Swept Off Her Stilettos - story inspiration

Sometimes I have to root around in my
memory to remember where the idea for a book came from, but not with
this one. There was one big polka-dotted inspiration for this book: my
heroine, Coreen.

She
first appeared in Invitation
To The Boss's Ball as the heroine's best friend, and immediately
began to steal the show. Alice was a skinny redhead, not confident in
her own sexuality, and I decided she needed a best friend and business
partner who was her complete opposite, so up popped Coreen.

Coreen accused Alice of being a
doormat where men were concerned:

'I
do not invite men to walk all over me,' Alice said in a quiet, but
surprisingly defiant tone, well aware that Coreen would have no trouble
kicking just about any man into line with her pillar-box red, patent,
peep-toes wedges. Vintage, of course.

And with that line, I pretty much had
an idea who Coreen was - a vintage drama queen who expected every man
she met to fall down and worship at her feet. Of course, when I decided
to give her her own story, it was obvious she should run into a man who
refused to do just that. I had a rich, alpha hero all picked out for
her, and then, somehow, that idea got flipped on its head too. Enter
Adam. That's when the fun really began!

I spotted this lovely photo while
looking at vintage fashion blogs when I was doing the research that this
book. The dark hair, the red lips, the slightly cheeky glint in the
model's eye, all reminded me of Coreen.

Many thanks to Rodelle from Adore
Vintage for the use of this photo.

Mills & Boon Riva author
www.fionaharper.com