His 24-Hour Wife (The Hawke Brothers 2) by Rachel Bailey Page B

he’d shown her around the beach house.
    Which was for the best—she’d decided that approach would give her the strongest chance of surviving this craziness. She had a feeling that Adam Hawke sometimes saw right through her, and that made her feel...exposed.
    Jenna grinned when she saw her and held up a bag. “I brought breakfast. Pastries and muffins.”
    Callie took the bag and returned the grin. “You’re a goddess. Don’t suppose you also brought coffee?”
    “I can take care of that,” Adam said from the other sofa. “Cappuccino?”
    Callie finally allowed herself a glance at him. In the short time of their acquaintance she’d already learned that avoiding looking at him helped a lot in coping with his presence. He had the power to overwhelm her senses if she didn’t ease into it.
    Though, as she raked her gaze over him now, hungry to simply see him, she had to admit that even easing into it wasn’t helping this time. Maybe she should try the opposite strategy—look at him as much as she could and build up a tolerance to him.
    Develop immunity to his presence.
    He raised an eyebrow and she realized she was supposed to be answering a question. What had it been about?
Coffee. That’s right, coffee.
    She’d seen a state-of-the-art coffee machine when she was in the kitchen yesterday, so she jumped at the offer. “An Americano would be great, thanks.”
    “Jenna?” he asked, turning to his brother’s fiancée.
    “I’d love a cappuccino.”
    He nodded and left, and Jenna turned concerned eyes to her. “I was hoping we’d have a moment alone.” Her lilting Scandinavian accent seemed to grow stronger as she lowered her voice. “I wanted to check if you’re all right.”
    Callie frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “It’s just been a bit of a whirlwind. Many people would find it disorienting.”
    The situation wasn’t as disorienting as Adam himself
, she wanted to say, but she wasn’t prepared to discuss something she didn’t fully understand herself yet.
    “I’m fine,” she said instead. “I’m staying in a multimillion-dollar beach house and Adam set up an office in a guest room for me. I’m
more
than fine.”
    Jenna patted Callie’s knee. “I’m glad. But just remember, you married a Hawke, so you’re one of us now.”
    “We’re not—” she began.
    “It doesn’t matter how long this marriage lasts, or that you’re exaggerating your relationship at the moment. You’re part of the family. If you need help from any of us, say the word.”
    Callie’s throat thickened. Never in her wildest dreams would she have expected such a warm welcome to the family, especially from a princess who must have spent her life surrounded by people wanting to be close to her.
    She swallowed to get her voice to work. “Thank you. I appreciate that more than I can say.”
    Adam reappeared carrying two coffee mugs, and Callie took the momentary diversion to compose herself. She found a blueberry muffin, then lifted her clipboard holding all her printed-out notes on the Hawke Brothers’ Trust. She had all the information on her laptop, but found that in meetings, she was able to forge stronger connections with clients if she had pen and paper in hand. It seemed somehow more personal.
    “So I’ve had some ideas about the trust’s PR and I think a couple of them really have legs.” She’d stayed up late getting all her thoughts together so she could make a strong proposal.
    “Excellent,” Adam said. “Before you outline them—Jenna, have you checked the donations for the trust since our story went public?”
    “Actually, I’ve checked often, including just before I left to come here.”
    “Any fallout?” Adam asked, and Callie held her breath. The last thing she wanted was to have this blow up in the charity’s face. Hopefully they’d had an increase.
    “They’ve gone up. In fact, they’ve
shot
up. Maybe more in the last twenty-four hours than in all the months since we started the