The Rancher Takes a Wife

Well it seems like Eugenia Burnett wants to find out what has happened to her second son, Tanner. She hasn't heard from him in ten years but doesn't want to believe that he is dead. Rose Severin aka "Desiree" - Madame Desiree Severin, Voice of the Dead holds seances to communicate with the spirits of those who have passed on. Travis Burnett, 30 is of the oppinion that "Desiree" is a charlatan, liar and a thief. She is conning the elderly ladies out of their money. He also early on decides that she has had more men than she needed. He has his brother, Tucker, sheriff of Fort Worth throw her in jail for "stealing" his mother's wedding ring. Eugenia's most treasured possession. Ah, but little does he know that his mother has plans for "Desiree". Travis figures that his mother, in her own good time, will get the truth out of the little charlatan. Rose, had let Isaiah, go home to spend time with his family. And Eugenia talked to her again. Travis wants her out of town. To make a long story short - Travis brings Rose back to the Burnett ranch and ends up having all the male fantasy's possible - a mud fight - a seduction - a guilt trip - and more lust than he can handle. Rose turns out to be maligned against - a fiesty young lady of 21 - he cannot love her - he will not love her - as she is not a calm, quiet, biddable lady. Well you know how that goes she wants to crawl back into his bed - but she still has dreams of becoming an actress like her mother. Oh, woe when you base your goals on the influence of other. Oh, yes -- Travis discovers that Rose is much more than a beautiful hoax, in fact, she just might be the woman of his dreams. Takes him a while to figure it out. Thoroughly enjoyable read from approximately 1874 in Texas. Fiesty women, studly men and a great plot - just wish the women had more guts and refuse to give into their rush of hormones until the guy says "I do", mostly because I find them to be so weak [mentally? hormonally?] She has the power - just not the brains. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED --M

The first installment of THE BURNETT BRIDES introduces us to two of the three Burnett brothers -- Tucker, the local marshal and his older brother Travis, who runs the family ranch. The third brother, Tanner, has been missing since going off to fight in the war. Their mother, Eugenia Burnett, is quite adamant that her boys are going to be married soon, and she's doing her darndest to see it happen. Her first project? Travis.The year is 1874. Texas is rough, open and not the place for a lady to be making a living on her own. Madame Desirée Severin, Voice of the Dead is getting by though, running séances for people who want to speak to their deceased loved ones one last time. Business has been steady since settling in Fort Worth and Rose Severin, aka Desirée, hopes that she'll be able to save enough money to get to New York to become an actress like her mother.It's not going to happen if Travis Burnett has anything to say about it though. The rugged rancher sees Desirée Severin as a cheat and is furious that his own mother had been at one of her séances. Overly protective of his own, Travis threatens to shut down Desirée's business if she ever speaks to his mother again. But if Travis thinks his problems are now over, he's in for a big surprise. Eugenia Burnett has a few cards up her sleeve yet. After watching Rose stand up to Travis and his high-handed ways, Eugenia is convinced that she is the woman who could get her oldest son to the alter. One tiny little lie wasn't going to hurt anyone, and if it could bring these two together then it would be worth it. Believing his mother's accusations about Rose, Travis puts her under house arrest--his house. He can fight the growing physical attraction he has for her, he can even fight his growing admiration for her strength and spunk, but when he starts to fall in love with his captive cheat and liar he knows he's in big trouble. Maybe forcing her to live under his roof and sleep in the bedroom across the hall from his wasn't as good an idea as it had seemed in the beginning. Although from where Eugenia stands, things are going right on schedule.------------Sylvia McDaniel's THE RANCHER TAKES A WIFE is such a fun read! Travis Burnett sees the world in black and white while Rose sees the world in vivid techni-color. They bring out both the best and the worst in each other, causing some of the funniest arguments I've read in a long time. For those who enjoy frontier romances, this is a great read. But if you enjoy spunky intelligent women, alpha men and sexy, laugh out loud dialogue this book is for you. The next book in this series is THE OUTLAW TAKES A WIFE, Tanner's story, and it will be available in January 2001 from Zebra books.~sueSue Waldeck Road to Romancehttp://www.roadtoromance.dhs.org

There's a hot time in the old town in Sylvia McDaniel's new romance, "The Rancher Takes A Wife," and the West has never been more exciting. In her new trilogy series entitled "The Burnett Brides," McDaniel examines the lives of Travis, Tucker, and Tanner Burnett and their delightful mother Eugenia's plans and schemes to get her boys married.In this first installment, pretty séance-holder Rose Severin has come to Fort Worth to earn her fortune with ultimate plans to make enough money to get to New York City to live out her dreams as an actress. When a chance mystical meeting with Mrs. Burnett earns Rose the ire of her son Travis, Rose must prove her innocence in a crime she is falsely accused of. In the process, she and Travis must deal with the undeniable attraction they feel towards one another. Will Mother Burnett's matchmaking wishes come true with these two independent young lovers? It's an exciting ride to find out!Sylvia McDaniel's new series is an exciting trip back to the Wild, Wild West of love, so get ready for a big time in Cowtown tonight! Readers will soon come to realize why McDaniel is considered one of the up-and-coming authors of western historical romance.

Travis Burnett is one worked up cowboy! His mother has been taken in by a young woman that is nothing short of a con. Rose Severin, better none as Desireé, travels around as a spiritualist. She longs to become an actress but until that time she performs seances to help the loved ones of dearly departed souls make peace with their grief. Travis does not accept what this woman pratices as a job for one minute. And he vows to expose her fraudulent business and has her arrested for fraud, then run out of town.His mother wants to see her sons wedded and she longs for grandchildren, so she sets out to make this happen, starting with her oldest son. The scheme she pulls is certainly effective, which sends Travis roaring out of town to bring back the thief that stole his mother's wedding ring. Oh boy, the fireworks explode in this Texas town!This story kept me amused as the gypsish heroine went all out to keep the hero in a constant state of upheaval. Much to my delight, as he was a tad arrogant and needed to be brought down a peg or two and this heroine did it quite nicely. Her antics had him falling for her in spite of what he thought of her wrong doings. They were great together! I do look forward to the rest of this trilogy as I am curious to see what lengths Mama Burnett will go to to have her other sons wedded as well. She is definitely an interesting character!

Hardworking Rancher Travis Burnett despises cheats and liars--something he is sure Rose Severin, Fort Worth's resident medium, is. When his mother Eugenia pays the lovely Rose to make contact with his missing brother, Travis is outraged that she would take money from a desperate woman and threatens her to give his mother a wide berth or be prepared to leave town. Rose doesn't like to be bossed around, especially by arrogant cowboys, but she is a woman alone and needs her farce of a business to avoid more unsavory ways of making a living. When Eugenia, with matchmaking on her mind, tricks Travis into believing that Rose stole her wedding ring, the stubborn man puts Rose under house arrest--and sparks fly.Travis is everything you would expect a rugged cowboy to be. Rose is a fiery and resourceful woman in a frontier town surviving on her wits, of which she has plenty. Together, these two make a great pair and provide the reader many laughs along the way. Great stuff! I'll be looking forward to THE OUTLAW TAKES A WIFE very soon!