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 assistant.
“Are you nervous?” one of the women asked Susan.
“Not really,” Susan said. “After flashing my butt at the camera, I figure things can’t get much worse.”
The woman chuckled. “I saw that. I felt bad for you and at the same time I was glad it wasn’t me.”
Susan clicked a photo of the women as they opened their lunches. “I wonder what sort of questions Nolan will ask us.”
“I hate to think,” the woman said.
Elle appeared on the track and ambled over to the group. “Cherry, you’re next.”
“What were the questions like?” Susan asked.
“You have to pick a sealed envelope then Nolan opens it and reads out the three questions.” She giggled. “He asked about my first kiss.”
Cherry went off and came back, her cheeks scarlet. “He asked if I enjoyed sex. If that portion airs on television, I’m going to be mortified. My parents watched the first show. My grandparents. Oh, Jasmine. It’s your turn.”
Susan’s gut did a nasty buck, her confidence sailing in an arc to fall to the pit of her stomach with a crash. Oh, goody. She had a sex question to look forward to, and she’d have to wait until the end because her surname was Webb.
Jasmine returned, grinning. “Your turn, Maxine. He asked me to tell him about my favorite sexual position.”
Susan felt her mouth drop open and snapped it shut. The questions seemed to becoming more personal. “What did you say?”
“Reverse cowgirl,” Jasmine said. “That’s what the couple in the erotic romance I’m reading was doing, so I went with gut instinct and lied. I’d better warn my parents about this next segment of the show, but I guess they did say the show would be adult rated.”
“As long as they don’t expect to film us having sex,” Susan muttered.
Maxine returned, shaking her head. “Lucy, you’re up.”
“Tough question?” Susan asked.
“He asked me if I’d be willing to let a man tie me up. I said no way, no how. If there was any tying up, I was the one who was gonna be doing it. With all the hype about that BDSM novel, he was probably disappointed with my answer,” Maxine said.
“Wow,” Elle said. “I think I lucked out with my question. Talking about a first kiss is much easier.”
