Rita Bradshaw was born in Northamptonshire, where she still lives today. At the age of sixteen she met her husband and they have two daughters, a son and three grandchildren, plus the most recent addition to the family—a gorgeous little puppy who’s the latest in a long line of beloved dogs. Twenty years ago, Rita’s first attempt at a novel was accepted for publication by Harlequin Mills & Boon under her pseudonym, Helen Brooks, and her fifty-seventh novel, The Boss’s Inexperienced Secretary, was published in July 2009, with a seasonal-themed story arriving on the shelves in November, in time for Christmas. Rita also writes gritty north-east sagas for Headline Publishing under her own name. Her thirteenth paperback, Gilding the Lily, was published in the summer and Born to Trouble will be available in January 2010.