Crossroads couple Ronald Allen and Sue Lloyd - who play motel owner David Hunter and wife Barbara - ARE going to get married off screen.

 

Sexy Sue and Ronnie have been living together for three years, and their apparent reluctance to wed has puzzled fans.  But Sue, 44, promises:  "We will get married some time.  I expect we'll take off for a holiday together, come back and announce we've gone and done it.  That's much more romantic. 

 

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm already Ronnie's wife.  It's the first time I've felt truly settled in my personal life.  And I'm happier than I've ever been."

 

The couple announced their engagement two years ago, only months after the Hunters' TV wedding.  Cynics dismissed the news as a publicity stunt.  But Sue describes 50-year old heart-throb Ronnie as her "soulmate."

 

To outsiders they certainly do seem an unlikely partnership.  Before he met Sue on Crossroads, Ronnie had never lived with a woman and friends thought of him as a confirmed bachelor.  He was also at the time mourning the death of his closest friend, actor Brian Hankins, after nursing him through the final stages of cancer.

 

But Sue, a top Sixties model and dancer before she turned to acting, had a string of rich and famous lovers - and caused a scandal by telling the world about them. 

 

Her relationship with Ronnie began to blossom when he invited her to share his flat in Birmingham, where he lives during the week.  "It really was platonic at first," said Sue.  "Things gradually developed between us.  There wasn't any one moment when I fell in love - it just grew into something very warm and comfortable."