Twin Troubles in Melanie Milburne’s “Mistress at the Italian’s Command”!
13 Comments April 1st, 2010 in Uncategorized Posted by Amyby Melanie Milburne, author of “Mistress at the Italian’s Command”, in Her Mediterranean Playboy 2-in-1
I have often thought how wonderful it would be if I could split myself into two so I could get everything done that I need to get done. I can almost see you all nodding in agreement. Life is so busy and there is not enough time to do the essentials, let alone the extras.
I sometimes wish I had an identical twin. I could get her to do all the other stuff while I get on with what I most love to do-writing. How cool would that be? I have two sisters but there is no way they could pass for me. Anyway, even if we did look alike, I don’t think they would want to be in my shoes even for a minute. They are always telling to SLOW DOWN!
But what if you had no choice but to be someone else for a day, a week or several weeks? That is exactly what happens to my heroine in my novella Mistress at the Italian’s Command.
Alice (Ally) Benton is distraught to find on her arrival in Rome that her identical twin has tried to take her own life. Alexandra’s mental health has always been a worry to Ally, but over the last year or so things seemed to have settled down. Her sister had told her only days ago of the wonderful man she was dating and how things were going brilliantly in her life.
What has been going on in her twin’s life so recently that it has come to this? Alex is lying in hospital, refusing to discuss the details of her affair with Rocco Montano, and of course, Ally doesn’t want to press her too hard in case it upsets Alex even more.
While Ally is at her twin’s flat sorting out the mess she found there a man comes knocking on the door. Not just any man either. Not the landlord Ally was expecting to demand the outstanding rent, and not the postman or a charity collector. It is none other than Rocco’s brother-in-law, billionaire businessman Vittorio Vassallo.
Ally is suddenly balancing on a tightrope. She has the choice to tell him straight out who she is or she can go along with his assumption that she is her twin sister: the woman who shamelessly gatecrashed an important business function of his a few days ago.
She decides to step into her sister’s shoes, but the trouble is she has no idea where Alex has last been walking in them!
But the handsome, sharp-witted and darkly attractive Vittorio Vassallo is a man not easily fooled. And Ally finds herself on a racing rollercoaster of deceit and deception she is terrified will end in her exposure and the destruction of her beloved twin. And yet she is determined to find out what led her sister to act the way she had, even if it means pretending to be Vittorio Vassallo’s mistress!
Vittorio’s plan to put the press off the scent of a scandal to protect his pregnant sister from the perfidious activities of his brother-in-law Rocco sounds workable. Tempting too given how gorgeous he is! Ally soon finds herself playing the role with a little too much conviction as she gradually realises it is not just her reputation that is at stake, but her heart.
I love twin stories, there is so much tension and drama as the threat of exposure looms constantly. My other twin story a couple of years ago now was Bought for the Marriage Bed. In Nina and Marc’s story I left Marc guessing right to the end. He was in for a very big shock to find the woman he had married in order to claim his brother’s child was not the woman he thought!
Vittorio and Ally’s journey is a little different but I hope you will find it equally entertaining.
And if you are an identical twin (or know someone who is) let me know what you (or they) love most about having someone who looks exactly like you, or conversely what you hate. I have young adult friends who are triplets (two boys and a girl) but fortunately for them they are all different so no one gets confused. However it has been tricky and expensive for their parents, not to mention time consuming teaching three people to drive at the same time, buying three leaver’s dinner’s outfits and paying for three university degrees. As long as they don’t decide to all get married in the same year!
Happy reading,
Melanie Milburne
Use the book browse widget below to read the first chapter of BOTH stories in Her Mediterranean Playboy, “Mistress at the Italian’s Command” by Melanie Milburne and “Italian Boss, Housekeeper Mistress” by Kate Hewitt.
Tagged with: author Melanie Milburne • Italian heroes • Mistress at the Italian’s Command • twin stories
13 Responses to “Twin Troubles in Melanie Milburne’s “Mistress at the Italian’s Command”!”
- 1 Pingback on Apr 1st, 2010 at 1:11 pm
- 2 Pingback on Apr 3rd, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Hi Melanie,
Dare say great minds . . .
I adore the idea of twins, and ha ha, “snap” have just finished a “twin” themed novel: The Billionaire’s Dilemma: Identical Twin Mistress’
As a writer one can get up to so much mischief with a twin, especially if one of the twin characters has a decidedly wicked self-interest streak!!!
Love it, love, but then I’m renowned among friends for having a notoriously wicked mischievous streak!
best
Francine
Maybe it’s the Gemini in me, but I just love twin stories! I love the idea that you could have someone else’s face–and trick that person’s intimates into thinking you’re that someone else….
I knew identical twins in grad school. When my friend showed me a picture of herself and her sister as small children, I asked her which was which and she shrugged and said she didn’t know. That kind of blew my mind.
Can’t wait to read this, Melanie!
Wow, Caitlin, imagine not being able to recognise yourself in a photo! That is really amazing. I went to school with twins too but one of them had a small mole on his face. The trick was to remember which one it was.
Francine, I love your mischievous sounding nature!
Melanie, Bought For the Marriage bed was one of the first Presents I read, and I really loved it. Not only for the twin angle, but I just love it when family is involved. And I remember totally understanding Nina being willing to do ANYTHING for her niece. You’d do anything for your kids. Even go off with sexy Italian billionaires…mmm…I digress.
Can’t wait to read this one!
I’ve always had an uncanny knack for being able to tell twins apart. It’s that looking inside the person rather than at them thing, maybe? I do truly enjoy reading a good story about twins as there’s this built-in angst that give the story an extra edge every time. Your books are always so well done, I can imagine you play that edge to perfection.
I am still having trouble posting so I hope everyone doesn’t think I am ignoring them!
This is test number three or four.
Lucy and Caitlin and Maisey, you are too kind.
I have lost a couple of comments to cyberspace so hopefully this one will get through.
Maisey, I can’t believe my book was one of the first Presents you read! And now you are about to debut as an author! Yay!!! I feel very humbled by that. It means what I do actually has an impact on people. What a lovely thought.
I am about to eat more chocolate. Somebody stop me!
Hi Melanie!
I’ve always loved twin stories – I think it has a lot to do with the way that you can write two heroines who are so much the same and yet still different idividuals. And I love the idea of some powerful super-confident alpha-male thinking he’s talking to/dealing with one woman and then getting thrown completely off balance when her responses are just not what he was expecting at all! And as Lucy says the twins theme always gives a story an extra edge.
Hmm – which makes me wonder why I haven’t written more twin stories myself! I know there was Chase the Dawn – way back when(and you can tell from that title how long ago it was!) – and people still write and tell me how much they loved that book! . . . note to self . ..!
Now down to test number ten, I think.
Thanks Lucy, Maisey and Caitlin. You say such nice things!
Is anyone else out there or is everyone else having trouble logging on?
Amy? Help!
They’re all getting caught in spam. It’s been happening since my last post…I’ve broken the web site.
Yeah, eat chocolate! You deserve it!
It was a wonderful book. I’ve always enjoyed yours, and how you explore a lot of complicated family type relationships. Inspiring!
Kate, I remember your twin story. I LOVED it. You must write another one.
Hope this gets through.