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

suddenly missing.
    Though the feelings were wonderful, she couldn't stay and have them any longer with Travis. If he couldn't say he loved her, couldn't tell her he knew she had never taken his mother's wedding band, then they had no future. But living with her decision was not easy, and the urge to jump on the next stage and return to Fort Worth was strong.
    Fortunately, the theater had kept her busy. The performance had been packed the night before. People from miles around had come into town to see The Taming of the Shrew .
    In the small community, they were all celebrities. People stopped her on the street and told her how much they enjoyed the performance. Yet, she seemed to have lost whatever pleasure she'd found in acting. And sometimes she wondered if she had ever enjoyed this or simply had become an actress because that was what her mother had done, and it was Rose's last connection to her mother.
    She was alone in the world. Both of her parents were dead, and now she was going to let Isaiah go. It was time for her to start over, make a change in her life. And that change meant starting fresh.
    A knock on the door alerted her that Isaiah had arrived.
    She opened the door and gave him a brief hug. "Come in, Isaiah."
    "Miss Rose, are you all right?" he asked, thrown off balance by her hug.
    "I'm fine, Isaiah. I'm probably better than I have been in months—I just don't feel that way yet," she said, knowing her whole world was about to change. "Sit down, Isaiah, I need to talk to you."
    He took a seat across from her and leaned forward, his hands clasped together. "What's wrong, Miss Rose? You don't seem too happy."
    She smiled. "You're very perceptive, Isaiah. No, I haven't been happy since before we left Fort Worth." She glanced down, and then she raised her eyes to him again. "Travis asked me to marry him."
    She shook her head when Isaiah made an excited sound. "Then I found out that he had me investigated. I probably overreacted a little bit about the investigation, but when he couldn't admit that I was innocent of his accusations of stealing his mother's ring, and he couldn't tell me that he loved me—well, I broke it off."
    "Oh, Miss Rose. I'm so sorry."
    "It gets worse, Isaiah. In that report I found out that my father is dead."
    "Oh, no, Miss Rose. How?"
    "Apparently he had some problem with his heart and died not long after he remarried."
    "My, oh, my. I'm sorry to hear about your father."
    "I've been taking a long look at my life and what I want to do."
    "Yes'm."
    "Since I was a little girl, all I've heard about is the fact that my mother was Rosalyn Severin. I always thought that if Mother made it in the theater, I could too. But I don't know anymore."
    "Miss Rose, your mother loved the attention she received. She always said it was hard work and not the sort of thing most people are cut out for."
    "Isaiah, I think I've been chasing my mother's dream and not my own. I really don't enjoy acting. You know, all my life I've been dragged from one town to another, chasing my father's dream of getting rich. Acting is the same type of life. Going from town to town, never putting down roots or making friends.''
    "So what are you going to do, Miss Rose?"
    "I don't know yet. I've got a little money saved. I think I'm going to California. Make a fresh start and leave behind my parents' ghosts. At least there I won't be known."
    "But it's so far, Miss Rose," Isaiah said.
    "I know, and that's why I'm releasing you from your duties," she said solemnly. God, it hurt to let him go, but she had to release him, let him stay and take care of his aging parents. Let him live his life for a change.
    He stared at her, stunned, as if he'd never thought of the two of them not being together. He bowed his head, and when he raised it, there were tears in his eyes. "I always thought I would hand you over to a husband."
    "Isaiah, you have family here who need you. I can't ask you to travel all the way to California and leave them behind. It's not fair. You've been faithful to your promise to my mother all these years—now it's time you took care of your family."
    She couldn't let him see her cry, or he would refuse to go, and she knew she was doing the right thing, even if it did hurt.
    "When are you leaving?" he asked.
    "Tonight is my last performance. I've told the troupe I will not be going on to San Antonio with them. I'm going to travel to Galveston and catch a boat from there."
    "You will let me know when you reach