Spotlight & Giveaway: A Contract for His Runaway Bride by Melanie Milburne

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Melanie Milburne to HJ!

Hi Melanie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Contract for His Runaway Bride (The Scandalous Campbell Sisters Book 2)!

 
Hello! Great to be here!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

A jilted groom offers to finance his runaway bride’s fashion label but only if she’ll agree to be his convenient wife on paper, so his dying mother can see him settled.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

Elodie is determined not to reveal her feelings for Lincoln but her jealously shines through all the same. And Lincoln is ruthless about getting her to agree to be his wife on paper.
“ What about the woman I saw you with last time we ran in to each other? She looked like she was madly in love with you. I was surprised you could still breathe with her arms clasped around your neck like that.”
His smile was indolent, his eyes glinting. “ She was in love with me. And that’s why she’s not suitable for this position.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I had heaps of fun writing this book, as it’s the second book in my twin duet. Elodie is the opposite of her shy twin, Elspeth featured in Shy Innocent in the Spotlight. Elodie can be brash and forthright but that is her way of dealing with her difficult childhood. I liked her sassiness and determination, and also how she stood up to Lincoln.
• Twins fascinate me and identical ones in particular. I went to school with a set of identical twin boys and they were so hard to tell apart! I honestly don’t know how the teacher managed it.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

As Lincoln and Elodie are past lovers, they first met off the page. But when they meet again, Lincoln is drawn to the sheer vitality of Elodie. She realises she hasn’t stopped loving him and determines to do everything in her power not to show it.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I loved Elodie’s fighting spirit and this scene as she prepares to meet with him made me smile.

Elodie dressed carefully for her follow-up meeting with Lincoln. She wasn’t vain, but she knew the good-looks fairy had been especially generous to her and her twin. And years of being in hair and make-up sessions had given her skills that rivalled some of the top professionals.
Her make-up highlighted the blue of her eyes and the updo of her hair showcased the slim length of her neck. She put on diamond droplet earrings—a gift from one of the lingerie designers. She slipped on an emerald-green designer dress gifted to her after a photo shoot. It came to just above her knee and had a deep cleavage.
She smoothed the close-fitting dress over her slim hips and turned from side to side in front of her full-length mirror. Lincoln might think he could keep her at arm’s length, but she had a point to prove. A point to win. A score to settle. He might not have ever loved her, but he’d desired her with a ferocity she knew she could trigger in him again. She’d seen the way he’d looked at her, his scorching gaze running over her body, the way he’d kept glancing at her mouth.
She smiled at her reflection. ‘Let’s see how long you can keep your hands off me now, Lincoln Lancaster.’

Readers should read this book….

If they’ve read Shy Innocent in the Spotlight and want to find out how Elspeth’s identical twin gets her man! And if they love a reunion story with passion and sexy banter.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I am working on Book Two of my wedding-themed trilogy. Book One of the trilogy- Cinderella’s Invitation to Greece will be out early next year.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Signed copies of Shy Innocent in the Spotlight and A Contract for His Runaway Bride.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Elodie needs a financial backer for the fashion label. Is there anything you’d love to do if only you had the money?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from A Contract for His Runaway Bride (The Scandalous Campbell Sisters Book 2):

ELODIE TOOK OVER an hour to decide what to wear for her wedding day. Her wedding day. What a mockery those words were in the context in which she was becoming Lincoln Lancaster’s wife.
Her wedding day seven years ago had involved a team of hair and make-up experts, a designer gown and a hand-embroidered veil that had had a train two metres long. Her bridesmaids, including her twin, Elspeth, had attended her, along with a cute flower girl and a cheeky little boy who had been ring bearer. The church, complete with an angelic-sounding choir, had been packed with guests and flowers.
A fairy tale setting without the happy ending.
She didn’t like to think too deeply about her regrets over how she’d ended her relationship with Lincoln. She knew she had hurt her mother and her twin—especially Elspeth, who’d had received a lot of undeserved criticism when everyone had assumed she must have known something.
But even Elodie hadn’t truly known what she was going to do until she’d done it. It had been an impulsive decision that, at the time, had felt like her only option. She suspected the only hurt she had inflicted on Lincoln was to his pride. He hadn’t been in love with her, so it wasn’t as if his heart had been shattered by her jilting him. But even so, she did feel a twinge of guilt that she had bolted without talking to him face to face.
And now she was facing another wedding day with Lincoln. But what had changed in seven years? He still didn’t love her, and he was only marrying her to give his birth mother her dying wish to see him settled. Elodie couldn’t help feeling compromised about lying to someone who had so little time left. What if his mother saw through their act? What if his mother was like his housekeeper and disliked her on sight?
The streak of rebelliousness in Elodie’s nature had her reaching for a black dress for their wedding. But then she thought of Lincoln’s mother and changed her mind, and chose a cream one instead. There would be photos of the event, and no doubt they would go online. She couldn’t afford for anything to look amiss—especially when she hoped to use her marriage to Lincoln as a platform to build her own success.
She made sure her hair and make-up were perfect, and she put on pearl earrings and a pearl necklace that teamed nicely with the classic cut of her calf-length dress.
The doorbell sounded and Elodie took a deep calming breath and addressed herself in the mirror. ‘You can do this.’

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Supermodel Elodie Campbell is ready to prove the tabloid lies about her all wrong! Yet if the aspiring CEO is to make her fashion brand a reality, she’ll need billion-dollar backing. As if pitching to a billionaire wasn’t hard enough…Lincoln Lancaster is her ex-fiancé!
Elodie loved Lincoln deeply but ended their engagement. Fearful she might become his trophy wife and nothing more. Now, the key to Lincoln’s help is anything but simple: she must become his convenient bride! The biggest complication? The all-consuming chemistry that never went away!
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Melanie Milburne read her first Harlequin at age seventeen in between studying for her final exams. After completing a Masters Degree in Education she decided to write a novel and thus her career as a romance author was born. Melanie is an ambassador for the Australian Childhood Foundation and is a keen dog lover and trainer and enjoys long walks in the Tasmanian bush. In 2015 Melanie won the HOLT Medallion, a prestigous award honouring outstanding literary talent.
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