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

said, “except we’re already married so we’ll need a different term. Why don’t we call them wedding announcement photos?”
    “I love that,” Jenna said. “If it would help, Bonnie and Meg could be in that shoot.”
    Adam raised an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t feel that was exploiting them?”
    Jenna shook her head. “I’d have to check with Liam, but people try to take their photo all the time as it is. This would be something we chose, and it’s about family and charity. They’re two things that are important in how we’re raising the girls.”
    “If you and Liam are sure,” Callie said, “two baby princesses will certainly increase the money we raise from the photos.”
    Jenna dug into the pastry bag and came out with an éclair as she spoke. “Meg can toddle around, so we could make her a flower girl at the wedding and play that up in these photos.”
    “Great,” Callie said. “Adam, how do you feel about the official wedding announcement photo idea?”
    He rubbed a hand across his jaw, contemplating. “The part of this strategy that I like is that the photographer will work for us, so we’ll control the shoot and choose which photos we pass to the publication. So I’m okay with it.”
    There was something in the way he said the words that made her think he’d been as unhappy with the surprise picture of him kneeling at her skirt as she was. She gave him a small smile to show she understood, and his gaze softened in response. That simple change in the way he looked at her set off a domino effect in her body, starting with a tingling in her toes and ending with heat in her cheeks.
    She turned back to Jenna and refocused on the task at hand. “We’ll implement more strategies to link the trust to the wedding—perhaps make a visit to somewhere the trust assists, with a journalist in tow? But the next thing we should consider is the wedding.”
    “Do you have thoughts on what you want?” Jenna asked.
    Callie nodded. “We have to not think of it in terms of
my
wedding, or
Adam’s
wedding. We’ve agreed this is the PR campaign for the trust, so the details have to be ones that suit the charity.”
    Adam frowned. “I don’t follow. How can a wedding suit a charity for homeless children?”
    “Well—” Callie tapped her pen on her notes “—we need to make it stylish, but not over-the-top. If it looks like we’ve spent a ridiculous amount on a lavish wedding that will only imply that we’re out of touch and have too much money. Donations would drop.”
    “Stylish on a budget,” Jenna confirmed. “We can do that.”
    “Also, we make children a visible part of the wedding. Having Meg as a flower girl is a good start, but perhaps the rehearsal dinner could include one hundred children from a charity the trust supports. No photos that night—we don’t want those children to feel exploited or have their identities compromised—we just let the media know that it happened.”
    “So the hundred children have a fairy-tale night,” Adam said, approval warm in his voice, “and we keep the wedding and the trust linked in people’s minds.”
    “Exactly.” Callie smiled and tried to ignore how much his approval affected her.
    “And we have the Bridal Tulip,” Jenna said. “Perhaps sales of the flower in the first week after release—which would be the week of the wedding—could go to the trust.”
    “I love that idea.” Callie made a note. “We could link the advertising to the fact that we’ll be using it at a vow renewal and suggest couples who’ve already married buy a bunch for their spouse to remember their wedding. Adam, is that feasible?”
    Adam shrugged. “Sure. From a business perspective, it would mean increased exposure for the flower, which would help future sales. I’d have no problem with that strategy from a sales or charity angle, even without the wedding.”
    Jenna glanced about the room, and then frowned. “Speaking of flowers, I’ve just noticed something.