Spotlight & Giveaway: Claimed for the Billionaire’s Convenience 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, Claimed for the Billionaire’s Convenience!

 
Hello!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

A twice-jilted man-hating wedding florist is mistakenly linked a la ‘engaged’ to a die-hard playboy celebrity divorce lawyer.
 

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

Holly was so fixated on the startling colour of his eyes she couldn’t locate her voice. A smoky blue with flecks of navy in the irises and on the outer rim as if someone had drawn a precise circle around them with a felt-tip marker. She raised her chin a fraction. ‘You don’t strike me as a man who would stop long enough to smell the roses.’ A glint appeared in his eyes like twin diamond chips and the sound of his laugh rumbled down the entire length of her spine. ‘There’s nothing I love more than a prickly rose. The thornier the better.’

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

I really enjoyed crafting these two characters who met at a divorce party. Both were incredibly cynical about relationships and yet were perfect for each other. I love flowers and used to work after school in a florist when I was a teenager. I have never forgotten how much work went into the wedding bouquets! I interviewed a local florist for this book and guess what? Her name was Holly! Such a spooky coincidence.

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

When Zack arrives at his client’s divorce party and spies Holly spooning a second serving of cheesecake into her mouth. Holly catches his eye mid-swallow and feels his sensual energy zap her from across the room.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

The scene where they first meet, as so much is going on in terms of body language and subtext. They are highly intelligent people both trying to score points off each other.

‘Would you like a drink?’ Zack asked.
Holly didn’t need any more alcohol. She was tipsy from just looking at him. ‘No, thank you. I’ve had my two drinks for the evening.’
That diamond glint was back in his eyes as if her saying no had secretly delighted him.
‘Are you driving?’
‘No. I caught a cab.’
‘I can’t tempt you to break your two-drinks-only rule?’
Holly raised her chin and channelled her childhood Sunday school teacher’s prim Temperance Society tone. ‘No, Mr Knight. You cannot tempt me.’
Zack’s you-just-watch-me smile made something in Holly’s belly flutter like a breeze through the pages of an open book.
‘Are you here with anyone?’
‘No. I came alone.’
‘Is that usual for you?’ Something about the tone of his voice made her wonder if they were discussing her relationship status or something much more intimate. Thinking about sex while standing in front of a man as arrantly masculine as Zack Knight was like standing in front of flammable fuel with a lit match. Dangerous. Stupidly, recklessly dangerous. Holly could feel her cheeks heating, her body tingling and her resolve limping away. She stretched her mouth into a stiff no-teeth-showing smile.
‘Don’t let me keep you from chatting up the other guests.’
‘I’m not interested in the other guests. I’m interested in you.’ His statement was underlined with determination and his gaze as steady as a marksman’s. Holly mentally gave her resolve a pep talk but it was like trying to get a lame horse to finish a steeplechase. On crutches.
‘I can’t imagine why you’d be interested in me.’ Damn it. She sounded like she was flirting.
‘Zack!’ Kendra Hutchinson came click-clacking towards them in her terrifyingly high heels, her voice so shrill she sounded like a beginner on bagpipes. ‘And yay, you’ve found Holly.’ She beamed at Holly. ‘I told him all about you. I hope you don’t mind.’
Holly clenched her teeth behind a polite smile. ‘Why should I mind? If Mr Knight is in the market for wedding flowers, then I’m the woman he needs to call.’
Kendra laughed and shone her orthodontist-perfect smile at Zack. ‘Isn’t she gorgeous? I knew you two would hit it off.’
‘Undeniably gorgeous.’ Zack’s gaze met Holly’s, reminding her of a hunter who had just selected his prey.
‘Holly hasn’t been on a date in two and a half years,’ Kendra said to Zack. ‘Don’t you find that simply amazing?’ What Holly found amazing was how she stopped herself from grabbing one of Kendra’s heels, pockmarking her collagen-plumped cheeks with it and taking out a couple of those bright white tooth veneers while she was at it. She might have vented a little ire about men on her Facebook account now and again but she hadn’t said anything about how long she’d been celibate. That was no one’s business. Who had Kendra been talking to? Jane? Or Sabrina, her best friend, who ran the other arm of Holly’s Love Is in the Care business?
‘Let’s see if I can get her to change her mind about dating,’ Zack said with another I’ve-got-this-nailed smile.
Holly inched up her chin and sent him a haughty glare straight out of a Georgette Heyer novel. ‘You’d be wasting your time, Mr Knight.’

Readers should read this book….

If they want to read a fun and flirty romance between two jaded relationship cynics who secretly long to find happiness.

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

I am currently NOT WORKING. Yes, you read that correctly. I suffered a nasty fall three days before my birthday in late November and shattered my elbow. It required surgery and the cast and sling make it impossible to do much of anything.
I am typing this with one hand and it is taking so long.
But the good news is, I have another book-Holly’s business partner Sabrina and her nemesis Max Firbank- coming out next month- The Venetian One-Night Baby. Max and Sabrina have suffered their respective families’ matchmaking attempts all their lives and have always kept their distance from each other. But after a one-night encounter with Max, Sabrina discovers she is pregnant!
And in May, I have Penniless Virgin to Sicilian’s Bride. My hero Gabriel Salvetti is the only white sheep from a notorious criminal family. He needs Anglo-Italian aristocrat Francesca Mancini’s respectability by engaging in a marriage of convenience with her to distance himself from his father’s criminal activities.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One signed copy of Claimed for the Billionaire’s Convenience (Harlequin Presents) to one commenter, open International!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Holly and Zack are cynical about relationships. Is there something you are cynical about that you can’t see changing anytime soon?

 
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Excerpt from Claimed for the Billionaire’s Convenience:

‘That was Zack Knight, wasn’t it?’ Sabrina asked. ‘What did you say to him? You looked like you were going to hit him.’
‘Drat that odious man.’ Holly grabbed Sabrina’s arm and led her out to the street. ‘This is exactly why I’ve stopped dating. He said he was here with his father. His father! Who takes their father to a musical? Excuse me while I throw up. Does he think I’m that naïve?’
‘Not all men are two-timing jerks. Maybe he really was here with his father. Or his mother.’ Holly gave her the side-eye.
‘Or his sister? His second cousin twice removed who happens to be his personal trainer?’ Sabrina grimaced.
‘Point taken.’ Holly glanced back to see if Zack’s ‘father’ had joined him but there was no sign of either Zack or whoever was supposedly with him. She’d been a fool to think she could outsmart him. Damn him for turning the tables on her. He was probably on his way back to his palatial penthouse by now with his ‘date’. Grr. She wished now she’d acted a little more blasé about him cancelling their date. Why should she care if he decided to take someone else out? She hadn’t wanted to go out with him in the first place. Of course she hadn’t. Well…maybe just a wee bit. ‘He’s amazingly handsome, isn’t he?’ Sabrina’s voice had a note of starstruck fan about it. ‘Like one of those European aftershave models, all brooding and sexy. No wonder you’re feeling a little disappointed.’
‘I’m not disappointed. I was only going to go out with him to mess with his head. And to improve my reputation. But I’ll think of some other way to do that. I will not be jerked around by a man who’s a player.’ Holly blew out a breath like she was blowing out the last candle on her self-esteem.
‘Damn. I wish I’d seen who he was with. I wonder where he was sitting. I’d like to know who my competition is.’
‘I’m not sure who could compete with you wearing that dress,’ Sabrina said. ‘You look amazing.’ Holly tucked her escaping section of hair back into position. ‘Humph. I didn’t think it was possible to dislike a man so much.’ And still be attracted to him.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

To redeem his notorious reputation…

She’ll agree to wear his ring!

When headlines mistakenly announce florist Holly Frost’s engagement to ruthless celebrity divorce lawyer Zack Knight, she’s stunned. His lethal charisma may have ignited a fire in her blood, but she’s finished with fairy tales. Yet Zack seems determined to turn this scandal, and their red-hot attraction, to their mutual advantage… Swept away to Paris, Holly must remember this alliance is only temporary—even while wearing his diamond!

Escape to Paris with this marriage of convenience story!
Book Links: Book Links: Amazon |
 
 

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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