Feature: Gemini Rising by Linda Nightingale

The hero and heroine (Alina and Alain) in Gemini Rising are identical—male/female—twins, not possible in our genetic makeup.  They are a scientific miracle and, at their birth, stump the medical world.  The reason why they are so special is that identical twins are formed when one fertilized egg splits.  They are the only people in the world with identical DNA. Fraternal twins, formed when two different eggs are fertilized, are no closer than normal siblings, sharing only about 50% of their genes.

Although identical twins have the same genotype, or DNA, they have different phenotypes, i.e., the same DNA is expressed in different ways.

For example, two traits determined by phenotype are fingerprints and physical appearance.  A DNA test can't determine the difference between identical twins, but a simple fingerprint can.

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Blurb:

From birth, Alain and Alina Alastair are a scientific miracle—identical male-female twins—a biological impossibility.  Destined to tread the farther, forbidden paths, they discover love, lust, and danger lurking in their future.  When their parents whisk their miracle children home to an isolated island, their lives reach a turning point.

Alain craves escape from the seclusion. 

Alina yearns to express her love with a man who treasures her.

The secrets at Alastair Keep threaten to undermine the very foundations of the world in which these impossible twins live.

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Excerpt:

Alain tucked the in-flight magazine into the seat pocket and gazed out the scratched window of the 747.  Distance vanished on clouds fleeing beneath the silver wings, carrying him from a dark-eyed beauty to a fair-haired princess locked in an island castle.  From one life in the sun to a score of problems.

Someone was going to get hurt.

Already he hurt—a low throbbing like a toothache.  If he returned to Portugal, Alina would be devastated.  His father would disown him.  If he picked up his discarded heritage, a part of him would die and Maritza would grieve.  For a time.  He wasn’t vain enough to think the black-haired beauty would die without him.

The choice lay in his hands.

Damn life got complicated when he tried to declare independence from The Keep.  He shifted his long legs cramped beneath the airline seat.  He preferred not to think, but fragments of memory plagued the corners of his eyes.

A vivid picture of Alina supplanted images of recent days drenched white-hot by a Portuguese sun.  His twin’s presence was more corporeal than the woman sitting to his left.  Welcome or not, Alina was there inside him, the mere thought of her a compulsion.  He sensed her anticipation mounting as the miles melted.  Excitement tingled over him.  In self defense, he grasped at a memory of riding the splendid Lusitano stallions.  As he pictured Maritza framed in an arbor of roses, his heart dived.

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