Catch Me A Cowboy (14 page)

His body grew leaden with disappointment as he kept on back to his farmhouse to spend the night dreaming about what if.

Chapter 18

A cocktail party was held the following evening in the barn. Not the same barn where Emily had helped load hay bales and had stored feed and tractors and molasses. As she stepped inside this two door barn and noted the roaring fireplace, the long bar, open kitchen, and heaters situated throughout, she realised this barn had one sole purpose—entertaining.

The space was stunningly decorated with cow-hide lounges, rustic timber tables, and fairy lights strung around the open beam rafters. It epitomised luxurious country living.

Emily wore a delicate white dress. The skirt sat above her knee while the back flowed down to her ankles. The flimsy material cinched in at her waist, was sleeveless, and the collar slung low so her cleavage was on display. And complementing the dress were her cowboy boots. She curled her hair into long waves and left it to hang loosely around her shoulders and down her back.

A bartender mixed Emily a fruity cocktail and she sat with the other eight women, who were looking gorgeous in their formal dresses and stilettos. She was the only one in cowboy boots, but she didn't care. These babies had lassoed her heart and, as a bonus, they looked fantastic with this dress.

Emily attempted small talk with the girls, but after what she heard Becky and Daniella talking about yesterday afternoon, each word and smile was rigid and mechanical. The other girls were equally stand-offish, which made Emily think they'd been gossiping among themselves. Emily sipped on her cocktail.
This is a game that will soon come to an end. Just pretend to be nice and before you know it, it will be over and you'll be back in Melbourne living your old life.

Three of the girls had gone on their farm date with Wil that morning and were chatting about the details. By the sounds of it, they had done much of the same things Emily, Becky and Daniella did yesterday.

‘Thankfully, Wil didn't make us go into the pig sty area. Those pigs are horrible creatures,' said Angela.

‘You can thank Emily for that,' said Daniella. ‘She fell over, “supposedly” by accident.' Yes, she used her fingers to air quote and her tone was completely sarcastic.

Emily narrowed her eyes at her.

‘You fell over in there?' asked Angela, her lips twisting in disgust.

Emily nodded. ‘Yes. And it was by accident.'

‘Then she fell over again outside the sty. So perfect, wish I had thought of it,' said Becky.

‘Do you want Wil to think you've trouble standing?' asked Angela.

Emily hid her eye roll behind her cocktail as she took a sip. ‘Apparently,' she mumbled against her straw.

‘So, did you fall over on purpose or not?' asked Angela.

‘No, I did not fall over on purpose,' Emily snapped.

Becky shrugged a slender shoulder and swiped her long fringe away from her eyes. ‘You can understand why we would assume you did. After all, it's a competition. Weren't those your words?'

Emily gulped until only ice was left in her glass. ‘Excuse me,' she said and marched to the bar to order another drink. This felt worse than high school. She hung out at the bar for longer than necessary, before joining the other women. When she approached the cluster, silence fell upon them and remained until Emily had taken her seat again.

‘Um … we get to start our single dates tomorrow,' stuttered Felicity, an obvious attempt to end the awkward silence.

Then the others joined in, frenetically speculating about what would be organised. Their suggestions ranged from picnic dates on the property to hiking in the nearby forest. They imagined sitting with him on checked blankets, sipping champagne and kissing as the sun set.

‘Who will be the first to kiss him?' asked Felicity.

The girls shrugged, except for Emily whose stomach was wildly roiling. The thought of any of these girls kissing Wil made her hot—in an angry, anxious way. She sucked madly on her straw, hoping for the alcohol to wash away her sudden bad emotions. Conversations like this brought her back down to Earth. So easily, it seemed, that this competition was all about her and Wil, and the other girls were nothing but pretty backdrops. But they were as motivated to get to know him, touch him, and kiss him, as Emily was. If she was developing real emotions for this cowboy, it was a strong possibility these other girls were too, and they were more than willing to fight for him.

‘What about you, Emily? You planning on kissing Wil?' asked Becky.

‘That's none of your business,' she snapped, then cringed to hear the bitterness in her tone. She lowered her eyes and bit her bottom lip to stop herself from saying anything else. This wasn't her. She wasn't nasty to other women, not under normal circumstances anyway. But these conditions were far from ordinary. ‘I'm sorry,' she said.

Becky arched one perfectly sculpted brow and let it fall neatly back into place. ‘That's fair enough. You can be private if you like. No skin off my nose.'

‘I'm sorry if I came across as rude. I just don't think that's something I feel comfortable sharing at this stage.'

Becky shrugged. ‘Your prerogative.' Then turned to the other women. ‘What about you ladies?'

Angela licked her lips and pushed her chest out. ‘I'll be taking every available opportunity and I will not apologise for that.'

‘Me too,' said Georgie, laughing.

Damn the studio for choosing such a fantastic cowboy. Why couldn't they have corralled some cocky bastard who basked in the attention of his harem? It would have made this much easier.

Speak of the devil. All eyes shifted to the entryway of the barn. Wil was walking in, the camera trained on him. He donned his trademark white cowboy hat, but tonight he wore beige trousers, a crisp white long-sleeved shirt with a tie, and a beige vest.
Oh, man. Sex on legs
. His eyes shone under the artificial lighting and his smile was so sexy Emily wanted to lick it right off his face. She glanced at the other girls open-mouthed expressions—they were thinking exactly the same thing. She sighed because she was no different from any one of them. She was just the only one in the room who hadn't yet accepted it.

Wil nodded, finger and thumb to the brim of his hat as he did. Emily stood, not of her own volition, and elbowed through the other women until she stood before him. She held his shoulders and leant in to kiss his cheek. ‘Good evening,' she said, her voice breathy.

‘Emily,' he said leaning back and kissing her on her opposite cheek, lingering long enough that she breathed in his warmth and delicious scent. ‘How are you?' he asked.

‘I'm really well. Now.'

He smiled. ‘Good to hear it.'

‘You?' she asked.

‘Never better.'

The other girls had practically formed a line behind her—a crude ordering of the hierarchy achieved to date. Becky was eager to hurry Emily along and move in for some cheek kissing action for herself. Emily set the precedence on that one—so she only had herself to blame. And anything Emily could do, the harem were quick to let her know they could do it better.

Emily stepped back and finished her drink, before heading to the bar for another. It was pointless fighting for his attention with a group of eager women this size, and, besides, she wouldn't want to be seen hogging him now, would she?

Over the night, she lingered on the outskirts. There was no one here she could call a friend, and Wil was continually entertained by one or another of the ladies. But as she sat on the lounge, drinking yet another cocktail, Wil came to her. He sat beside her, close enough that she could feel the warmth of his thigh against her own.

‘Are you purposely avoiding me tonight?' he asked with that cheeky grin of his as he placed his beer on the table in front of them. Though, she could see from his eyes, that his question held some seriousness.

She shook her head. ‘No. And yes.'

He grinned wider and narrowed his eyes. ‘Well, that answers my question completely.'

She smiled. ‘I'm sorry. No, I'm not avoiding you. Not intentionally. It's difficult to get you on your own.'

‘Not quite the right setting for that.'

She nodded. He was right. She must remember that this was a show. ‘No. It's not.' After a sip of her drink, she asked, ‘But how amazing is this barn? Do you entertain a lot?'

He shrugged. ‘Every now and then. Okay, maybe a little more than that. I've got a big extended family and some good friends who live locally. We catch up when we can.'

‘In style. City folk would kill to have a space like this.'

‘They only have to leave the city to find it,' he said. A double entendre?

‘A big family, you say?'

He nodded. ‘I only have one sister and brother, but plenty of aunts, uncles and cousins. What about you?'

‘An elder brother. He lives in the UK, though, so I don't get to see him often. Does your brother and sister have a lot to do with the farm?'

‘My sister, yes, she lives on an adjoining property. My brother had always wanted to the leave the country behind for the city. He's a stockbroker in Sydney.'

‘So your sister lives on one property. Your parents on another. Then you have all this land. How big is this farm?'

‘Decent,' he said.

‘I think I'm beginning to see that. What does your family think about you being on a show like this?'

He lowered his gaze as he reached for his beer. He took a long swallow. ‘They're supportive. It was my brother who convinced me to do it. Or perhaps I should say, blindfolded me then pushed me over the cliff.'

Emily laughed. ‘He sounds like my best friend. Similar situation.'

Wil gazed at her, grinning. ‘You have the most incredible eyes I've ever seen. The colour of cognac.'

Emily's chest warmed and her heart fluttered at his honest compliment. ‘Thank you. But I bet you say that to all the girls.'

He leant closer and shook his head. ‘No, I don't.'

Emily's cheeks grew hotter as she gazed into his honest blue eyes. She could quite easily let this man charm the pants off her. Long since pleasured parts of her body sighed at that thought and she had to cross her legs, squeeze her thighs together.

The director's voice blasted through a hand-held microphone at that moment. ‘Ladies, we've organised some entertainment for tonight. A band is setting up now, and as soon as they're done, I expect you all to make your way to the designated dance floor. You too, Wil.'

Emily's eyes widened and Wil laughed. ‘Did you know about this?'

He nodded.

‘And you're okay with … dancing?'

He chuckled again as he held out his hands. ‘I guess I have to be.'

She gripped his hands and he helped her from her seat.

Soon enough, the band was playing and the cameras were rolling again. The barn was a natural amphitheatre with its polished cement floor and high-pitched roof. The music sounded amazing. It pumped through Emily's body and enlivened her. The songs had a fast paced blues feel and were all about utes, red dust, hard yakka and country loving. It was guitars and foot-stomping, and each lyric pronounced with an unabashed Australian twang.

She knew how this was going to look on film, all these women and one lone cowboy, but the mixture of alcohol buzzing in her cells and the lively music rendered her carefree.

Wil gripped her hand and swung her under his arm. She laughed and threw her head back as he did. He grabbed her waist and rocked his hips close to hers then drew her away and swung her again under the opposite arm. This was a different type of dancing to what she was used to at clubs; this was hands-on, hip swaying, body to body, in an old-school way. And if her wide grin and bursts of giggles were any indication, she was loving it.

And for the next hour, the dance floor was the place to be, in between trips to the bar for more cocktails. One song after another, they all danced and laughed, the competition was forgotten and genuine, down-to-earth fun embraced.

Wil had blown her mind with the way he could move around a dance floor with such ease and confidence. No, he didn't dance like the men she was used to dancing with in clubs or bars, but he rocked it, his intimate grasp on her hips, the step of his feet, the tug at her hand as he spun her around the room. The smile on his face and his sexy lips singing had her knees melting. He was so tall and wide, and when she pressed her chest to his, it felt like home. Her body tingled and heated and she knew in his arms was where she should always be.

He was gracious and attentive to all the women, and she didn't mind as long as he made his way back to her in time and smiled at her that way only he could.

Then as soon as it began, the music stopped and the band was packing away. The film crew were setting up at the end of the barn for the elimination ceremony. Anticipation needled under Emily's flesh and hastened her heart. After a fun night, it was disheartening that it had to end with one of them going home.

The beautiful host stood beside Wil while Emily lined up opposite with the other eight women. Her heart was thumping wildly. They had sufficient time with Wil to experience what a fantastic guy he was, and for anyone to leave now, including her, would be a massive blow.

Wil looked equally nervous. His smiles were strained—he didn't like this any more than she did. And the undercurrent of tension swirled throughout the barn.

‘I had a fun night tonight. You are all fantastic company. And the decision about who leaves becomes harder and harder the more I get to know you incredible ladies. But …' He lowered his eyes and cleared his throat. ‘I'm not going to drag this out longer than need be. I'm sorry, but the lady leaving tonight is … Angela.'

Some of the girls gasped.

Angela shook her head and whispered, ‘That's okay.' She stepped forward to say goodbye to Wil.