In New Orleans, where old Southern lineages root as deep and tangled as the haughty Cypress, two powerful families become entrenched in a battle to preserve pedigrees. For the past nine years, Thierry Chevalier, the strikingly handsome, well-bred, polished son of one of the oldest, most powerful white families in Louisiana, has been harboring an impassioned desire to captivate the woman of his dreams. His desire, Angelique Dubois. Graceful, delicate and sensually delectable, Angelique seems as unattainable as she is desirous: the daughter of New Orleans' mayor; member of a proud Black Creole family; and engaged to another man. But when opportunity opens, their fates are magnetized. The tempest of passion, power and pride that erupts is more sweeping than a steamy Gulf Coast monsoon.

He's playing you, Regina, she told herself. This is little more than a game to him. It might have been a game to him, but she was more than willing to play-for a little while anyway. A couple of days, max, and he would move on. He had to; Regina couldn't afford to let it last much more than that. Most of all, she needed to be sure she guarded her heart. Nothing good could come from falling for Remy Chevalier. Regina entered the kitchen more calmly than she'd left. Noting he had pulled a chair from the table, she sank into the seat to watch Remy work his magic at her stove. It was odd to watch him cook. He seemed completely comfortable, moving around the kitchen like a pro. She was surprised, but then again, she didn't know all that much about him. She remembered Angelique commenting that Remy often cooked for her and Thierry, but Regina had never given it more than a passing thought. "Here," Remy told her, handing her a glass of wine with a wink. "I stole a couple of bottles from Thierry and Angel." Regina took it. After a couple of sips, she couldn't resist asking. "Why are you here, really?" Remy sighed and turned to face her. He couldn't tell her the real He couldn't stay away. He tried to, but every thought led right back to her. He loved being able to get under her skin a little bit, to ruffle her feathers. Regina was always so damn composed, it drove him crazy. He had not expected the dynamo in bed; but that made her all the more irresistible.

Return to New Orleans... On the outside, she is fire and ice. But cool, calm, and collected Katrina Smith isn't all that she seems. Like a rippling pool, waves from her past continue to shake her inside. Aubrey had always been the studious one, but Katrina finds that his depth of knowledge goes far deeper than just books. He knows how to set her body ablaze while calming the storms in her sea. But can their love survive the maelstrom of trouble that finds them?

Rance Chevalier had a lot to hide. But not even the darkness of his past can stop him from claiming the woman who set his body and soul on fire. He would fight his own past, the unseen threat to her life and even his own flesh and blood who thinks to take her for his own to make Jade forever his.

Solange was in trouble. There was no way out, she was caught. Yes, she had been blackmailing her cousin’s no-good fiancé, but she had never meant for anyone to get hurt-not physically. Determined not to beg, she would accept her punishment like a woman. That DID NOT mean cowing or begging however, not even to the powerful Chevalier family. Beaumont and Boden knew they had found a rare treasure. All they had to do was break through that shell Solange surrounded herself in. But first they had to get her to trust them with her secrets, and eventually her heart. Excerpt: “Thank you, but I’m not hungry.” She didn’t pout, didn’t sulk. She simply poured herself a streaming cup of coffee into the delicate china, laced the brew liberally with cream and sugar until the liquid was a similar color to her own skin and sipped. No histrionics. Just a calm, calculated rejection of authority. He felt the blood rushing through his veins, his skin tingling with the excitement he told himself over and over again last night he would not fell toward her. Intellectually, he understood she was challenging him as a form of self-defense he didn’t believe even she understood, but it got his juices flowing nonetheless. A woman hadn’t challenged him in anything in…well, never really. Even his ex-wife hadn’t deigned to disagree with him, even when she thought him dead wrong. But then, she hadn’t talked to him much. Hadn’t really wanted a husband or a son. When his mother had offered her an out she had jumped at the chance to return to her life in New England away from the pesky concerns of a family. Sliding to the chair next to hers, Beau placed a croissant and various pieces of fruit on her plate. “I’m not going to-” He slid a chunk of honeydew melon between her lips as she spoke, effectively cutting off any protest. Solange glowered but she chewed and swallowed, reaching for the fork he held in his hand. “I can feed myself.” “Oh, no I don’t think so, sweetheart.” He was enjoying himself far too much which meant when they got back to New Orleans, he couldn’t see her again. “You had your chance to eat on your own, but you had to be difficult. Now you can just relax and let Daddy feed you.”

Soleil is completely disgusted by how Didier moons after her cousin. Such a waste! And he was one seriously fine male specimen too. If only he were a bit more... alpha. Lord, what was she thinking? An Alpha male would completely take over her life. If he were interested, that is, which Didier wasn’t. Didi can't figure out what put the burr under Soleil's saddle. She was always gives him the cold shoulder, evil looks, and he could’ve sworn she might’ve actually flipped him off a time or two. What was worse, her hostility only made him hard. Finding a way underneath her considerable defenses isn’t easy. Especially once he finds out she believes he holds a torch for her cousin, Jade. It was quite a shock for Soleil to find out Didier not only wanted her, but he wanted her for keeps. Too bad she can’t be kept. What Soleil doesn't know is Didier is just like all the other men in his family. Once he decides he wants something, there is no stopping him.