Named Pipes, How to know the exact number of bytes to read on Reading side. C++, Windows

I am using Named Pipes configured to send data as a single byte stream to send serialized data structures between two applications. The serialized data changes in size quite dramatically. On the sending side, this is not a problem, I can adjust the number of bytes to send exactly.

How can I set the buffer on the receiveing (Reading) end to the exact number of bytes to read? Is there a way to know how big the data is on the sending (Writing) side is?

I have looked at PeekNamedPipe, but the function appears useless for byte typed named pipes?

lpBytesLeftThisMessage [out, optional] A pointer to a variable that receives the number of bytes remaining in this message. This parameter will be zero for byte-type named pipes or for anonymous pipes. This parameter can be NULL if no data is to be read.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365779(v=vs.85).aspx

How does one handle such a situation best if you cannot determine the exact required buffer size?

Sending Code

    string strData;
strData =  "ShortLittleString";

DWORD numBytesWritten = 0;
result = WriteFile(
    pipe, // handle to our outbound pipe
    strData.c_str(), // data to send
    strData.length(), // length of data to send (bytes)
    &numBytesWritten, // will store actual amount of data sent
    NULL // not using overlapped IO
);

Reading Code:

DWORD numBytesToRead0 = 0;
DWORD numBytesToRead1 = 0;
DWORD numBytesToRead2 = 0;

BOOL result = PeekNamedPipe(
pipe,
NULL,
42,
&numBytesToRead0,
&numBytesToRead1,
&numBytesToRead2
);

char * buffer ;

buffer = new char[numBytesToRead2];

char data[1024]; //1024 is way too big and numBytesToRead2 is always 0 
DWORD _numBytesRead = 0;

BOOL    result = ReadFile(
pipe,
data, // the data from the pipe