The Sheikh's Virgin Bride by Penny Jordan

She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. He died at the beginning of 21st century. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a 'lovely man', who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography.

In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes.

At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence 'Pru'. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. Penelope 'Penny' Jones was born on Novemat about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. Aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright

The Sheikh's Virgin Bride by Penny Jordan