The Wedding Audition by Catherine Mann, Joanne Rock Read Free Book Online Page A

set.
    The place was secure.
    “Lambert.” He wedged the intercom receiver between his shoulder and his ear so he could keep working. He liked farm life just fine, but his crop wasn’t nearly as important as security.
    “It’s Annamae Jessup, Mr. Lambert. I thought I’d follow up with you about the carriage house. Do you have a few minutes?”
    “Actually, I was just about to contact you.” Tucking the bent nail in his pocket, he decided the rest of the fence repair would have to wait until tomorrow. No sense lingering around the fence if Annamae and her entourage lurked nearby.
    “You were?” Her happiness transcended the piss-poor sound quality of the old-fashioned speaker system. He’d been so focused on better surveillance, he hadn’t bothered with the sound.
    While the woman was on her mysterious errand, he’d researched her online enough to familiarize himself with her storyline on the reality TV show—knew that she played the part of the good daughter in a household full of attention-seeking females. But he would be wise to remember that was just a role she’d been assigned. He wasn’t about to get sucked in by a fake demeanor.
    “If you’re serious about wanting privacy while you’re in town—.”
    “One hundred percent.” She cut him off, her words blaring overtop of his since they both couldn’t talk at the same time on this speaker system. “And if you wouldn’t mind opening the back gate soon, I would really, really appreciate it. I’m pretty sure someone was following me earlier.”
    Wynn’s feet stalled beneath him like a dead tractor. He shoved a hammer into the tool belt at his waist.
    “Following you?” The back of his neck itched in warning. “A celebrity watcher, some kind of autograph seeker?” He hoped. “Or the media maybe?”
    “That’s the funny thing.” She cleared her throat and in the background he could hear her dog panting—almost as if he had his muzzle right up to the microphone. “I didn’t see any flashes or lenses, which is kind of weird for the people who normally stalk me. I thought it was someone who worked on your farm since he seemed more preoccupied with the grounds than with me.”
    What the hell was she talking about? He ground his teeth.
    “Listen carefully to me.” He gripped the beeper intercom harder, his thumb pressing the Plexiglas until it blurred the readout. “Is there anyone with you now?”
    “No. A minor miracle since—”
    “I’m opening the gate. Drive through fast.” Tension clamped his head and stiffened his joints while he wondered who she’d seen. Probably just a curious local, but—Damn.
    Without waiting for her response, he pressed the button on the remote opener and forced himself to wait a three-count before he closed it again. He might not care for this woman’s upper crust air of entitlement or her self-involved manners, but he wouldn’t allow an innocent to get caught up in the mess his life had become. A woman in the public eye couldn’t make a better target for the people Wynn was hiding from and he needed to do everything in his power to make sure she remained out of their sight.
    Once he had her settled, he’d figure out who was following her.
    *
    Annamae had won.
    She was so used to being the overlooked sister that she almost couldn’t believe that for once in her life she was calling her own shots. But she’d left Atlanta. Gotten a pet. Met her grandmother. And now she’d convinced Beulah, Alabama’s sexiest hermit to rent her his carriage house, effectively winning their standoff.
    It had been a banner day, but she’d been determined not to give up until she got what she wanted. And she wanted – needed – the solitude of that carriage house to get over losing her fiancé, wrecking her life and disappointing her family. She also needed the solitude to bolster herself for the inevitable showdown when her parents decided to confront her.
    Old VW jostling along every pothole, Annamae steered down