Read Online His 24-Hour Wife (The Hawke Brothers 2) by Rachel Bailey - Free Book Online

trust.”
    “Really?” Adam said, and leaned back in his chair, obviously pleased.
    “I’m so glad,” Callie said. “And relieved.”
    This would be a great lead-in to their new PR strategy. She couldn’t wait to get started, not in the least part because it would give her something to focus on besides her husband sitting across from her.
    Jenna nodded. “I’ve been thinking—I’m sure your ideas are excellent, but perhaps we should be focusing on the wedding? Make
it
the PR campaign?”
    Callie’s gut clenched tight. It was one thing to do some media interviews to spin a story that protected them from potential damage, but quite another to make it the entire focus. To invite more scrutiny and keep herself in the spotlight. But she’d started this—she’d said yes to Adam’s proposal in Vegas, and it was her job that foisted her back into his world, her colleague that had created the problem and her plan to fix it with this wedding. If they decided this direction was in the best interests of the trust, she’d see it through.
    Her mind rapidly flicked through the pros and cons, and landed on the biggest issue of making the wedding itself the PR campaign.
    “Where do we stand on the ethics of raising money using a fake wedding?”
    “I like that you’re concerned about that,” Jenna said, and then paused, considering. “Any money that’s donated to the trust goes to help homeless children—there’s nothing fake or dishonest about that. It’s transparent and those children are in genuine need. Also, you and Adam are already married, and you really are going to renew your vows, so that’s not a lie, either.”
    Callie leaned back in her seat. They were good points. “But we’re pretending to be in love, so the heart of this campaign wouldn’t be authentic.”
    “It seems to me,” Adam said, “that rather than a lie, it’s more akin to a PR stunt, which happens all the time. Besides, I don’t think we’re the only couple in the media who are together for reasons other than love.”
    “You think the ends justify the means?” Callie asked him. “The benefit to the children?”
    Adam nodded. “If we wanted to use that strategy, then yes.”
    “So,” Jenna said. “What do you say?”
    Callie felt Adam’s gaze on her and lifted her own eyes to meet it. His expression was masked but she knew this wasn’t his preferred direction, despite him weighing in on the ethics of the situation. She raised an eyebrow, asking a silent question, and she watched his chest rise and fall once before he gave her an almost imperceptible nod that sealed their course of action.
    She turned back to Jenna. “It would make sense to build on what’s already working. Keep things moving along.”
    “If you both think that’s the most effective strategy, I’m on board,” Adam said. “Though won’t it be a vow renewal?”
    “Technically,” Callie said. “But in the media we’ll mainly refer to it as a wedding—it’s more romantic.” She flipped to a blank page on her clipboard. “The wedding
is
the campaign.”
    Jenna smiled. “Sounds fun. What do we do next?”
    She mentally switched gears from a woman sitting in a room with a princess and a virtual stranger who was actually her husband, to a public-relations professional who needed to come up with a strategy.
    She took a sip of her coffee and set the cup back on the side table as she collected her thoughts. “The main thing will be to keep the trust and our wedding firmly tied together in the public’s mind.”
    Adam rested an ankle on his knee. “We’ll mention it in interviews?”
    “At bare minimum,” Callie said, making notes as the ideas came to her. “But we need to plan specific strategies. Maybe we could sell the wedding photos to one publication, with the money going to the trust.”
    Jenna sat up straighter. “We could do a professional shoot before that, too, and sell the photos for the trust.”
    “Like engagement photos,” Callie