'Hey! Back off girls - Gary's all mine'

Don't be fooled by the doe-eyes and disarming smile. Gary Lineker's girl, Danielle Bux, is one tough cookie. Despite being engaged to one of the most famous footballers of his generation, she's not some simpering piece of fluff hanging off his arm. Oh no.

Danielle's been a single mum and grew up on a rough council estate in Wales. She's had to work hard all her life, she says. Now she's about to marry the man of her dreams - and she's damned if she's going to let anyone sour her fairy-tale ending.

"Gary gets a lot of female attention," she says stiffly. "We were at a charity event the other night and a man came over and shook Gary's hand. After we left, Gary told me that the man had slipped him the phone number of the woman he was with.

"He didn't dare tell me at the time because he knew I'd have marched straight over to the woman and had it out with her. I just won't stand for that. There's flirting and then there's downright deceitful behaviour.

Fiery Danielle goes all American Beauty on us

"At the end of the day, I'm a girl from a council estate in Wales. I have no problem standing up for myself. I'm not having women like that thinking they can get away with it."

You go, girl! But having to bat off (some might say literally) love rivals eager to get their acrylic nails into a multimillionaire like Gary must surely come with the territory?

"I trust him 100 per cent," she insists. "When I found out about the phone number incident, I wasn't angry with Gary. I know I'm the only woman for him. I never worry if he goes out with the boys. He's older and he's gone through all that."

According to Danielle, the nearly 20-year age gap (he's 48, she's 29) is one of the many bonuses of their relationship.

"It's completely true that men are like a good bottle of wine. They get better with age," she says. "Gary's gorgeous, romantic, caring and funny. He loves everything about me and he's got an incredible body.

On holiday with fiancé Gary

"He exercises every day and he's in just as good shape as he was at his playing peak. His stomach is flatter than mine!"

Although, as you can see from our shoot, Danielle's hardly in bad nick. Her killer curves and 32DD chest have landed her a modelling contract for La Senza underwear. If she wasn't so darn nice, not to mention - gulp - apparently hard as nails, we'd be a tad jealous.

She's also evidently head over heels in love. She's spent 10 minutes gushing about how gorgeous Gary is and she's not done yet.

"We're completely mad about each other. But I'm glad I met him when he was older and more mature. I much, much prefer older men. They know how to handle women," she says with a grin.

"They understand us more, they're calmer, they've got everything out of their system and they know what and who they want." (Note to selves - we sooo need to get ourselves a silver fox à la Lineker.)

Hell's belle: Danielle looks smokin' on our shoot

And Gary certainly knows what he wants. The couple had been together for just a year when he whisked her off to Italy's Amalfi Coast and popped the question last August.

"It is quick," she admits. "But Gary knows we're right together and that I'm the woman for him. I've never met a man who has totally got me like he does.

"To me, he's completely perfect. There's not one thing about him I'd change. He does joke about getting his ears pinned back, but if he ever did that, I'd march him back to return them to normal. I love his sticky-out ears. They're cute!"

Right now, however, Gary has to accept that for the next few weeks, Danielle will have another very important man in her life in the shape of volatile TV chef Marco Pierre White, 47. As a celebrity contestant in Hell's Kitchen, she's hoping to impress him not with her looks or her bikini-perfect body, but her ability to cook a five-star dish.

She grins: "God, I'm terrified. I have no idea what Marco is going to think of me. I'm not a bad cook. I do a great lasagne and Gary's a big fan of the things I make but, to be honest, if I gave him beans on toast, he'd tell me it was amazing!

Danielle hopes to tempt Hell's Kitchen chef Marco Pierre White with her dishes

"I have no idea how to deal with Marco. I don't fancy him, but I do really respect him."

So could things boil over in the kitchen should she fall foul of a Marco rant when Gary's around?

"Gary's going to come down to the show to support me, but I'm not expecting him to leap over the counter and into the kitchen if Marco starts shouting at me and calling me names!" she laughs. "Anyway, I can stand up for myself. I'm tougher than I look."

She's not kidding. After growing up on Cardiff's rough Fairwater estate, she started modelling at 18 and then became an air hostess before giving birth to a daughter, Ella, when she was 22. Two years later, she split from Ella's father, Adam Willis, 32, then a Coventry City player. She had just broken off her engagement to rugby player Simon Danielli, 29, when she was persuaded by a mutual friend to go out on a blind date with former England captain Gary. They met at an exclusive Italian restaurant in London's Knightsbridge and the chemistry was instant.

"I literally knew right away he was The One," she says.

Danielle with Gary, her daughter Ella, and his sons Angus (left) and Toby

She has not yet met Gary's ex-wife, Michelle, 43, but gets on "brilliantly" with his four boys - George, 17, Harry, 15, Toby, 13, and Angus, 11 - from his first marriage and Gary has become a proper dad to Ella, now six.

"She calls him G and makes him give her foot rubs. And the kids get on amazingly, which is wonderful," she smiles.

She may be the envy of many, having won the heart of one of Britain's most eligible and richest bachelors - Gary has a fortune of £30million - but life hasn't always been rosy for Danielle.

It's hard to believe, looking at her glossy brunette locks now, but at the age of 16 her hair fell out because of stress-induced alopecia following the death of her beloved grandmother Winifred.

"I was totally devastated because she pretty much brought me up. And 16 is a very bad age to lose your hair. I was completely self-conscious. I had bits here and there which I'd swoop over my bald scalp, and my friends would colour other patches in with mascara," she admits. "It took about a year before my hair grew back, and it definitely changed me as a person. I became shy and withdrawn and didn't have any boyfriends."

And Danielle has had to cope with family heartache too. Last year, her mother Kim Lewis, 48, hit the headlines when she was arrested after items were taken from the home of her estranged husband, Danielle's stepdad Alex Mohamed, 50. Although, no charges were brought by the police. And two years ago her half-brother, Kaid Mohamed, 24, broke his neck and back fleeing a gang after a nightclub brawl and was left paralysed and in a wheelchair.

"Kaid was always the hero looking out for others," she says. "I was devastated by what happened, but I'm so proud of the way he's really put everything into his recovery. "When Gary and I get married later this year, Kaid will give me away. I love him, I'm proud of him, and I wanted him to have something to focus on.

"We're not going to have a big flash do. We're getting married in Italy, but not in the same place as Wayne and Coleen Rooney," she adds. "It's not going to be a wedding like theirs. I couldn't justify spending that amount of money, particularly at the moment when so many people are struggling.

"I've bought the bridesmaid dresses from LK Bennett and I just want it to be simple, loving and private. I know I'm going to be the happiest woman in the world. I can't wait."

The Feisty Five

We ask the questions you really want to know the answers to!

Food and sex. Are they the perfect combo?

"Absolutely. I certainly find one generally tends to lead to the other¿"

Have you ever Googled Gary to look at pictures of him in his football days?

"Totally. I've also checked out that his legs are just as gorgeous now as they were then."

Would you ever pose naked for Playboy?

"Never. I wouldn't do it and Gary would definitely not want me to do it."

Stripper on your hen night. Yay or nay?

"Nay! Nay! Nay!"

What's your definition of the offside rule?

"Attacking players in front of three defending players."

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: PA, SCOPE FEATURES HAIR: KEVIN FORD AT NAKEDARTISTS.COM USING SHU UEMURA ART OF HAIR MAKE-UP: VICKIE ELLIS USING DERMALOGICA STYLING: LUCIE CLIFFORD

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