Showing results by author "Ann M. Pratley" in All Categories

When innocence and scoundrel collide…When Elizabeth Chisholm visits Venice with her family, she is unexpectedly drawn to Lord Byron - a man eleven years her senior. What she sees him present to her is grace, gentlemanlike behaviour, and an enthusiasm to pursue her. What she doesn't see is how much of a scoundrel he is - something he can easily hide from a mind and a heart as pure as hers. Having grown up watching the deep and intense love of her parents - Alessandra and Edward - Elizabeth does all that is asked of her day to day but, now the age of eighteen, deeply yearns for someone to ...

She thought that nobody would ever love her, or wish to marry her. Then she found herself in the greatest journey of love and exploration... After receiving news from her parents of a possible betrothal, Alessandra, an 18 year old with an ingrained belief that no-one would ever wish to marry her, finds herself in a love so great that at times she cannot breathe. Married to someone as inexperienced as herself, she finds herself on a sexual journey of learning and exploration. The combination of their mutual inexperience contributes to Alessandra discovering a degree of emotional and physical...

**Note, this story does contain explicit adult content and language She just wasn't made for inflicting pain - even for someone's pleasure... Alexis has been involved with an older man for three years. Over that time, they have both come to realise that he's developed a passion for receiving pain. It shouldn't affect her - she isn't the one being physically hurt - but it does affect her. She doesn't want to do it anymore. She doesn't want to deliver pain anymore - not to anyone - not even for their pleasure. More and more frequently, she is having moments where she shuts down and withdraws ...

They expected quite a different kind of destruction...In the realm of the House of Mordasini, the three royal offspring of King Maynard and Queen Azura are beginning their journeys into adulthood. As the eldest, Prince Aldin, starts to obsess about his future role as the next king, so also begins an obsession about his younger brother. Torn between wanting to be the one who rules over everyone else, but also wanting the life that is being set up for his brother, Aldin begins a journey of envy that grows darker as time passes. Meanwhile, as one brother ruminates about the life of the other, ...

Greg and Rhett. They've grown up together since they were teenagers. They've fought together. They've stolen together. They've even loved women together. But something deeper has existed in one of them for years. He's hidden it well. Being part of the great Leadbetter gang and family, the prejudice of certain situations has always been loudly expressed by many of its members - too many, and certainly enough to make anyone fearful of what would happen if feelings were revealed and brought out into the open. A night has passed when finally, in a moment of wondering if he'd survive till ...

Two worlds collide... For the first time in the long histories of two families, a night is coming when both will be present with their eyes on the same prize. On one side is a family who work theft with precision. They have the charisma and charm to create an image … an illusion. When they're around, something can be there one minute and gone the next, never to be seen again. On the other side is a family with members who are rash, impatient and violent. They won't pretend to be what they're not and they waste no time on such things as charm. On one night a clash of methods will result in...

When Mitchell Stonewarden lost his wife to cancer more than a decade ago, he vowed never to give his heart to anyone else. With all of his children now adults and a new generation of Stonewardens having already begun, he's finally started to wonder - does he really want to be alone for the rest of his life? The handover of the family business to his oldest son, Vic, has seemed to be free of difficulty or issues - but has it? Mitchell knows little of his oldest son's private life away from the family. He's surprised by what is brought to his attention that he had no idea about. While ...

Meet the Leadbetters... For generations, the Leadbetters have lived off crime. For as long as any of them know, fathers and mothers have taught sons and daughters how to succeed in the criminal world, primarily through theft. Phillip Leadbetter is 29 and has devoted his whole life so far to doing what his father and mother have told him to do. The sacrifice for doing that is that he still lives at home and hasn't yet met anyone who he believes could accept the man that he is because of his family. One night a potential tragedy brings him into the path of Daisy, an up and coming professional...

In her early adulthood, Debbie made a choice. She had two men who loved her. She chose one. She lost the friendship of the other. Twenty years on, horrific tragedy strikes. Mother to three grown children, she has to find the strength to be there for them, while pushing her own grief aside. Dealing with the loss of the man who has been by her side for two decades pushes her into depression. Every day seems harder to deal with than the last. The feeling of loss is further heightened by finding her husband's lifetime of journals. Hesitant at first to look inside them, she eventually does. ...

Meet the Stonewardens... The youngest member of the Stonewarden family, Charlotte (Charlie), is 18 years old. As with everyone in her family when they reach that age, she's been told that when she turns 19, she'll be recruited into the family business. She has her warning that she has one year to do anything else she wishes to do - travel, study, work. Whatever she wants to do, she has 365 days to do it. On her next birthday, her life will effectively stop being her own. But Charlie wants nothing to do with the business. The youngest of six, with five older brothers, she wants a different ...

Incapacity: the quality or state of being incapable; especially : lack of physical or intellectual power. When one night produces a horrific number of deaths in a town where violent crime is almost non-existent, it captures the attention of the nation. Masses of deceased are found in their beds, in their vehicles, and in public places. At first, it's surprising that a murder would happen at all in the quiet township. As the body count rises, so does the urgency to try and figure out what has happened. When some members of local law enforcement are pushed towards breaking point by what they ...

For Debbie King, life began feeling like it was all too difficult. At fourteen, she continuously felt like she would never achieve, she would never have friends, and she would simply never fit in. When she meets Craig - someone new who seems just like her, also with low self-esteem and no belief in himself and what he has to offer - Debbie finds the strength to focus more on him and less on herself. They are both unpractised in making friends, but they find it in each other. When they discover their musical talents, their lives entwine further. Living unhealthily, the time comes when Debbie...

In the kingdom of the House of Mordasini, a future king is waiting for the day to come when his father will die. While there's nothing to suggest that King Maynard will be leaving this world anytime soon, his oldest son, Aldin, increasingly desires to be the one on the throne. With the darkness that has been residing in his soul since he was a child, ideas begin to flow inside of Aldin's mind. All around him, there are things happening that go against his idea of how the realm should be run. In particular, the realization that his father has granted permission to his brother, Prince Iztal, ...