Page 19 of Cowboy Seeks Husband
“Ma’am,” Walker said, rising to his feet and nodding politely. “How d’ya do?”
“Aw, aren’t you a cutie? I’m Kylie.” She held out her hand, and Walker caught sight of a tattooed sleeve that covered her entire arm.
“Walker. Nice to meet you. Now listen, I know you’re here with makeup and all, but I really don’t need—”
She held up one finger in front of his face. “One, I’m in charge of your face whenever it goes in front of a camera. I was about to tell you to go shave, but Andy likes it, so you’re lucky. Two, it’s hot as hell on fire out there. Half a minute in that heat and you’ll look like a melting wax doll on camera. You’re wearing makeup.”
“Won’t that make it worse?” he asked, eyeing the bag warily.
She grinned at him and patted the barstool he’d just vacated. “You just leave that to me.” With one finger under his chin, she tilted his face this way and that, staring intently. He didn’t think he’d been this close to a woman other than Tessa since Sarah Bordelon tried to kiss him in ninth grade. “Good skin,” she mumbled, as if to herself. “I can work with the beard. Gonna have to pluck those eyebrows though.” She tutted. “This should all have been done this morning.”
“I was busy. And uh, what? What’s wrong with my eyebrows?”
She fluttered her dark eyelashes at him. They were unnaturally long, and he wondered if they were fake. “Nothing is wrong with them. We’re just going to get rid of that unibrow you’ve got going on.”
“Unibrow?” Walker self-consciously touched the space between his eyebrows. It wasn’t that hairy.
Kylie scrunched up her face and nodded. “Just a little one.”
The way she opened her case and began to dig through it reminded him of the old doctor’s visits to the ranch when he was a little kid. Walker tried not to gulp when she pulled out a pair of tweezers and what looked like lotion.
She waggled her eyebrows. “Don’t you worry. It’ll only hurt a little.”
Oddly enough, Kylie’sbrusque chatter and her intense attention to his face relaxed Walker a little, and he felt a lot more grounded by the time he heard the SUVs pull up and stop this time in front of the barn. He winced at the thought of being bounced for half an hour on the potholed driveway and ranch roads. Poor guys.
“I think you’re supposed to wait inside,” Kylie said as he stood up and started for the front door.
“Probably,” Walker told her and grinned as he continued on. Andy was already out there, as well as John, talking with the camera crew.
“Okay,” Andy was saying into the open door of the first SUV. “I want a shot of all of you climbing out and being super excited to be here. I know it’s just a barn but for the next five minutes you’re going to pretend this is a fucking fairy-tale castle, all right?” John, get the second-unit crew to catch some shots of the fields and any other romantic shit they can find. Fuck, why did I think a ranch would be a good idea?” He spun around and faltered for a second when he saw Walker standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He recovered quickly though. “You should wait inside.”
“I’ll wait right here.” Walker said. “I’ll stay out of the way.” For a second he thought Andy was going to bark at him, threaten him with his contract or whatever, but instead he just exchanged a glance with John and then shrugged.
“Okay,” Andy yelled. “Start climbing out, ladies. Careful in your high heels.”
Walker ground his teeth together at the “ladies” thing again and retreated a bit farther into the shade by the porch. He found Kylie by his side.
“God,” she whispered. “He can be such a dick.”
“Maybe. A product of his generation.”
“Excuses.”
“Yeah. Well, look, here they come.”
Two guys had jumped out of the first SUV, one of them a spry little thing in a gray suit with a skinny tie. He was dancing up and down and clapping his hands in glee at the sight of the barn. Walker tried not to wince and think unkind, stereotypical thoughts about this little guy fainting at the sight of a cow. The dude next to him had his hands stuffed in his suit pockets and was grinning, more subdued but with a pleased twinkle in his eye.
A third man climbed out, and, hot damn, that was better. A brick of a guy in a white T-shirt and jeans, who hesitated for a second then reappeared holding the hand of a cute-but-geeky kid—and kid was the right word—in a short-sleeved shirt and a bow tie. Were those skinny jeans? Jesus Christ.
When the kid was out of the SUV, they quickly let go of each other.
“Personally,” Kylie whispered, because cameras were on all over now, “I’m partial to the one in the white T-shirt. Look at those arms. Yum.”
Walker was more into ogling the guy’s ass, but he nodded his agreement.
In silence, they watched as all twelve contestants exited the SUVs, all squinting against the sharp sunlight before they faked their enthusiasm. Only Bow Tie and T-shirt Guy didn’t put on any kind of a show. They looked around a little more carefully, and Bow Tie’s eyes widened when he spotted Walker. Thinking he’d better step into his role, Walker allowed a small smile to break through, and he lifted one hand from where he’d crossed his arms over his chest to give a little wave.
Walker could see the kid blush from a mile away as he quickly looked away again.
