FREYA NORTH

   Cat McCabe is 29 and the youngest of three sisters brought up by their Uncle Django--a man with unusual culinary tastes ("I made pizza tonight," Django says proudly. "I had some bread that was going a bit off so I tore it up, added a little oil and beaten egg and a drop of ketchup, formed it into a base and baked the bugger. I added a topping of sardines, chicken liver, a little more ketchup and some Stilton.")--after their mother ran off with a cowboy from Denver.

A budding sports journalist obsessed with cycling, she's just been offered the chance of a lifetime--covering the Tour de France for the Guardian. But she's a little on the fragile side, having been dumped by her boyfriend of five years, and thus lost loads of weight and self-confidence. How will this English version of Ally McBeal survive the testosterone-fuelled cycling race? Will she succumb to the muscular thighs and obvious bulges of the sexy cyclists--and they to her slim English gorgeousness? How will she cope as one of only 12 women in the thousand-strong press corps? Will her Ex show up? Will he want her back? Does she want him back? And what about Ben York--team doctor for Megapac, the American outsiders? He seems to be flirting with her, and there's definitely Chemistry. But if he's after Cat, why was he looking deep into the eyes of Monique, the stunning Coca Cola podium girl? And, when the three gruelling weeks are over, will Cat get the features editorship she craves at Maillot magazine?