Welcome to Mills & Boon. Jennifer Rae

marrying Flynn might do it? Thomas Morrison held grudges, and he held on tight. The best she could hope for was that Thea would be in so much trouble that she might eclipse Helena’s own mistakes for a while.

      Thea. How was she ever going to explain this to Thea?

      Thea would have stopped her. But Thea was off chasing her own happy ever after, and Helena had stepped right into the very shoes she’d tried to talk her sister out of just a few days before.

      Helena glanced down and caught a glimpse of her bright pink bridesmaid’s shoes. Not quite Thea’s white satin heels, after all. And this wedding, and everything that would follow, wasn’t quite as it would have been for Thea, either. There was less paperwork, for a start. Just a scribbled unofficial contract at complete odds with the thirty-page document that had comprised Thea and Flynn’s prenuptial agreement.

      But, more than that, Helena wasn’t Thea. She wasn’t the face of the business and she was neither qualified nor willing to take on her sister’s role at the company, presuming that Thea didn’t come home to take it back herself. She was still a Morrison, and maybe that was enough for Flynn and his father.

      For the first time since she’d entered the church, Helena looked past the flowers, the hats and the gossips and stared at her husband-to-be. Standing there beside the priest, his feet slightly apart, hands behind his back, Flynn looked solid. Calm, reliable, steady. All the things Helena had never thought she wanted in her life until eight years ago. Things she’d thought she’d never be able to find, since.

      A casual observer, watching his serene expression, would never guess that the woman he was marrying today wasn’t the woman he’d proposed to.

      Maybe Helena could earn some of that serenity for herself, by marrying Flynn. If she could be what he needed, then surely he could be enough for her. She just couldn’t help but wonder how much he was going to ask of her, before she reached that magical point of enough.

       Give the company an heir.

      Terrifying words—words that sent a shudder through her whole body. But they were just words, part of Flynn’s agreement with Thea. Not with her. Never her. Because he couldn’t know, wouldn’t understand—and so she couldn’t tell him what a baby would mean to her. How it might destroy her, this time, just to think about it.

      The past only stayed in the past until it got dragged into the present. Hadn’t Thea and Zeke proved that?

      Too late to question what she was doing now, anyway. He’d given her an out and she hadn’t taken it. To run at this point would be worse than if she’d never suggested this stupid idea in the first place. No one would ever forgive her for humiliating Flynn Ashton on his wedding day—for letting it happen twice.

      No, she was getting married today and all she could do now was make the most of it, until enough time had passed for a discreet divorce.

      Head held high, Helena continued to stare down the aisle at her intended husband until suddenly he looked up and met her gaze. His eyes were steady and serious, just like the man himself. Flynn Ashton was stable, reliable—everything Helena needed in her life. He wouldn’t let her screw up again; she knew it.

      They reached the front row of seats and Flynn stepped forward to meet them for the ceremonial giving away of the bride. As she disentangled her hand from her father’s arm, he leant in towards Flynn. ‘She’s your problem now, son,’ he muttered, and Helena’s heart stung.

      No, even this wasn’t enough for him to forgive her. She couldn’t imagine why she’d ever thought it would be. That all of this could be anything except a huge mistake.

      ‘I like to think she’ll be my partner rather than my problem,’ Flynn murmured back, and Helena’s gaze flew to his face in surprise.

      Maybe, just maybe, marrying Flynn wasn’t a mistake. Maybe it was an opportunity.

      Maybe it could even be her future.

      With a bright smile, Helena turned, gave her father a dry peck on the cheek, then stepped forward in bright pink shoes to meet it.

       CHAPTER TWO

      HELENA’S HAND FELT warm in his, an unexpected heat in the cool shade of the chapel. There wasn’t a lot of warmth coming from the congregation either. More frosty confusion and comments as sharp as icicles. Flynn squared his shoulders as they took the last couple of steps up to the altar together. He’d known this wouldn’t be an easy sell but if there was one thing he’d learnt growing up as the cuckoo in the Ashton nest, it was how to smooth over ruffled feathers.

      It was a talent that had served him well in business, too. He was the one they brought in when Ezekiel Ashton had offended an investor or a client. The one who talked secretaries into staying when they’d had the sharp edge of Zeke Senior’s tongue one too many times.

      But, more than that, he was the one who made things happen. Not by making threats, as Ezekiel did, or taking risks and dares as Zeke would have done, but by gentling people along until they almost thought whatever Flynn wanted was their own idea.

      The same way he’d persuaded Thea to marry him, in fact.

      But Helena was the plan now. He just had to smooth the way forward for them. Make it so that everyone realised that, while this particular wedding was unexpected, it was just what they’d all really wanted all along, even if they hadn’t known it.

      He’d made a good start at that, he hoped, with his comment to Thomas. After all, Thomas might own half the business but he’d leave it to Helena in the end, once she was married to him. He might even disown Thea altogether after today, not that it made much difference. Zeke had made it clear that he was never coming back to Morrison-Ashton. Flynn would be CEO within the year and he’d have Helena at his side.

      Which meant Helena, not Thomas, was the important one now.

      Another talent Flynn had learnt young: identify the vital person and focus on them. In a family argument, the vital person varied. Usually it was Ezekiel because he was the head of the household, the ultimate authority. Sometimes it was Isabella because her own power, especially over Ezekiel, couldn’t be ignored. Occasionally it was Zeke, but only when two brothers teaming up together could win their parents round to their way of thinking, which wasn’t often.

      It went without saying that Flynn was never that vital person.

      But he wasn’t a mistake or an accident, not any more. Not an unfortunate addition or a spare part, to be dragged out when he could be useful. He was what the company needed. What the family needed. And all he needed was Helena.

      He squeezed Helena’s hand, just a small measure of reassurance as the priest smiled at them. Had the old man not realised that there was something amiss today? It was possible. Thea had been out the one time he’d come to call on them. The priest had spoken to Flynn and Helena instead, and had nodded amiably when Flynn had leant forward to murmur their names to him again before Helena walked down the aisle, just to make sure he got it right in the service. It was entirely possible that the man holding the Bible firmly believed that he was joining a young couple in love in the binding act of marriage.

      Well, Flynn was on board with the binding part, at least.

      As they knelt before the priest, he heard a gasp go up from the congregation behind them. Frowning, he glanced over at his bride and saw her trying to hide a smile behind her hand.

      ‘What?’ he mouthed, raising an eyebrow.

      Helena gave a tiny shake of her head, but lowered her hand long enough to whisper, ‘I think they just clocked the shoes.’

      Of course. Those ridiculous pink shoes.

      Flynn kept his eyes on the floor in front of him. In all honesty, he quite liked the shoes. Liked the flash of colour and spirit they showed, just like the woman wearing them had when she’d stepped into that wedding dress