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

by like a moving painting. The smell of rain mingled in the air, the scent fresh and clean.
    A quick glance at Travis and she noticed the sandy locks of hair that peeked from beneath his hat. The way his overlarge hands handled the reins, tugging and pulling. The strength of his forearms and the rippling of his muscles as he maneuvered the wagon.
    Her imagination had all those muscles and bronzed skin gleaming by the flicker of firelight, and she clenched her fists in her lap. For a moment she wondered what he would do if she reached over and touched him, laid her hand on his arm, put her lips on his.
    She shook her head. Travis seemed to invade her thinking throughout the day and night. Lingering on the edge of her mind, always one quick thought away from toying with her intellect, one heartbeat away from rousing emotions she believed buried deeply away.
    Why this man who deemed it necessary to hold her on his ranch? Why only with him did she experience such safety and security as she'd never known?
    At no time in her life had she witnessed family ties that held people together, a sense of love and commitment uniting them, like the Burnetts'. Never before had any man aroused feelings that made her want to abandon everything and give in to sweet temptation.
    Rose glanced over at Travis and sighed. Yet one thing kept her from falling into his arms and giving herself over to the pleasure she suspected she would find there. He wanted to bed her only because he thought she was easy.
    She was anything but easy, but Travis didn't realize the extent of her tenacity. Travis didn't know she was not what he believed.
    "How much longer?" she asked, feeling anxious as each bounce of the wagon had them bumping hips and elbows.
    "About thirty minutes," he said.
    A flash of lightning lit up the western sky, illuminating the night.
    "Looks like we could get some rain," he commented.
    "Rain would be nice. There's nothing like sleeping to the sound of raindrops hitting the roof. Of course, if its thunderstorms, the rumbles and lightning can keep you awake. And if it's hot and sticky, it's almost impossible to sleep. But I do love the rain."
    She was rambling on about a subject they should never be discussing. Hot, humid, sleepless nights filled with longing and the rumble of thunder.
    He smiled at her. "Don't you like the clean smell of rain?"
    "Yes, and the way the breeze cools everything down after a summer storm."
    Rose took a deep breath and glanced at Travis, who appeared to be smiling at her in the dark. She could feel his eyes on her, and she tried to will her pulse to ignore his heated gaze.
    God, all she wanted to do was throw her arms around him and experience one of his drugging kisses. Feel his lips as they covered hers, the touch of his hand as he caressed her.
    "I have the perfect remedy for a sleepless night," he reassured her, his voice snapping her out of her heightened state of awareness. "It's a special tea that my grandmother made. I'd be happy to make it for you."
    She swallowed and tried to still her racing heart. Thunder rumbled in the distance, the sound echoing the beat of Rose's heart. Tea. She sighed, not knowing if she was disappointed or relieved that his cure was only tea and not something more. It was going to be a long, sleepless night, muggy with anticipation.

Chapter Eleven

    Rose climbed the steps leading to her bedroom, each step closer to the sanctuary of her room. They were alone in the house, sleeping under the same roof, right across the hall from one another. And for the hundredth time that night, she reminded herself that their worlds were different.
    She wanted to be an actress. He wanted a lady. But no matter how many times she remembered that fact, her body recalled the loneliness of her bed and the very real memory of his kiss.
    Reaching the top of the staircase, she grasped the doorknob, opened the door to her room, and stepped inside. Travis had taken the horses to the makeshift barn, and after checking on the livestock he would return to the house for the night.
    For the moment, Rose was alone with only her thoughts and her desires. How could she survive the next few days with Travis so close? Mere feet separated them, yet a great chasm of differences kept them apart. Differences that could never be bridged.
    Somehow she felt the urge to go to bed before he came back. To crawl onto that mattress and cover her head before they were both tempted to explore an attraction left better