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

movements as she dried off, put on her silk robe and headed for the living room.
    “Yep. I didn’t expect they’d run it for a few more days yet.”
    Callie stood behind her sister and peeked over her shoulder at the laptop screen. All the breath left her body as she saw the page. She and Adam had never had a photo taken of themselves together before—their relationship was hardly significant enough to warrant that—and they’d never shared a bathroom to get ready to go out and caught sight of themselves side by side in the mirror, so she hadn’t seen an image of them as a couple reflected back at her. She’d failed to realize the startling effect it would have on her.
    There were a few shots of her with Adam among the flowers, but the biggest photo, the one taking up about half the page, was Adam kneeling at her feet, the hem of her dress in his hand.
    “That photo is great,” Summer said, pointing to the same one Callie was looking at. “The composition is genius. Was that arrangement the photographer’s idea or yours?”
    “Ours,” Callie said faintly, still trying to take it all in.
    “Good work. And your expression is perfect. You look totally smitten. All that practice paid off.”
    Callie couldn’t reply; she just kept staring at the photo. Because her sister was right—the woman in that photo looked completely smitten by the man in front of her. And the scary part was she hadn’t been pretending. Neither of them had known their picture was being taken.
    Pulling the robe tighter, she slid into a chair, leaving her sister to scroll down and read the story. Callie had bigger things to worry about just now. Like whether she was in over her head...
    “Hey, wow,” Summer said.
    “What?” Callie braced herself, unsure if her system could handle anything more than her new emotions for Adam Hawke being on display for the entire world to see.
    “I just checked the magazine’s social media pages and they’ve shared it with the headline, ‘Princess Wishes New Brother Well on Vegas Elopement.’”
    Callie winced. “That wouldn’t have been Anna’s headline.”
    “But it’s working. Look how many shares it’s had.”
    Callie watched in astonishment as Summer flicked through the various pages. “I didn’t think it would be this popular. We only wanted something to counter possible bad stories.”
    “You’ve got way more than that,” her sister said, grinning. “You’ve gone viral, baby.”
    She blinked. Viral? She’d lived her entire life under the radar—it seemed surreal that people were reading about her, sharing her story on social media. “But why?”
    “Never underestimate the pulling power of a princess. Especially when rumors are circulating that the Queen of Larsland herself might be flying over to attend your wedding.”
    “I hope Jenna isn’t regretting being involved.”
    “I’m sure she understands how the media works. Besides, it’s not all about her. That photo of Adam kneeling and you being all adoring is like something straight out of
Cinderella
. What was he doing, anyway?”
    “Getting pollen off my skirt.” She looked at the photo again, remembering that she
had
felt as if she was in a scene from a fairy tale when it happened.
    Summer sighed happily. “Even more chivalrous. That picture is gold.”
    Callie’s stomach clenched. This was moving so fast. “I have to call Adam and warn him.” She stood and grabbed her cell but stilled when Summer gasped. That sound hadn’t been like any of her other sounds of glee as she scanned the pages, and it made Callie instantly uneasy.
    “There’s a photo of our front door.” Her sister’s voice was wary.
    A wave of anxiety washed over her, making her skin cold. “They found where I live?”
    “Worse than that. That photo was taken this morning.”
    Her lungs froze. Phone still in her hand, Callie moved to the window and sure enough, there was a small but focused group of paparazzi camped around the entrance to her