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

to you, isn't it?"
    "Oh, yes."
    Rose watched Eugenia, her face a thoughtful reflection as her knitting needles went faster and faster, as if racing with her thoughts. "All right, I'll help you."
    "Oh, thank you," Rose said, feeling relieved.
    "Don't get too excited. There's a small condition to my help," Eugenia warned. "First you must talk to Travis and ask him to let you go to the audition."
    "You know he's not going to give me permission."
    "I won't help you until he refuses to let you go. Then, if he denies you, I'll do what I can."
    It wasn't an unreasonable request, and she had planned on confronting Travis. "All right. I'll ask him tonight."
    Thirty minutes passed before Rose heard the sound of Travis's boots clumping on the wooden porch. The sound made her breathing quicken, and her eyes were drawn to the doorway. His piercing brown eyes met hers as he paused before stepping through the door. He looked tired, the lines around his eyes weary from the long day. His clothes were spotted with blood.
    "Well?" Eugenia asked. "Did you save them?"
    "Yes, for now."
    "You did good work, son. They're both alive."
    Suddenly Rose realized how much he cared about his animals, even a mother cow and her calf. He'd wanted to save them. The realization left her oddly troubled. She wanted to hate Travis Burnett, yet she just couldn't.
    Everything about the man was decent and good, except for restraining her and believing she'd stolen his mother's ring. Somehow it hurt that he thought she could steal. Even in the roughest of times, she'd never stolen, just twisted the truth to fit her needs.
    "Yeah, if they live through the night, they'll probably be okay." He pulled his hat off and tossed it onto a hat rack and then proceeded to slump down into a chair across from his mother and Rose.
    "God, I'm beat!" he said.
    Eugenia glanced at Rose. "I think I'll retire now that I know about that poor animal."
    Laying her knitting aside, she turned her gaze upon Rose and gave her a knowing glance. "Good night, dears."
    Rose watched Eugenia walk out of the room, the sound of her skirts swishing as she left. She glanced over at Travis, who had laid his head back and closed his eyes. "Bad day, huh?"
    "Yeah, you might call it that."
    She sighed. Somehow this didn't seem to be the right time, yet she boldly blazed ahead. She had to know. "I need to talk to you."
    "Does it have to be tonight?"
    "Unfortunately, yes."
    Travis opened his eyes and gazed at her with a look that was a cross between annoyance and curiosity. "What's so important?"
    "How much longer are you going to keep me here? I need to know, Travis."
    He laid his head back against the cushion once more and closed his eyes. "That's simple. Until you give the ring back."
    Irritation blazed through her, yet she tried to restrain herself. It would do no good to lose her temper. "Then I guess we're staying forever, because I don't have the ring."
    "Glad that's settled. Anything else?"
    Rose took a deep breath. "I'm serious. You can't mean to keep us here forever."
    "I mean exactly that," he said, his voice level without emotion. "Unless you'd rather go to jail."
    "Of course not. I have to get out of here, Travis," she said, her voice rising, her frustration mounting.
    He opened his eyes and glanced at her. "What changed today while I was gone? You didn't want to leave this badly before. Did Isaiah tell you it was time to go?"
    "No." She twisted her handkerchief. "No ... I mean, yes. I wanted to leave. It's just that now I have something I need to do."
    "Like what?"
    "There's a theater troupe coming to town next week. They're having auditions. I want to be in this play."
    She waited for his response, certain of the outcome.
    "Like hell! There's no way I'm going to let you leave here to be part of a theater group that probably has the morals of a gang of carpetbaggers." He sat up and rubbed his hands across his face.
    "And just who made you my keeper?" she asked, her voice rising along with his. She'd made a promise to herself that she would not get upset and argue with Travis, yet that was exactly what was happening.
    "You did, when you stole my mother's ring. You're confined to the house, until I deem it time to let you go. And I guarantee that won't be soon."
    "Travis Burnett, you're impossible." Rose stood up, her skirts flowing away from her as she walked up to him. She stood over him, her hands on her hips. "I want to be in that play. And I'm going to do everything I can to get there,