Loving Lieutenant Douglas

If you've read the Brethren of the Coast series, then you know Admiral Mark and Lady Amanda Douglas as the patriarch and matriarch of the Nautionnier Knights. Would you like to know how they fell in love? Take a trip back in time, to 1785, when Horatio Nelson was a new captain.

It is the Age of Sail, England is on the brink of war with France, and Royal Navy First Lieutenant Mark Douglas is not looking for a wife. As is so often the case, fate has other plans, and Mark sets his sights on a fiery society miss with a spirit to match his own. But can he redeem himself after inadvertently insulting his prospective bride?

Lady Amanda Gascoigne-Lake is at first smitten with and then disappointed by the impeccable naval man. After all, is it not a woman's prerogative to change her mind?  When a soldier disparages her reputation, Mark defends her honor and wins his lady. What happens when her father rejects Mark's suit, and an ancient brooch with mystical powers portends doom?

*This novella was previously published in the anthology "A Jewel in Time"