Wynne May was born in South Africa, ten miles from Johannesburg. Shortly after graduation from college, she began working for the South African Broadcasting Corporation, and it was while on holiday from the S.A.B.C. that she met her husband.

How did it happen? Let Wynne tell it. It's pure Harlequin Romance:

"I had gone to the home of my mother's parents - in Ardeer, on the south coast of Natal. This was the place for surfing and swimming. Claude, recently wounded in the Battle of El Alamein, was on leave.

"The scene was set: a blustery day with the sea bounding in and the sand whipping up to sting the face and limbs. Apart from Claude, the beach was utterly deserted. Claude was lounging near the shallow end of a pool.

"Taking the greatest care not to pass in front of the handsome stranger, I took the long way around the pool . . . and promptly slipped on the cement and splashed into the water. It is not surprising, therefore, that the young man with the mocking green eyes spoke to me."

Three months later, Claude slipped a diamond ring onto Wynne's finger as they stood under the stars in an exotic garden.

When their son Gregory was eight and Wynne was pregnant with Julian, she decided to write. She completed her first novel just before she went into the hospital.

Before long, Wynne May was looking after two sons, running a home - and writing romances.