Farmer Wants a Wife: Love and Friendship, Book 3 (13 page)

“Go on,” Ryan said with a broad grin. “Sign for the girls.”

Susan found paper and pen thrust at her. “What’s your name?”

“Carol,” the girl said.

Ryan bent close to whisper in her ear, and Susan nodded. She wrote,
Life is an adventure
and signed her name. More pieces of paper were handed over and she was so busy with autographs she missed the next try too.

“Thanks, girls. I’d better watch the rest of the game now.”

“Well done,” Caleb said. “You have to be firm or they walk all over you.”

“It was fun. I didn’t realize the show would be so popular,” she said.

Caleb pulled a face. “It’s gets old fast. I don’t mind if the fans are genuine, but some people think because you’re a public figure they own you.”

“I don’t aspire to those heights,” Susan said.

“If you go further with the show, you might not have an option,” he warned, speaking softly so no one would overhear.

“Nolan isn’t interested in me. At least I don’t get that vibe. If he showed any interest, I wouldn’t have agreed to meet Tyler. I doubt I’ll go much further.”

“My three chosen dates are Lucy, Jasmine and Susan,” Nolan told Hailee.

Famous last words
.

Susan stared at Nolan, shock striking her with the force of a misdirected rugby ball. An ache dug into her chest, rippled down into her belly, and she realized she needed to breathe. She sucked in once, twice, but panic jellified her knees.

Cherry, the woman standing beside Susan, nudged her none too gently in the ribs. “It’s you,” she gritted out.

Susan forced her legs to function and joined Lucy and Jasmine who stood beside a beaming Nolan.

“Congratulations, ladies,” Hailee said. “You’ll join Nolan at his farm in Clare for two weeks. This will give Nolan a chance to get to know you better while you’ll receive a taste of life on the farm.”

Susan lifted a hand to massage away the ache at her temple and wandered into the kitchen to grab tablets for her headache. Thank goodness Christina was out, running one of her makeup and clothing evenings for teenage girls. Susan needed this time alone to tamp down her apprehension.

For the life of her, she didn’t understand why Nolan had chosen her in the final three. After the filming, Jennifer’s assistant had given her an envelope detailing travel arrangements and the filming format during her farm visit.

She needed to tell Tyler, to warn him before the show aired. Yes, maybe he’d have a suggestion or two because it was him she thought of when she was alone in bed at night. Nolan was like the annoying brother who kept niggling at her to get a rise, which was why she didn’t understand his selection. Lucy and Jasmine—yes—but her? One of these things was not like the others.

Her
.

Still unsettled, she picked up her cell phone and dialed.

“Hello,” a feminine voice said. “This is Tyler’s phone.”

“Oh, can I speak to Tyler please?” Susan asked.

“He’s putting Katey to bed. Are you Tyler’s friend from Auckland? His mystery woman?”

“Maybe,” she said with caution shading her tone.

“I’m Josie, his mother-in-law. Tyler has been very close-mouthed about you. I think he’s worried about hurting our feelings.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, he’s a good boy, and he deserves happiness after— Ah, here comes Tyler now. It was nice to chat to you, Mystery Woman.”

Susan smiled. Tyler had told her about his in-laws and how much they’d done for him and his daughter. The sentiment was obviously returned since love and caring filled Josie’s voice.

She heard Tyler’s husky laugh before he spoke into the phone. “Did Josie grill you?”

“You didn’t take long enough. I think she was winding up to nosy questions.”

“Just a sec,” he said.

The snick of a door sounded and the background noise cut off abruptly.

“I’ve missed you,” he said. “How did today go?”

Frustration filled her at the enforced distance. She wished she could see his face. Maybe she should’ve used the computer, but she’d been impatient to speak with him. “Your brother picked me again, but every time we meet, he goes out of his way to embarrass me. This week he visited
Maxwell’s
and he dared me to do a pole dance.”

“Damn,” Tyler said. “I would have liked to see that.”

“No doubt you will because Jennifer told me I’m good for ratings. My quick and dirty dance will be on the show for sure.”

“Maybe that’s why Nolan is picking you,” Tyler said.

“I don’t think so,” Susan said. “There’s some other reason.”

“What happens next?”

“I come down to the farm with the other girls to give Nolan an opportunity to get to know us better, then he decides on his favorite two candidates. For the final show, Nolan turns up at his chosen woman’s house. That’s if he picks a woman. He can pick no one if he wants.”

“You’re coming to Clare,” Tyler said.

“Yes, but I don’t know if I’ll have an opportunity to see you.”

“We’ll work out something. I’d like you to meet my daughter and my in-laws.”

“I have to be careful.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll swing something. I’m not missing an opportunity to get my hands on you again. My bed has felt very lonely since I left Auckland. Sexting, emails and phone calls are a poor substitute.”

“Okay.” Susan closed her eyes and, for about the hundredth time, wished she knew what Nolan was up to. “I miss you too.”

Nolan sat at the dinner table, impatience simmering in his gut. He checked his watch. An hour before the show aired.
Ring, damn it
.

Almost at his silent demand, the phone rang.

“I’ll get it,” he said, springing to his feet.

His mother sniffed with disapproval. “I don’t know who rings at this time of night. We haven’t finished eating. You tell them we’re in the middle of dinner and to ring back in an hour.”

Nolan ignored his mother and strode to the kitchen to answer the phone. He wished the timing had been better and his grandparents weren’t off cruising the world. They would have helped rein in their daughter and acted as a buffer. Yeah, too bad. He missed chatting with them every day. He’d have to make do with the materials at hand.

“Hey, man, it’s me,” his friend Scott said. “How was my timing?”

Nolan grinned. “Perfect. I’ll head out now. Are you already at the pub?”

“Not yet. I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Scott said.

Nolan hung up and returned to the dinner table. He didn’t sit down again. “I’m going to the pub to meet Scott.”

His mother’s gaze narrowed while his father continued eating his beef casserole.

“Aren’t you going to tell us about the show?” his mother demanded, impatience a red tide of color in her lined cheeks. She set her knife and fork on her plate in a soldier-straight line.

“No. I’ve signed a contract stating I won’t divulge the results before each show is aired.”

“But we’re your parents.” The same shade of brown eyes he saw in the mirror each day glared at him.

“I didn’t want to do this show,” Nolan reminded her. “I’m an adult and I don’t have to take your advice.” The blunt speech was long due. His mother had gone behind his back and submitted his name for the reality show because she disapproved of the woman he was seeing. Simple as that.

“You work on the farm your father and I own,” she retorted.

“Don’t make threats,” his father said in a harsh voice. “You’ve already run off one of my sons. I won’t stand for you alienating Nolan too. This farm will belong to him one day.”

Hell, when had it come to this? His parents lived in the same house and barely spoke a civil word. Nolan wasn’t sure of the reasons for their hostility, but the ongoing battle had raged as long as he could remember.

God, one look at his parents’ marriage was enough to keep a sane man single. He didn’t know why his parents remained locked in their loveless union when they were both so unhappy.

“Thanks for dinner,” Nolan said into the strained silence. “Dad, I’ll see you tomorrow morning. I’ll get the ewes in first thing, so we can draft them for the sale.”

“I’ll be there.” His father stood. “I’m going into town for a few hours.”

His mother’s mouth firmed to a hard line, and Nolan decided to retreat before the war flared into violence. Both he and his mother knew exactly where his father was going—to spend a few hours with his friends at the pub. Thank god he lived in a farm hand’s cottage as a haven from the ongoing battle.

Half an hour later, Nolan walked into the pub.
The Fox and Hounds
was busy for a Thursday night, the feminine shrieks and hilarity coming from the function room indicating a hen’s night was in progress.

Scott sat at the end of the bar and hailed him with a wave. “Want a beer?”

Nolan nodded. “Is anyone using the pool table?”

“There’s a tournament.” Scott slid him a sly glance. “Guess you’ll have to shoot the shit with me instead.”

Nolan rolled his eyes. “God, not you too.”

Scott signaled for the barmaid and placed his order. “Give me a hint. Did you pick the sexy dancer?”

Nolan grinned. “I might have.”

“You did. Damn. Have you seen her dance?”

Nolan’s grin widened to a full-on smirk. “Yeah.”

“Man, do we get to see her dance on the show? I want to see her legs. Imagine her naked with all that long hair flowing over bare skin.” Scott jerked his head in the direction of an empty booth. “Let’s grab that. I want to grill you in private.”

Nolan had already seen the eager eavesdroppers and didn’t argue. He slid into the booth and grimaced at Scott’s eager curiosity. “You need to get laid.”

“Nope,” Scott said. “Been there, done that.”

“You have to swear you won’t discuss what I tell you with anyone,” Nolan said.

“Scout’s honor.”

“You and I both know you were never a scout,” Nolan said.

“I won’t tell anyone,” Scott said, his face settling into earnest lines.

Nolan gave a nod. Fair enough. He’d trust his best friend with his life. “I picked Susan, Jasmine and Lucy.”

“What about Yvonne?”

Guilt slapped Nolan. “I’ve talked to Yvonne. She understands about the show.”

“There aren’t many women who would understand.”

“Yeah.” Nolan hoped this show didn’t screw up what they had together. Tyler might be disowned, but Nolan bet his younger brother’s life ran more smoothly.

When Nolan returned home—after watching the show at the pub—he powered up his laptop and logged onto his blog.

The worst part of this entire process is choosing which women to move on to the next stage of the show. All of the women I’ve met are brilliant. Most of them live in the city, and I reckon the men who live there are blind.

The current dating system is broken if men and women need to resort to a reality show to find their life partners.

Nolan paused and reread his words. He started to delete them before he reconsidered. Jennifer’s assistant had told them to write from the heart and not censor. An evil grin spread across his face. His mother read his blog. He knew because she’d made a couple of comments about his grammar. Why not give her something to worry about?

During my last visit to Auckland, I visited all my ladies at their place of work. There is a real variety of jobs and I stopped at a dentist office, a veterinary clinic, a high school, an office, the museum and at
Maxwell’s
, the night club on K’ Road.

I had fun at each place, picked up a stray pup at the vets and ended up bringing him home. I’ll load up a photo of Charlie at the end of this post. He’s part Border Collie, and I think he’ll make a good farm dog.

To my surprise, I had the most fun at the night club. I watched Susan and the other girls learn a new dance routine. I had no idea what to expect—well, not true. I thought I knew what to expect. Lots of naked girls and a seedy atmosphere. They surprised me. Firstly, if any of you have been curious enough to visit
Maxwell’s,
you’ll know it’s a class joint. Both men and women frequent the place, and I’m told groups of women go on their own because it’s the kind of atmosphere where they feel comfortable. The club holds both hen and bachelor parties, and the place is high class all the way.

Back to the dancers. Those girls are fit. Julia, who runs the club, asked me if I’d like to join the training session. Since it was a new dance and none of them knew what they were doing, I figured, why not? We’d make mistakes together. They left me in the dust and had the dance moves down after one run through. They’re super flexible and seem to bend themselves into shapes that even fencing wire wouldn’t take. I came away from the club awed at the focus and dedication of the employees.