ARIEL From the night her drunken father gambled her away in his London townhouse, she was bought, sold and bartered by men who longed to take by force what she refused to give. Her dark young beauty and fiery spirit made them hunger for her smouldering love—a love locked away from their savage lusts. KYNE He alone held the key to Ariel's love—he alone knew the dreadful secrets of her past. He followed her from the gaming casinos and brothels of London across the high seas to San Francisco's Barbary Coast. BITTERSWEET Theirs is a romance of relentless passion—constantly threatened by jealousy, intrigue and degradation. Theirs is a love that will ultimately burst into a single flame of consuming desire.