We’re joined by Historical romance author, Louise Allen, who has recently won the RNA Shorter Novel Award! Louise talks about the inspiration behind her new book, A Rogue For The Dutiful Duchess.

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Where does the inspiration for a novel come from? I wish I knew – even with this, my 70^th story for Mills & Boon, I can’t tell.

I am absolutely not a planner, so when I start writing it is with a situation, or a place or a character in my head and it builds from there as I write. In this case the character was Sophie, the young widowed Duchess of St Edmunds.

My heroines are always strong women and I also find it fascinating to explore what it takes for someone of rigid principles to let go a little, discover that they can seize life and its experiences without compromising their own values.

In Sophie’s case her strength – and her weakness – is her determination to always do her duty. Raised to be the perfect wife of a high-ranking nobleman she dutifully married a duke many years her senior, dutifully ignored the fact that he brought his true love, his mistress, to live in their household and dutifully became the perfect duchess.

Now her husband is dead – killed in an accident celebrating the birth of his heir. Sophie will do anything to protect her son so, when scandal threatens to blight the reputation of the Dukes of St Edmunds she turns to a man she would never normally associate with, let alone trust with her son and her secrets.

Lord Nicholas Pascoe is a rogue, an adventurer and a man with his own secrets, earning his living by his wits. He respects the lovely young Duchess’s fierce loyalty and love for her son and he all too aware of her allure as a woman, something she hardly seems conscious of herself. And this awareness is a problem when Sophie insists that she will accompany him to London. It is, she insists, her duty. As far as Nick’s concerned, it is a constant, painful, temptation.

The scandal they try to prevent could bring down the government, damage the reputation of the Regent – although Nick is doubtful that could be any worse – and harm any number of leading society figures.

Sophie, with typical courage, throws herself into their quest, putting herself in danger in the process: Nick might be grateful when she comes to his rescue, but a night in hiding with her in his arms is even more dangerous to his heart.

As Sophie embroils herself in Nick’s murky past their lives become more complicated. Can they prevent the scandal? Can Sophie learn that her feelings and her heart have value and that duty isn’t everything? Can Nick allow himself to be vulnerable?

You will have to read the book to find out, but I can tell you about one piece of research I carried out that was important in the development of Sophie and Nick’s relationship. I first found out about the game of camping some time ago when, driving through the village of Stiffkey on the North Norfolk coast, I puzzled over the name Camping Lane. The traditional site for travellers, perhaps? I dug a bit deeper and discovered that camping, or camp ball, was an ancient English “sport” dating back to the Middle Ages. It is often described as a forerunner of football, but actually it is more like rugby and nearer to a form of local warfare with few holds barred.

It was commonly played in Norfolk with huge teams, lasted for hours and was lethally dangerous. It was perfect for what I needed at one point in the book – and no, Sophie doesn’t take the ball and make a run for the goal!

I hope you enjoy A Rogue For a Dutiful Duchess as much as I enjoyed writing it.

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A Rogue For The Dutiful Duchess by Louise Allen

By Lauren Gardiner