Nearly Wed

Ellie Sharpe is the good twin. Responsible, dependable, she’s a survivor with the medical debt to prove it. Jill, her flighty identical sister, is her opposite in all but appearance. But when media darling Luke Hamilton enters their family diner, Ellie seizes the opportunity only to be overshadowed by her twin. Just as well. Always put your best foot forward, right?The whirlwind proposal was unexpected but convenient indeed. Marrying into the Hamilton family would solve their financial worries, but Ellie can’t help but feel jealous. But when Jill falls in love with someone else, a last-minute opportunity presents: Take her place at the altar with a twin-switch for the ages.For Luke it’s simple: prove he’s not the untrustworthy playboy the media portrays, and cement his newest business initiative as a married man. For Jill, being arm candy is quid pro quo, a part she’d gladly play for the financial security to settle her sister's medical debts. But Ellie? Can she marry with the same calculated ease as her identical counterpart? Will Luke notice the difference between them or is the whirlwind courtship fast enough to blur most of the details? And what happens when Jill comes back? Will a twin by any other name taste as sweet?*Extract from ch 4:She entered the church like sunlight, shining and bright. Luke heard River, who was standing at attention as his best man, inhale sharply. A physical response to the visceral attraction his bride provoked. She paused, hesitating a few steps down the aisle, before looking straight ahead and moving toward him. She walked alone. Very Jill. It was hard to be distracted by anything other than her figure, which bloomed in the fitted dress.She looked up at him, her gaze piercing and blue. Her eyes were rounder, wider, and lighter today. Two twin pools of azure, unclouded like the sky on a bright day, searching his eyes with caution.“You have never looked more beautiful,” he said huskily, answering her unvoiced question in affirmation.“Thanks,” she whispered. It was hard to hear her, the whisper directed toward her feet. If you’d told him this morning his confident girlfriend would be replaced by this blushing bride, he wouldn’t have believed it, but here she was.He offered her hands another squeeze and was met with one in return. It was outer-worldly, the drone of ceremony feeling as though the experience was being narrated.“Do you, Lukas Colin Hamilton, take this woman, Jillian Rachel Sharpe, to be your lawful wedded wife?”He nodded dumbly, then cleared his throat, realizing the contract was verbal. “I do,” he confirmed.The priest, mollified by Luke’s surety, turned his attention to Jill.She, like him, didn’t answer right away. She had raised her eyes to his, to look directly at him. She hadn’t blinked. Neither had he. ”I do,” she said the words like a promise; sweet and sure."You may now kiss the bride,” the priest allowed. He leaned forward, tracing a hand from her cheek to chin, finally tilting hers to meet it with his own. Bending, he kissed her lightly, brushing his mouth over hers. His resolve to not lose himself evaporated as she poured her body against his in answer. At first, he stiffened, then relaxed, moving one hand to the small of her back, pulling her close and deepening his discovery. She took the gift and gave it back to him.Had it been the priest who had cleared his throat? Too soon, it was over.I’d abandon oxygen to have this woman kiss me again. Surely it'd be worth it to stop breathing, to let her breathe for me?