Switched At The Altar

Switched At The Altar
Metsy Hingle

Right Bride, WRONG GROOM STOP THE WEDDING! Maybe his brother was easily swayed by the wiles of a Southern vamp, but not steely Alex Stone. He had managed to tiptoe around the commitment trap. But from all appearances his younger sibling was newly engaged to sultry Desiree Mason, and Alex was sure she was just another heat-seeking marriage missile aimed at the family wealth.Alex knew that the surest way to keep his brother out of the bridal suite was to lure this honey-voiced vixen into his bed. But "saving" his sibling could mean losing himself to love… .RIGHT BRIDE, WRONG GROOM: Marrying Mr. Almost-Right is all wrong, especially when the perfect man is ready to sweep you into his arms!

“You’re Not Going To Marry Him,” Alex Declared. (#u483be22b-811b-5594-87b9-811d35b0700b)Letter to Reader (#u2ec65fae-9152-5fa9-849c-ac1593625461)Title Page (#udd7b36d6-00f5-5a6a-9435-5f409c469371)About the Author (#u10f7c94c-9678-5705-9638-16f90e611932)Dedication (#u24d77f3c-ccb6-5552-a501-b14c6b1beb2e)Chapter One (#ud34251b9-fe23-5391-b2a9-e9a4f9202d40)Chapter Two (#ufe9a2bf6-0ad0-5d68-a5d7-fe6aaaccb7ec)Chapter Three (#uaafd5b09-3d71-5e09-9553-3dc3d814248d)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)Teaser chapter (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“You’re Not Going To Marry Him,” Alex Declared.

“But I—”

“But what? You love him? You expect me to believe that after the way you came apart in my arms?” He moved in on her, caging her between the desk and himself.

Desiree’s pulse skittered at the fierce emotion emanating from him, at the desire burning hot and dark in those black eyes. Try as she might, she was unable to stop herself from responding to him. “Alex, you don’t understand. If you’d just let me explain, Kevin and I—”

“I won’t let you marry him.”

And before she could say another word, he took possession of her mouth. Her mind. Her heart.

Dear Reader,

Where do you read Silhouette Desire? Sitting in your favonte chair? How about standing in line at the market or swinging in the sunporch hammock? Or do you hold out the entire day, waiting for all your distractions to dissolve around you, only to open a Desire novel once you’re in a relaxing bath or resting against your softest pillow...? Wherever you indulge in Silhouette Desire, we know you do so with anticipation, and that’s why we bring you the absolute best in romance fiction.

This month, look forward to talented Jennifer Greene’s A Baby inHis In-Box, where a sexy tutor gives March’s MAN OF THE MONTH private lessons on sudden fatherhood. And in the second adorable tale of Elizabeth Bevarly’s BLAME IT ON BOB series, Beauty and the Brain, a lady discovers she’s still starry-eyed over her secret high school crush. Next, Susan Crosby takes readers on The Great Wife Search in Bride Candidate #9.

And don’t miss a single kiss delivered by these delectable men: a roguish rancher in Amy J. Fetzer’s The Unlikely Bodyguard; the strong, silent corporate hunk in the latest book in the RIGHT BRIDE, WRONG GROOM series, Switched at the Altar, by Metsy Hingle; and Eileen Wilks’s mouthwatering honorable Texas hero in Just a Little Bit Pregnant.

So, no matter where you read, I know what you’ll be reading—all six of March’s irresistible Silhouette Desire love stories!

Regards,

Melissa Senate

Senior Editor

Silhouette Desire

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

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Switched At The Altar

Metsy Hingle

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

METSY HINGLE

is a native of New Orleans, who loves the city in which she grew up. She credits the charm of her birthplace, and her own French heritage, with instilling in her the desire to write. Married and the mother of four children, she believes in romance and happy endings. Becoming a Silhouette author is a long-cherished dream come true for Metsy and one happy ending that she continues to celebrate with each new story she writes. She loves hearing from readers. Write to Metsy at P.O. Box 3224, Covington, LA 70433.

For the real “Maggie the Cat”

and her owner, Linda Kay West, a.k.a. Linda Lewis.

One

His brother was a dead man. Or at least he would be dead, Alexander Stone vowed, the moment he got his hands on him. Jerking open the door, he stepped inside Magnolia House. The lazy breeze of a ceiling fan stroked his skin like a woman’s fingers as he moved into the entrance hall and out of the Louisiana heat.

Still cursing his younger sibling for causing him to make the trip from Boston to this backwater town outside of New Orleans, Alex marched over to the reception desk. He scowled at the sight of the unmanned desk before slapping the bell for assistance.

Temper curled like a fist in his gut as he waited and recounted the morning’s discoveries. Not only had Kevin failed to show up for any of his summer law school classes for the past week, but he hadn’t been seen at his apartment for even longer. Learning that his brother’s mail was being forwarded to Magnolia House in care of Ms. Desiree Mason had done nothing to improve his mood. Nor had it eased his rising temper. No wonder he hadn’t been able to reach Kevin by phone for the past three days. The young fool had evidently moved in with the Mason woman.

The newspaper clipping—shoved under his nose by a former lady friend who’d come by to show off her engagement ring—flashed into Alex’s mind’s eye again.

What handsome younger son of one of Boston’s finest families will soon be trading in his law books for a trip down the aisle with none other than a Southern belle of the stage... just as his dear, departed father did several times before him? Need a hint? The young man’s older half-brother is a legal eagle and one of this city’s most eligible bachelors. Still can’t guess? How about this? The family name means hard, rocklike...as in a precious gem or Stone.

Even if he didn’t have a genius IQ, Alex fumed, it wouldn’t have been difficult for him to figure out that the scheming Ms. Desiree Mason had gotten her hooks firmly into his kid brother.

Well, he’d see how anxious the little gold digger was to marry Kevin once she found out that he was the one who controlled his trust fund.

Where the devil is everyone? Five seconds stretched into ten, obliterating what little patience he had left. Annoyed, Alex slapped the bell on the desk again.

Nothing. No one.

“Aw, the hell with it,” he muttered. “I’ll find Kevin myself.” And when he did, he was through being a marshmallow where his younger brother was concerned. He’d been making that mistake from the day a nine-year-old Kevin had been deposited on his doorstep while their respective parents went off with their next set of spouses. In the thirteen years since then, he’d fought any and all objections to send Kevin away to military school, had even suffered their grandfather’s anger for refusing to do so. But he’d been determined, hell-bent, on providing his brother with some semblance of a normal family, to give him a more nurturing childhood than the one he’d known.

And you’ve certainly done a fine job of it, Alex admonished himself silently. Look what a mess Kevin had gotten himself into now. And it was, at least partially, his fault. He should have known something like this would happen. Should have expected it. Kevin was a good-looking, wealthy young man—and far too easily swayed by a pretty face. Just as their father had been, Alex admitted. By giving in to Kevin’s request to attend law school down south, he’d all but thrown Kevin to the wolves. And he’d allowed his brother to become the target of every sweet, magnolia vamp south of the Mason-Dixon line trying to land herself a rich husband.

And evidently Ms. Desiree Mason had scored a bull’s-eye.

Alex gritted his teeth. The woman’s name alone should have set off alarm bells the first time Kevin had mentioned her. His kid brother was no match for some conniving, Southern belle with a honey-voiced accent. Well, Ms. Desiree Mason would have to find herself some other young fool to marry, because he had no intention of letting his brother make the biggest mistake of his life.

As of right now, Kevin was going to be made to toe the line. And he was going to start by going back to law school—in Boston, not New Orleans—and forgetting any foolish thoughts he might have about marrying Desiree Mason. With that idea in mind, Alex started down the hall in search of his brother. He froze mid-stride at the sound of an all-too-familiar tune. It was the one song that he had sworn both of his parents had adopted as their personal favorite, the one song that still made him break out in a cold sweat whenever he heard it.

The wedding march!

Panic sent adrenaline rushing through his body, and Alex sped down the length of the hall toward the sound of the music. The last cords of the tune faded just as he jerked open the massive double doors to a ballroom.

“Dearly beloved...”

Alex bit back an oath at the sight of bridesmaids, groomsmen, a minister holding a bible. His gaze darted to the back of the shapely redhead in the wedding dress and stared at bare shoulders, the color of rich cream, that flirted beneath a whisper of lace. Swallowing hard, Alex dragged his gaze from the bride to the groom standing beside her. His heart stopped and then started again as he looked at the familiar back of the tall, dark-haired man about to be married—his brother, Kevin.

“We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in the sacrament of holy matrimony,” the minister continued. “Marriage is a—”

“Stop,” Alex shouted. Heedless of the surprised gasps and curious looks directed at him, he raced down the aisle. “I demand you stop this wedding at once!”