**Nicola Cornick** was born in Yorkshire, England, within a stone's throw of the moors that had inspired the Bronte sisters to write Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. One of her grandfathers was a poet. With such a background it was impossible for Nicola not to become a writer. Nicola studied history at London University and has done a variety of jobs, from sticking price tags on shoes in a factory to serving refreshments on a steam railway. She lived for seven years in a cottage haunted by the ghost of a cavalier. It was here that she wrote her first historical romance for Mills & Boon. Since then she has written more than 15 novels for Mills & Boon (reedited by Harlequin), and been nominated for a number of awards including the British Romance Prize by the Romantic Novelists' Association, and RITA by the Romance Writers of America, and a Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice award. She is a Membership Secretary for the RNA and critique manuscripts for aspiring authors via the RNA's New Writers' Scheme, and also for the RWA Beau Monde mentor scheme.