelings for you.”
Stefan brushed her arm off his shoulder and moved away from her. This was the last thing he had expected that Luisa, no … Amanda wanted to tell him. He had a hard time believing her.
“You are just like Elaine was, a spoiled rich woman who uses men like me to get what they want,” Stefan said angrily as he ran a hand through his hair. “I guess I can understand, a little bit, why you pretended to be Luisa. No one should be forced to marry someone they don’t want to. But you should have told me when we started to spend time together, when we started to get to know each other. You are so used to getting what you want, that you don’t care who you hurt in the process.”
Amanda didn’t answer. He could see the sorrow and devastation on her face, but he turned away. He wasn’t even sure if she was being honest with her feelings right then. Did she really feel sorrow because he was pushing her away, or because she felt guilty for what she had done? Did it really matter?
Stefan again ran a hand through his hair in frustration. As much as he wanted to deny it, he did want to be with her, even now, after she confessed what she had done. But he knew that he couldn’t. He wasn’t going to tell her that though.
Memories of his past flooded through him. It was almost as if he was back on that Kentucky ranch. He had just asked Elaine to marry him and she had actually laughed.
Then she had told him the reason why she had been spending so much time with him. Because she was trying to make another man jealous. Something similar had happened to him years ago with another woman. In his mind, what Amanda had just done was no different than what Elaine Johnson had done.
They both had different reasons, but the end result was the same.
He and Amanda came from different worlds. He was sure that he would never be accepted as good enough by Amanda’s father even if he wanted to be. He was very glad that he hadn’t asked Amanda to marry him.
He finally turned to Amanda and said fiercely, “We can never be together.” He strode towards her. “You must promise me that you will never breathe a word of these last few weeks that we have spent together to anyone.”
“But ...”
“You must forget about me. Move on with your life.” He turned and walked away, leaving Amanda standing alone.
Chapter 21
Amanda began to sob in her hands the moment Stefan was far enough away that he wouldn’t hear her. She had known that he was going to react the way he did.
He had made many subtle comments over the last few weeks that he firmly believed that social classes shouldn’t mix. She was aware that most of the reason why he felt that way was because of his experience with Elaine, even though it had been so many years ago. Amanda had never responded when he made those types of statements.
She hadn’t known how to without giving away the fact that she wasn’t Luisa. Th
e problem was, Amanda didn’t know how to get around that belief. She hated how people felt like they had to make life decisions based on where they were born.
She never thought that she’d be in that position though.
She had fallen in love with Stefan and she truly didn’t care that he was a horse trainer instead of the son of a rich, successful man.
Part of her had hoped that the feelings they had for each other would over-ride what she had done, as well as any issues they might have had because of social status. But she knew that those thoughts were too ingrained in him.
He was an orphan after all, taken in by a family so that they could have a free hired hand, and then rejected by a beautiful woman because of who he was.
She wanted to stay in this spot for the rest of the day, but knew she couldn’t. She had another problem. She needed to now tell Ian. She could tell that Luisa had deeply fallen for him.
What if Ian reacted the same way as Stefan had? She knew that she would never forgive herself if Ian pushed Luisa away as Stefan had just done to her. It was because of her that Luisa had even fallen for Ian.
She trudged towards the ranch house. If I’d been strong with Father to begin with, she thought, and made it clear that I won’t be push not a marriage I don’t want, what would have happened?
Would her father have listened to her? Even if he hadn’t, if she had come to Thunder Valley Ranch as Amanda Wright instead of Luisa Lopez, would she had been able to convince Mr. McAdams and Ian that they weren’t suited for each other? Would she have still been able to get to know Stefan, but as herself? These were questions that she would never know the answer to.
As she walked up the porch steps and let herself into the house, she was determined to end this charade once and for all. She was able to find Luisa and Ian together in the dining room, just finishing lunch. She knew that Luisa could tell that Stefan now knew the truth.
“Are you okay?” Luisa asked her with sympathy.
Ian looked between the two of them, a question in his eyes. Amanda gave Luisa a small nod, letting her know that now was the time to tell Ian.
“Come in and sit down,” Luisa said as she pointed to a chair.
“I can wait until you are done eating,” Amanda protested.
“We’re about done. Is something wrong?” Ian asked.
Luisa reached out and touched his hand. “We have something to tell you.”
Amanda slowly began again to tell her story. She went over the exact things that she had told Stefan. Luisa inserted her part in the story. As Amanda talked, she kept a careful eye on Ian, fully expecting him to act the same way that Stefan had.
Ian was a bit confused and asked multiple questions. As Amanda and Luisa gave more information, and once he understood what was going on, he didn’t seem as upset as he might have. His reaction to the entire scenario cheered her. Maybe Luisa wouldn’t have to experience rejection from Ian. He seemed to understand the reason why they had switched places.
“So, Luisa,” Ian said as he looked at her. Amanda saw her friend’s face flush when he called her by her real name for the first time. “While I don’t like what you and Amanda did, I have to admit that I do understand.”
“You do?” Amanda asked with surprise.
“Yes.” Ian looked at Amanda. “My father was doing the same thing your father did to you, forcing you to agree to a marriage that neither of us wanted.”
Amanda nodded, relieved at his obvious understanding.
“To be honest with both of you, I don’t care that you switched identities. In fact, I’m glad that you did. I wouldn’t have been able to get to know Luisa if you hadn’t.”
“Oh, Ian,” Luisa said, tears in her voice.
“I just wish that we could have all worked together and trusted each other. Maybe if Amanda had arrived as herself, we could have talked and agreed that a marriage wouldn’t work between us. And, to be honest again, I kind of suspected that something was going on the day you two arrived.”
“You did?” Amanda asked with surprise.
“Yes.” He grinned at her, but he reached out and took Luisa’s hand in his. “I remember very well what you were like when I went to visit your ranch four years ago.”
Amanda flushed and looked away.
“I’m not criticizing you, Amanda. But your personality is very different from Luisa’s. You are an extrovert and love to be around people. Luisa has a much quieter personality. A person doesn’t change that drastically in only four years.”
“It does look like you changed,” Amanda admitted.
Ian shrugged. “We could call it changing or maybe just growing up. At any rate, I remembered that you have a beauty mark here.” He pointed to the right side of his mouth and then looked at Luisa. “You don’t have one. Marks like that don’t just … disappear.”
Amanda smiled with embarrassment. The mark Ian was talking about was something she had always hated. In her opinion, it marred her otherwise clear complexion.
She remembered that she had spent hours when she was younger trying to get rid of it. She used lemon juice to try to lighten it and scrubbed at it with harsh soap, but to no avail.
She remembered that Hannah explained that the mark would be something she would always have, but it had taken her a long time to believe her. As she grew older, after she realized that Hannah was right, she had gotten used to the mark. Amanda hadn’t even thought of it when she suggested they switch identities.
“I thought that I’d play along because I liked Luisa that first day we met.” He grinned at her and Amanda saw that he squeezed her friend’s hand. A sudden lightness filled her soul. Even though Stefan didn’t react to the news like she had wanted him to, at least Ian was willing to accept Luisa for who she was. He had known who Luisa was all along and had fallen in love with her.
Ian then turned to Amanda. “And I knew that you and Stefan were falling for each other. I figured that things would work out the way that they were supposed to, eventually, for all of us.”
“How did Stefan take the news?” Luisa asked.
Amanda shook her head. “He didn’t take it well at all. He is very angry at me right now.”
“I’m so sorry, Amanda,” Luisa said with sympathy.
Amanda shrugged. “I deserve it.” She glanced at them both, not wanting to talk about him right then. She was afraid that she would break down in tears again and that she would never stop. “I should have never suggested that we switch places.”
“If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have had the chance to get to know Luisa,” Ian said. “We both know that if you had arrived as yourself, even if we had agreed to not marry, Father would have sent you right back to Whispering Horse Ranch. So for what it’s worth, I’m glad that you did. I didn’t want any part of an arranged marriage, any more than you did.”
“What do we do now?” Luisa asked. “We are due to go back to Amanda’s ranch in five days.”
Ian sighed. “Although I suspected that you two had switched, I’m sure Father did not. He is going to need to be told.”
“I guess I better get it over with,” Amanda said as she began to stand. At least, once she told Mr. McAdams, he would be the last person she would need to talk to, until she returned home anyway. Everything was sure a mess.
“I think we should tell Father together, all three of us,” Ian said.
“Really?” Amanda asked, hope in her voice. She was really not looking forward to telling Mr. McAdams. She had to admit that he scared her.