Bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries chats about taming the Big Bad Wolf, the challenge of reforming a rake, and her elemental desire to write.

MB: What or who inspired your novel?

SJ: Well, it's sort of a mixture. I dreamed up Byrne out of whole cloth in the first book of the series, "In the Prince's Bed." Or so I thought until I finished writing Byrne's book. That's when I realized that all three of these heroes are some aspect of my husband. Alec is the smart-aleck (yes, the pun must have been subconscious), Marcus is the curmudgeon, and Gavin Byrne is the cynic. So I think I was just channeling some of my husband.

The plot was inspired by something I read in Saul David's "The Prince of Pleasure," about how Prinny might have had a son by Maria Fitzherbert named James Ord, who was hustled out of England as a babe. The whole story (still unproven, of course) was fascinating, so I had to incorporate it in my book.

MB: What do you like most about your novel?

SJ: Hmm. I'm proud that I was able to pull off a believable "reformation of the rake" story. Most people don't realize it, but I rarely write real rakes. Most of my heroes are macho, but not womanizers. So this was quite a challenge! And I think I pulled it off, although some might disagree.

MB: Tell us about the most heroic person you know.

SJ: This is a hard one, because I know lots of heroic people. Because I'm a night person and so I'm often the one staying up late working, my husband gets up every morning at the crack of dawn to get our autistic teenager ready for school, making his lunch, brushing his teeth, getting him dressed day in and day out. That's true heroism to me.

Then there's my parents, who dedicated their lives to helping people, even when it meant living a world away from their kids. And my brothers, both of whom periodically travel to dangerous parts of the world to make it a better place for everyone, yet still manage to take care of their families.

Or, my friend Rexanne, who is a volunteer in a literacy program -- or my late Aunt Gloria, who took care of my grandmother in her waning years while my parents were abroad, even though Aunt Gloria had breast cancer. Or … I could go on and on. I think each of us has a bit of the hero in us if we just know where to look.

MB: Who's your romance hero: dark brooding bad boy or white knight in shining armor?

SJ: I'd have to say the bad boy. I don't really want my heroines to be rescued -- I want them to face off against the big bad wolf and win.

MB: Answer the question you wish an interviewer would ask.

SJ: I wish an interviewer would ask why I write. And my answer? Because I breathe.