Destiny found them, and rapture, wild and free, opened their hearts... As she fled to safety in the dark of the Mexican night, Verity Ames could not see the man who had saved her from attack... but he was determined to see her again. Two months later, Jonas Quarrel appeared at her California restaurant. He was a scholar—looking for work as a dishwasher! Yet the stranger on her doorstep was also a man with a special gift and a hidden mission. What was the subtle, mysterious power he exuded? How and why had he found her? All Verity knew was that his lips burned hers, awakening a passion far beyond her fantasies . . . and that soon, she and Jonas would have to face the secret fury that threatened their love.