It's romantic, it's cheap, it's a pithy precursor of works to come! Two short stories (The Con Artist & Imperative Fate) in one bite-size book. The Con Artist: Rhea Ozera is a notorious sucker for all things glitzy and glamorous, but she usually finds her way into these situations by grisly means. She lies to obtain friends, she hides to retain lovers, and she puts herself through Hell to find Heaven, always in the gutter looking for diamonds. In her quest for rebirth as a sophisticated, rich, social starlet, Congress is her dollhouse and trophy wife to a Washington elitist is her aspiration. Imperative Fate: Ellie Anne Moss has sufficed a short life riddled with sorrowful finks and gruesome tragedy, but she can't help but hope these tests of strength and character are for the better. With her parents six feet under and a lover twice her age, she strives for divine recompense, happiness.