Page 32 of A Match Made in Montana

“Riley is a professional. Getting makeup artists and hairdressers is part of what she does, it doesn’t mean anything else.”

“No matter what they do with their magic brushes, I’m still me. Plain Annie. I shouldn’t be in any of the photographs. Why don’t you—”

Craig bent down and kissed her. “You’re beautiful, Annie Miller, just the way you are.” Winking, he smiled. “So now you’ve told everyone we’ll be spending time together. I thought one of your conditions was not to tell anyone about us.”

Blushing again, Annie groaned. “Well, you were holding my hand and wouldn’t let go. I hadn’t planned on making an announcement. It’s just… Mitch makes me so mad. I love him to bits, but he can take the protecting brother thing a tad too far. Please don’t feel you have to—” she began but he caught her close.

“You know exactly what you do to me. I can’t wait to spend more time with you.”

“You’re not worried the whole thing may be too messy now that everyone knows about us?”

Smiling, he kissed her forehead. “Life is messy, baby, I’ve realized. Go on, enjoy the photo shoot. Oh, and Riley will also help you set up an account on social media.”

Annie groaned out loud. “Do I have to?”

“You don’t have to do all. Pick one. I’d go for one where pictures are important.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to Riley.”

“You’ll be great. I’ll pop in later.”

“Won’t you be here?” she asked nearly panicking.

Smiling, Craig trailed a hand down her face. “Riley knows what she wants to do. I’ll only interfere. You’ve got this.”

With a last soft kiss, he left the kitchen just as Riley entered with two women.

“Annie, meet Marlene and Sienna Murphy.”

Annie smiled. “Hello and welcome. Two sisters?”

Looking at the two women, Riley grinned. “Told you. No, Marlene is Sienna’s mom.”

“Wow, you look so young!” Annie exclaimed. “Well, as you can see…” she said, gesturing to her face, “you have your work cut out for you.”

Sienna shook her head as she approached Annie. “I don’t know what idiot led you to believe that, but you’re gorgeous. Mom, look at these cheekbones! You are one of those natural beautiful women who doesn’t really need makeup. We’ll just enhance what is already there. Mom does the hair, I’ll do the makeup.”

As the two women carried on discussing what they wanted to do, Riley took out a coloring book for Dylan.

Annie motioned the little boy closer. “I also have something for you.” She smiled, pointing toward the toys. She got her first tentative smile from the little guy. Uncertainly, he came closer.

Annie took out some of Mitch’s old cars and placed them on the carpet. “Come on, let’s race.” She smiled. Within seconds, the little boy was on his knees next to her. Behind them, she heard Riley’s camera clicking away. Probably photos of the kitchen.

“Craig has very definite ideas of what he thinks will work, but if you have any suggestions, please tell me,” Riley said. “He mentioned a hammock?”

Blushing, Annie stood up, keeping her face averted. That was where all her problems had started. If it hadn’t been for the hammock and romance books, there wouldn’t have been any freaking beading. “It’s outside. Let’s try Craig’s suggestions and see. Hopefully that will be enough.”

Chapter Eleven

Feeling strangely ata loss, Craig drove to Main Street. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have work, a number of emails were waiting for his attention. There was a restlessness inside of him, though, that was making it difficult to focus on work. A first. He’d never before experienced this. Up until now, his work life had been all consuming. Until…

With a sigh, he stared at the quaint storefronts of the shops lining the street.

His thoughts turned to the last account his team had won. He was still uneasy about the whole thing. For the first time since he’d started working, he was questioning the way they did business. It was one thing winning an account but to find out the other side had to close down? He couldn’t simply brush the thought aside like his colleagues seemed to be able to do.

To be honest, he’d enjoyed the last few days helping Annie to get more clicks on her website. It wasn’t merely a job; he was trying to help the person behind the business. He was helping someone, not tearing anything or anyone down. It had made all the difference.

Main Street was busy. When he’d been here in February, there hadn’t been much time to explore, but he’d often thought of the small town over the last couple of months. With classic Western storefronts, mountains surrounding it, Marietta was a truly beautiful town.

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