Cindy cares for her stepmother and sisters because she’s the oldest daughter, but they can’t understand why she’s determined to hide at home away from the snickers of gossipy townsfolk. As Everland’s most eligible bachelor, Maxwell has been able to dodge the marital bullet. He needs a special kind of woman—one who doesn’t fear his darker, dominant sexual needs—one he can trust with his heart. The mysterious beauty who appears at his father’s annual masquerade fulfills him like no other. When she disappears at midnight, he vows to find her, bind her, and never let her go again.