The Rancher Takes A Bride (16 page)

The expression on her face drooped like a wilting flower, and he watched as she clenched her fists. "
Lourdeau schnock
."

"Don't start talking that French talk to me," he demanded. "Speak English so I can understand."

"
Vache!
" She turned and strolled off, leaving a stunned Travis watching her just as Isaiah returned from the barn.

"What did she just say?" he asked Isaiah.

Isaiah shrugged. "I don't know for certain, but I think she just called you some kind of animal."

***

Rose had never been so despondent in all her life. Her normal cheerful disposition had been beaten down to near extinction. Only Isaiah's return the night before had lifted her spirits. Even then, they'd had precious little time alone until this afternoon.

Sun rays glistened on the shimmering pond as Rose and Isaiah walked along the beaten path surrounding the water. It was their first chance since his return for a private moment out of range of listening ears.

A warm breeze teased wisps of dark curls about her face. She brushed the tendrils back with her hand. "It seems like you've been gone for much longer than a couple of days. How was your father, Isaiah?"

"He's getting old, Miss Rose. I was really hoping we could stay in this area a while longer so I could visit him again."

"I know. Me too," she said wistfully. "We were doing well in Fort Worth. We could have earned enough money to reach New York."

"Yep."

But instead she was trapped on a ranch struggling with a growing sense of awareness of a man who thought she was a thief. One moment she wanted to shoot him and the next she wanted to kiss him. Her warring emotions battled within her, neither one maintaining the upper hand for long.

"I don't think I can take Mr. Burnett's hospitality much longer, Isaiah. I would have tried leaving again, but I was hoping you'd find me." She squeezed his arm. "And you did."

Since the trellis incident, she'd been watching the comings and goings on the ranch, looking for a better opportunity to escape.

"Well, I had to do some serious searching," Isaiah said, his boots scuffing at a rock in the ground. "It gave me quite a scare to see you'd moved on without me."

"Isaiah, I never would have left you." She placed her hand on his arm. "I didn't have any choice."

A bird trilled a song in a nearby cottonwood tree, the noise oddly soothing.

Isaiah chuckled. "Yeah, that's what the deputy told me."

Rose kicked a rock and watched it roll, tumbling down into the pond. Isaiah's arrival last night had been a balm to her disturbed soul. Finally, she had someone on her side. Someone who knew who she was and, more importantly, what she wasn't. Someone to help her make Travis realize she wasn't a thief.

"The marshal told me Mr. Burnett was holding you because he thought you had stolen his mother's wedding ring." Isaiah glanced at her, his dark eyes gazing at her with pity.

"Yes. I don't even know what the band looks like." She paused and then turned to look at Isaiah. "He doesn't know me, but still he's assumed the worst about me."

Isaiah stopped walking, reached down, and picked up a rock. With a gentle toss, he threw it out over the water and watched it skip across the pond, creating small ripples on the otherwise smooth surface.

"Yet you said last night that you're attracted to him. Is that true?" he questioned.

She crossed her arms protectively about her. "I don't know. Every time I start to think he's a nice man who's honest and good, he accuses me of some new violation. He thinks I'm the worst kind of woman. He thinks I cheat people out of their money. He thinks I'm a thief and a seductress."

She put her hands on her hips and stared at Isaiah. "Me a seductress." Picking up a rock, she threw it, trying to make it skip across the water, only to watch it plunk into the pond.

"Miss Rose, you're a beautiful woman. Mr. Burnett doesn't know you've had little experience with men. He doesn't know that we're trying to make a livin' the only way we know how."

"Still, I'm not who he thinks I am. He hasn't given me a chance." She sighed. "His life has been so lucky." She glanced off at the house. "He's lived here with an honest-to-goodness family. He went to church and school, probably even graduated. I bet he never went hungry or watched his father change women as often as he changed underwear."

Isaiah squatted down on his haunches and rested. "Nope. That man ain't like your papa, that's for sure. So is it the man you're attracted to, or living in a big, fancy house? Do you want a family and children, Rose, or to be an actress like your mama?"

Rose glanced at the man who was more of a father than her real father had ever been. His question surprised her. She'd never really considered being anything besides an actress like her mother. It seemed as if she'd been born with the idea of being on the stage, yet she'd never made it up on one yet. It was always in the future. Always when they arrived in New York.

She worried her lip. "Of course I want what I've always desired. I wish to be an actress. You know that's what I've dreamed of doing. It was the reason I started this séance parlor business. To earn money to reach New York."

"I'm only asking," Isaiah said, watching her closely. "I'm wondering if that is still your dream."

' 'Just because I met a man who reeks of dependability and breathes honesty doesn't mean I'm ready to give up everything I've planned and waited for."

Isaiah picked up another rock and threw it across the water. "If that's what you still want, then that's what you need to do. But sometimes dreams change, and if yours changes, Miss Rose, it's okay."

Rose bent over, picked up a large rock, and threw it across the pond. It landed in the water with a splash and quickly sank.

"Nothing has changed. I still wish to be an actress. I still want to go to New York. I'm going to be like my mother and be famous. In fact, the sooner we get out of here, the better. I'll wait just long enough for you to visit your family again, and then we're leaving with or without Travis Burnett's approval."

"You never answered the other part of my question, Miss Rose," Isaiah reminded her.

"What? You mean about being attracted to Travis or his way of life?"

"Yes."

She stared across the pond for a moment. "It's got to be his life. Surely I wouldn't be attracted to the man. He's a do-gooder. We're about as opposite as two people can be. I'd probably be bored out of my mind with a man like him, living here in the sticks."

Isaiah nodded his head. "Just be careful, Miss Rose. You're not very experienced with men and matters of the heart."

"Don't worry about me."

An apple tree full of spring blossoms grew close to the water, and the sweet smell filled the breeze. Rose walked down and picked a small twig from the tree and held the fragrant stem to her nose.

"There might be another reason for us to consider waiting before we head off to another city," Isaiah said, as he watched her.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"Hudson Productions is coming to Fort Worth and they'll be putting on a production of
The Taming of the Shrew
." They're bringing some of their actors with them, but they are holding auditions for other parts two weeks from now. It would be a good way to get some acting experience."

"Yes!" she cried, doing a little dance in the grass.

Isaiah glanced up at her and smiled. "Yes, what?"

"Yes, I'm going to audition. Yes, I'm going to get a part, and yes, it's finally going to start happening."

A twinge of excited fear filled her. This would be her chance to prove to herself that she could be an actress like her mother.

Isaiah held up a hand. "Have you forgotten, Mr. Burnett doesn't want you to leave the ranch?"

"No, I haven't forgotten. But he can't hold me prisoner here any longer."

Since the first night, she had been a relatively easy prisoner, hoping he would see she wasn't a thief, hoping he would realize his mistake, hoping he would release her. But no morel Travis was about to have his hands full of trouble.

***

Rose peered into the parlor, hoping to catch a glimpse of Travis sitting in his favorite chair. It was late evening, and she and Isaiah had spent the rest of the afternoon stitching up the rips and tears in her only dress. They had washed it, and now Rose felt prepared to take on Travis, whom she hadn't seen all day.

She'd tried not to watch for him, but several times she'd caught herself looking off in the distance, watching for a tall man on horseback, wanting to see his figure silhouetted against the sky. But no such luck.

Restless after her preparations, she'd finally decided to go downstairs and wait.

Eugenia glanced up at Rose as she stood in the doorway. "Desirée, dear, come in. Travis still hasn't come in from the barn. Seems one of the cows was having a difficult birth, and he's been out trying to save the calf."

Rose stepped in through the door and watched as Eugenia's eyes widened. "My, my, you certainly look pretty tonight. You've fixed up that dress very nicely."

"Isaiah repaired it for me."

"Well, Travis will have to be dead not to notice," Eugenia said, her knitting needles silent in her lap.

"Thank you." The thought of Travis thinking she was pretty left a pleasant feeling that she immediately tried to stifle. Right now she didn't want that warm, breathless feeling. She was trying to escape from Travis and his mother. Yet part of her wasn't ready to leave behind the handsome, stubborn cowboy.

Eugenia picked up her knitting, and the sound of needles clicking resounded through the parlor like castanets. Rose took a seat in a rocker by the window and glanced out into the inky blackness.

Tense, she waited and watched, occasionally getting up to pace the floor, eager for his return.

Maybe now would be a good time to apologize to Eugenia. She felt she owed the woman at least an explanation regarding her name.

"Eugenia, there's something I need to tell you."

"What, dear?"

"When you met me in the séance parlor, I introduced myself as Desirée Severin. Desirée is my stage name. My real name is Rose Severin."

Eugenia smiled and tilted her head to the side. "Rose," she said as if trying her name out. "I think I like your real name much better. It seems more fitting than Desirée."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I never gave it much thought until Isaiah called me Rose last night and Travis had a fit."

She stood and began to pace.

"He acted like I had intentionally misled him. It's just a name. It's all part of the presentation of my skills."

Eugenia laughed. "Travis certainly can get himself riled up. Almost as much as his father." She laid her knitting needles down. "You know, dear, you still owe me a séance to try to find my other son. Tanner was such a dear boy, I can't stand to think of him as dead."

"What do you know about him?"

"Only that at the Battle of Atlanta he disappeared. His body was never recovered, and as far as we know he was not taken prisoner." She sighed. "We just don't know what happened to him."

"Eugenia, I don't want to get your hopes up. I don't think I'm going to be able to help you," Rose said, not wanting to lie to Eugenia.

"But you promised you would try."

"All right. We'll try, but not when Travis is around." Rose twisted her hands, an idea forming in her mind. "You know, Eugenia, I would really appreciate your help with a little problem. Isaiah told me about a theater troupe coming to town."

Rose paused, watching the interest dawn on Eugenia's face. "I remember when you came to visit me, you recommended that I try acting before I went all the way to New York. Well, now's my chance. They're holding auditions in two weeks."

Eugenia had stopped her knitting and sat gazing at Rose, her forehead drawn together in a frown.

"I don't know what to say." Eugenia glanced at her knitting, picked up a dropped stitch, and then the sound of furious clicking resounded in the room. "I did say you should try acting." Eugenia sighed, the sound heavy in the room. "Didn't you tell me your mother was a famous actress?"

"Yes," Rose said, trying to keep the rising excitement out of her voice.

"This is very important 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."