Conflict of Heart

Chapter 7

[A/N] There is a trigger warning for this chapter. The scene is in italics, and discretion is advised.

Ethan felt his blood turn to ice in his veins when his gaze shot towards the arch that led into the kitchen. He couldn't mask the look of horror on his face when he saw Mr Walker's tall, imposing figure standing there, arms crossed over his chest, and an eyebrow raised at them in a questioning manner.

Ethan parted his lips, trying to find some way to pacify his employer's husband, when he realized that he was half-naked in front of him with the man's daughter close enough for it not to appear innocent.

Like a shot had been expended, Ethan leapt from the chair and grabbed his shirt before quickly pulling it over his body, ignoring the pain in his shoulders as he did so. He couldn't even meet the man's gaze, forcing him to stare at the pristine white tiles beneath his boots as a look of horror mixed with dread crossed his features.

That's it. I'm fired.

"Dad, Ethan was injured in the paddocks. I brought him back here just to help patch him up," Rosa spoke in a decidedly calm voice as she turned to face at her father's analytic gaze.

Nathan Walker quirked a dark eyebrow at his daughter before he took in the sight of the medical bag, frozen bag of peas, and bloodied swabs on the counter. His eyes then moved to the man standing at least several feet away from the chair he had previously been seated on and noticed how his gaze wouldn't even leave the floor.

His attention returned to his daughter to find her looking at him in a beseeching manner. She knew the rules and what would happen to the man, and his eyebrows pulled together in a frown as his eyes glanced over her form to see smudges of dirt on her arms and clothes.

"Why did he get injured?" Nathan asked as he glanced between them, his voice holding a deep, powerful, and decidedly threatening tone when he took in the slightly dishevelled state of his daughter's clothes.

"I went too close to Steele, and he tried to kick me through the fence. Ethan blocked me from the kick just in time."

Nathan blinked at that, and his gaze focused on the man standing as silent and as still as a stone, his face as white as a sheet. He didn't know much about the Texas cowboy his wife had hired, but he knew that Jenny trusted the man the most out of all the male staff they had on the estate—besides Alfredo and Oliver.

Although he didn't know him, he instantly knew when a man was attracted to one of his daughters. Ethan had also made it pretty obvious over the years by constantly putting himself in harm's way to protect his youngest daughter from whatever dangerous stunt she pulled with the rescue horses.

His sapphire gaze returned to his daughter, eventually coming to the conclusion that they had not been doing what he thought they were doing. "Alright, just don't let your mother catch you two in such a position," he spoke with a clear warning directed towards the both of them before he then turned to look at the man who hadn't once raised his gaze off the floor. "Oh, and Ethan?"

He waited until the young man's tawny gaze met his before he gestured to his shirt. "You better fix that."

Nathan didn't wait for a response as he turned on his heel and left the room, and Ethan glanced down at his shirt, heat rising onto his cheeks when he realized that it was inside out and back to front.

-

The dinner table was rather quiet as the family sat down to eat that evening. Isabella seemed lost in thought for some reason, but when she was asked about it, she merely replied with a shrug of her shoulders. Rosa wasn't very talkative either, and so that left most of the conversation to Nathan and Jenny, who merely spoke about what went on that day in their respective businesses.