Farmer Wants a Wife: Love and Friendship, Book 3 by Shelley Munro Read Free Book Online Page A

Native pohutukawa trees poked from crevices and Susan snapped a photo of a rock that reminded her of one of the Lord of the Rings movie characters.
    Gradually their group broke into twos and threes with a couple of the women sticking to Nolan and peppering him with flirtation. Susan didn’t bother to compete, merely enjoying the walk and stopping to take photos whenever tempted.
    But the giggles of the other women eventually intruded and tumbled her back into the present. She shot a glance to her right and saw Nolan grinning down at a shapely blonde—Cherry or Anna. Susan couldn’t remember her name. While the man was smiling, he managed to distance himself as well. Despite putting on a good game face, he didn’t want to be here, she thought. Yet he’d gone ahead with the reality show anyway to please his mother.
    Another reason to avoid him.
    She did not want a mommy’s boy.
    Frowning at her discovery, she took a moment to stop and capture the view of the central city and the thrust of the Sky Tower. A penis-symbol for sure. The tower jolted her mind in the direction of men and her current man-drought. There came a time when a vibrator wasn’t enough and only the solid weight of a man moving against her body would dissipate her hunger.
    Since she seemed to put her foot in her mouth every time she spoke with Nolan, she’d have to look elsewhere.
    But where?
    Tyler.
    Her inner rebel came out to play. Tyler’s face floated into her mind, his grin, his protective arm around his daughter. Connor vouched for him, and Nolan had confirmed some of the details. Still, she hesitated. He was Nolan’s younger brother, and that felt weird.
    They’d continued to correspond—just friendly notes about their interests and their daily routines. Tyler worked hard on his father-in-law’s farm and seemed to be fully involved in his daughter’s life, although he admitted that if it wasn’t for his mother-in-law, he’d be in trouble. He spoke fondly of Eric and Josie, and it was obvious he liked and admired his in-laws.
    More telling perhaps was that he seldom mentioned his own parents or Nolan. Instead she learned about fencing, sundry farming chores and Tyler’s painting. He seemed passionate about art.
    Aware she was lagging, Susan put on a burst of speed, jogging up to the crest of a small hill. At the back of her mind, she realized she wasn’t even puffing and pride surged with an inner cheer. Julia might act the stern taskmaster when it came to dancing, but all that training was paying off big time.
    Finally, their group reached the spot where the train was parked, ready to make the return journey. Susan wandered in the rear, the gravel path crunching beneath her boots. The gravel gave way to a boardwalk, which led up the last rise to the summit. Since it was the middle of the week, most of the other visitors were tourists. Nolan and his harem didn’t attract attention.
    “This way, ladies,” Nolan said. “We have lunch boxes for everyone in the clearing over here.”
    An assistant—a pencil-thin Asian male—appeared from the direction Nolan indicated and had a muffled conversation with the cameraman before turning to face them. “Ladies, before you eat, Jennifer wants me to organize one-on-one chats for each of you with Nolan. These will be filmed and some shown during Thursday’s show. This will also give Nolan an opportunity to get to know you better and help him to decide who to choose for the next stage.”
    “How many of us are eliminated this time?” a blonde asked.
    Susan frowned when she realized most of the women were blonde. Interesting.
    “Nolan needs to eliminate two today and another three next week,” the assistant said. “We’ll do your interviews in alphabetical order.” He consulted his clipboard. “Elle, you’re up first. We have a private spot set up over here. If you’ll follow me.”
    Nolan gestured for Elle—a strawberry blonde—to precede him and the pair followed the