Ever since her mother vanished when she was a child, Shae Rowan's embittered father has kept her a virtual prisoner of their Gulf Coast home. To escape his tyranny, she reluctantly agrees to marry the selfish heir to a shipping fortune. But all that changes when she meets a handsome stranger on the beach, and suddenly finds herself giving in to dangerous, unyielding passion.Phillip Payton's unconventional beliefs have isolated him from others, until Shae gives him the strength to pursue his dreams - and captures his lonely heart. Yet before they can embrace a magnificent future together, Phillip must free his beautiful beloved of the one thing that haunts her: the truth about her mother's past. Discovering it could shatter what they share...or forge a bond that can never be broken.