The Rancher Takes A Bride (The Burnett Brides Book 1)

Could he? "Why did you do this, Mother?"
    "I've waited for years for one of my sons to get married, and finally I decided the only way this was going to happen was for me to take matters into my own hands." She paused and glanced at her son guiltily. "After you had Tucker put her in jail, I knew she would stand up to you. That she was just the type of woman you needed. I didn't require an investigator to tell me Rose was a good person. I knew it from watching her actions and her deeds."
    "What did you do with the ring, Mother?" Travis asked, clearly irritated.
    Eugenia wrung her hands. "Well, after I bailed Rose out of jail, we went back to that little house she was staying in. While she was packing, I tried to convince her to stay, to move out to our ranch. I so desperately wanted her to stick around that I offered to let her try to contact Tanner. But she turned me down."
    Eugenia paced the floor, clearly nervous. Travis waited patiently, his anger building as his mother avoided his direct question.
    "I was desperate. I knew how protective you've been of me since your father died. I knew you wouldn't stand for anyone taking advantage of me. So I slipped off my ring, and well ..." She glanced up at Travis. "I lied to you, son. I had the ring all along."
    The room became deadly quiet, with only the ticking of the clock to be heard. A gut-wrenching pain made Travis almost cry out. His own mother had lied and tricked him. She had manipulated him to gain what she wanted, and in the end he had been duped and hurt. Not to mention what he'd done to Rose, the woman he loved.
    "I ... acted without thinking, Travis. If I had thought this thing through instead of reacting, I never would have done this. I've been unfair to you and Rose, and I don't blame you one bit for being upset with me."
    God, if she wanted to, Rose could prosecute him for what he had done to her. All because of his mother. Travis had never yelled at his mother, at least not until today.
    "How could you do this and sleep at night?" he yelled. "You let me abduct an innocent woman, drag her kicking and screaming back to our ranch, only so that you could play matchmaker!"
    "Well, I did it with your best interest at heart," Eugenia said timidly. "I know that doesn't excuse my actions. But you know my children are important to me."
    "Mother, it was wrong! Do you realize how I have treated her? You let me disrupt her life, you let me believe that she was some sort of evil con artist who was stealing from innocent victims."
    "Now, wait just a minute. I was wrong, I admit, but you came to that conclusion all on your own. If you remember, I was the one who defended her. I kept telling you she was not who she seemed. And she wasn't, was she?"
    "No. But that still doesn't excuse you!" he yelled. "Damn it, Mother. She told me she loved me before she left. But she couldn't be with me because I didn't trust her or believe in her."
    Eugenia stared at her son. Travis clenched his fist and felt the urge to hit the nearest wall, but he resisted. "What you've done goes against every principle you taught me. All along she's been innocent. She's been exactly who she said she was, and I've never believed her, but I believed you."
    He'd always prided himself on being an honest, fair-minded person, yet knowing his mother, he'd taken her side and believed Rose had stolen her wedding band. Now to find out he was wrong, that all along Rose had been innocent, made him feel ten times a fool.
    But worse than anything, he'd hurt the woman he loved.
    Unable to sit any longer, he jumped up and strode from the room, his steps angry and forceful.
    "Where are you going, Travis?" Eugenia cried, running after him.
    "I'm going after her. I'm going after the woman I love and tell her how sorry I am for believing my mother instead of her."
    Yanking his hat off the rack, he shoved it on his head.
    "Give me the damn ring!"
    Eugenia reached into her handbag and took out the small diamond band. She gave it to her son. "Give it to Rose."
    He paused at the door. "Do me a real big favor, Mother. Stay out of my business from now on. Don't interfere again."

Chapter Twenty

    Rose missed Travis so much, she didn't know how she got through each day. Waco was a small town compared to Fort Worth, a peaceful community. But the ranch wasn't there, Eugenia wasn't there, and most of all Travis's dimpled smile wasn't there. The dependability and security she had experienced for the first time in her life was