RITA® Award finalist Michelle Willingham grew up in a military household that took her all over the world, including Thailand, Germany and England. She wrote her first historical romance at the age of twelve and was delighted to fill up eight pages of a legal pad. Thankfully, most of her early stories have been destroyed and are unavailable for blackmail.

Michelle taught school for eleven years before retiring to stay home with her children and write full-time. She married a rocket scientist, and they live in southeastern Virginia. When she isn't writing historical romances, she loves to cook, read and avoid exercise at all costs.