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

setting sun shone through the window, bouncing off the crystal in the china hutch and creating an iridescent rainbow on the wall.
    She stopped just inches from him and then let her gaze linger on the china in the room. "You're going to keep me in this house? A veritable mansion compared to where I'm used to staying?" she questioned as she turned and glanced into brown eyes flecked with gold. "Are you sure that's such a good idea? I mean, from what I can tell, there are plenty of tempting trinkets here for a thief."
    He jumped up and with one stride reached her side. Grabbing her by the arm, he pulled her close. "You touch any of them, and you'll be down at the county jail before the next sun rises. If I had my way, you'd be looking out from between steel bars right now. So don't tempt me."
    What did she have to lose? He was going to visit his brother the marshal tomorrow morning to see about putting her there anyway. She was leaving tonight. And somehow she couldn't help but want to make him pay for this unexpected trip. She put her arm around his waist and leaned into him. "I'm going to tempt you every chance I get, cowboy."
    The door from the kitchen swung open and Eugenia stepped through. Travis stepped back and Rose smiled an impish grin. Caught again.
    For a moment Eugenia glanced from one to the other. "Did I interrupt something?"
    "Not a damned thing," he snapped.
    ***
    The moon had risen over the horizon and glowed high in the darkened sky before Rose thought she had waited long enough before making her daring escape. Travis had gone to his room long ago. It had been oddly unsettling to hear him moving around across the hall, but finally even his rustling noises had ceased.
    She had no choice but to leave tonight. She wasn't taking a chance on being hauled back to jail. Though she had only been there once, it was more than enough for this lifetime or any other.
    Mere days had passed since she'd left that dank pit of humanity and less than a week since Isaiah had left to visit his family. Most likely he was looking for her at this very moment, and she missed him terribly.
    As soon as she made it to the next town, she would send word to his family where she could be found. But for now, she couldn't return to Waco, so she would have to travel on and hope that Isaiah would catch up with her.
    The rustle of leaves reminded her of the window, which she'd purposely left open. With a quick glance around the room, she spotted her valise and wondered how she was going to get it down. She couldn't carry the bag and climb down the trellis at the same time. If she tossed it out the window, it was bound to make noise.
    With a yank she threw back the bed covers and pulled off the cotton sheets. She started to tear the bed linen into strips, but just didn't have the heart to rip such nice material. So instead she tied the two sheets together, then tied her bag to the cloth and proceeded to lower the valise out the window.
    When her bag touched the grass, she let go of the sheets, watching them fall like a silvery ghost out the window.
    She glanced down at the trellis and the roses that grew up the wooden makeshift ladder. It was going to be a thorny descent, but if she gained her freedom, then the pain would be worth the effort.
    With a last look at the guest room, she threw her leg over the side of the window and found her first foothold. Holding onto the window ledge, she backed out of the window and placed her second foot onto the decorative lattice. With her full weight on the trellis, she felt it sway slightly and prayed it would hold.
    It was too late to back out as she started to descend the wooden decoration. The wood creaked as she slowly found her next foothold and then her handgrip. The lower she descended, the more the roses entwined around the wood, the thorns pricking her fingers.
    The urge to glance down to see how much further was tempting, but she feared freezing in fright at the height. The thought of spending the night stretched like a scarecrow suspended on the rose trellis kept her eyes searching at eye level for the next handhold.
    The calico material of her dress caught on a thorn, and with a grimace she heard the material rip in the still night air. The sweet smell of rose blossoms drifted to her nose, and she thought she would forever hate roses after this night. Their delicate blossoms fell to the earth below her, and she couldn't help but fear she would be next.
    Finally, after what seemed like