Sweet Romance Reads
The Sailor and the School Teacher
Xenia Wigg has always had a daring spirit that more often than not got her into trouble. Despite the loving admonitions of her beloved friends, she can never walk away from someone in need. When two thugs on the streets of New York kidnap a traveler Xenia has no choice but to follow them and attempt a rescue.
Birch Oakem has been sent to the big city by his father to conduct business concerning the expansion of the Oakem ranch in Montana. Trying to navigate the crowded streets and narrow alleys of the city leads him to the main port area and an encounter with a captain in need of a few extra hands.
Can two people thrown together in the most unlikely of circumstances save each other from the harshest realities of a voyage at sea or will a deeper secret land them in even more trouble? Find out how two hearts tossed by the waves of fate survive their trials with a little help from some friends.
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The Sailor and the Siren
As a child, Andrew Brooks was pressed into service on a merchant ship, but a boy who lacked sea legs was little use. Before they decided to throw him overboard, they discovered a talent worthy of a place on board. Little Andrew was a gifted musician.
Now a man grown, he hears of a school that offers sailors a chance to better themselves and takes a chance to walk away from the high seas.
Taking what he learns at the Sailor’s Rest School, he finds a job managing the cargo on a steamboat working its way up and down the Mississippi River.
Working aboard a steamboat named The Siren, Rosemary Tillman has worked her way up in the kitchen as an assistant to the cook, but every free minute she has is spent watching the shows in the concert room, dreaming of singing before adoring crowds and sharing her love of music. When her talent is discovered her world begins to change.
Rosemary and Andrew begin to forge futures for themselves on the Mississippi, but like all bright stars in the sky there are clouds waiting to douse their light. Can these two glide along the river of life together, or will they run aground when trouble comes a calling?
The Sailor and the Surgeon
Margery Fields’ father was pressed into service by the notorious Black Shark pirate crew when she was nine-years-old. Unfortunately, the skilled surgeon and single father had his only child in tow at the time — her. To protect her from the pirates the last ten years, he has raised her as his “son” and apprentice in the ship’s sick bay.
"Fix-It" John, one of the ship’s carpenters, has spent way too much time in the sick bay over the years from all the abuses he’s endured from the pirates, which makes him the first person to discover Margery’s secret. He vows to protect the youngest Doc Fields with his life and begins to plot their escape, while privately dreaming of courting her some day.
Escaping won’t be easy, though, beneath the ever-watchful gaze of the new boatswain, Randolph Larson. Margery wants to despise him as much as she despised the last cruel bo’sun, but he’s the first pirate who’s ever visited the sick bay and shown any interest whatsoever in the wellbeing of her patients.
As their feared Spanish Capitan prepares to engage fire with a corporate cargo ship, she is forced to depend on both John and Randolph for her safety and discovers she has not one but two men vying to win her heart on the savage waters of the Pacific!
The Sailor and the Skylark
The ranch owner's daughter is off limits for a sailor-turned-cowhand. Or is she?
Eli wasn’t exactly shanghaied onto a merchant ship, but at the age of twelve, he wasn’t given a choice in the matter either. Now grown, he's learned the value of planning and patience. When a chance to escape his years on the sea finally comes along, he grabs it.
Hoping to never see an ocean again, Eli finds his way to a ranch, working with horses again, just like he had with his father before he’d landed on that ship. But life on land is very different from life on the sea. Besides having to learn the skills needed to be a ranch hand, he soon discovers that the harsh world of the ship was a lot simpler than all the confusing rules for living in society. Especially one that includes Skye Donovan.
The kind-hearted Skye and quietly courageous Eli have an undeniable attraction. But she is the ranch owner’s daughter, and Eli is painfully aware that she is far above his station in life. Still, the heart wants what it wants, and it will be up to them to overcome the scars of Eli’s past and face a threat they can’t avoid. One that seems determined to keep them apart forever.
Set in San Francisco, and the ranchland around it, thirty years after the California gold rush, The Sailor and the Skylark is part of a multi-author series: Sailors and Saints. While it does have some recurring characters from previous stories, it can easily be read as a stand-alone novel.
The Sailor and the Suffragette
Daisy Bennett loved a good cause. Her current? Women’s rights. But when Asa Davenport comes to town, Daisy’s future suffragette plans falter. A new cause has captured her heart. Question is, can she handle it?
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Asa Davenport, shanghaied at the age of ten and forced to live on a merchant ship for twelve long years, finally gets a chance to step onto dry land. But after all he’s been through, is it any wonder he’s a little … off?
This becomes a bigger problem than he could have imagined, and the threat of being put away is a constant. Then he takes a job in Clear Creek, Oregon and discovers something he’d never had. A chance at love.
Problem is, will love be enough?
The Sailor and the Southern Belle
Tragedy ends a hopeful and happy future while a young man of the docks gets a second chance.
Brewster Doyle is a hardworking man, but his contract at the docks is over. He came from Ireland to America in search of a bright future and the dream hasn’t quite panned out. Now an opportunity has come in the form of a school where former sailors can learn new skills and be set up to succeed. As a man of modest means and physical scars proving the emotional ones, Brewster can only hope this is his second chance.
Rosalie Markham fled her home in Virginia to escape a marriage she didn’t want. She was sure going west to marry Billy James Ricketts – the wealthy man she knew only through letters – was her path to happiness and security. Arriving in Cheyenne, Rosalie’s joy was soon replaced by sadness and fear. In a matter of weeks her life had gone from desperation to promise and back to desperation.
When Brewster and Rosalie meet, there’s immediate attraction. Then the obstacles start piling up. One by one, Brewster finds issues that make Rosalie unattainable. The rift between them is so wide, neither believes it can be mended. But isn’t the west a place of second chances? Can the ocean heal wounds and make a sailor whole again?
The Sailor and the Shrew
Bert DuBoise worked as a shanghaied sailor aboard the Black Heart. Intent on forgetting his time aboard the ship, he decides to move to Cheyenne, Wyoming for a fresh start. He meets a lovely kitchen girl at his new work, confirming to him he’s made the right choice.
Matilda Macbeth came to the Bromley Hotel to escape a shameful past. The last thing she ever planned was being friendly with any man, especially as one as handsome as the new stable hand Mr. Bromley hired.
Can a woman who’s determined to keep everyone at a distance allow herself to fall for a man who also wants to forget a past?
The Sailor and the Seamstress
Sold into servitude on a smuggling ship as a young lad, Welshman Jarren Gryffud has finally won his freedom. But after so long on the sea, he cannot seem to find a solid place to land.
Until he makes his way to Aurora Lake, California, and the opportunity to put his skills as a canvas tailor to good use. Too bad those skills lead him into trouble with the beautiful and maddening seamstress next door.
Working to build her own business in the bustling gold mining town, Angela Flowers cannot believe her bad luck when a handsome and frustrating sailor-turned-tailor moves into the shop beside hers.
He is skilled with his hands, but his hard expressions and dour disposition intrigue Angela more than they should. And what bothers her the most about the tailor with the unpracticed smile is that she can’t stop wanting to mend his heart.