Emily Coates was a free spirit and daddy's little girl. She loved romance and daydreamed about a love she had yet to discover. However, her emulation of Jane Austen was the center of her problems with men. After her father sets her up with one failed suitor after another, all local and successful men who would ensure his daughter would want from nothing.  Admiral Carlton Coates, forces his daughter to be dependent and centered. To ensure she'd never be lonely like her mother, he established a 'no sailor rule' for ALL potential suitors.However, overtime, he is clearly starting to run out of options and strikes that rule. He arranges for her to marry... a sailor, this time and one who appears successful in black and white. Albeit, this man has secrets that he must keep at bay in order to gain not only Emily's trust and her heart...but to regain what he had lost so long ago...with the notion that only her father's fortune would have him set for the rest of his life.Yet, in the scheme of things, there is another who has admired her from afar and would go to great lengths to protect her from all things seemingly dangerous.Will Emily accept the new suitor into her heart so easily or will she learn in time his schemes? Or will the other admirer prevail in taking her heart? Who will Emily Coates fall, completely, perfectly and incandescently in love with? 

Scarlet Peacock was a bastard child, stripped from her birth mother, and unwanted by the father's wife, Queen Petra Peacock. When shame was brought upon the Peacock Kingdom, Scarlet was sent with two of King Gunther Peacock's servants for protection. She grew up only knowing one name, Lucia Faust and had no idea of her birthright until she was bought by the highest bidder at the Fair Maiden Proffer. Lord Duncan Busick was considered an eligible bachelor, wanted by many and all women. He was a vampire and accustomed to being choosy. Yet, there was only one who was deemed the perfect mate by the Lord and his maker, Countess Yvette Cotê, the mysterious bastard daughter, Princess Scarlet Peacock. Was the princess the perfect eternal match for the Lord of Darkness? Will she be made to become vampire queen of her late father's tarnished reign? *** This story was featured in the anthology, A Gift From My Lady. Since that time, it...