Page 1 of A Different Husband

Chapter 1

COURTNEY

“I needyou to marry Flynn instead of me at our wedding.”

My fiancé’s words didn’t register because I was too concerned with the fact that my mother wanted me to use silver and purple as our wedding colors. They had been our elementary and high school colors, and she thought it would be adorable that we marched into the future while paying homage to the roots of our love story. In theory, it sounded great, but my eyes continued to dart back to the pictures of the beautiful peach floral arrangements that were sent to me last week.

My wedding was only a few weeks away and everything needed to be finalized. The flowers and cake were the final items, and they were only still on the to-do list because I couldn’t pick a complementary color. Silver was a given. Peach was my choice, purple my mother’s. I continued to stare at the peach floral arrangement as I tried to wrap my head around what Beckett had just asked of me.

“I’m sorry, you need me to do what?” I asked the question as my eyes blinked rapidly, in an attempt to unsee the man standing before me, considering he had just asked me to do the unthinkable.

Beckett Robeson, the man I’d been a little bit in love with since all the way back in elementary school, did not change what he said, nor did what I thought was a waking nightmare end. Instead, he grinned down at me as he took my hands into his own and made me a stupid promise.

“Everything will be fine. Flynn just needs to know that it’s someone the family can trust. I promise, all of this,” he offered as he let go of my hand with one of his in order to sweep over the wedding plans I’d meticulously crafted –ourwedding plans – “can wait until after we help Flynn.”

“Beckett?" I questioned, but he continued to grin at me like a complete freaking idiot. His slightly wavy hair had come free of the gel he used to slick it back. As it flopped down into his eyes again, I realized just how nervous he must have been for the conversation. He only ever pushed his hands through his hair when his nerves got the best of him. Still, I couldn’t fathom him ever getting himself worked up about this particular issue. My fiancé wanted me to marry his cousin instead. Even if it was a temporary arrangement, how could he even suggest that?

“You can’t be serious.”

My fiancé sat down beside me, and once again took both of my hands in his. I wanted him to appear forlorn over this situation, or at the very least, a bit put out by the demands of his family. Instead, there was an excited gleam in his eyes that looked a lot like giddiness. The man who was supposed to love me forever shouldn’t seem triumphant about asking me to marry someone else.

“Courtney, you have to understand, it’s not just about what Flynn stands to gain. Hell, the crazy bastard was willing to give it all up. The problem is that his family’s business is also on the chopping block if he doesn’t settle the terms of our grandfather’s Last Will and Testament. I told you that Grandfather didn’t include me as the backup. I can’t inherit any of it. I don’t thinkFlynn knows that either, or at least he hasn’t realized yet. This way, maybe I can get him to sell me the cabin. You know what it means to me.”

“I understand all that, Beckett. What I don’t understand is why I have to bethatperson. We were planning our own wedding.” I pulled my hand free from his and lifted the pictures of table settings I’d been going through. “These were supposed to be for us,ourmemories. This wasMYdream wedding.” My voice took on a pleading tone as I stared into his caramel-colored eyes, and practically begged him to change his mind and not ask this of me. When he said nothing, I continued. “Ourwedding!Ourmemories! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“Sweetheart, I know you’ve worked hard on this, but that’s also what makes it perfect. All the details are already set. All you have to do is show up and say your vows to my cousin instead of me.”

He shrugged his shoulders as if it really weren’t that big of a deal. Instead of him being my one and only by the time we got married, I would be divorced from someone else if I went along with this crazy plan to marry his cousin. It made my heart ache just to think of it. Beckett had truly been my one and only. He was my first everything and I was his. I couldn’t imagine saying, ‘I do’ to anyone else, for any reason.

“But then my dream wedding, and all this planning, will be for someone else. Then what am I supposed to do for our wedding?”

Once again, my eyes tracked the up and down motion of his shoulders. The indifferent gesture killed something deep down inside of me. If I had to put a finger on what that thing was that died, I’d say it was my hope. The twinkle in his eyes made Beckett seem younger than his 25 years somehow. We had been middle school sweethearts, though I’d loved him long before that. We continued our relationship all through high school. Iwaited to be married to him until he had his MBA, just as we planned. This was finally supposed to be our time to make everything as official as it could be. So, why did my fiancé seem happy to hand me off to his cousin instead?

“What does Flynn have to say about all this?”

Beckett chuckled. “Flynn didn’t think I’d be able to convince you to do it.”

The three of us had grown up together, gone to school together, and had known one another since Flynn was pulled out of his stuffy private academy in middle school. After moving, to slum it with the rest of us in public school, Beckett’s cousin had become a third wheel whenever we would hang out. I knew Flynn and liked him just fine. He had even been one of my best friends for the longest time, but he wasn’t the boy I always dreamed of marrying. He knew me well enough to know that I wouldn’t want any part of this, so why didn’t my own fiancé know the same thing?

“What if I said ‘no’?” The determined look in Beckett’s eyes said everything I needed to know. He would be angry with me if I didn’t go along with this scheme.

“Come on, Sweetheart. It’s not forever.”

“It is a legally binding marriage, Beckett!”

“Meh!” He made the noise in an exaggerated, exasperated way that grated on my nerves. “Courtney, do this for me, for us, for our future children.”

“What are you going on about? Why would this be good for our future children?”

My fiancé rolled his eyes at me again, as if I should already know the answer. “Flynn plans on compensating you for your time and trouble.”

I gasped. “This is about money?” I had gone to school to be an art teacher. What I really wanted to do was to one day become a successful artist in my own right, but until that day, I couldteach other children out there who had a passion for the arts the way that I had been taught when I was in school. Granted, it didn’t pay that well, but Beckett had his MBA. He worked for an amazing firm out of Atlanta and made a solid six figure income. We didn’t need anything else.

“No, not really. It’s just that we have plenty to be comfortable, but…” His words trailed off. His eyes pleaded with me to understand.

“But what?”

“But this could set us up for retirement, our children’s education, you would never have to teach. You could just stay home and paint and not have to worry about whether your work will ever sell or not.”

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