by Susan Napier, author of Public Scandal, Private Mistress (Harlequin Presents)

Veronica Bell thinks of herself as a rather ordinary young woman – hardly the type to inspire mad passion in a man – so a wild, romantic fling with a tall, dark and handsome stranger is the last thing she expects when her travel plans are disrupted and she finds herself holidaying alone in Paris. Seduced by the delights the French capital and a newfound desire to be something more than her ordinary self, she makes an impulsive decision which is destined to change her life forever….

Lucien Ryder is not a man who trusts easily. Brilliant, wealthy and successful, he is accustomed to ruthlessly guarding his privacy and his well-developed instinct for survival is triggered when an artless, not-so-innocent ingénue strays once too often across his path. Already embroiled in one brewing scandal, he is aware that a sizzling affair could seriously complicate matters, but Veronica upsets all his carefully constructed plans and presents a challenge he is unable to resist. Although her presence threatens to expose his secrets, he is arrogantly determined to turn the situation to his own passionate advantage…

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I had great fun writing PUBLIC SCANDAL, PRIVATE MISTRESS and even greater fun doing the research!

The book was largely inspired by a wonderful holiday trip to France. My husband and I spent a week in Paris (fleeing a wet and wintery New Zealand) followed by several weeks renting a house in a tiny village in the Vaucluse area of Provençe. We had a fantastic time, despite the fact that France was in the grip of a searing heat-wave for our entire trip – and my poor husband was stricken with virulent flu for a couple of our precious days in Paris!

In between mopping Tony’s fevered brow and quick forays out to explore the local vicinity and buy food and medications, I would sit on the window seat in our eighteenth-century apartment, writing letters and letting my imagination run riot as I watched the activity in the narrow street below, particularly in the ground-floor bar directly opposite…which became the scene of the accidentally-on-purpose first-meeting between my heroine and her sexy hero.

Luckily Tony didn’t pass on his flu to me, and as soon as he recovered enough to stagger out into the dazzling sunlight, we made up for lost time. We had been to Paris briefly once before and done the essential tourist highlights of Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, cruise on the Seine etc…so this time we were free to go where the mood took us, unfettered by a planned agenda. Using the Metro, but mostly on foot, we wandered around the historic centre of the city, exploring out-of-the-way places as well as the grand sights, eating in gorgeous restaurants, wallowing in culture and generally just soaking up the heady atmosphere.

I’m a great fan of the detective novels written by Georges Simenon – which are so much more fun to read when you’ve walked some of the same pavements as his famous Inspector Maigret – so I was delighted to discover that the apartment which we were renting in the Marais district was a short walk from Blvd Richard Lenoir, where the fictional police detective lived, and not far from his official haunt at the Quai des Orfèvres. After we returned from our trip Tony gave me a collection of Maigret novels for my birthday, and I enjoy re-reading them with my trusty map of Paris on hand, reliving my memories as I follow the inspector’s through familiar city streets on the trail of his current malefactor…

Also, just around the corner from us in the gorgeous Place des Vosges (the oldest square in Paris, a beautiful park bordered by seventeenth century buildings, and a place where my H&H had a very sensual encounter while they were on the run from the gendarmes – but no…you will have to read the book to find out why…) was the house in which Victor Hugo lived with his wife and family from 1832 to 1848, and where he wrote much of “Les Misérables”. It is now a museum, and I was surprised when we saw his writing desk. It was made of beautifully carved wood, lovingly preserved, but it was chest-high and he wrote at it, according to the accompanying information card, while standing up!

At first I thought – how bizarre! – but then I recalled I sometimes sit on a big, blue gym-ball when I write (it subtly works the abs without having to think about it), so maybe Victor Hugo would think that I was the one with the weird work habit…

After our stay in Paris we took the TGV (high speed train) down to Avignon and spent a laid-back couple of weeks in the depths of rural Provençe. Compared to Paris, the countryside was nearly empty – most the European high-season holiday-makers apparently flee to the crowded beaches of the coast to escape the heat, but we live close to many beaches at home, so were looking for a very different experience (although we made sure our rental house had a pool!). In the tiny historic villages dotted around Provençe there were quite a few tourists but most of them, like us, appeared to be travelling at a leisurely pace. There was little traffic on the narrow country roads, and a sense of peace and privacy which made me appreciate why so many celebrities gravitate to the the area to escape from public fame (or notoriety, as in the case of Lucien, the hero of PUBLIC SCANDAL, PRIVATE MISTRESS).

We had timed our trip well – the lavender fields were a fragrant blaze of purple through the hills (though somewhat frazzled by the stubborn drought), summer fruits and vegetables were at their peak, bursting with flavour on restaurant plates, and the spectacular, rock-strewn scenery made every day an adventure. Rather than simply take notes on our travels I decided to make my observations do double duty, and daily wrote long and detailed letters home to my mother describing our experiences. When we arrived back, Mum returned them to me, and they provided the basis for the background colour of my book.

Re-reading my letters I was struck by the big part which food (and wine, of course!) played in our trip. We discovered some fabulous restaurants in Provençe, many of them specialising in serving produce which were grown in the owner’s fields. One of the culinary highlights was dining at a terraced restaurant just below the ruins of the hilltop chateau in the village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, enjoying a spectacular view which stretched across a vast expanse of vine-covered fields to the winding glitter of the Rhône River, and the stark white peak (the result of a coating of limestone rather than snow) of Mont Ventoux on the other side.

Food does tend to be a feature in many of my books – cooking is one of my hobbies, hence the need for that gym ball…

I hope you enjoy reading about Veronica’s passionate adventures in France. The book I’m currently working on is set here in New Zealand, so I only have to look out the window for local colour! My heroine is deep in trouble with her new boss and he is intent on manouevring her into a very compromising situation….

All the best,
Susan

Check out some photos from Susan’s trip here on I Heart Presents! And read the first chapter of Public Scandal, Private Mistress with the Browse the Book widget below…

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